Obama Wants Defense Budget cut by 10%

The Obama administration has asked the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon's budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent -- about $55 billion -- a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News.

Last year's defense budget was $512 billion. Service chiefs and planners will be spending the weekend "burning the midnight oil" looking at ways to cut the budget -- looking especially at weapons programs, the defense official said. - FOX News

Are you kidding me! In a time when they are spending Billions and Billions on Car Companies, Bankers, (Hell Wall Street Just had $18 Billion in Bonuses thanks to Washington), States, STD Prevention, Sod, ACORN, and we want to cut our defense spending!!!!

Arizona Cardinals Win Super Bowl

Here it is. I am going on the Record picking the Arizona Cardinals as the Super Bowl Champions. I believe that they will beat the Steelers.

Congratulations to Kurt Warner on another MVP Title. You should have won the League MVP Title as well.

Grambling AD Won't Play Smaller School

Ala. (AP) - The road-weary Talladega College players arrived for a Grambling State game with hopes of pulling off another upset of a bigger team and left without hearing a single whistle blow.

Turns out there was no officiating crew to call the game.

"When we get to the gym they notify us that the referees were running late," Talladega head coach and athletic director Matt Cross told The Anniston Star. Cross said the team was told the game would be delayed for a half hour.

Twenty minutes later, the game was canceled, with Grambling officials saying the Southwestern Athletic Conference had failed to assign officials "and have a safe trip back and we'll mail you the guaranteed money," Cross said.

"I offered to try to make sense of the situation and they were just blaming everything on the SWAC," Cross said. "Then I even offered to stay another night and play the game on Wednesday, but they were adamant about not playing the game."

The Tornadoes had driven through Sunday night, arriving early the following morning after an eight-hour bus ride.

Duane Lewis, assistant commissioner for the SWAC, said that lining up officials is the home team's responsibility, not the league's. He said Grambling athletic director J. Lin Dawson is looking into the situation.

Messages left to Dawson and a Grambling spokesman by The Associated Press were not immediately returned Thursday.

Talladega, a historically black private liberal arts college in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, has beaten four Division I colleges this season and has several players from Louisiana.

"They were so disappointed," Cross said. "I'd never seen them that distraught. They really wanted to play the game. They get excited to play bigger schools." - FOX Sports

Sounds to me like Grambling was afraid to play. Can you say Chicken!!!! Come on, so what you play the game the next day. Get on the phone and call in some refs. Be serious, the Athletic Director was trying to protect his team from getting beat by a smaller school. Just admit it, don't make up some lame excuse.

Another Lobbyist in Obama White House

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to limit the influence of lobbyists in his administration, a recent lobbyist for investment banking giant Goldman Sachs is in line to serve as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Mark Patterson was a registered lobbyist for Goldman until April 11, 2008, according to public filings.

Patterson first began lobbying for Goldman Sachs in 2005, after working as policy director for then-Senate majority leader Tom Daschle. According to publicly filed lobbying disclosure records, he worked on issues related to the banking committee, climate change and carbon trading and immigration reform, among others.

Patterson's lobbying was first noted by the National Journal magazine.

Patterson is one of over a dozen recent lobbyists in line for important posts in the Obama administration, despite a presidential order severely restricting the role of lobbyists in his administration, the magazine reported. - ABC News

PolitiFact takes Heat on Broken Promise

Politifact.com is running a site that monitors the promises that Candidate Obama made against his actions as President Obama. They posted his first "Promise Broken" based on Obama stating that he would have a public comment period before every bill signing, but with the ledbetter bill, they posted the public comment after the bill was signed. Below is a snippet from their site on reader comments:

• "I will have to disagree on your Broken Promise . . . The Lilly Ledbetter bill has been around for months and months and many people commented on it on the old Obama website back when it was first defeated when Bush was still in office and it was been discussed in the media and on tons of websites. I think that saying that there wasn't time for debate and comments in this particular instance is unfair. It's not like if it was a new bill."

• "Do you really think the Lilly Ledbetter equal pay required a comment period? I think it's more important than a comment period for it. There was plenty of print and electronic coverage of it, and it's the first signing. Cut this man a break. He's not the liar that just moved to Dallas."

• "The important thing is it has been signed. When time for his signature came, this bill had been completely vetted and there wasn't a lawmaker (certainly not Lilly Ledbetter) who was thinking about 'sunlight before signing.' If PolitiFact doesn't handle gray areas vs. black and white, there is not a lot we can do, if you don't."

• "I have to admit I'm not so upset about his speed in signing this one. It's a NO BRAINER. Thank you for keeping us informed."

• "Are you freaking serious, Politifact? Are you airing this petty grievance as a broken promise?
Do you really think the majority of Americans, other than the ones who listen to the Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck types would really care? Perhaps that was your goal regarding this petty 'broken promise' grievance: Appease as many of the 'Regional Party's' constituency and disregard the the 77% of Americans who thinks that the president and his administration are doing what is right for this nation, petty grievances aside . . .

"When I first saw your Politifact on President Obama's promises, I thought it was a great idea as I wanted to gauge his words against his actions, also. However, if you plan to continue to fill white space with these pettty, nonsensical, so called 'broken promises,' you have marginalized and watered down your authencity. Do yourself a favor and save this section for real broken promises for which most Americans will agree. Otherwise, your readers will begin to take you as seriously as, let's see, Sarah Palin."

Amazing that people think that you don't have to stand behind what you say. The guy who said that they disregarded "77% of Americans who thinks that the president and his administration are doing what is right for this nation", you have to keep an eye on the polls. It was only 77% when he was inaugurated, it has dropped into the low 60s and going down almost as fast as the stock market with this stimulus bill.

Check out politifact.com

Wisconsin Man Free after 23 Years in Prison

MILWAUKEE - A man sentenced to life in prison for killing a woman in 1984 had his conviction overturned and was released Friday after spending 23 years behind bars.

Robert Lee Stinson, 44, walked out of the New Lisbon Correctional Institution in street clothes and hugged his sister and members of the Wisconsin Innocence Project. A judge vacated the sentence after the Project argued that bite-mark analysis and DNA evidence didn't match evidence from the crime scene, defense attorney Byron Lichstein said.

Stinson was convicted in 1985 of first-degree murder in the death of a 63-year-old Milwaukee woman. Evidence suggested she had been raped, and her body also had eight different bite marks, Lichstein said.

At trial, two forensic odontologists testified that Stinson's teeth were a match, even though Stinson was apparently missing a tooth in a place where the bite marks indicated a tooth, Lichstein said.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said in a statement Friday that Stinson's conviction was not wrongful, and that he was convicted based on "state-of-the-art scientific evidence available at the time of his trial."

"The question today is whether there is newly discovered evidence in this case to warrant a new trial, and we agree that such evidence exists," Chisholm said. The statement did not specify the evidence.

Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Norman Gahn said he has six months to decide whether to retry Stinson. - NBC News

This is for all the Forensic File people out there. I think that it is great if they can find someone who was wrongly convicted and make a right out of wrong. I just keep flashing back to another man here in Wisconsin who was released after they found out he was wrongly convicted and he went on to Murder someone.

Either way, I hope he makes a good life for himself.

McCain drafting Stimulus Package

ABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: According to a Reuters report out this afternoon, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is working with his fellow GOP senators to develop an alternative to President Obama’s stimulus package.

“A group of us Republican senators are working on coming up with an alternative package that I would hope would have some elements to it that Americans would support,” McCain tells Reuters’ Steve Holland.

“One, we have to have an alternative and two, we still hope that the administration -- although time is running out -- that the administration will sit down and do some serious negotiating, which they have not done,” he said.

This is not a shock. House Republicans also came up with an alternative proposal, before voting unanimously against the Democrats’ proposal on Wednesday.

But McCain’s involvement in crafting the package is going to make this effort far more high-profile than it would otherwise be. And to a president who has vowed bipartisanship, this is a direct challenge to come to the negotiating table -- issued by a former rival.

Said McCain: “I have to tell you I'm disappointed so far in the administration's lack of consultation or efforts to work with Republicans on the stimulus package.” - ABC News

This sounds more like what is going on. I don't believe Obama has given us anything more than lip service on the Bipartisanship. With comments like, "I won't budge on taxes","I Won", and combine that with Nancy Pelosi and Reid not inviting a single Republican to help draft the bill shows this little more than politics as usual. The current package is a small stimulus bill that won't help surrounded by Democratic special interest add ons.

Will the Democratics Back the Stimulus Bill

An influential Senate Democrat said Friday that it's unclear whether President Obama's $819 economic stimulus bill will win enough support to pass in the Senate.

"I don't even know how many Democrats will vote for it, as it stands today," Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., told FOX News.

Nelson, a moderate Democrat, is famous for gathering lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in a so-called "Gang of 14" to avert a shutdown of the Senate over judicial nominations. He is seeking a similar bipartisan effort to improve the stimulus bill.

Lawmakers are unhappy that the bill, passed by the House on Wednesday, contains billions of dollars for programs that arguably won't spark much job growth.

"What I'm hoping to do is bring together a bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats and offer changes that will attract others and improve the bill," he told FOX News. "People want this to succeed."

Asked how many Republicans he can get to vote for the bill, Nelson said he didn't even know how many Democrats would vote for it. - FOX News Story

You have to question this bill no matter what party you are from. This bill is loaded with spending that will have nothing to do with getting the economy going. I am not saying that all of the spending are for bad projects, it is just if you are going to spend the money, call it what it is - a spending bill. President Obama says he wants to limit earmarks, but the way to do that is not by adding the spending into the bill. If it is a Stimulus Bill that it should only contain items that are truly for the Stimulus package.

Peta's Banned Super Bowl Ad

'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad

I am not a fan of PETA, but WOW. Nice Ad. Just trying to figure out how a Non-Profit can afford the prices of a Super Bowl Commercial.

Obama Breaks first Promise

Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on Jan. 29, 2009, keeping a longstanding promise to counter a Supreme Court decision that limited workers' ability to sue for pay discrimination. We moved the Obameter and gave him a Promise Kept.

But we also had to give him his first Promise Broken for the same signing. As part of his agenda to bring more transparency to government, Obama said he would institute "sunlight before signing" -- posting laws to the White House Web site for five days of public comment before he signed off on them. - Politifact.com

The Ledbetter Act was passed two days ago, yet the request for public comment was posted after he signed the bill. For that, he earns his first Promise Broken.

Weather Channel Founder - "Global Warming is a Hoax"

The founder of the Weather Channel is ridiculing Al Gore over his calls for action on global climate change, saying in a column that global warming is a "hoax" and "bad science."

John Coleman, now a weatherman at San Diego's KUSI, wrote on his station's Web site Wednesday that Gore refuses to acknowledge the faulty research on which the idea of global warming is based.

Coleman's lengthy scolding came as the former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and urged lawmakers to pass a bill that would put caps on heat-trapping gases and take the lead on a global climate treaty.

Coleman wrote that the Environmental Protection Agency is "on the verge" of naming CO2 (carbon dioxide) as a pollutant, and that seemingly all of Washington is on board with such CO2 silliness."

"I am totally convinced there is no scientific basis for any of it," Coleman wrote, describing the decades-old theory that increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere leads to global warming.

"Global Warming. It is the hoax. It is bad science. It is a high jacking of public policy. It is no joke. It is the greatest scam in history," Coleman wrote.

Click here to read Coleman's column.

I have argued for years that Global Warming is just a myth. Sure the temperature fluxuates, the polar caps melt. But guess what, the temperature comes down as much as it goes up and the caps refreeze. Remember that there was an Ice Age, there was also extreme heat, it changes. It is the nature of nature.

Liberal View of the Stimulus Vote

For me angry is not a strong enough word.

Posted by angrycarpenter in General Discussion
Thu Jan 29th 2009, 12:46 AM

I do not want handouts I want a job.

If I had a job I could pay my bills, buy more food, pay my rent, pay my taxes, go out to eat a couple of times a month, buy gas for my car, give a little to charity, and hold my head up high knowing that I am making my own way. Multiply that by a couple of million, Republicans voted against it because it will work.

Republicans want us to suffer for voting them out, I say screw them. When I see that they voted against putting people back to work I know for a fact that they do not care for working people one bit.

I actually read the economic stimulus bill, If nothing else it will put some people back to work, it could not possibly fail on that point. What it fails to do is put money directly in rich peoples pockets without accountability, we have already seen how that works. What they really hate is the strict oversight written into it. Every dollar is to be accountable to the public on a website. No chance to funnel a couple of million into a country club or a private, exclusive, upscale anything. This is for the working man and they are showing the same concern for us they always have by voting no.

I am done crying about my personal life, Unemployment, late notices, no jobs to be had, the sheer impossibility of getting unemployment are all problems that many are facing right now. Now I am just angry.

I am angry at those who let our jobs evaporate in the name of "free trade".

I am angry at those who sold a bunch of unethical loans and then leveraged them a hundred times and then blamed the victims for being stupid enough to fall for them.

I am angry at those who started an incredibly costly war just make money off of it.

I am angry at the people who actually thought the economy would be so much better if no one ever did anything to protect it.

I am angry at people who say they love America but hate most of the people who live here.

I am pissed at EVERYONE who puts party before country.

I am totally livid at the banks who took our bailout money and loaned none of it out.

I am almost in a blind rage at Cheney and Bush for slashing taxes on rich people and running huge deficits for the rest of us to pay for.

Finally I am about to stroke out at the thought of the house republicans trying to stand in the way of putting me and millions of others back to work. How could these people think they are helping America by doing nothing? NOTHING! These people are monsters. They want Obama to fail even if it means a years long depression. They intend to stand in the way of anything that might make Obama look good and by extension put me and many others back to work.

I merely disliked republican policies before and saved my anger for the the ones who led them like the selfish sheep they are. But now I totally hate every last one of the bastards who in the face of a crisis like we have never known in our lifetimes still cling to partisanship in the hopes that our president will fail.

And most of all I hate Rush Limbaugh. More than any other American I hate him. Even more than Bush. I hate him and he hates me because I work for a living.

I am normally a forgiving person but there will never come a day when I will feel any different. - Democratic Underground

I found this to be quite interesting reading. This person claims to have read the Stimulus Bill. Now I will admit, I have not read the whole thing, and willing to bet they haven't as well. The bill is continuously changing. No one has ever said that it won't put people to work. Your sadly uninformed, the question is how fast will it put people to work. The Democrats fully admit that this bill will not put people to work immediately, it will be over the next 18 months plus. That is the philosophical difference. The whole bill is not trash, just the bloated spending on stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the economy. Contraception, sod, etc. If you truly read the stimulus bill, you would understand that, pull your head out and pay attention to what is truly going on. Hatred has blinded you my friend.

Did Obama elevate Rush Limbaugh

The minority whip appears to be someone who has never won an election.

Republican lawmakers who were having a difficult time becoming the "loyal opposition" in the first week of the Obama administration got a swift kick in the pants earlier this week from the "voice" of their constituents: Rush Limbaugh.

The conservative talk show host was one of many across the country who took to the airwaves to cajole congressional Republicans to line up against President Obama's $819 billion stimulus package.

The result was unanimity. Though the stimulus bill passed handily Wednesday in the heavily Democratic House, every Republican in the chamber voted against it.

Their unity won praise from Limbaugh himself, who said Democrats sought bipartisan support only because they know the stimulus plan will fail and don't want to be solely responsible.

"[Democrats] want the Republicans to not have cover," Limbaugh told FOX News on Thursday. "There's nothing about the economy in this bill."

With Wednesday's vote, House Republicans have effectively disowned the package. But lawmakers are not off the conservative hook. With Democrats determined to pass the bill, right-leaning hosts have signaled that the stimulus will be their rallying cry in the early months of the Obama administration. It will be Kryptonite to those who embrace it and a lightning rod for conservative audiences.

"This economic stimulus package is bad for the country, but it sure is good for the Republican Party," talk show host Mike Gallagher told FOXNews.com. He said hosts like himself will play the "loyal opposition" on this defining issue. "And the battle is just beginning for us."

Leslie Marshall, who's on the liberal end of nationally syndicated radio hosts, said Limbaugh will not derail the stimulus but will have fuel for as long as the package is being executed. She suggested the conservative talk giants are in a good spot right now. - FOX News

It also didn't hurt ratings when Obama mentioned Limbaugh by name at a White House meeting last week, telling GOP lawmakers not to let people like Limbaugh derail the package. - FOX

Given the vote breakdown in the House, Obama's remark may have been a blunder. The San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday called it Obama's "first tactical error" because it elevated Limbaugh.

How did We Get into this Mess?

THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST EXPLANATION THAT I HAVE SEEN ON HOW WE GOT INTO THIS ECONOMIC MESS. NO BLAME, NO BS. GREAT STORY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE FROM THE POLITICIANS.

The U.S. economy is clearly in terrible shape. What is less clear is how we got here.
An index of home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas fell at a record annual pace in November of 2008, according to a recent report.

An index of home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas fell at a record annual pace in November of 2008, according to a recent report.

Opinions vary on when and where to begin the story, but many experts trace the origins of the current economic situation to the housing bubble that came about earlier this decade.

Housing prices jumped at a rate above 6 percent in 1999 and increased rapidly and steadily as the decade turned, according to a recent study by the Brookings Institution.

"After the mid-1990s ... real house prices went on a sustained surge through 2005, making residential real estate not only a great investment, but it was also widely perceived as a very safe investment," the study said.

The prices eventually moved "out of line with fundamentals like household income" and the bubble formed, the study said. - CNN Story

A military judge has refused the Obama administration's request to delay the arraignment of Abu al-Nashiri, the accused planner of the 2000 USS Cole attack in Yemen, FOX News learned Thursday.

Judge James Pohl's ruling throws a wrench in President Obama's plans to suspend the military tribunal process for 120 days while the administration reviews how to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within the year.

Pohl's decision is striking because two other military judges in a Sept. 11 conspiracy case and in the case of Canadian Al Qaeda operative Omar Khadr agreed to suspend proceedings in accordance with Obama's recent executive order, which put a hold on all military tribunals.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Thursday that Pohl would soon be told to comply with Obama's executive order.

"All I can really tell you is that this department will be in full compliance with the president's executive order," Morrell said at a news briefing. "There is no ifs, ands or buts about that."

"The president has signed an executive order and that sort of puts all this on hold as we go about and review a number of things related to Gitmo, our detention operations, our interrogation procedures," he continued.

"And so, while that executive order is in force and effect, trust me that there will be no proceedings continuing down at Gitmo with military commissions," he added.

Al-Nashiri's arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 9 at Guantanamo Bay. A Defense Department spokesman said the only thing now that can stop the court appearance from going forward is a withdrawal of the charges without prejudice by Judge Susan Crawford, head of the convening authority that oversees the entire process at Guantanamo.

If the charges are dropped without prejudice, new charges could be brought in another venue, possibly a military court martial or criminal court.

The October 2000 attack on the USS Cole killed 17 service members and injured 50 others. - FOX News

I guess I don't quite understand all of this. They have made it a point over the last week to tell us about all of the Judges that have agreed to halt their trials. If it is not an option, what is there to agree too? Why would it even be noteworthy that they agreed? If it is an order to halt them, then the only noteworthy thing would be about the ones who said they would not halt them. I guess this is about that open and transparent governing thing? Obama is right, all the time. If God Forbid a Judge none-the-less says no. Remember the President is not above the law, and can't just decide what is law. (That is what the dems kept saying about Bush)

I do agree however, Obama is the Commander-in-Chief, and if he has given an order to halt all proceedings, they must stop.

Bipartisanship my Rear

Congress is currently haggling over how to spend $900 billion generated by American taxpayers in the private sector. (It's important to remember that it's the people's money, not Washington's.) In a Jan. 23 meeting between President Obama and Republican leaders, Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.) proposed a moderate tax cut plan. President Obama responded, "I won. I'm going to trump you on that."

Yes, elections have consequences. But where's the bipartisanship, Mr. Obama? This does not have to be a divisive issue. My proposal is a genuine compromise.

Fifty-three percent of American voters voted for Barack Obama; 46% voted for John McCain, and 1% voted for wackos. Give that 1% to President Obama. Let's say the vote was 54% to 46%. As a way to bring the country together and at the same time determine the most effective way to deal with recessions, under the Obama-Limbaugh Stimulus Plan of 2009: 54% of the $900 billion -- $486 billion -- will be spent on infrastructure and pork as defined by Mr. Obama and the Democrats; 46% -- $414 billion -- will be directed toward tax cuts, as determined by me.

Then we compare. We see which stimulus actually works. This is bipartisanship! It would satisfy the American people's wishes, as polls currently note; and it would also serve as a measurable test as to which approach best stimulates job growth. - WSJ

This is a novel idea. Why not!!!! President Obama says he wants Bipartisanship. So why not, you create a total spending bill of 800-900 Billion. You tell the Democrats that they get to spend 54% of it however they want, Republicans get 46%. Based on the last Vote. Then you will get 100% Bipartisanship and unanimous vote. Then the American People can decide which one worked the best. They will decide based on their votes at the next election.

Obama can most definetly say he won and he is going to trump the Republicans. Nancy Pelosi and her crew can say that the American People don't care what the Republicans want, that is most definetly within her right. However, if they were smart they would take a look at what the American People are saying. Obama's Job Approval Rating has nose dived down to 63%, almost a 15% drop in one week. Congress, under Democratic Control is only at 22% job approval. The most telling is only 23% of America believe the Country is moving in the right direction. I think America is telling them something. They aren't listening.

Just remember, there are elections coming in 2010 that will allow the American People to once again go to their voting booth and hand out the pink slips.

Obama Continues to waive Lobbyists Through the Door

President Obama promised during his campaign that lobbyists "won't find a job in my White House."

So far, though, at least a dozen former lobbyists have found top jobs in his administration, according to an analysis done by Republican sources and corroborated by Politico.

Obama aides did not challenge the the list of lobbyists appointed to administration jobs, but they stressed that former lobbyists comprise a fraction of the more than 8,000 employees who will be hired by the new administration. And they pointed out that before Obama made his campaign-trail promise, he issued a more complete - and more nuanced - policy on former lobbyists.

Formalized in a recent presidential executive order, it forbids executive branch employees from working in an agency, or on a program, for which they have lobbied in the last two years.

Yet in the past few days, a number of exceptions have been granted, with the administration conceding at least two waivers and that a handful of other appointees will recuse themselves from dealing with matters on which they lobbied within the two-year window.

“It would be more honest if they admitted they made a mistake and came up with a narrower rule,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “Obviously, they can’t live with the rule, which is why they keep waving the magic wand and making exceptions. They’re saying one thing and doing another. It’s why the public is skeptical about politicians.” - Politico.com

Vatican upset with Obama

While President Obama's special envoy tries to broker peace in the Middle East and the White House dangles an olive branch before a near-nuclear Iran, a new foreign policy confrontation is in the making -- with the Vatican.

After he ended a ban last week on federal funding to international groups that perform or promote abortions, Obama is taking heat from the Roman Catholic Church, that political powerhouse based overseas.

Vatican officials said last weekend that they were disappointed by the president's decision to reverse the so-called Mexico City policy.

"Among the many good things that he could have done, Barack Obama instead chose the worst," said Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, a top official with the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life.

"If this is one of President Obama's first acts, I have to say, in all due respect, that we're heading quickly toward disappointment," said Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who heads the Academy.

And abortion isn't the only issue on which the new president may rile the Vatican. His positions on stem cell research, gay rights and faith-based initiatives, too, are generally at odds with the church hierarchy.

How this will affect Obama's appeal to Catholic voters remains to be seen. According to exit polls, the president got 53 percent of the Catholic vote in November -- 13 percent more than John Kerry, a Catholic, got in 2004.

"I don't think President Obama is looking for a fight but I think he's certainly going to get one as he wiggles away from issues that are very important to the church," said the Very Rev. David O'Connell, president of the Catholic University of America. - FOX News

I just am sitting here chuckling to myself at this point. Not that I agree or disagree with either side. I just remember all of those Catholics I talked to that told me all about this great man, Obama, and what he is going to mean not only to America, but the World. Now, less than a week into it and I wish I could sit down and talk to them again about this great man and see their perspective now. 53% of the Catholic vote, that is what Obama got.

Stimulus Bill Passes the House

The House passed an $819 billion economic stimulus package Wednesday on a party-line vote, despite President Obama's efforts to achieve bipartisan support for the bill.

The final vote was 244 to 188. No Republicans voted for the bill, while just 12 Democrats voted against it.

The Senate is likely to take up the bill next week.

In floor debate, House Democrats offered near-unanimous support for the bill, touting the package's ability to quickly create jobs and jumpstart economic growth.

"One week and one day ago, our new President delivered a great inaugural address ... which I believe is a great blueprint for the future," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "With swift and bold action today, we are doing just that -- with this vote today, we are taking America in a new direction." - CNN

It is amazing that the bill passed pretty much on party lines. However 12 Democrats, the bills own party, voted against it. I want you to remember those words by Speaker Pelosi as time goes by. They will be words to remember as the months go by.

It is also worth noting that CNN has a poll going. At this time 73% say this bill will do nothing to help the job situation, 6% think it will help them get a job, and 23% think it will help them keep their job. That is sad since it is a CNN Poll, "Clinton News Network".

Digital TV Not to be Delayed

The House has defeated a bill to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12.

House Republicans succeeded in scuttling a bill to delay the transition, which is scheduled for Feb. 17, less than two days after the Senate unanimously passed the plan.

The defeat is a setback for the Obama administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who fear too many Americans are not ready for the switchover. - ABC News

Don't worry if you don't have the little box that switches your TV over, Obama is set to spend another $600 Million plus to help you get that box. That is part of the Stimulus package. That will help revive the economy and add jobs?

Obama's Numbers Dropping Fast

Obama took office with some very high polling numbers. Some of the highest in history. Those numbers are dropping off and dropping off fast. Depending on what polls you look at (as we know they vary greatly) he has dropped some 10-15 points in one week.

I think this Stimulus package will remain a big hit on him. As more information of what all is included in the package, people are understanding. This is not a Stimulus package, but a spending bill. They know that the National Debt is skyrocketing and senseless spending is happening in the name of stimulating the economy.

Other things that are putting a hit on him, is the fiasco over Gitmo. It is one thing to change the way things are done there, but a totally different thing to close it down without a plan in place. 9/11 touched many people, and many people are waiting for justice to be served on those involved. In one motion of his pen Obama stopped Justice in it's tracks. There is talk of making sure that those criminals from 9/11 have the same rights as we do. If you listen to some of the noise coming from the Obama Administration, the Gitmo Detainees will be afforded more rights than you or I would have if we were arrested abroad.

If these numbers continue to drop, Obama may find himself as a puppet for the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. America voted for Change, but like I said during the election, what kind of change is yet to be seen.

Minnesota Recount Comedy of Errors

As Michael Stokes Paulsen, a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis wrote in The Wall Street Journal, there is a lot in the recount affair to concern us. Franken has exploited a weakness in almost every state's recount process.

Recounts, Paulsen observes, must not violate the 14th Amendment, which provides that "no state shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Constitution suggests it is a matter of some importance that votes be counted uniformly in a democracy.

The Supreme Court's "Bush v. Gore" 2000 decision reaffirmed the equal protection clause: Ballots in one precinct or county must not be evaluated differently than those in others.

Recounts, however, are conducted locally, with individual precincts and counties interpreting state election laws. The result in Minnesota is a crazy quilt of newly evolved standards that, in fact, have become no standards at all -- and are constitutionally unacceptable. All votes are meant to get equal protection in Minnesota, but Franken's votes are getting more equal protection than Coleman's.

In some parts of the state, as a Wall Street Journal editorial observed, recount officials have accepted Franken votes tallied on election night, even when the physical ballots were nowhere to be found for the recount.

Let's say, through error or design, some overly enthusiastic election night official fed Franken votes through a voting machine twice: In some parts of Minnesota, Franken kept those votes, even though they could not be re-tallied.

In other jurisdictions, the election night tally was thrown out and Franken got to include votes he didn't have election night but his team subsequently discovered. Availing himself of dissimilar standards in different parts of the state, Franken got to pick which benefited him the most, the election-day tally or the recount.

In some localities, Franken's campaign has even been allowed to double-count ballots. If a legitimate ballot is damaged and cannot be mechanically counted, Minnesota law allows election officials to create and count a duplicate, as long as the original is marked and both ballots are stapled together.

The Wall Street Journal contends that 80 to 100 original and duplicate ballots were separated and counted individually in the recount. Even if this were Illinois, such electoral imagineering is unlawful. - CNN Commentary

Supervisors Trip to Washington More of a Mess

The fight over a taxpayer-paid trip to the Obama inauguration just got uglier. County Board Chairman Lee Holloway sent a harsh letter to County Executive Scott Walker accusing him of leaking the story to the press just to keep the spotlight off of Walker's decision to refuse federal stimulus money.

The letter reads in part, "What a maneuver! You know that you were the one behind the scenes pulling the strings that led to the news articles."

Holloway concludes the letter by saying sarcastically, "Nice move, Scott. Nice move." Holloway signed the letter with a smiley-face.

But questions are still being raised about the trip to Washington taken by County Board Supervisors Elizabeth Coggs and Toni Clark. TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Michael George tried to talk to Supervisor Coggs at a board meeting on Tuesday morning, but Coggs left the meeting about 20 minutes early without taking questions.

Michael George then tried to go to Coggs' office to track her down. A secretary said she had already gone home for the day. Coggs and Clark did not return numerous voicemail messages on their phones and they did not answer the door at their listed addresses.

Both Coggs and Clark apologized in a written statement on Monday, saying they would return the money. But they did not specify when or how much money would be given back. - WTMJ

Actual Letter - WTMJ

That answers the question of whether or not there is still this I got your back mentality on the County Board. Facts are facts, this was a bad decision by two members of the board. Lee Holloway stands up and grandstands to point the blame at somebody who exposed the fact that we paid for them to go enjoy a trip to see Obama get inaugurated! Who cares how the information got out? This letter is only more proof that they were trying to sweep it under the rug. If not, why make a big deal out of it.

Now for the two supervisors. Quit being such whimps. Come out and face the music. Writing a little apology letter and saying you would pay it back does not make amends for your mistakes. Come out and face the public, apologize directly. Let us see the sincerity in your eyes. And lastly, don't try to send a weasel like Holloway out to shield you.

For more information on Holloway, look at how much of a leader he was with the last big blow up where a supervisor went on a trip for school matters and he ran and hid under his desk.

GOP Wins Concessions in Stimulus

Obama succeeded in convincing Democrats today to drop a provision in the bill that would expand family planning funding, something Republicans had objected to. But deleting the provision did not make Republicans sound more willing to vote for the bill. - ABC News

Whether you like the Republicans or not, this was something that had to be pushed back into the lap of the Democrats. This was plain and simple pork!!! There is just no way that you could have justified this as part of an Economic Stimulus.

Now, what about the other pork that is in their?

Is Obama Having Second Thoughts?

This is the best commentary I have read in quite some time. Outstanding. I give kudos that it was on CNN. Read and Enjoy.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- I wonder if President Obama is having second thoughts.

He spent three full days in office last week and in those 72 hours discovered a few things. The press room is where the press is, and if you don't want the press to ask you questions, don't go there.

If you're going to ban lobbyists from working for you, you have to ban the one who used to lobby for Raytheon from working in your defense department as well.

If you're going to close Guantanamo, you have to have a plan for what to do with the inmates there. A couple of former ones have turned up in recent al Qaeda videos.

You can't overturn President Bush's executive order banning abortion funding for charitable groups overseas without incurring the wrath of anti-abortion groups in this country.

Picking a fight with that corpulent Oxycontin aficionado of right wing talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, will mobilize a bunch more on the conservative right and begin to bring those approval ratings down from 83 percent, where they were before you actually started working as the president, to a more mortal 68 percent in the Gallup Poll taken on those first three days in office.

Sour grapes Limbaugh seems to be having trouble coming to terms with the fact that all the stuff he embraced so fervently during the eight years of the Bush nightmare got swept out the door in November. Limbaugh disagrees with Obama's policies and fears he could take the country in the direction of socialism.

Fair enough -- but to come right out and say "I want him to fail," exposes Limbaugh for the petulant, shallow gasbag that he is.

In December, Colin Powell, who was himself a member of the Bush administration who switched parties and supported Obama, suggested that people need to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh. Does he really add anything to the national dialogue by wishing failure on our newly inaugurated president?

Let me help you there, the answer is no. And in case Limbaugh hasn't noticed, our country is failing thanks to the misguided policies of the right-wing nuts that have called the shots for the last eight years.

Still, it's probably not a good idea for the president to respond to Limbaugh by name and inflate the talk show host's air of self-importance.

The stimulus package is not going to be a walk in the park either. Republicans are yelling it's too costly and doesn't stimulate enough. And they might have point. It's at $825 billion now and could go higher. Hundreds of millions for condoms and other contraceptives doesn't belong in there either, unless it's for what's about to happen to the American taxpayer.

Remember how much fun it was when you won the Iowa caucus?

Republicans Can't just say Whatever, We're against it

If the Republicans don't agree with Obama's approach, given the severity of the crisis, they need to offer an alternative rather than just sitting still.

To be sure, there is the possibility that if the economy continues to deteriorate after a bill has passed and the public loses faith in Obama, the House GOP could reap the benefit from their opposition. They could say "we told you so." But even that would be a high-risk maneuver, particularly given the state of public opinion about the Republican Party.

Even if a bill passes and the economy continues to struggle, voters would be looking at a Republican Party that didn't have anything better to offer. The public likes hard-working politicians. - CNN Story

Now granted I did only take out a snippit of the commentary, but this guy must be looking at the picture through Democratic Glasses. The Republicans have been offering up other ideas, Nancy Pelosi and Reid won't let them in on the plan until the propose it. They can say, we are against it. That is their job. If people like this really think that it is complete backlash against the Republican Party, I want you to watch the next 2-4 election cycles. It is just like with anything, it is time to change. The Republicans had control for a long time and now it was time to change.

My favorite line - "The public likes hard-working politicians" Are you kidding me!!!!! If people liked hard-working politicians the entire bunch of them would have been thrown out on their cans. There would have been mass turnover every election.

ACORN a part of the Stimulus Package?

Republican lawmakers are raising concerns that ACORN, the low-income advocacy group under investigation for voter registration fraud, could be eligible for billions in aid from the economic stimulus proposal working its way through the House.

House Republican Leader John Boehner issued a statement over the weekend noting that the stimulus bill wending its way through Congress provides $4.19 billion for "neighborhood stabilization activities."

He said the money was previously limited to state and local governments, but that Democrats now want part of it to be available to non-profit entities. That means groups like ACORN would be eligible for a portion of the funds. - FOX News Story

Now, I don't pretend to know what all is in the Stimulus Package, but I do know that there sure sounds to me to be a lot of money going everywhere but the economy. This whole ACORN possibility really drives me crazy. This organization should be locked out until the whole mess is cleaned up. They are under investigation in multiple states and by multiple agencies. You can say it is politically motivated, but with that many people involved, things must not be right.

Nancy Pelosi, "birth control funding must be part of the stimulus package"

George Webb Closes Stores

Despite the closing of two George Webb's restaurants in Racine in recent days, the restaurant chain says it is doing very well in the current economic conditions.

In a statement, the corporation said that its 2008 chain-wide sales were up 4%, and that it is experiencing "good growth and traffic at all of our restaurants."

Webb's also said it's opening a new location in Sussex.

The statement also said that the franchise owner made a personal decision to clsoe the Racine locations at 4555 Douglas Avenue and 5400 Washington Avenue, and that people could attend nearby locations in Burlington, Kenosha and South Milwaukee. - WTMJ

I like eating at George Webb. Although the one by my house is so slow, we quit going there because it was taking over an hour just to sit down and get a meal. My family loves going there. I hope that this is not the beginning of a trend for them. If you haven't tried one, give it a shot.

Bush guilty of War Crimes?

A new survey of Democratic voters has found 44 percent believe President Bush and members of his administration committed war crimes during their term, which ended Jan. 20.

On the same day, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, told CNN that the International governing body already has enough evidence to prosecute former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for specifically ordering war crimes.

Among the general populace, just 25 percent agree with the assessment that the Bush administration is guilty of war crimes. By contrast, 70 percent of Americans believe it would be "bad" should these officials be brought up on charges, including 53 percent of Democrats. - therawstory.com

I keep trying to figure out what planet these people live on. I remember the beheadings and the torture of US Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, The beatings of Military people when our Copters crashed. The planes that crashed into the WTC on 9/11. War is not a pretty thing, it is deadly. If we have to push the envelope to keep these terrorist from killing more Americans, by God I want them doing whatever it takes to keep that from happening. I find it funny that this is torture, when in many of the countries they come from the justice system is more harsh than that.

Milwaukee Schools Teacher Residencey Rule Change Proposed

A plan to lift the residency requirement for Milwaukee public school teachers is in the works.

State Senator Alberta Darling and State Representative Scott Gunderson plan to introduce a bill next month to allow teachers to live outside the city limits. The Republicans argue the residency requirement discourages quality teachers from teaching in the district. No other school district in Wisconsin has a residency condition. - WISN News

I have argued this for years. You should be worried about getting the best teachers available for the job. All you accomplish with this restriction is limit your pool of Teachers to choose from. Lets face some facts, Milwaukee is not the place that you want to raise a family. Taxes are ridiculous, crime has been out of control. The suburbs around Milwaukee open up a whole lot of opportunity for the school district.

DTV Delay approved for 4 Months

There you go Senate, did you have bipartisan support on this one. The Senate voted to approve the delay of Digital TV for 4 months.

I guess the last 2 years wasn't enough time to get everyone on board, so we should be able to fix that in 4 months and I am sure a couple of Billion Dollars.

Geithner Approved as U.S. Treasury Secretary

Senate votes 60-34 to confirm New York Fed chief Timothy Geithner for U.S. treasury secretary despite misgivings about his previously overdue $34,000 tax bill.

The only question I have is, how often is it that you can not pay a bill to someone, and then come down to where if you pay your bill you become the CEO of that company. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. Good luck with this one.

Obama's claims on Afghanistan, Absurd!

American foreign policy is moving from the absurd to the ludicrous.

Back in 2002, President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney managed to snooker the people of the United States, or at least a large number of us, into believing that Iraq, a pathetic Third World country ruled by a corrupt tin-pot dictator, was a grave danger to America, akin to Hitler and Nazi Germany in 1940. We learned how absurd that claim was when two hundred thousand American troops backed by the mightiest air force the world has ever seen, slammed into the country in March, 2003, and the Iraqi military simply folded up, and the Saddam regime along with it.

Now, President Obama appears ready to make an even more absurd claim, namely that the gravest threat facing this nation is posed by the country of Afghanistan. Now I’ll grant that Afghanistan, with a population of 33 million, is at third bigger than Iraq, which had a population of 24 million, at least until the US invasion and occupation led to the death of over a million of Iraqis. But aside from that, Afghanistan, a land-locked nation that lies between Iran and Pakistan, is far weaker and more primitive even than Iraq. - OpEdNews

OK Seriously. I don't really even know how to respond to stupidity like this. Anyone who honestly thinks that Iraq and Afghanistan where not threats to our way of life has to be living under a rock. But hey, lets roll with it. Obama only promised to end the Iraq war, not the Afghanistan war.

Obama Supporters falling off Deep end

After the momentous election of President Barack Obama, we witnessed him surround himself with people of opposing views where Doris Kearns-Goodwin’s book “A Team of Rivals” became a best seller. While it may be good for the governance of we the people, the message directed at Republicans is that the ultimate decision lies with the Commander in Chief, President Barack Obama. I would like to remind President Barack Obama that instead of McCain being said go-to-guy, he was and is his rival first and foremost.

Why am I zeroing in on McCain? On Fox News Sunday which aired yesterday, McCain said this of the Obama stimulus plan, “The plan was written by the Democratic majority in the House, primarily, and so, yeah, I think there has to be major rewrite," He went onto say, “I am opposed to most of the provisions in the bill; as it stands now, I would not support it." It was reported last week of Obama where he cited in a meeting between House and Senate Republicans and Democrats, “I won!” and that is what he must take away from all of this. It was President Barack Obama who placed his hand on that ‘Lincoln Bible’ and not John McCain. - OpEdNews

Well as disappointed as I was in the election, I support President Obama and his push to get us out of this economy collapse. However, it is people that like this moron that really makes me laugh my tale off. They are so caught up in the hoopla and have a total lack of knowledge on how things work. I believe that there is going to have to be some serious money put out by the Government, there is just a philosophical difference. This Stimulus package is nothing but a giant spending program that will have little to do with helping the economy. Not only are there NO Republicans that support it, there are many Democrats stepping forward with questions concerning it.

Girls Basketball Coach Fired after 100-0 Win

You might remember this story, the Coach of a Girls High School team ran up the score and won the game 100-0. The school was embarassed and offered to forfeit the game for the actions of it's coach and team.

Kyle Queal, the headmaster for Covenant School, said in The Dallas Morning News online edition that he could not answer if the firing was a direct result of coach Micah Grimes' e-mail disagreeing with administrators who called the blowout "shameful."

Queal did not immediately answer phone messages or e-mail from The Associated Press.

On its Web site last week, Covenant, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition," said the statement, signed by Queal and board chair Todd Doshier.

Grimes, who has been criticized for letting the game get so far out of hand, made it clear in the e-mail Sunday to the newspaper that he does not agree with his school's assessment.

"In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed," Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. "We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity." - FOX News

I Beleive the coach should have been fired with that mentality. What an idiot.