Category: Politics

What do the Polls Say Today?

Americans want a leader of conviction.  That would be a president who has a clear vision of where he wants to take the nation.  George W. Bush was such a man.  I disagreed with him on so many things but I did know what his views were.  He was “the decider.”

Unfortunately Barack Obama is wishy-washy.  The war in Afghanistan is a “war of necessity” except we will begin to withdraw in July 2011. 

The question of building a Muslim mosque near the World Trade Center site was answered on Friday, August 13, 2010 by the president when he said, “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country.”  This quote was taken from President Obama’s remarks for Friday night’s iftar dinner at the White House. 

However, on Saturday, August 14, 2010 White House spokesman Bill Burton released the following statement on behalf of Obama’s stance on constructing the mosque. “Just to be clear, the president is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night. It is not his role as president to pass judgment on every local project. But it is his responsibility to stand up for the constitutional principle of religious freedom and equal treatment for all Americans. What he said last night, and reaffirmed today, is that If a church, a synagogue or a Hindu temple can be built on a site, you simply cannot deny that right to those who want to build a mosque.” 

The polls indicate that 64% of the nation oppose building a mosque near the WTC. 

Mark Williams is the Tea Party Spokesman

You Be The Judge!  

 

Update: July 18, 2010, 4:28 PM PDT: David Webb, a spokesperson for the National Tea Party Federation, confirmed to CBS this morning that Williams was no longer affiliated with his organization because of the “clearly offensive” blog post. David Webb interviewed by Don Lemon on CNN refused to call Mark Williams a racist.  Instead saying the posting of the letter below was offensive.  Considering the fact that the Tea Party is a group of independent organizations can the Tea Party Express be booted out?

 

Mark Williams is an American radio host and author (Books: It’s Not Right Versus Left, It’s Right Versus Wrong; Exposing the Socialist Agenda and Taking Back America One Tea Party at a Time, 2010). He is based in Sacramento, California. Williams is an occasional guest on Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNN and has appeared as a guest host on radio stations nationally and on the Talk Radio Network’s Jerry Doyle and Rusty Humphries shows. He is the spokesman for the Tea Party Express (and Vice Chairman of the Tea Party Express’ parent political action committee: Our Country Deserves Better PAC).  

The following letter posted by Tea Party leader Mark Williams in jest (he says) should be the real concern for all of us.  Today the attack is on Blacks. Will there will be an attack another group?   

 Dear Mr. Lincoln  

We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!  

In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the ‘tea party movement’.  

The tea party position to “end the bailouts” for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.  

And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government.” What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!  

The racist tea parties also demand that the government “stop the out of control spending.” Again, they directly target coloreds. That means we Coloreds would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.  

Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government “stop raising our taxes.” That is outrageous! How will we coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?  

Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.  

Sincerely  

Precious Ben Jealous, Tom’s Nephew NAACP Head Colored Person

The Tea Party is Wrong

Despite the Tea Party’s crusade for less government there is ample evidence that what is needed is improved government effectiveness.  The lax enforcement of government regulation is the real issue.  A very good example is our neighbor to the north.  Canada is a nation known for far more stringent regulations than the United States.  Their economy is the envy of the world.  While our GDP was 2.7% in the first quarter of 2010, theirs was 6.1%.  Canadians do not experience the failures of government that are so commonplace in the United States.  As an example: the Minerals Management Agency did not do its job in the Gulf of Mexico.  The Tea party is wrong.  What we need is a dose of efficient government.

The Strangely Possesed

Does anyone remember Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny? You may have thought that the strangely possessed only appear on the big screen.  Well, guess again.

 

Congresswoman  Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Tuesday she does not want the United States to be part of the “global economy.”  Asked for her thoughts on the recent G-20 summit in Toronto, Bachmann said that she is concerned that the decade-old G-20 is trying to “bind together the world’s economies.” 

That is, of course, the purpose of the G-20 in an increasingly interconnected world — a statement from the G-20 on the international group’s website says it was designed to “bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.”

This is not the first time the Congresswoman has said some outrageous things.  On Chris Matthews Show, Hardball she said there should be an investigation to expose members of Congress who are pro and anti-American.

Then there is Rand Paul who questions the Civil Rights Act of 1964  and wants the borders open to everyone.

Paul apparently is following advise to stay clear of the media.  Bachmann seems to revel in her strange fame.

Who is Joe Barton?

“I think it’s a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation would be subjected to what I would characterize as a ‘shakedown,’ – in this case, a $20 billion shakedown.” – Joe Barton, R-Texas.  What a great way to obtain national media exposure!

His apology for those words was weak at best.  After all it was taking back the words he really believed.  I have not heard about any subsequent interviews with him.  The conundrum is that the Gulf coast relies on oil drilling and extraction as much as fishing and tourism for its economic well being.

I am far removed from the Gulf coast but I do appreciate the ecological impact of the continuing oil spill.  After all if both James Carville and Mary Matalin are upset about the impact of the spill, this situation really does rise above politics.  (Digression: How did those two ever get married?)

NPR reports that Joe Barton has received $100,470 in campaign donations from oil and gas interests since the beginning of 2009, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The same group reported that since 1990, political action committees of the oil and gas industry and people who worked for it have given more than $1.4 million to Barton’s campaigns, the most of any House member during that period.

California’s Drought

The Los Angeles Times reports that the California drought may be over.  No one knows if it is really over or is the filling of our reservoirs a temporary situation.  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t lifting his drought declaration. Los Angeles isn’t ending its watering restrictions and Southern California’s major water wholesaler isn’t reversing delivery cuts.

There is more than one reason.  The first is that that this rainy season was caused by an El Nino effect.  That is a warming of Pacific Ocean waters which results in more rain on the California coast.  This occurrence has been proven from prior El Nino years.

The second is the continuing construction industry search for new business.  The state will include a proposal on November’s ballot for $11 Billion in water conservation bonds.  As I pointed out this past November 5, 2009, building more reservoirs and channels will not increase the water supply.  It will, however, put money in the pockets of contractors.  As I pointed out then, we have already spent over $13 Billion on water projects since the year 2000.  The great water projects were built at an earlier date and continue to provide adequate distribution of water throughout the state.

Creating Private Sector Jobs

Nevada has a distinction it probably doesn’t want: the nation’s highest unemployment rate — 14%. That’s up from 13.7% in April and 11.5% in May 2009 and an all-time low of 3.8% in April 2000.  California’s unemployment rate decreased to 12.4 percent in May.  April’s unemployment rate was 12.5%.  The number of people unemployed in California, for May, was 2,277,000 – down by 21,000 over the month, but up by 212,000 compared with May of last year.

The Associated Press reported that President Barack Obama dashed into Ohio for the groundbreaking of a road project, hoping to remind Americans that the massive, costly stimulus act is still churning out jobs for a nation plagued by high unemployment.

In all of this political grandstanding there is one simple fact.  The government has failed to take any consequential action that will increase the number of private sector jobs.  The dismal reality is that no politicians have offered any new ideas to induce new job growth.  That includes those who want to replace incumbents.

A good example is Carly Fiorina, Republican candidate for Senator in California. She is focusing on job creation in her campaign.  The problem is that she sent 40,000 jobs overseas as CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company.  Read her web site    and you quickly learn she does not have one new or different idea.

The president is no better than Ms. Fiorina.  His ideas are all about government jobs.  When the money runs out what will happen to those government employees?

My idea (actually my wife’s idea) is the two tier business tax.  Every dollar earned as the result of American made products will be taxed at a lower rate than those dollars earned from foreign products.  That means Walmart, Toyota car dealers (some Toyotas are partially made in America), and other who rely on imports will pay a higher income tax rate on at least part of their earnings.  That just might help bring some jobs back to America.

Muslims Want to Control the U.S.A.

(Fact or Fiction………You Decide.)

  
 

This is an excellent commentary on what is really going on here.

——

Apparently they think that putting hearts and butterflies on will make most people not realize that the rest is Arabic and probably not something we want to support.

  
New Stamp – the second one!!!
USPS New 44-Cent Stamp Celebrates a Muslim holiday.
If there is only ONE thing you forward today… let it be this!

 
To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.      

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of Pan Am Flight 103! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa !  
Honor the United States of America !

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon ! 

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Military Barracks in Saudi Arabia ! 

REMEMBER to adamantly & vocally BOYCOTT this stamp, when you are purchasing your stamps at the post office.

All you have to say is “No thank you, I do not want that Muslim Stamp on my letters!“

 

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE! 

REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on 9/11/2001 ! 

REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

 
Pass this along to every Patriotic American that you know and get the word out! 

 

David

Can We Just Say No!

We are facing an unpleasant reality.  The Federal government is currently spending money at a rate 1½ times the rate of incoming money from taxes.  That is fact, not internet chatter.  Even worse is that the total national debt equals one year of GDP.  Imagine if your personal debt excluding your house mortgage (a planned long term commitment) equaled your total annual income.  The banks would increase the interest you would be required to pay on that debt because they would fear the possibility of default.  Unlike everyone else in America, the Federal government can print the money it needs.

The Congress and most people realize the situation is desperate.  The difficulty is saying “no” to the pressure for continuing the spending.  There are those in Congress who want to extend existing programs and add more for one simple reason.  It is an election year. 

Some examples of programs wanting more money:

  • There has been a subsidy to recently unemployed people that provides for 65% of the cost of COBRA for a total of 15 months.  That program expired May 31. 
  • Unemployment benefits have been extended to 99 weeks.  The House voted to extend the benefits and now the program awaits Senate approval.  
  • Medicare doctors are looking increased payments. 
  • States want more aid due to their unbalanced budgets. 
  • The SEC, FDA, Interior Department (think mineral management) and other Federal agencies want additional funds to do a better job. 
  • The State of California wants money to do a demonstration of high speed rail. 
  • Los Angeles wants the Federal government to provide aid for speeding up subway and light rail construction. 
  • President wants $50 billion in state and local aid to avoid “massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters” and to support the still-fragile economic recovery.

    •  

Everyone wants the projects but there just is not enough money.  Can we just say No?