Barack Obama has won a place in history with the worst ratings of any president at the end of his first year: 49% approve and 46% disapprove of his job performance in the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll.
There are many factors that explain it, including weakness abroad, an unprecedented spending binge at home, and making a perfectly awful health-care plan his signature domestic initiative. But something else is happening.
Mr. Obama has not governed as the centrist, deficit-fighting, bipartisan consensus builder he promised to be. And his promise to embody a new kind of politics—free of finger-pointing, pettiness and spin—was a mirage. He has cheapened his office with needless attacks on his predecessor.
Consider Mr. Obama's comment in his interview this past Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes" that the Bush administration made a mistake in speaking in "a triumphant sense about war."
.This was a slap at every president who rallied the nation in dark moments, including Franklin D. Roosevelt ("With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph"); Woodrow Wilson ("Right is more precious than peace and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts"); and John F. Kennedy ("Any hostile move anywhere in the world against the safety and freedom of peoples to whom we are committed . . . will be met by whatever action is needed").
This kind of attack gives Mr. Obama's words a slippery quality. For example, he voted for the bank rescue plan in September 2008 and praised it during the campaign. Yet on Dec. 8 at the Brookings Institution, Mr. Obama called it "flawed" and blamed "the last administration" for launching it "hastily."
Really? Bush Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and New York Fed President Timothy Geithner designed it. If it was "flawed," why did Mr. Obama later nominate Mr. Bernanke to a second term as Fed chairman and make Mr. Geithner his Treasury secretary?
Mr. Obama also claimed at Brookings that he prevented "a second Great Depression" by confronting the financial crisis "largely without the help" of Republicans. Yet his own Treasury secretary suggests otherwise. In a Dec. 9 letter, Mr. Geithner admitted that since taking office, the Obama administration had "committed about $7 billion to banks, much of which went to small institutions." That compares to $240 billion the Bush administration lent banks. Does Mr. Obama really believe his additional $7 billion forestalled "the potential collapse of our financial system"?
.Mr. Obama continued distorting the record in his "60 Minutes" interview Sunday when he blamed bankers for the financial crisis. They "caused the problem," he insisted before complaining, "I haven't seen a lot of shame on their part" and pledging to put "a regulatory system in place that prevents them from putting us in this kind of pickle again."
But as a freshman senator, Mr. Obama supported a threatened 2005 filibuster of a bill regulating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He doesn't show "a lot of shame" that he and other Fannie and Freddie defenders blocked "a regulatory system" that might have kept America from getting in such a bad pickle in the first place.
The president's rhetorical tricks don't end there. Mr. Obama also claimed his $787 billion stimulus package "helped us [stem] the panic and get the economy growing again." But 1.5 million more people are unemployed than he said there would be if nothing were done.
And as of yesterday, only $244 billion of the stimulus had been spent. Why was $787 billion needed when less than a third of that figure supposedly got the job done?
Mr. Obama also alleged on "60 Minutes" that health-care reform "will actually bring down the deficit" (which people clearly know it will not). He said his reform reduces "costs and premiums for American families and businesses" (though they will be higher than they would otherwise be). And he claimed 30 million more people will get coverage through "an exchange that allows individuals and small businesses" to purchase insurance (though 15 million of them are covered by being dumped into Medicaid and don't get private insurance).
Mr. Obama may actually believe it when he says, "I think that's a pretty darned good outcome" and congratulates himself that he could succeed where "seven presidents have tried . . . [and] seven presidents have failed."
But voters seem to have a different definition of success. And they are tiring of the president's blame shifting and distortions.
Mr. Obama may believe, as he told Oprah Winfrey in a recent interview, that he deserves a "solid B+" for his first year in office, but the American people beg to differ. A presidency that started with so much promise is receiving unprecedentedly low grades from the country that elected him. He's earned them.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
If not you who?
1. Our forefathers acknowledged our creator God in the Declaration of Independence, but we are forbidden to acknowledge him in our public schools.
2.Our entertainment industry glamorizes sexuality yet is held unaccountable despite the rising rate of out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancies.
3. Moral relativism continues to reign in our public schools even though a nation reaps the results of such relativism with unprecedented greed on Wall Street.
4. 39.8 million people live below the poverty line in America -- over 14.1 million of them are children -- yet close to 100 billion pounds of food is wasted each year.
5. There have been over 50 million abortions since Roe vs. Wade became the law of the land with the vast majority being for no other reason than simple birth control.
6. Darwinism is taught as fact while Creationism is excluded from the American classroom.
7. More Christians were killed for their faith in the 20th century than in the entire history of Christianity.
8. A cross erected in 1934, at a WWI memorial site in the Mojave Desert, is currently at the center of a debate over whether or not its presence violates the Constitution.
9. The Ten Commandments have been taken from our court houses.
10. The community of faith is, in large measure, quiet and complacent.
It has been said that all that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. Ultimately we will be judged not by our titles or bank accounts but by something far more sacred. Future generations hang in the balance. Whether we speak out or remain silent, act or step back will create the inheritance we bequeath
2.Our entertainment industry glamorizes sexuality yet is held unaccountable despite the rising rate of out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancies.
3. Moral relativism continues to reign in our public schools even though a nation reaps the results of such relativism with unprecedented greed on Wall Street.
4. 39.8 million people live below the poverty line in America -- over 14.1 million of them are children -- yet close to 100 billion pounds of food is wasted each year.
5. There have been over 50 million abortions since Roe vs. Wade became the law of the land with the vast majority being for no other reason than simple birth control.
6. Darwinism is taught as fact while Creationism is excluded from the American classroom.
7. More Christians were killed for their faith in the 20th century than in the entire history of Christianity.
8. A cross erected in 1934, at a WWI memorial site in the Mojave Desert, is currently at the center of a debate over whether or not its presence violates the Constitution.
9. The Ten Commandments have been taken from our court houses.
10. The community of faith is, in large measure, quiet and complacent.
It has been said that all that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. Ultimately we will be judged not by our titles or bank accounts but by something far more sacred. Future generations hang in the balance. Whether we speak out or remain silent, act or step back will create the inheritance we bequeath
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
New Nixon in the White House
GOP senator says Obama showing Nixonian tendencies
By BEN EVANS (AP) – 3 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The third-ranking Senate Republican said Wednesday the Obama administration appears to be launching a Richard Nixon-like political strategy of making an "enemies list" of people who disagree with the president.
Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who once worked in President Nixon's administration, warned the White House that such a "street brawl" approach of attacking political opponents "can get you in a lot of trouble."
Alexander offered no evidence that Obama is developing an actual list, as Nixon famously created for his opponents. But, he said, "I have an uneasy feeling only 10 months into this new administration that we're beginning to see the symptoms of this same kind of animus developing."
"It's a mistake for the president of the United States," he said. "Let's not start calling people out and compiling an enemies list."
White House spokeswoman Gannet Tseggai responded that it's Republicans who "seem to be formulating lists of people and policies to oppose" while the president "is focused on tackling the list of critical priorities that Washington has ignored for too long."
The president "remains committed to working with Republicans to include their best ideas, even if he doesn't get their support," Tseggai said.
Alexander's criticism, which echoed weekend remarks from Karl Rove, the former adviser to President George W. Bush and a Fox News contributor, comes amid an unusual public feud between Fox News and the White House. Alexander also cited widening disputes between the administration and business groups such as the insurance industry, Wall Street banks and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Several top administration officials have sharply criticized Fox News in recent days, saying the cable television channel acts like a wing of the Republican Party and shouldn't be viewed as a legitimate news organization.
The president bypassed "Fox News Sunday" during a string of appearances on news shows recently, and Fox News officials have said the White House threatened a boycott. The White House has denied that and says it will book administration officials on Fox News shows.
The administration also has taken on the Chamber of Commerce, for example, suggesting the group is out of touch with the business community on health care, climate change and other issues.
By BEN EVANS (AP) – 3 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The third-ranking Senate Republican said Wednesday the Obama administration appears to be launching a Richard Nixon-like political strategy of making an "enemies list" of people who disagree with the president.
Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who once worked in President Nixon's administration, warned the White House that such a "street brawl" approach of attacking political opponents "can get you in a lot of trouble."
Alexander offered no evidence that Obama is developing an actual list, as Nixon famously created for his opponents. But, he said, "I have an uneasy feeling only 10 months into this new administration that we're beginning to see the symptoms of this same kind of animus developing."
"It's a mistake for the president of the United States," he said. "Let's not start calling people out and compiling an enemies list."
White House spokeswoman Gannet Tseggai responded that it's Republicans who "seem to be formulating lists of people and policies to oppose" while the president "is focused on tackling the list of critical priorities that Washington has ignored for too long."
The president "remains committed to working with Republicans to include their best ideas, even if he doesn't get their support," Tseggai said.
Alexander's criticism, which echoed weekend remarks from Karl Rove, the former adviser to President George W. Bush and a Fox News contributor, comes amid an unusual public feud between Fox News and the White House. Alexander also cited widening disputes between the administration and business groups such as the insurance industry, Wall Street banks and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Several top administration officials have sharply criticized Fox News in recent days, saying the cable television channel acts like a wing of the Republican Party and shouldn't be viewed as a legitimate news organization.
The president bypassed "Fox News Sunday" during a string of appearances on news shows recently, and Fox News officials have said the White House threatened a boycott. The White House has denied that and says it will book administration officials on Fox News shows.
The administration also has taken on the Chamber of Commerce, for example, suggesting the group is out of touch with the business community on health care, climate change and other issues.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Rest of the story
> HOW IT REALLY
> HAPPENED AND WHO DID
> IT ! ! !
> !
>
>
> It is mandatory that
> each and
> every one of us learn who committed
> the acts that created the
> mess we
> are currently in.
> 1977: Pres. Jimmy
> Carter signs into Law
> the
> Community Reinvestment Act the foundation and
> cornerstone for the
> impending disaster.. The law pressured
> financial institutions to
> extend home loans to those who would otherwise
> not
> qualify.
> The publicized
> premise: Home
> ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden
> communities and
> neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment,
> jobs,
> etc.
> The Results:
> Statistics bear out that it did not
> help.
> How did the
> government get
> so deeply involved in the housing
> market?
> Answer: Bill
> Clinton wanted it that
>
> way.
> 1992: Republican
> representative Jim Leach (IO) warned of the
> danger that Fannie and
> Freddie were changing from being agencies of
> the public at large to
> money machines for the principals and the
> stock-holding
> few.
> 1993: Clinton extensively
> rewrote
> Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's rules turning
> the quasi-private
> mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized
> monopolies dispensing
> cash and loans to large Democratic voting
> blocks and handing favors,
> jobs and contributions to political
> allies. This potent mix
> led inevitably to corruption and now the
> collapse of Freddie and
> Fannie.
> 1994: Despite
> warnings, Clinton unveiled his
> National
> Home-Ownership Strategy, which broadened the
> CRA in ways congress
> never intended.
> 1995: Congress, about to change
> from
> a Democrat majority to
> Republican. Clinton orders Robert
> Rubin's Treasury Dept
> to
> rewrite the rules. Robt. Rubin's
> Treasury reworked rules,
> forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime
> and minority loans to
> get a satisfactory CRA rating. The rating
> was key to expansion
> or mergers for banks. Loans began to be
> made on the basis of
> race and little else.
> 1997 -
> 1999: Clinton, bypassing
> Republicans in
> Congress,
> enlisted Andrew
> Cuomo,
> then Secretary of Housing and Urban Dev
> elopement, allowing Freddie
> and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in
> a BIG way. Led
> by Rep. Barney Frank and
> Sen. Chris
> Dodd, congress doubled
> down on the
> risk by easing capital limits and allowing them
> to hold just 2.5% of
> capital to back their investments vs. 10% for
> banks. Since
> they could borrow at lower rates than banks
> their enterprises
> boomed.
> With incentives in
> place,
> banks poured billions in loans into poor
> communities, often "no
> doc", "no income",
> "no assets", requiring no money down,
> no verification of income, no nothing .
> Worse still was the
> cronyism: Fannie and Freddie became home
> to out-of
>
> work-politicians, mostly Clinton Democrats. 384
> politicians got
> big campaign donations from Fannie and
> Freddie. Over $200
> million had been spent on lobbying and
> political activities.
> During the 1990's Fannie and Freddie
> enjoyed a subsidy of as much as
> $182 Billion, most of it going to principals
> and shareholders, not
> poor borrowers as
> claimed.
> Did it work?
> Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new
> homeowners but many
> of those loans have gone bad and the minority
> home ownership rates
> are shrinking fast.
> 1999: New Treasury
> Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at
> Fannie and Freddie's
> excesses. Congress held hearings the
> ensuing year but nothing
> was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated
> millions to key
> congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no
> meaningful changes would
> take place. "We manage our political
> risk with the same
> intensity that we manage our credit and
> interest rate risks," Fannie
> CEO Franklin Raines, a
> former Clinton official and current
> Barack
> Obama advisor, bragged to
> investors in
> 1999.
> 2000:
> Secretary
> Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to
> Congress seeking an end
> to the "special status".
> Democrats raised a ruckus as did
> Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically
> connected CEO's who knew
> how to reward and punish. "We think
> that the statements
> evidence a contempt for the nation's
> housing and mortgage markets"
> Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said.
> It was the last
> chance during the Clinton era for
> reform.
> 2001:
> Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal
> sanity to Fannie and
> Freddie but Democratsblocked any attempt at
> reform;
> especially Rep. Barney Frank and
> Sen. Chris
> Dodd who now run key
> banking
> committees and were huge beneficiaries of
> campaign contributions
> from the mortgage
> giants.
> 2003: Bush proposes
> what
> the NY Times called "the most significant
> regulatory overhaul in the
> housing finance industry since the savings and
> loan crisis a decade
> ago". Even after discovering a
> scheme by Fannie and Freddie to
> overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost
> their bonuses, the
> Democrats killed
> reform.
> 2005: Then Fed
> chairman
> Alan Greenspan warns Congress: "We
> are placing the total
> financial system at substantial
> risk". Sen. McCain, with two
> others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill
> and said, "If
> congress does not act, American taxpayers will
> continue to be
> exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae
> and Freddie Mac pose to
> the housing market, the overall financial
> system and the economy as
> a
> whole". Sen. Harry
> Reid accused the
> GOP of
> trying to "cripple the ability of Fannie
> and Freddie to carry out
> their mission of expanding home
> ownership" The bill went
> nowhere.
> 2007: By now Fannie
> and
> Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12
> trillion US mortgage
> market. The mortgage giants, whose
> executive suites were
> top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had
> been working with
> Wall St. to repackage the bad loans and sell
> them to
> investors. As the housing market fell in
> '07, subprime
> mortgage portfolios suffered major
> losses. The crisis was
> on, though it was 15 years in the
> making.
> 2008: McCain has
> repeatedly
> called for reforming the behemoths, and
> Bush urged reform 17
> times. Still the media have repeated
> Democrats' talking points
> about this being a "Republican"
> disaster. A few Republicans
> are complicit
> but Fannie and Freddie were
> created
> by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely
> run by Democrats and
> protected by
> Democrats. That's
> why taxpayers
> are now being asked for $700
> billion!!
> If you doubt any of this,
> just
> click the links below and listen to your
> lawmakers' own words.
> Decide for yourself.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68D9XrqyrWo&feature=related #
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgqfM5C8lY#
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9j=
>
>
> uJr8CSY4&feature=related #
> Postscript:
> ACORN is
> one of the principlal beneficiaries of Fannie/
> Freddie's slush
> funds. They are currently under
> indictment or investigation in
> many states. Barack Obama served as their
> legal counsel,
> defending their activities for several
> years. Last year the
> democratic congress gave ACORN $500 million and
> attempted to sneak
> in $20 BILLION (Yes BILLION) into the first
> version of the bailout.
> That's why Republicans voted
> no.
>
> HAPPENED AND WHO DID
> IT ! ! !
> !
>
>
> It is mandatory that
> each and
> every one of us learn who committed
> the acts that created the
> mess we
> are currently in.
> 1977: Pres. Jimmy
> Carter signs into Law
> the
> Community Reinvestment Act the foundation and
> cornerstone for the
> impending disaster.. The law pressured
> financial institutions to
> extend home loans to those who would otherwise
> not
> qualify.
> The publicized
> premise: Home
> ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden
> communities and
> neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment,
> jobs,
> etc.
> The Results:
> Statistics bear out that it did not
> help.
> How did the
> government get
> so deeply involved in the housing
> market?
> Answer: Bill
> Clinton wanted it that
>
> way.
> 1992: Republican
> representative Jim Leach (IO) warned of the
> danger that Fannie and
> Freddie were changing from being agencies of
> the public at large to
> money machines for the principals and the
> stock-holding
> few.
> 1993: Clinton extensively
> rewrote
> Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's rules turning
> the quasi-private
> mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized
> monopolies dispensing
> cash and loans to large Democratic voting
> blocks and handing favors,
> jobs and contributions to political
> allies. This potent mix
> led inevitably to corruption and now the
> collapse of Freddie and
> Fannie.
> 1994: Despite
> warnings, Clinton unveiled his
> National
> Home-Ownership Strategy, which broadened the
> CRA in ways congress
> never intended.
> 1995: Congress, about to change
> from
> a Democrat majority to
> Republican. Clinton orders Robert
> Rubin's Treasury Dept
> to
> rewrite the rules. Robt. Rubin's
> Treasury reworked rules,
> forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime
> and minority loans to
> get a satisfactory CRA rating. The rating
> was key to expansion
> or mergers for banks. Loans began to be
> made on the basis of
> race and little else.
> 1997 -
> 1999: Clinton, bypassing
> Republicans in
> Congress,
> enlisted Andrew
> Cuomo,
> then Secretary of Housing and Urban Dev
> elopement, allowing Freddie
> and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in
> a BIG way. Led
> by Rep. Barney Frank and
> Sen. Chris
> Dodd, congress doubled
> down on the
> risk by easing capital limits and allowing them
> to hold just 2.5% of
> capital to back their investments vs. 10% for
> banks. Since
> they could borrow at lower rates than banks
> their enterprises
> boomed.
> With incentives in
> place,
> banks poured billions in loans into poor
> communities, often "no
> doc", "no income",
> "no assets", requiring no money down,
> no verification of income, no nothing .
> Worse still was the
> cronyism: Fannie and Freddie became home
> to out-of
>
> work-politicians, mostly Clinton Democrats. 384
> politicians got
> big campaign donations from Fannie and
> Freddie. Over $200
> million had been spent on lobbying and
> political activities.
> During the 1990's Fannie and Freddie
> enjoyed a subsidy of as much as
> $182 Billion, most of it going to principals
> and shareholders, not
> poor borrowers as
> claimed.
> Did it work?
> Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new
> homeowners but many
> of those loans have gone bad and the minority
> home ownership rates
> are shrinking fast.
> 1999: New Treasury
> Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at
> Fannie and Freddie's
> excesses. Congress held hearings the
> ensuing year but nothing
> was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated
> millions to key
> congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no
> meaningful changes would
> take place. "We manage our political
> risk with the same
> intensity that we manage our credit and
> interest rate risks," Fannie
> CEO Franklin Raines, a
> former Clinton official and current
> Barack
> Obama advisor, bragged to
> investors in
> 1999.
> 2000:
> Secretary
> Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to
> Congress seeking an end
> to the "special status".
> Democrats raised a ruckus as did
> Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically
> connected CEO's who knew
> how to reward and punish. "We think
> that the statements
> evidence a contempt for the nation's
> housing and mortgage markets"
> Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said.
> It was the last
> chance during the Clinton era for
> reform.
> 2001:
> Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal
> sanity to Fannie and
> Freddie but Democratsblocked any attempt at
> reform;
> especially Rep. Barney Frank and
> Sen. Chris
> Dodd who now run key
> banking
> committees and were huge beneficiaries of
> campaign contributions
> from the mortgage
> giants.
> 2003: Bush proposes
> what
> the NY Times called "the most significant
> regulatory overhaul in the
> housing finance industry since the savings and
> loan crisis a decade
> ago". Even after discovering a
> scheme by Fannie and Freddie to
> overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost
> their bonuses, the
> Democrats killed
> reform.
> 2005: Then Fed
> chairman
> Alan Greenspan warns Congress: "We
> are placing the total
> financial system at substantial
> risk". Sen. McCain, with two
> others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill
> and said, "If
> congress does not act, American taxpayers will
> continue to be
> exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae
> and Freddie Mac pose to
> the housing market, the overall financial
> system and the economy as
> a
> whole". Sen. Harry
> Reid accused the
> GOP of
> trying to "cripple the ability of Fannie
> and Freddie to carry out
> their mission of expanding home
> ownership" The bill went
> nowhere.
> 2007: By now Fannie
> and
> Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12
> trillion US mortgage
> market. The mortgage giants, whose
> executive suites were
> top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had
> been working with
> Wall St. to repackage the bad loans and sell
> them to
> investors. As the housing market fell in
> '07, subprime
> mortgage portfolios suffered major
> losses. The crisis was
> on, though it was 15 years in the
> making.
> 2008: McCain has
> repeatedly
> called for reforming the behemoths, and
> Bush urged reform 17
> times. Still the media have repeated
> Democrats' talking points
> about this being a "Republican"
> disaster. A few Republicans
> are complicit
> but Fannie and Freddie were
> created
> by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely
> run by Democrats and
> protected by
> Democrats. That's
> why taxpayers
> are now being asked for $700
> billion!!
> If you doubt any of this,
> just
> click the links below and listen to your
> lawmakers' own words.
> Decide for yourself.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68D9XrqyrWo&feature=related #
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgqfM5C8lY#
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9j=
>
>
> uJr8CSY4&feature=related #
> Postscript:
> ACORN is
> one of the principlal beneficiaries of Fannie/
> Freddie's slush
> funds. They are currently under
> indictment or investigation in
> many states. Barack Obama served as their
> legal counsel,
> defending their activities for several
> years. Last year the
> democratic congress gave ACORN $500 million and
> attempted to sneak
> in $20 BILLION (Yes BILLION) into the first
> version of the bailout.
> That's why Republicans voted
> no.
>
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Your Kidding me, right?
For only the third time in history a sitting president of the United States has been awarded the Nobel Peace Price but unlike presidents Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt, Barack Obama was nominated for the award less than two weeks after he took office and that is our headline tonight, "The 12 Days of Barack Obama."
Now according to the Nobel Foundation the president won the prize, for his quote, "his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy." But what exactly were those extraordinary efforts?
Well, here are just a few highlights from the first 12 days in office. On day one, after taking the oath it was time to take in the traditional Inauguration Day Parade, followed by several not-so-extraordinary black tie parties with his supporters.
Now jump to day three when the president vowed to close Gitmo within a year, a promise the administration now acknowledges will likely be broken. Then there's day four when he reversed a Bush administration executive order to bar U.S. money going to foreign groups that perform abortions.
Well, that's diplomatic. And on his first Sunday in office, well, the president skipped church. At that time he was still looking for a replacement for his old pal Jeremiah Wright. And then on the 12th day Obama once again skipped church and hosted a Super Bowl bash at the White House.
So there you have it. The fast track to winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Now according to the Nobel Foundation the president won the prize, for his quote, "his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy." But what exactly were those extraordinary efforts?
Well, here are just a few highlights from the first 12 days in office. On day one, after taking the oath it was time to take in the traditional Inauguration Day Parade, followed by several not-so-extraordinary black tie parties with his supporters.
Now jump to day three when the president vowed to close Gitmo within a year, a promise the administration now acknowledges will likely be broken. Then there's day four when he reversed a Bush administration executive order to bar U.S. money going to foreign groups that perform abortions.
Well, that's diplomatic. And on his first Sunday in office, well, the president skipped church. At that time he was still looking for a replacement for his old pal Jeremiah Wright. And then on the 12th day Obama once again skipped church and hosted a Super Bowl bash at the White House.
So there you have it. The fast track to winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Even The Far Left is scratching their head
This article is from a far left Chicago reporter.
BY NEIL STEINBERG Sun-Times Columnist
Opening shot
'Oh no." It slipped out as I gazed upon the news -- Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
A strange reaction, since I like the guy, generally, voted for him, think he's doing an OK job in the face of strong, sometimes crazy opposition.
But I'm not a foaming devotee, not the false stereotype those who hate him like to conjure up to give themselves something to sneer at. Obama's too political for my liking, too cautious, deferential to his party, timid on gay rights.
But he's trying, and his job just got harder with this goofy prize. Not just because the Nobel Peace Prize will churn up his foes like piranhas in bloody water. Anything involving him sets them off.
But here they have a point -- the Nobel Peace Prize is tainted fruit. The Swedes give out the real Nobels -- in chemistry, in physics. The Peace Prize is given out by the Norwegians, and they are famous for doing a botch job. Three names: Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter.
Which leads to the obvious question: "Where has Obama brought peace in nine months in office?" The award cites "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." That speech in Cairo? A masterful job, but worth the Nobel Peace Prize?
If he's indeed going to eventually accomplish something in the area of peace -- and I hope he might -- then they should have saved it. What happens if he actually brokers peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians? Will they give him the Mega Nobel Peace Prize? Nobody wants an honor they didn't deserve, and I would think that being elected president of the United States is honor aplenty for one year. This is just premature, at best, and weird at worst
BY NEIL STEINBERG Sun-Times Columnist
Opening shot
'Oh no." It slipped out as I gazed upon the news -- Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
A strange reaction, since I like the guy, generally, voted for him, think he's doing an OK job in the face of strong, sometimes crazy opposition.
But I'm not a foaming devotee, not the false stereotype those who hate him like to conjure up to give themselves something to sneer at. Obama's too political for my liking, too cautious, deferential to his party, timid on gay rights.
But he's trying, and his job just got harder with this goofy prize. Not just because the Nobel Peace Prize will churn up his foes like piranhas in bloody water. Anything involving him sets them off.
But here they have a point -- the Nobel Peace Prize is tainted fruit. The Swedes give out the real Nobels -- in chemistry, in physics. The Peace Prize is given out by the Norwegians, and they are famous for doing a botch job. Three names: Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter.
Which leads to the obvious question: "Where has Obama brought peace in nine months in office?" The award cites "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." That speech in Cairo? A masterful job, but worth the Nobel Peace Prize?
If he's indeed going to eventually accomplish something in the area of peace -- and I hope he might -- then they should have saved it. What happens if he actually brokers peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians? Will they give him the Mega Nobel Peace Prize? Nobody wants an honor they didn't deserve, and I would think that being elected president of the United States is honor aplenty for one year. This is just premature, at best, and weird at worst
Friday, October 9, 2009
It's the "Mumfest"
Don't wait till next year. This will be the biggest and best Mumfest yet. Don't believe me, check out all the wonderful happenings at http://www.mumfest.net/.
Steve Tyson
www.newbern-nc.info
Steve Tyson
www.newbern-nc.info
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Truth shall set you Free
Back on Uncle Sam's plantation Star Parker - Syndicated ColumnistSix years ago I wrote a book called Uncle Sam's Plantation. I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas -- a poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism. I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960s by Democrats, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation.. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems -- the kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, which was passed by a Republican controlled Congress.I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth-producing American capitalism.But, incredibly, we are now going in the opposite direction.Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh."Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.In an op-Ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus."This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America 's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, and education."Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability."Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty."Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent homes and out-of-wedlock births.It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?"The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
Friday, September 18, 2009
Trust fund Victory
Court to Governor: No more raidingTuesday's landmark ruling by the NC Court of Appeals is just now being understood by many. To be sure the court said that former Governor Mike Easley was wrong in transferring money from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund in order to balance the budget. But this ruling goes far beyond that verdict. The NC Constitution states pretty clearly in Article 3 that the governor's authority is to ensure that the state doesn't run a deficit in any fiscal year and is to monitor revenues so as to "effect the necessary economies in state expenditures..." Judge Robert N. Hunter was pretty clear in saying that there are any number of things the governor can do in administering the budget but essentially he or she must either increase the revenues or decrease spending. Governor Perdue has indicated that the state will appeal. AG Cooper hasn't publicly said anything yet. To be sure the state doesn't like losing lawsuits, especially another one to lawyer Gene Boyce and son, Dan. But some are questioning how wise such an appeal might be. The court ruled on one essential element of the lawsuit but it basically avoided another. The plaintiffs wanted the court to rule on Article 5, Section 5 that says, "Every act of the General Assembly levying a tax shall state the special object to which it is to be applied, and it shall be applied to no other purpose." The Supreme Court might rule on this argument. For more discussion about this significant ruling be sure to catch this week's NC SPIN.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Democrats falling apart
Never has an administration had more political firepower at their disposal yet been set to so totally fail in the next six to eight weeks. It is nearly a foregone conclusion. It is nearly unavoidable. And it defies all logic given the sizable majority the administration has in both houses of Congress.
Since I was the first pundit to predict Obama's presidency (back in December 2006) it behooves me to tell you the course I believe the next few weeks will take. Just think, it was only a few months ago that the left looked unstoppable in bringing about their plan to radicalize, nationalize, and federalize America.
1. Health Care's Long and Painful Death
Barring the existing possibility that the Democrats cram a reform bill down the throats of actively protesting Americans through an ultra-partisan process that would shut out conservatives and Republicans from even being allowed to contribute to the discussion, health care reform is dead.
It actually died a good while back when the president decided to pivot and create a new issue that no one had been discussing--health insurance reform. The American people will want to know why we should spend $4 billion to cover everyone in America "efficiently," when we already do so with inefficiencies like people using the emergency room as their general practitioner for $2.5 billion.
Deep thinkers on the issue also want to know why the president hasn't entertained one item of tort reform-- protecting his friends, the trial lawyers-- yet is willing to claim that doctors are eager to lop off feet, tonsils, and other body parts just to make a buck.
2. Cap-and-Trade Will Be the Largest Tax Increase in American History
With the 2010 election cycle just around the corner, it won't be too long before the campaign ads are drafted. With cap-and-trade still sitting in legislative limbo (and the president's own adviser--Warren Buffet-- now opposing it openly in the media), with anti-tax Democrats, Republicans, and Independents coming to Washington on September 12, and with "Blue Dog" Democrats getting hammered by constituents during the August recess, the chance of an ultra-partisan "ram through" victory on the legislation would not be wise.
Cap-and-trade, if passed, will contribute to unemployment, Wall Street stop and starts, and ultimately reduced treasury revenues. It would serve as the single largest tax increase on the average American in all of American history.
Even President Obama admitted as much, predicting that electric bill prices, in his words, would, "skyrocket." Those that have looked at the specifics tell us that the average utility bill in America will go from $167 to $307 per month, per family.
3. Unemployment Will Remain
By now several Washington organizations, from left and right, and one of note consisting of both--the Congressional Budget Office, predict that unemployment will not shrink from the predicted "Obama high" of eight percent. Instead, nearly without fail, economists are predicting that unemployment will be at or over 10% for up to the next 24 months.-- That is a nearly 250% increase in the unemployment rate under Bush for nearly the duration of his two-term presidency. We did not see the unemployment climb this high during President Bush's entire two-term presidency.
If more people were working, higher taxes and possible new health care entitlements could be considered, but with at least ten percent of the population out of work, it is political suicide for Democrats to even think of it.
4. Obama's Integrity Has Been Tarnished in August
Not a great deal has been made of the whoppers that the president has been spewing while Congress has been away during the summer recess but it turns out that more people than I realized have also noticed the president wildly "exaggerating" in his talks on health care. For instance, the president confused the $500 physicians actually get to amputate a foot as opposed to the $50,000 that he claimed they got. He also showed an utter disregard for the reputation of those doctors he talks about, the "facts" he uses to make his argument, and is highly overly optimistic about the results of his policies. Long story short, at the beginning of the summer Americans mostly trusted him, his passion index was at +10, he heads into the fall at -14.
5. A $3 Trillion Dollar Budget
There was lots of new spending for this and it sure added up. And that brings me to number 6.
6. A Coming Middle Class Tax Hike
The Obama administration will hem and haw about hiking taxes. -- There will be an official, and arrogant, explanation given by Robert Gibbs from the podium in the White House briefing room about why they must to do this to be "good stewards" and to be a "responsible administration" that "pays as it goes."
But the truth is, in order to pay for everything the Obama administration has promised (and budgeted for), a tax hike is looming for small businesses and the working families that President Obama promised would never come.
And as an aside, the president was going to break that promise all along. Because the minute the Bush tax relief measures run out in 2010, middle class taxes would be going up in the Obama administration. That means that, fundamentally, that Obama's "not a single dime" pledge on the campaign trail was just hot air from start to finish.
Of course, the president, the Democrats, the left, and Congressional leadership could surprise me. They could show up in September and endorse the Coburn health care bill in the Senate and steal all the credit for it. They could show up next week and fight with all their might to not allow the tax rates to skyrocket in 2010. They could decide to scrap cap-and-trade and re-think the use of public money for a true job-based economic stimulus.
But I'm not holding my breath, and I'd advise you against it as well.
They've awakened the American worker, the American small-business owner, and the American voter.
All three of which are now wondering aloud, "What on earth have we done?"
Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "'Baldwin/McCullough Radio" now heard on 197 stations and columnist based in New York. He blogs at www.muscleheadrevolution.com. His second book "The Kind Of MAN Every Man SHOULD Be" is in stores now.
Leave a Comment
Sort: Newest
Sort: Oldest
Subscribe to Comments
Sort: Newest
Sort: Oldest
Email* not displayed
Comment Required
Comment
FOX News encourages you to participate in this discussion; however, please be sure to review our Terms of Use and Privacy Statement
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register below.
Already a member of FOXNews.com?
Log in now
Username or Email Address
Password
Remember me on this computer Forgot your password?
or login using a third-party account
Since I was the first pundit to predict Obama's presidency (back in December 2006) it behooves me to tell you the course I believe the next few weeks will take. Just think, it was only a few months ago that the left looked unstoppable in bringing about their plan to radicalize, nationalize, and federalize America.
1. Health Care's Long and Painful Death
Barring the existing possibility that the Democrats cram a reform bill down the throats of actively protesting Americans through an ultra-partisan process that would shut out conservatives and Republicans from even being allowed to contribute to the discussion, health care reform is dead.
It actually died a good while back when the president decided to pivot and create a new issue that no one had been discussing--health insurance reform. The American people will want to know why we should spend $4 billion to cover everyone in America "efficiently," when we already do so with inefficiencies like people using the emergency room as their general practitioner for $2.5 billion.
Deep thinkers on the issue also want to know why the president hasn't entertained one item of tort reform-- protecting his friends, the trial lawyers-- yet is willing to claim that doctors are eager to lop off feet, tonsils, and other body parts just to make a buck.
2. Cap-and-Trade Will Be the Largest Tax Increase in American History
With the 2010 election cycle just around the corner, it won't be too long before the campaign ads are drafted. With cap-and-trade still sitting in legislative limbo (and the president's own adviser--Warren Buffet-- now opposing it openly in the media), with anti-tax Democrats, Republicans, and Independents coming to Washington on September 12, and with "Blue Dog" Democrats getting hammered by constituents during the August recess, the chance of an ultra-partisan "ram through" victory on the legislation would not be wise.
Cap-and-trade, if passed, will contribute to unemployment, Wall Street stop and starts, and ultimately reduced treasury revenues. It would serve as the single largest tax increase on the average American in all of American history.
Even President Obama admitted as much, predicting that electric bill prices, in his words, would, "skyrocket." Those that have looked at the specifics tell us that the average utility bill in America will go from $167 to $307 per month, per family.
3. Unemployment Will Remain
By now several Washington organizations, from left and right, and one of note consisting of both--the Congressional Budget Office, predict that unemployment will not shrink from the predicted "Obama high" of eight percent. Instead, nearly without fail, economists are predicting that unemployment will be at or over 10% for up to the next 24 months.-- That is a nearly 250% increase in the unemployment rate under Bush for nearly the duration of his two-term presidency. We did not see the unemployment climb this high during President Bush's entire two-term presidency.
If more people were working, higher taxes and possible new health care entitlements could be considered, but with at least ten percent of the population out of work, it is political suicide for Democrats to even think of it.
4. Obama's Integrity Has Been Tarnished in August
Not a great deal has been made of the whoppers that the president has been spewing while Congress has been away during the summer recess but it turns out that more people than I realized have also noticed the president wildly "exaggerating" in his talks on health care. For instance, the president confused the $500 physicians actually get to amputate a foot as opposed to the $50,000 that he claimed they got. He also showed an utter disregard for the reputation of those doctors he talks about, the "facts" he uses to make his argument, and is highly overly optimistic about the results of his policies. Long story short, at the beginning of the summer Americans mostly trusted him, his passion index was at +10, he heads into the fall at -14.
5. A $3 Trillion Dollar Budget
There was lots of new spending for this and it sure added up. And that brings me to number 6.
6. A Coming Middle Class Tax Hike
The Obama administration will hem and haw about hiking taxes. -- There will be an official, and arrogant, explanation given by Robert Gibbs from the podium in the White House briefing room about why they must to do this to be "good stewards" and to be a "responsible administration" that "pays as it goes."
But the truth is, in order to pay for everything the Obama administration has promised (and budgeted for), a tax hike is looming for small businesses and the working families that President Obama promised would never come.
And as an aside, the president was going to break that promise all along. Because the minute the Bush tax relief measures run out in 2010, middle class taxes would be going up in the Obama administration. That means that, fundamentally, that Obama's "not a single dime" pledge on the campaign trail was just hot air from start to finish.
Of course, the president, the Democrats, the left, and Congressional leadership could surprise me. They could show up in September and endorse the Coburn health care bill in the Senate and steal all the credit for it. They could show up next week and fight with all their might to not allow the tax rates to skyrocket in 2010. They could decide to scrap cap-and-trade and re-think the use of public money for a true job-based economic stimulus.
But I'm not holding my breath, and I'd advise you against it as well.
They've awakened the American worker, the American small-business owner, and the American voter.
All three of which are now wondering aloud, "What on earth have we done?"
Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "'Baldwin/McCullough Radio" now heard on 197 stations and columnist based in New York. He blogs at www.muscleheadrevolution.com. His second book "The Kind Of MAN Every Man SHOULD Be" is in stores now.
Leave a Comment
Sort: Newest
Sort: Oldest
Subscribe to Comments
Sort: Newest
Sort: Oldest
Email* not displayed
Comment Required
Comment
FOX News encourages you to participate in this discussion; however, please be sure to review our Terms of Use and Privacy Statement
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register below.
Already a member of FOXNews.com?
Log in now
Username or Email Address
Password
Remember me on this computer Forgot your password?
or login using a third-party account
Friday, September 4, 2009
Fall is in the air
Well this week has definately show that fall is right around the corner. And although summer is my favorite season in NC, Fall is my second favorite as it brings the crisp evenings and beautiful colors.
Conservative News
Obama, The MortalBy Charles Krauthammer
WASHINGTON -- What happened to President Obama? His wax wings having melted, he is the man who fell to earth. What happened to bring his popularity down further than that of any new president in polling history save Gerald Ford (post-Nixon pardon)?
The conventional wisdom is that Obama made a tactical mistake by farming out his agenda to Congress and allowing himself to be pulled left by the doctrinaire liberals of the Democratic congressional leadership. But the idea of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi pulling Obama left is quite ridiculous. Where do you think he came from, this friend of Chavista ex-terrorist William Ayers, of PLO apologist Rashid Khalidi, of racialist inciter Jeremiah Wright?
But forget the character witnesses. Just look at Obama's behavior as president, beginning with his first address to Congress. Unbidden, unforced and unpushed by the congressional leadership, Obama gave his most deeply felt vision of America, delivering the boldest social democratic manifesto ever issued by a U.S. president. In American politics, you can't get more left than that speech and still be on the playing field.
In a center-right country, that was problem enough. Obama then compounded it by vastly misreading his mandate. He assumed it was personal. This, after winning by a mere seven points in a year of true economic catastrophe, of an extraordinarily unpopular Republican incumbent, and of a politically weak and unsteady opponent. Nonetheless, Obama imagined that, as Fouad Ajami so brilliantly observed, he had won the kind of banana-republic plebiscite that grants caudillo-like authority to remake everything in one's own image.
Accordingly, Obama unveiled his plans for a grand makeover of the American system, animating that vision by enacting measure after measure that greatly enlarged state power, government spending and national debt. Not surprisingly, these measures engendered powerful popular skepticism that burst into tea-party town-hall resistance.
Obama's reaction to that resistance made things worse. Obama fancies himself tribune of the people, spokesman for the grass roots, harbinger of a new kind of politics from below that would upset the established lobbyist special-interest order of Washington. Yet faced with protests from a real grass-roots movement, his party and his supporters called it a mob -- misinformed, misled, irrational, angry, unhinged, bordering on racist. All this while the administration was cutting backroom deals with every manner of special interest -- from drug companies to auto unions to doctors -- in which favors worth billions were quietly and opaquely exchanged.
"Get out of the way" and "don't do a lot of talking," the great bipartisan scolded opponents whom he blamed for creating the "mess" from which he is merely trying to save us. If only they could see. So with boundless confidence in his own persuasiveness, Obama undertook a summer campaign to enlighten the masses by addressing substantive objections to his reforms.
Things got worse still. With answers so slippery and implausible and, well, fishy, he began jeopardizing the most fundamental asset of any new president -- trust. You can't say that the system is totally broken and in need of radical reconstruction, but nothing will change for you; that Medicare is bankrupting the country, but $500 billion in cuts will have no effect on care; that you will expand coverage while reducing deficits -- and not inspire incredulity and mistrust. When ordinary citizens understand they are being played for fools, they bristle.
After a disastrous summer -- mistaking his mandate, believing his press, centralizing power, governing left, disdaining citizens for (of all things) organizing -- Obama is in trouble.
Let's be clear: This is a fall, not a collapse. He's not been repudiated or even defeated. He will likely regroup and pass some version of health insurance reform that will restore some of his clout and popularity.
But what has occurred -- irreversibly -- is this: He's become ordinary. The spell is broken. The charismatic conjurer of 2008 has shed his magic. He's regressed to the mean, tellingly expressed in poll numbers hovering at 50 percent.
For a man who only recently bred a cult, ordinariness is a great burden, and for his acolytes, a crushing disappointment. Obama has become a politician like others. And like other flailing presidents, he will try to salvage a cherished reform -- and his own standing -- with yet another prime-time speech.
But for the first time since election night in Grant Park, he will appear in the most unfamiliar of guises -- mere mortal, a treacherous transformation to which a man of Obama's supreme self-regard may never adapt.
checkTextResizerCookie('article_body');
letters@charleskrauthammer.com
WASHINGTON -- What happened to President Obama? His wax wings having melted, he is the man who fell to earth. What happened to bring his popularity down further than that of any new president in polling history save Gerald Ford (post-Nixon pardon)?
The conventional wisdom is that Obama made a tactical mistake by farming out his agenda to Congress and allowing himself to be pulled left by the doctrinaire liberals of the Democratic congressional leadership. But the idea of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi pulling Obama left is quite ridiculous. Where do you think he came from, this friend of Chavista ex-terrorist William Ayers, of PLO apologist Rashid Khalidi, of racialist inciter Jeremiah Wright?
But forget the character witnesses. Just look at Obama's behavior as president, beginning with his first address to Congress. Unbidden, unforced and unpushed by the congressional leadership, Obama gave his most deeply felt vision of America, delivering the boldest social democratic manifesto ever issued by a U.S. president. In American politics, you can't get more left than that speech and still be on the playing field.
In a center-right country, that was problem enough. Obama then compounded it by vastly misreading his mandate. He assumed it was personal. This, after winning by a mere seven points in a year of true economic catastrophe, of an extraordinarily unpopular Republican incumbent, and of a politically weak and unsteady opponent. Nonetheless, Obama imagined that, as Fouad Ajami so brilliantly observed, he had won the kind of banana-republic plebiscite that grants caudillo-like authority to remake everything in one's own image.
Accordingly, Obama unveiled his plans for a grand makeover of the American system, animating that vision by enacting measure after measure that greatly enlarged state power, government spending and national debt. Not surprisingly, these measures engendered powerful popular skepticism that burst into tea-party town-hall resistance.
Obama's reaction to that resistance made things worse. Obama fancies himself tribune of the people, spokesman for the grass roots, harbinger of a new kind of politics from below that would upset the established lobbyist special-interest order of Washington. Yet faced with protests from a real grass-roots movement, his party and his supporters called it a mob -- misinformed, misled, irrational, angry, unhinged, bordering on racist. All this while the administration was cutting backroom deals with every manner of special interest -- from drug companies to auto unions to doctors -- in which favors worth billions were quietly and opaquely exchanged.
"Get out of the way" and "don't do a lot of talking," the great bipartisan scolded opponents whom he blamed for creating the "mess" from which he is merely trying to save us. If only they could see. So with boundless confidence in his own persuasiveness, Obama undertook a summer campaign to enlighten the masses by addressing substantive objections to his reforms.
Things got worse still. With answers so slippery and implausible and, well, fishy, he began jeopardizing the most fundamental asset of any new president -- trust. You can't say that the system is totally broken and in need of radical reconstruction, but nothing will change for you; that Medicare is bankrupting the country, but $500 billion in cuts will have no effect on care; that you will expand coverage while reducing deficits -- and not inspire incredulity and mistrust. When ordinary citizens understand they are being played for fools, they bristle.
After a disastrous summer -- mistaking his mandate, believing his press, centralizing power, governing left, disdaining citizens for (of all things) organizing -- Obama is in trouble.
Let's be clear: This is a fall, not a collapse. He's not been repudiated or even defeated. He will likely regroup and pass some version of health insurance reform that will restore some of his clout and popularity.
But what has occurred -- irreversibly -- is this: He's become ordinary. The spell is broken. The charismatic conjurer of 2008 has shed his magic. He's regressed to the mean, tellingly expressed in poll numbers hovering at 50 percent.
For a man who only recently bred a cult, ordinariness is a great burden, and for his acolytes, a crushing disappointment. Obama has become a politician like others. And like other flailing presidents, he will try to salvage a cherished reform -- and his own standing -- with yet another prime-time speech.
But for the first time since election night in Grant Park, he will appear in the most unfamiliar of guises -- mere mortal, a treacherous transformation to which a man of Obama's supreme self-regard may never adapt.
checkTextResizerCookie('article_body');
letters@charleskrauthammer.com
Friday, July 3, 2009
President for life
Upon Obama's taking office, Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., introduced legislation in the House to repeal the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limits presidents to two consecutive terms or 10 years in office. Serrano’s justification for the bill is that, until 1951, nothing prevented a president from serving more than two terms.
Additionally, a grass-roots movement is under way to make Obama's third term possible. A Web site, End22.com, is dedicated to abolishing the 22nd Amendment and is asking supporters for donations to make it happen.
"We are wise enough to choose our own leader and to decide how long that leader will serve," the Web site states, noting there was nothing in the original Constitution of 1787 that barred a third or fourth term for presidents.
"With our current crises, the American People need to take back their right to elect the leader of their choice. The task is too large and the risk is too great. We must act now!"
Limbaugh acknowledged that Obama may not try to repeal the amendment on his own.
“He may not openly try to change the Constitution. But there might be this movement in the country from his ‘cult-like’ followers to support the notion that a democratically-elected leader who is ‘loved’ and ‘adored’ has carte blanche once elected — just serve as long as he wants because the people demand it, because the people want it, because the people love it.”
Limbaugh said Obama has sympathy for dictators; he relates to them. He inherited his father's Marxism.
“I wouldn't put it past Obama to be plotting right now how to serve beyond 2016, and I think [that’s the reason for the] way he's reacting to what's happening in Honduras. They've got a constitution. They’re a democratically elected set of officials down there, and you had a guy running the country, Mel Zelaya, who was just going to basically rip that country's democracy to shreds and the country moved in to stop him from doing it. And Obama sides with the guy who wanted to rip up the constitution.”
Obama sides with other dictators in the region, as well, and “is nothing if not a hardcore liberal, always more sympathetic, appearing to side with the bad guys on the world stage.”
Some described Obama's followers as a “cult-like bunch” whose “attachment to him is not political, it's not ideological, it is not issue-wise. It is cultish. It includes a wide percentage of minorities who, for different reasons, will come to think that he simply cannot be replaced.
“[If he] succeeds with amnesty, for example, and all the illegal aliens are instantly made citizens — he'll be too important. Just like right now — he's too big to fail as far as the drive-bys are concerned; he's too important to be replaced. No one else can lead the nation, they will say.”
During a news conference Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked whether Obama supports Serrano’s House Joint Resolution No. 5, which, if passed, could lead the way for an Obama run at a third term. It was noted that Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also supports repeal of the amendment.
“You're going to find I tend to get it mixed up with House Joint Resolution Four and Six,” Gibbs said, to laughter from the press corps.
“I think the president is firmly in support of an amendment that would limit his time in the presidency to eight years if he's given that awesome responsibility by the American people.”
“Anybody who thinks [Obama] intends to just constitutionally go away in 2016 is nuts. I think that's what all this ACORN stuff is all about. I think given ACORN money and fraudulent voter registration — whatever it's going to take — these are people who seek power for reasons other than to serve. They seek to rule.”
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Additionally, a grass-roots movement is under way to make Obama's third term possible. A Web site, End22.com, is dedicated to abolishing the 22nd Amendment and is asking supporters for donations to make it happen.
"We are wise enough to choose our own leader and to decide how long that leader will serve," the Web site states, noting there was nothing in the original Constitution of 1787 that barred a third or fourth term for presidents.
"With our current crises, the American People need to take back their right to elect the leader of their choice. The task is too large and the risk is too great. We must act now!"
Limbaugh acknowledged that Obama may not try to repeal the amendment on his own.
“He may not openly try to change the Constitution. But there might be this movement in the country from his ‘cult-like’ followers to support the notion that a democratically-elected leader who is ‘loved’ and ‘adored’ has carte blanche once elected — just serve as long as he wants because the people demand it, because the people want it, because the people love it.”
Limbaugh said Obama has sympathy for dictators; he relates to them. He inherited his father's Marxism.
“I wouldn't put it past Obama to be plotting right now how to serve beyond 2016, and I think [that’s the reason for the] way he's reacting to what's happening in Honduras. They've got a constitution. They’re a democratically elected set of officials down there, and you had a guy running the country, Mel Zelaya, who was just going to basically rip that country's democracy to shreds and the country moved in to stop him from doing it. And Obama sides with the guy who wanted to rip up the constitution.”
Obama sides with other dictators in the region, as well, and “is nothing if not a hardcore liberal, always more sympathetic, appearing to side with the bad guys on the world stage.”
Some described Obama's followers as a “cult-like bunch” whose “attachment to him is not political, it's not ideological, it is not issue-wise. It is cultish. It includes a wide percentage of minorities who, for different reasons, will come to think that he simply cannot be replaced.
“[If he] succeeds with amnesty, for example, and all the illegal aliens are instantly made citizens — he'll be too important. Just like right now — he's too big to fail as far as the drive-bys are concerned; he's too important to be replaced. No one else can lead the nation, they will say.”
During a news conference Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked whether Obama supports Serrano’s House Joint Resolution No. 5, which, if passed, could lead the way for an Obama run at a third term. It was noted that Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also supports repeal of the amendment.
“You're going to find I tend to get it mixed up with House Joint Resolution Four and Six,” Gibbs said, to laughter from the press corps.
“I think the president is firmly in support of an amendment that would limit his time in the presidency to eight years if he's given that awesome responsibility by the American people.”
“Anybody who thinks [Obama] intends to just constitutionally go away in 2016 is nuts. I think that's what all this ACORN stuff is all about. I think given ACORN money and fraudulent voter registration — whatever it's going to take — these are people who seek power for reasons other than to serve. They seek to rule.”
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Tax and spend Tax and spend Tax and spend
Democrats’ Massive Tax Increase Proposals
“The Dirty Dozen”
Raleigh – House Republican Leader Paul Stam (R-Wake) and Senate Republican leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) discussed some of the most egregious tax and fee increases in the proposed Democratic budget. House and Senate members discussed the negative effects of these “Dirty Dozen” taxes and fees on our state’s fragile economy and their impact on families.
The “Dirty Dozen” include:
Estimated Revenue Generated:
2009-2010 2010-2011
A. Increase Upper-Income
Tax Brackets: $256,700,000 $183,100,000
Presented by: Rep. Dale Folwell (R-Forsyth)
· Jobs “killer” – Employers move to other states
· Disincentive for new economic development - employers
· Wrong prescription during recession
B. Increase Sales Tax
Rate ¼ cent: $195,000,000 $200,000,000
Presented by: Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake)
· Regressive, greatest burden on lower income citizens
· Nondeductible against Federal Income Tax - $30 million/yr. gift to Washington, DC
C. Sales Tax on Repairs,
Installations, Warranties: $176,200,000 $244,000,000
Presented by: Rep. Nelson Dollar (R-Wake)
· Harmful to small businesses
· Burden on consumers who can afford it least
D. Sales Tax on Digital/
Click Throughs: $13,200,000 $17,800,000
Presented by: Rep. Marilyn Avila (R-Wake)
Harmful to economic recovery
Amazon has threatened to pull out of NC. If so, we will receive less revenue
Probably unconstitutional
E. Sales Tax on Local
And Interstate Courier Services: $25,000,000 $91,000,000
Presented by: Rep. Darrell McCormick (R-Yadkin)
Costs passed on to consumers/small businesses
FedEx is losing money
Tax ‘em “coming and going”
F. Franchise Tax on LLCs: $59,000,000 $131,000,000
Presented by: Rep. Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg)
· Inhibit growth of new jobs (most small businesses are LLCs)
· Tax applies even if LLC is losing money
· In many cases, this duplicates property tax
G. Sales Tax on
Amusements/Movies: $23,600,000 $31,600,000
Presented by: Rep. Hugh Blackwell (R-Burke)
Amusements/movies are all business for those in that business
Regressive, nondeductible
H. Increase Fees for Deeds of
Trust and Mortgages for
Emergency Mgmt Division Use: $1,780,093 $3,560.186
Presented by: Rep. Pat Hurley (R-Randolph)
Fee completely unrelated to Emergency Management
Why are borrowers singled out for this fee when those who pay cash for a home pay nothing?
A person who borrows $10,000 pays same $9 as one who borrows $1 million
I. Increase Marriage License Fee: $648,680 $648,680
Presented by: Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba)
Burden on families at the time of life when they are least able to pay
Funds Domestic Violence – But it does not tax those “shacking up” or those married 30 years who are abusing a spouse or “partner”
Insulting to newlyweds to presume they will abuse each other
J. Radiation (X-Ray)
Inspection Fee: $416,282 $813,242
Presented by: Rep. Bill Current (R-Gaston)
Increase medical costs
No evidence of need for new inspections
K. Electricity Tax: $273,500,000 $337,800,000
Presented by: Rep. Wil Neumann (R-Gaston)
Regressive, nondeductible
Tax on all electric consumers – residential and business
Harmful to stressed families in time of recession
L. Pick Your Own $? $?
“Adoption of a state budget that adequately funds North Carolina’s priorities does not require busting the budgets of North Carolina’s families and businesses,” said Sen. Phil Berger. “Now is the time to break the cycle of tax-and-spend policies embraced by North Carolina’s Democratic leaders. Legislative Democrats should not expect North Carolina’s citizens and small businesses to pay the price for Democratic mismanagement.”
“The Dirty Dozen”
Raleigh – House Republican Leader Paul Stam (R-Wake) and Senate Republican leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) discussed some of the most egregious tax and fee increases in the proposed Democratic budget. House and Senate members discussed the negative effects of these “Dirty Dozen” taxes and fees on our state’s fragile economy and their impact on families.
The “Dirty Dozen” include:
Estimated Revenue Generated:
2009-2010 2010-2011
A. Increase Upper-Income
Tax Brackets: $256,700,000 $183,100,000
Presented by: Rep. Dale Folwell (R-Forsyth)
· Jobs “killer” – Employers move to other states
· Disincentive for new economic development - employers
· Wrong prescription during recession
B. Increase Sales Tax
Rate ¼ cent: $195,000,000 $200,000,000
Presented by: Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake)
· Regressive, greatest burden on lower income citizens
· Nondeductible against Federal Income Tax - $30 million/yr. gift to Washington, DC
C. Sales Tax on Repairs,
Installations, Warranties: $176,200,000 $244,000,000
Presented by: Rep. Nelson Dollar (R-Wake)
· Harmful to small businesses
· Burden on consumers who can afford it least
D. Sales Tax on Digital/
Click Throughs: $13,200,000 $17,800,000
Presented by: Rep. Marilyn Avila (R-Wake)
Harmful to economic recovery
Amazon has threatened to pull out of NC. If so, we will receive less revenue
Probably unconstitutional
E. Sales Tax on Local
And Interstate Courier Services: $25,000,000 $91,000,000
Presented by: Rep. Darrell McCormick (R-Yadkin)
Costs passed on to consumers/small businesses
FedEx is losing money
Tax ‘em “coming and going”
F. Franchise Tax on LLCs: $59,000,000 $131,000,000
Presented by: Rep. Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg)
· Inhibit growth of new jobs (most small businesses are LLCs)
· Tax applies even if LLC is losing money
· In many cases, this duplicates property tax
G. Sales Tax on
Amusements/Movies: $23,600,000 $31,600,000
Presented by: Rep. Hugh Blackwell (R-Burke)
Amusements/movies are all business for those in that business
Regressive, nondeductible
H. Increase Fees for Deeds of
Trust and Mortgages for
Emergency Mgmt Division Use: $1,780,093 $3,560.186
Presented by: Rep. Pat Hurley (R-Randolph)
Fee completely unrelated to Emergency Management
Why are borrowers singled out for this fee when those who pay cash for a home pay nothing?
A person who borrows $10,000 pays same $9 as one who borrows $1 million
I. Increase Marriage License Fee: $648,680 $648,680
Presented by: Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba)
Burden on families at the time of life when they are least able to pay
Funds Domestic Violence – But it does not tax those “shacking up” or those married 30 years who are abusing a spouse or “partner”
Insulting to newlyweds to presume they will abuse each other
J. Radiation (X-Ray)
Inspection Fee: $416,282 $813,242
Presented by: Rep. Bill Current (R-Gaston)
Increase medical costs
No evidence of need for new inspections
K. Electricity Tax: $273,500,000 $337,800,000
Presented by: Rep. Wil Neumann (R-Gaston)
Regressive, nondeductible
Tax on all electric consumers – residential and business
Harmful to stressed families in time of recession
L. Pick Your Own $? $?
“Adoption of a state budget that adequately funds North Carolina’s priorities does not require busting the budgets of North Carolina’s families and businesses,” said Sen. Phil Berger. “Now is the time to break the cycle of tax-and-spend policies embraced by North Carolina’s Democratic leaders. Legislative Democrats should not expect North Carolina’s citizens and small businesses to pay the price for Democratic mismanagement.”
Thursday, June 4, 2009
May home sales in New Bern
Well the total is in for May home sales in Craven and Pamlico County and here they.
May 2009-total homes sold=102
May 2008-total homes sold=151
May 2007-total homes sold=196
Thats about a year and a qu
May 2009-total homes sold=102
May 2008-total homes sold=151
May 2007-total homes sold=196
Thats about a year and a qu
This ain't rocket science
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said large U.S. budget deficits threaten financial stability and the government can’t continue indefinitely to borrow at the current rate to finance the shortfall.
“Unless we demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth,” Bernanke said in testimony to lawmakers today. “Maintaining the confidence of the financial markets requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance.”
Bernanke’s comments signal that the central bank sees risks of a relapse into financial turmoil even as credit markets show signs of stability. He said the Fed won’t finance government spending over the long term, while warning that the financial industry remains under stress and the credit crunch continues to limit spending.
The Fed chief said in his remarks to the House Budget Committee that deficit concerns are already influencing the prices of long-term Treasuries.
Yields on 10-year notes have climbed about 1 percentage point since the Fed announced plans in March to buy $300 billion of long-term government bonds. The notes yielded 3.54 percent at 5 p.m. in New York, down from 3.61 percent late yesterday, as Bernanke’s warnings on the need to reduce the deficit supported the market.
Rise in Yields
“In recent weeks, yields on longer-term Treasury securities and fixed-rate mortgages have risen,” Bernanke said. “These increases appear to reflect concerns about large federal deficits but also other causes, including greater optimism about the economic outlook, a reversal of flight-to-quality flows and technical factors related to the hedging of mortgage holdings.”
The budget deficit this year is projected to reach $1.85 trillion, equivalent to 13 percent of the nation’s economy, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
“Either cuts in spending or increases in taxes will be necessary to stabilize the fiscal situation,” Bernanke said in response to a question. “The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt.”
Bernanke also addressed banks’ efforts to bolster common equity in the aftermath of regulators’ stress tests on the 19 largest U.S. lenders. He said the 10 firms that were found to have a total capital shortfall of $75 billion have now sold or announced plans to boost common equity by $48 billion.
Bank Plans
“We expect further announcements shortly” as the banks submit plans due by June 8, Bernanke said.
This year’s projected budget deficit, four times the size of last year’s shortfall, has been driven up mostly by costs associated with the financial crisis.
“Bernanke knows that fiscal financing problems are already complicating monetary policy and are in danger of undermining Fed credibility,” said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. “He knows that there is only so much quantitative-easing financing that can be done.”
A fiscal stimulus of almost $800 billion, the government’s financial rescue effort, takeovers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and increased costs of running safety-net programs such as unemployment insurance have added billions to spending.
President Barack Obama has pledged to halve the deficit by the end of his term. Even if successful, his administration anticipates the government will still run what would be, by historical standards, large deficits for the foreseeable future. Bernanke said the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio is set to reach the highest since the 1950s.
‘Hard Slog’
“It is fine to have this budget deficit now,” said Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economics professor and former Fed vice chairman. “It will also be a long hard slog to get the budget deficit down to a manageable level.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters that Bernanke “is absolutely right, we need to be very concerned about incurring additional indebtedness.” The House plans to pass legislation before its July 4 recess to cut spending in one category before increasing it in another, he said. In addition, “we need to address entitlements.”
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in an interview with Bloomberg Television May 21, said the administration’s goal is to cut the budget shortfall to 3 percent of GDP or smaller.
Rising government spending, forecasts for a record fiscal deficit and an unprecedented expansion of central bank credit have also fueled investor concerns that inflation will rise. Bernanke said inflation “will remain low” as the economy operates with slack resource use.
‘Dangerous’ Mix
Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on the committee, said in opening remarks that the Treasury’s debt issuance and the Fed’s monetary stimulus, including purchases of government bonds, “can be a dangerous policy mix” and risks “runaway inflation” in the longer term.
Ryan said he’s concerned about “substantial” political pressure on the Fed to delay plans to tighten credit should unemployment remain high.
“The Fed’s political independence is critical and essential for safeguarding its commitment to price stability,” Ryan said. “We policy makers should realize that our most challenging policy period is going to be ahead of us.”
In Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday she views “with great skepticism what authority the Fed has and the leeway the Bank of England has created for itself,” to purchase a range of assets in their efforts to end the crisis. She urged central banks to return to a “policy of reason.”
Asked by a lawmaker about Merkel’s comments, Bernanke said, “I respectfully disagree with her views.”
‘Inflationary Consequences’
“I am comfortable with the policy actions that the Federal Reserve has taken,” he said. “We are comfortable that we can exit from those policies at the appropriate time without inflationary consequences.”
The central bank is buying as much as $1.75 trillion of housing debt and Treasuries this year to lower borrowing costs across the economy after reducing the benchmark interest rate almost to zero in December. Fed officials hold their next policy meeting June 23-24 in Washington.
Bernanke said during the hearing he wouldn’t support any measure that would have the Fed’s 12 regional Fed bank presidents nominated by the White House and confirmed by the Senate. Fed bank presidents are currently appointed by the regional bank boards with the approval of the Board of Governors.
To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net; Brian Faler in Washington at
“Unless we demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth,” Bernanke said in testimony to lawmakers today. “Maintaining the confidence of the financial markets requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance.”
Bernanke’s comments signal that the central bank sees risks of a relapse into financial turmoil even as credit markets show signs of stability. He said the Fed won’t finance government spending over the long term, while warning that the financial industry remains under stress and the credit crunch continues to limit spending.
The Fed chief said in his remarks to the House Budget Committee that deficit concerns are already influencing the prices of long-term Treasuries.
Yields on 10-year notes have climbed about 1 percentage point since the Fed announced plans in March to buy $300 billion of long-term government bonds. The notes yielded 3.54 percent at 5 p.m. in New York, down from 3.61 percent late yesterday, as Bernanke’s warnings on the need to reduce the deficit supported the market.
Rise in Yields
“In recent weeks, yields on longer-term Treasury securities and fixed-rate mortgages have risen,” Bernanke said. “These increases appear to reflect concerns about large federal deficits but also other causes, including greater optimism about the economic outlook, a reversal of flight-to-quality flows and technical factors related to the hedging of mortgage holdings.”
The budget deficit this year is projected to reach $1.85 trillion, equivalent to 13 percent of the nation’s economy, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
“Either cuts in spending or increases in taxes will be necessary to stabilize the fiscal situation,” Bernanke said in response to a question. “The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt.”
Bernanke also addressed banks’ efforts to bolster common equity in the aftermath of regulators’ stress tests on the 19 largest U.S. lenders. He said the 10 firms that were found to have a total capital shortfall of $75 billion have now sold or announced plans to boost common equity by $48 billion.
Bank Plans
“We expect further announcements shortly” as the banks submit plans due by June 8, Bernanke said.
This year’s projected budget deficit, four times the size of last year’s shortfall, has been driven up mostly by costs associated with the financial crisis.
“Bernanke knows that fiscal financing problems are already complicating monetary policy and are in danger of undermining Fed credibility,” said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. “He knows that there is only so much quantitative-easing financing that can be done.”
A fiscal stimulus of almost $800 billion, the government’s financial rescue effort, takeovers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and increased costs of running safety-net programs such as unemployment insurance have added billions to spending.
President Barack Obama has pledged to halve the deficit by the end of his term. Even if successful, his administration anticipates the government will still run what would be, by historical standards, large deficits for the foreseeable future. Bernanke said the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio is set to reach the highest since the 1950s.
‘Hard Slog’
“It is fine to have this budget deficit now,” said Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economics professor and former Fed vice chairman. “It will also be a long hard slog to get the budget deficit down to a manageable level.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters that Bernanke “is absolutely right, we need to be very concerned about incurring additional indebtedness.” The House plans to pass legislation before its July 4 recess to cut spending in one category before increasing it in another, he said. In addition, “we need to address entitlements.”
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in an interview with Bloomberg Television May 21, said the administration’s goal is to cut the budget shortfall to 3 percent of GDP or smaller.
Rising government spending, forecasts for a record fiscal deficit and an unprecedented expansion of central bank credit have also fueled investor concerns that inflation will rise. Bernanke said inflation “will remain low” as the economy operates with slack resource use.
‘Dangerous’ Mix
Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on the committee, said in opening remarks that the Treasury’s debt issuance and the Fed’s monetary stimulus, including purchases of government bonds, “can be a dangerous policy mix” and risks “runaway inflation” in the longer term.
Ryan said he’s concerned about “substantial” political pressure on the Fed to delay plans to tighten credit should unemployment remain high.
“The Fed’s political independence is critical and essential for safeguarding its commitment to price stability,” Ryan said. “We policy makers should realize that our most challenging policy period is going to be ahead of us.”
In Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday she views “with great skepticism what authority the Fed has and the leeway the Bank of England has created for itself,” to purchase a range of assets in their efforts to end the crisis. She urged central banks to return to a “policy of reason.”
Asked by a lawmaker about Merkel’s comments, Bernanke said, “I respectfully disagree with her views.”
‘Inflationary Consequences’
“I am comfortable with the policy actions that the Federal Reserve has taken,” he said. “We are comfortable that we can exit from those policies at the appropriate time without inflationary consequences.”
The central bank is buying as much as $1.75 trillion of housing debt and Treasuries this year to lower borrowing costs across the economy after reducing the benchmark interest rate almost to zero in December. Fed officials hold their next policy meeting June 23-24 in Washington.
Bernanke said during the hearing he wouldn’t support any measure that would have the Fed’s 12 regional Fed bank presidents nominated by the White House and confirmed by the Senate. Fed bank presidents are currently appointed by the regional bank boards with the approval of the Board of Governors.
To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net; Brian Faler in Washington at
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Homosexuals in NC General Assembly at work
Contact your State Representative NOW!
Senate Bill 526 , entitled the "School Violence Prevention Act," is one of those innocuous sounding bills that everyone should be able to vote for-right? Well not so fast. Behind the suave sounding title is a law that would virtually insure that young children would be taught about "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in our public schools and at a very early age. If we went into more detail as to the two dozen or more relationship "orientations" the first term includes, this email would never make it through anyone's email filter. If you need convincing, just do a search on the internet for the terms mentioned above.
Pro-homosexual activists had an opportunity to enact this bill last year, but refused to do so because these unnecessary terms were not included in the bill. Former Chairman of the State Board of Education, Howard Lee, stated that legislation was not needed in North Carolina to address school bullying. We agree. Although no child should be bullied, schools already have policies and procedures in place to deal with bullying. What they don't have, and what we don't want, is statutory language that would allow them to go into the schools and talk with young children about "sexual orientation" and "gender identity".
And if this wasn't bad enough, state courts in California, Connecticut, and Iowa used the rationale that their own state legislatures had recognized "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to arrive at the conclusion they were a protected class. This is the rationale these courts used to strike down their defense of marriage acts (DOMAs) and institute counterfeit "same-sex marriage." This bill is scheduled for consideration in the House Education Committee on Tuesday, May 26 at 11:00 a.m. If this bill passes the committee, then it could be considered by the full House as early as Wednesday so please call your state Representative now-please do not put this off. If you have the opportunity to visit your Representative while they are home for Memorial Day, please do so. Passage of this bill will move our state one step closer to allowing homosexuals to marry, and will put young children at risk of literally being recruited into a homosexual lifestyle while they are sitting in the classroom. If you don't believe this, then acquaint yourself with what is going on in Massachusetts and California today! Please contact your Senator NOW and ask them to OPPOSE SB 526.
Senate Bill 526 , entitled the "School Violence Prevention Act," is one of those innocuous sounding bills that everyone should be able to vote for-right? Well not so fast. Behind the suave sounding title is a law that would virtually insure that young children would be taught about "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in our public schools and at a very early age. If we went into more detail as to the two dozen or more relationship "orientations" the first term includes, this email would never make it through anyone's email filter. If you need convincing, just do a search on the internet for the terms mentioned above.
Pro-homosexual activists had an opportunity to enact this bill last year, but refused to do so because these unnecessary terms were not included in the bill. Former Chairman of the State Board of Education, Howard Lee, stated that legislation was not needed in North Carolina to address school bullying. We agree. Although no child should be bullied, schools already have policies and procedures in place to deal with bullying. What they don't have, and what we don't want, is statutory language that would allow them to go into the schools and talk with young children about "sexual orientation" and "gender identity".
And if this wasn't bad enough, state courts in California, Connecticut, and Iowa used the rationale that their own state legislatures had recognized "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to arrive at the conclusion they were a protected class. This is the rationale these courts used to strike down their defense of marriage acts (DOMAs) and institute counterfeit "same-sex marriage." This bill is scheduled for consideration in the House Education Committee on Tuesday, May 26 at 11:00 a.m. If this bill passes the committee, then it could be considered by the full House as early as Wednesday so please call your state Representative now-please do not put this off. If you have the opportunity to visit your Representative while they are home for Memorial Day, please do so. Passage of this bill will move our state one step closer to allowing homosexuals to marry, and will put young children at risk of literally being recruited into a homosexual lifestyle while they are sitting in the classroom. If you don't believe this, then acquaint yourself with what is going on in Massachusetts and California today! Please contact your Senator NOW and ask them to OPPOSE SB 526.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Why I never watch MSNBC
I never watch MSNB. They are the scum of the earth. Check this video out.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/04/023409.php
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/04/023409.php
How to destroy America
The following information was copied from Mat Rodina blog
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
The following information was copied from Mat Rodina blog
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Hey Big Spending Democrat
And you want to know why this country is broke. Follow this like.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=13140642
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=13140642
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Pork Flue
Attention-this is a medical emergency
A very dangerous flu (Pork) is rapidly spreading around the country and threatens to cause all of our grandchildren a life of misery as they will have to work 3 jobs to pay off this massive debt Queen Pelosi will be burdening them with.
A very dangerous flu (Pork) is rapidly spreading around the country and threatens to cause all of our grandchildren a life of misery as they will have to work 3 jobs to pay off this massive debt Queen Pelosi will be burdening them with.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Better than Barnum Bailey
Better than a three ring circus, the United States Congress led by Nancy, Fruitcake, Peloisa never ceases to amaze me. This lady is either senile or a Lie of the worst kind. I believe it is a combination of both. My only hope is that she is not removed as speaker. This is just way to much fun having her as the leader of the Democratic Party. And to think, I used to be a Democrat.
Steve
www.newbern-nc.info
Steve
www.newbern-nc.info
Craven County Conservatives
Good evening Craven County citizens,
Due to the fact that we can no longer trust the mainstream media this blog was created to ensure conservatives will have access to local, state, and national news before it is spun by the drive by media. I hope you will partisipate in this blog and help conservatives spread the truth.
Due to the fact that we can no longer trust the mainstream media this blog was created to ensure conservatives will have access to local, state, and national news before it is spun by the drive by media. I hope you will partisipate in this blog and help conservatives spread the truth.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)