The stock market show signs of life this week closing at 7223.98. For many of us that was great news. After months in free fall the market rebound, even if only for a week is great news.
Citi reported a profit and said they won't need anymore of our money. More good news.
The President came out and said the economy isn't as bad as we think. Yet, more good news.
Syracuse and UConn put on a 6 OT game that was one for the ages. March Madness is right around the corner.
and....
Baseball Season is coming shortly.
Yep, all and all good news for most of us this week. We have a whold weekend to let it settle in and enjoy some great College Basketball. Next week is three long days away. Lets enjoy it.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Obama's Polling Numbers
It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama's high levels of popularity, and to conclude that these are indicative of high levels of public confidence in the work of his administration. Indeed, a detailed look at recent survey data shows that the opposite is most likely true. The American people are coming to express increasingly significant doubts about his initiatives, and most likely support a different agenda and different policies from those that the Obama administration has advanced.
Polling data show that Mr. Obama's approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001. Rasmussen Reports data shows that Mr. Obama's net presidential approval rating -- which is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve -- is just six, his lowest rating to date.
Overall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president's performance. This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative.
A detailed examination of presidential popularity after 50 days on the job similarly demonstrates a substantial drop in presidential approval relative to other elected presidents in the 20th and 21st centuries. The reason for this decline most likely has to do with doubts about the administration's policies and their impact on peoples' lives.
There is also a clear sense in the polling that taxes will increase for all Americans because of the stimulus, notwithstanding what the president has said about taxes going down for 95% of Americans. Close to three-quarters expect that government spending will grow under this administration.
Recent Gallup data echo these concerns. That polling shows that there are deep-seeded, underlying economic concerns. Eighty-three percent say they are worried that the steps Mr. Obama is taking to fix the economy may not work and the economy will get worse. Eighty-two percent say they are worried about the amount of money being added to the deficit. Seventy-eight percent are worried about inflation growing, and 69% say they are worried about the increasing role of the government in the U.S. economy.
When Gallup asked whether we should be spending more or less in the economic stimulus, by close to 3-to-1 margin voters said it is better to have spent less than to have spent more. When asked whether we are adding too much to the deficit or spending too little to improve the economy, by close to a 3-to-2 margin voters said that we are adding too much to the deficit. - WSJ Story
This is an excellent story. Click the Story link and read the rest of this.
Childrens Homeless numbers inflated
A well publicized report this week that an estimated 1.5 million American children experienced homelessness in 2005-06 did not use the federal definition of homelessness. Instead, it used a different definition that grossly inflated the actual number.
The report — released Tuesday by the National Center on Family Homelessness and reported by numerous news organizations, including FOXNews.com — estimated that one out of every 50 children in America experienced "homelessness" during that two-year span.
But rather than using the definition of homelessness established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Massachusetts-based organization used a standard adopted by the Department of Education that includes children who are "doubled up," or children who share housing with other persons due to economic hardship or similar reason.
The difference? About 1,170,000 children. - FOX News Story
The old saying in business is you can make the numbers say anything you want. The truth is the information behind the numbers.
Obama - "Economy not as bad as we think"
WASHINGTON -- President Obama is embracing a mantle of confidence-builder in chief. Whether he is meeting with his own economic advisers or worried business leaders, his message is meant to be calm and reassuring -- even in the wake of more bad economic news.Obama will have another opportunity to assert his optimism after he meets Friday with Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who now guides the president's economic recovery advisory board. Volcker was preparing to brief Obama and his economic team on how the $787 billion stimulus package is working.
Speaking to a gathering of the nation's CEOs on Thursday, Obama defended his plans for pulling the economy out of a downward spiral, saying that his long-term view gives him reason to maintain optimism despite an uptick in unemployment and falling economic indicators.
"I've never bought into these Malthusian, woe, Chicken Little, the earth is falling. I tend to be pretty optimistic," said Obama, once a long-shot candidate for the White House. "I wouldn't be here if I weren't pretty optimistic."
The president boldly declared that the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and that he has seen public opinion seesaw without logic. - FOX News Story
Now isn't that a change in rhetoric. He is quoted as saying he never bought into the Sky is falling, I seem to recall during the whole stimulus debate that was exactly what he was saying. If it didn't pass immediately the world was going to end. I remember the Millions of Dollars we spent as he shuttled his campaign across the US, Ohio, Florida, Colorado, to tell how bad we need his stimulus to pass.
Now he is talking out another part of his anatomy saying it isn't as bad as we all think.
So what is the truth Mr. Obama?
Obama's Chinese Problem
The decision by President Obama to send an armed escort for U.S. surveillance ships in the area follows the aggressive and co-ordinated manoeuvres of five Chinese boats on Sunday. The vessels harassed and nearly collided with the unarmed USNS Impecccable.
One unidentified officer quoted in the China Daily newspaper said that the decision was disproportionate. While China’s Foreign Ministry has so far kept tight-lipped on the latest development, the decision to run such a comment so swiftly in the state-run English-language newspaper was a signal of Beijing’s concerns.
One naval source said the PLA had taken note of the latest U.S. move and was watching developments closely.
Another described the deployment of the USS Chung-Hoon, armed with torpedoes and missiles, as a signal of the Pentagon’s intention to “keep on pressing” China in the South China Sea.
He added: “The timing and the extent have gone beyond what you could call proportionate.” - FOX News
The problem is we are so indebted to China that they have a huge economic grip on us. Every time we burrow money, the vast majority of it comes from China. With the rumblings from Washington that yet another Stimulus may be necessary, where do we thing that money will come from? China. This is a the problem with deficit spending, you give other nations, leverage over you. In this case, a nation that we are not necessarily allied with.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
President not Ready to Shore up Mexican border
WASHINGTON - A top Homeland Security official told a House panel Thursday that Mexican drug cartels are the biggest organized crime threat to the United States.
Homeland Security official Roger Rufe said a department plan to respond to escalating violence on the southwest border includes — as a last resort — deploying military personnel and equipment to the region if homeland security agencies become overwhelmed.
Rufe, echoing comments a day earlier from President Barack Obama, said now is not the time to militarize the southwest border.
"We would take all resources short of DoD and National Guard troops before we reach that tipping point," Rufe told lawmakers. "We very much do not want to militarize our border."
Rufe said military forces would be called in only when homeland security and other government agencies are overwhelmed. He did not specify what circumstances would trigger a call for troops.
The Mexican government has deployed 700 extra federal police to Ciudad Juarez, a city bordering Texas where local police have been overwhelmed by drug violence. Earlier this month, 3,200 federal troops were sent to the city.
Mexican officials say the violence killed 6,290 people last year — and more than 1,000 in the first eight weeks of 2009. Warring drug cartels are blamed for more than 560 kidnappings in Phoenix in 2007 and the first half of 2008, and killings in Atlanta, and Birmingham, Ala.
"We're not so concerned, at least at this point, about that violence spilling over into our cities," he said.
Warnings issued to travelers
Further, the Homeland Security Department's attache to Mexico said the violence in Mexico is not as dangerous to U.S. tourists as has been portrayed.
Alonzo Pena said the violence is in isolated areas of the country and only affects the people involved in criminal activity. He said the violence is not affecting U.S. citizens visiting Mexico and Americans should not cancel their vacations in the country.
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives warned college students on spring breaks not to travel to parts of northern Mexico because it was too dangerous.
In February, the State Department advised travelers to avoid areas of prostitution and drug-dealing in Mexico. - NBC News
I just cam back from visiting Mexico Last Week. It is different down there, quite a showing of police and military. However, why wouldn't it be time to put some military on the border. Shore it up and keep the violence from spilling into the US. What the President of Mexico is doing is a good thing. He is taking on these Drug Cartels and obviously putting a dent in them if it is getting violent. They earn a vast part of their money from importing into the US and that is what they are fighting for. Why wouldn't we join forces with Mexico and stand with their President to shut down these Cartels?
Marquette Loses on Last Second Layup
NEW YORK -- Dwayne Anderson's last-second layup fell in as the buzzer sounded -- his only field goal of the game -- to give No. 10 Villanova a 76-75 victory over No. 1 Marquette on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats (26-6) led by as many as 17 points in the first half, but Marquette took its first lead since the game's early minutes on a 3-pointer by Lazar Hayward that made it 75-74 with 1:40 to play.
Both teams had two empty possessions after that with Jerel McNeal of the Golden Eagles (24-9) missing on a drive with 14 seconds to play.
Villanova's Reggie Redding dribbled the ball near the top of the key and finally began a move toward the basket with just a couple of seconds left. He found Anderson on the left side of the lane and his layup seemed to sit on the rim for a while before falling through. - CBS Sports
Democrats change Rhetoric on New Stimulus
Democratic leaders have faced few roadblocks this year in pushing through their agenda, but this week they opened a fiscal door that many lawmakers appear loath to step through.After passing President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said on Tuesday that Democrats are open to passing another one, if necessary.
Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., suggested the next day that he has directed House Appropriations Committee staff members to begin "preparing options" and ideas for the possibility of another stimulus bill.
But on Thursday, after Republicans pounced on the possibility of a third stimulus package within a year and called for an independent audit of the current one to increase transparency, Pelosi stressed that another spending jolt is not in the works.
"I don't think you ever close the door to being prepared for what eventuality may come, but I think that is not a near, near thing," she said. "But don't close the door to some other things. It's just not something that right now is in the cards."
She added it will not come from her "initiation" and is hopeful that "we get the results we need from this package."
But Republicans have already seized on news that Democratic leaders are at least thinking about another stimulus package.
"Just three weeks after President Obama signed his 'stimulus' bill into law, congressional Democrats are already conceding that it will fail to achieve its objective," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., said in a statement.
"As the speaker knows, the only reason to craft a second stimulus bill would be if the first one failed," he continued. "Every Republican in the House voted against the first stimulus bill because we believed that Congress could do better, and we had a plan to achieve that goal. America does not need another massive spending bill, what we need is to create jobs."
Republicans also say they are skeptical that the current stimulus bucks are being spent wisely. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Thursday for an independent audit of the stimulus bill by the Government Accountability Office.
"I am deeply concerned by reports that oversight will stop at the state level once a governor designates the federal money to be spent at the local or municipal level," McConnell wrote in a letter to the agency. "The American taxpayer will benefit from full transparency at each step of the process as these funds are disbursed." - FOX News
Senate Questions Obama's Spending Plan
President Obama's ambitious new U.S. budget faced bipartisan skepticism Thursday as key senators questioned the administration's long-term budget outlook and the deficits it envisions rising in the middle of the next decade.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended it in testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, saying current increases in spending are short term and will have to be substantially reduced to get the country back into fiscal shape.
Still, the Democratic chairman of the Budget Committee, Sen. Kent Conrad , called the track of future deficits "unsustainable" and singled out Obama's proposal for spending $634 billion on health care over the next 10 years.
"Some of us have a real pause about the notion of putting substantially more money into the health care system when we've already have a bloated system," he said.
Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican, complained that the budget does not tackle rising entitlement spending on old age pensions and health care for the elderly. Geithner countered that the administration intends to confront rising health care costs with broad reforms that will significantly reduce spending.
Geithner is at the center of the president's economic policy, advocating both its budget proposals and its tax policies, but also a $700 billion rescue program for the financial sector.
Geithner was facing questions on all those fronts Thursday. By the end of the day, he was scheduled to leave for talks Friday and Saturday in London with finance officials from the Group of 20 nations.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, a Republican, dismissed Geithner's defense of the budget as "campaign mode."
"This budget is based on more taxes, more spending and more debt," Sessions said.
The president's budget would raise taxes, starting in 2011, on individuals earning more than $200,000 and on households earning more than $250,000. Geithner said the increases would kick in after the economy is expected to be in recovery.
But Geithner sidestepped a question by Sen. Mike Crapo, a Republican, who asked whether the administration would let the increases take effect if the economy has not recovered in two years. "We have to watch how the economy evolves," Geithner said. - FOX News
This is a horrible plan. There should be questions coming from all walks of life. If things seem bad now, give this plan time and this will only be the tip of the iceburg for mainstreet America.
Remember, the guy defending this plan broke the law by not paying taxes until it was discovered and he had to in order to get the job of being in charge of the IRS.
Rep Steered Bailout to Family Bank
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., helped steered millions of dollars in bailout funds to a bank on whose board her husband served, the New York Times reported Thursday.The bank also didn't appear to meet the requirements for receiving the money, the newspaper reported.
Waters, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, arranged a meeting in September between Treasury officials and the chief executive of OneUnited, one of the country's largest black-owned banks, which requested $50 million in special bailout funds.
Treasury officials told the newspaper that Waters didn't tell them her husband, Sidney Williams, served on the bank's board of directors and has owned at least $250,000 in stock in the institution.
The bank, then considered to be in a precarious condition, received $12 million in December from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was intended for healthy banks.
Williams no longer serves on the bank's board; it is unclear whether he still owns OneUnited shares, the newspaper said.
The bank came under fire from regulators in 2007 for failing to give more loans to lower-income residents in Miami, while favoring wealthier customers there, the newspaper said. And the F.D.I.C. sanctioned the institution in October for "unsafe or unsound banking practices," including excessive compensation for its chief executive.
Michael Levin, a spokesman for Waters, told FOXNews.com that the Times report was riddled with errors and predicted the newspaper will make corrections. - FOX News
Folks, this is how our money is spent by those whom we elect.
Economy Not Crashing - CNN
This guy is pretty smart. The only problems that I have with his thought is this:
President Obama has been leading the charge on the Crisis. He has said on many many many occasions that we are Crashing.
The Media and the President along with his staff has driven the panic in America today. I have said many times over, the economy is bad. People are hurting. The Media along with the leadership have driven the panic. By the talk from Washington and the News Coverage, it has driven many to tighten up even when they didn't need to. People have drastically changed their spending habits preparing for what is coming. This has reflected in the spending, Wall Street, and on main street America. People who aren't even feeling the effects of the economy mess are tightening up on their money.
President Warns States to Use Stimulus Wisely
(AP) President Barack Obama implored states to spend their shares of the $787 billion economic stimulus package wisely - or else.
"If we see money being misspent, we're going to put a stop to it," Mr. Obama warned a gathering of state officials.
"What you do in the coming weeks, the coming months, over the next couple of years is going to make a huge difference in whether or not the trust the American people have placed in us is justified," he said, and added: "I have great confidence in you." (Read the full remarks here.)
The president said states are on the front lines of what he called the most important task for the short term and the long term: turning around the recession. He also said the American people are behind what the administration and states are doing and "they are going to be watching very carefully" to see if officials can deliver.
"We're going to need to work really hard. We're going to need to make sure every single dollar is well spent," he said, and that means going "above and beyond the typical ways of doing business."
The president made the remarks during a brief appearance at a daylong White House conference aimed at making sure the stimulus funds are spent appropriately. The administration had asked each governor to send the state official in charge of stimulus money to learn about programs and initiatives available under the legislation, which Mr. Obama signed into law on Feb. 17.
The conference was billed as a way for these officials to propose and discuss ideas for spending the money, as well as to hear from several Cabinet secretaries and other administration officials.
Earlier, Vice President Joe Biden said states that misuse the money shouldn't expect more help from the federal government for a long time.
"If we don't get this right, folks, this is the end of the ability to convince Congress that anything should go to the states," he said.
"We are all on the line," Biden said. "The American people are looking for us to get this right." - ABC News
The President knows that this is more or less his one chance. He has banked an awful lot on this working. If it doesn't work, he is done. If it does work he will be golden.
The only real problem I see, he appears to be setting it up to blame the blame game if it doesn't work. He and his staff will point the finger and say they failed to do what was right. He will have to be careful with that game. He won't be able to be partisan about it or it will backfire.
"If we see money being misspent, we're going to put a stop to it," Mr. Obama warned a gathering of state officials.
"What you do in the coming weeks, the coming months, over the next couple of years is going to make a huge difference in whether or not the trust the American people have placed in us is justified," he said, and added: "I have great confidence in you." (Read the full remarks here.)
The president said states are on the front lines of what he called the most important task for the short term and the long term: turning around the recession. He also said the American people are behind what the administration and states are doing and "they are going to be watching very carefully" to see if officials can deliver.
"We're going to need to work really hard. We're going to need to make sure every single dollar is well spent," he said, and that means going "above and beyond the typical ways of doing business."
The president made the remarks during a brief appearance at a daylong White House conference aimed at making sure the stimulus funds are spent appropriately. The administration had asked each governor to send the state official in charge of stimulus money to learn about programs and initiatives available under the legislation, which Mr. Obama signed into law on Feb. 17.
The conference was billed as a way for these officials to propose and discuss ideas for spending the money, as well as to hear from several Cabinet secretaries and other administration officials.
Earlier, Vice President Joe Biden said states that misuse the money shouldn't expect more help from the federal government for a long time.
"If we don't get this right, folks, this is the end of the ability to convince Congress that anything should go to the states," he said.
"We are all on the line," Biden said. "The American people are looking for us to get this right." - ABC News
The President knows that this is more or less his one chance. He has banked an awful lot on this working. If it doesn't work, he is done. If it does work he will be golden.
The only real problem I see, he appears to be setting it up to blame the blame game if it doesn't work. He and his staff will point the finger and say they failed to do what was right. He will have to be careful with that game. He won't be able to be partisan about it or it will backfire.
Space Station Evacuated for Short Time Due to Space Junk
The two astronauts and one cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station had to duck for cover Thursday as space debris passed perilously close to the orbiting platform.
Crew members Sandra Magnus, Michael Fincke and Yury Lonchakov were ordered into one of the Soyuz TMA-13 escape capsules at 12:35 p.m. EDT.
In case the space station were to be hit, the astronauts could have undocked and headed back to Earth.
The window of danger passed at 12:45 p.m., and left the capsule and reentered the space station.
NASA said the offending object was most likely an old motor from the space station itself.
The debris was was about one-third of an inch in width, said NASA spokesman Josh Byerly. - FOX News
President Obama's CIO Pick Office Raided by FBI
FBI agents have made two arrests after raiding the D.C. office of the man tapped to be President Obama's chief information officer, sources told FOX News.
The agents on Thursday morning raided the office of Vivek Kundra, who was leaving his post as the D.C. chief technology officer to join the administration. The investigation is related to allegations of corruption, one source said, but is not targeting Kundra.
FBI agents arrested a District of Columbia government worker, Yusuf Acar, as well as Sushil Bansal, who works for a company called Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp, sources said. Both are expected in court later Thursday.
FBI spokeswoman Lindsay Gotwin would not describe the nature of the probe.
"It's an ongoing law enforcement investigation," she said.
In a March 5 White House press release, the administration said it chose Kundra to be the federal chief information officer because of his "depth of experience in the technology arena and a commitment to lowering the cost of government operations to this position."
The chief information officer is responsible for overseeing federal technology spending. - FOX News
San Francisco Police Union Accuses Ayres of 1970 Bombing
The union, in a letter to a conservative organization lobbying for arrests in the case, accused Ayers and wife Bernardine Dohrn of bombing a city police station. On Feb. 16, 1970, a bomb placed on a window ledge of Park Station killed Sgt. Brian McDonnell and injured eight other officers, the Chronicle reported.
The union said it had not been in contact with investigators nor did it have new evidence, but it cited Larry Grathwohl, who works with the conservative organization America's Survival of Maryland and claims that he infiltrated Weather Underground as an FBI informant and heard Ayers confess, the Chronicle reported.
"There are irrefutable and compelling reasons to believe that Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn ... are largely responsible for the bombing of Park Police Station," the Feb. 24 letter reads, according to the Chronicle.
Ayers denies any involvement in the bombing and told the Chronicle in January that his accuser, Grathwohl, was a "paid dishonest person."
Ayers was once again thrust into the spotlight during last year's presidential campaign, when President Obama's ties to the radical were questioned.
Ayers is now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dohrn is a law professor at Northwestern University. - FOX News
Obama Failing on Economy
President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the economy from participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.
Their assessment stands in stark contrast with Obama's popularity with the public, with a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll giving him a 60 percent approval rating. But a majority of the 49 economists polled is dissatisfied with the administration's economic policies.
On average, they gave the president a mark of 59 out of 100, and although there was a broad range of marks, 42 percent of respondents graded Obama below 60. Geithner fared even worse, with an average grade of 51. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke scored better, with an average 71.
"The Obama team has blown it," said David Resler of Nomura Securities.
Some economists were underwhelmed by the $787 billion stimulus package, with 43 percent saying the U.S. will need another stimulus package on the order of nearly $500 billion. Others were skeptical of the need for stimulus. "The package already passed was too much too late," said Dana Johnson of Comerica Bank.
However, economists' main complaint centers on the administration's plan for the banking sector. "The most important issue in the short run is the financial rescue," said Stephen Stanley of RBS Greenwich Capital. "They overpromised and underdelivered. Secretary Geithner scheduled a big speech and came out with just a vague blueprint. The uncertainty is hanging over everyone's head."
Geithner unveiled the Obama administration's plans Feb. 10, but he offered few details, and stocks sank on the news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down almost 20 percent since the announcement, as multiple issues have weighed on investors' confidence. In the ensuing weeks, the Treasury secretary has appeared before Congress and offered more specifics but has said action on key parts of the plan still is weeks away. - FOX News
Read Whole Story at Wall Street Journal (Click Here)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Terrorist Organization in Minneapolois? - Must Read
For several months the FBI has been investigating about a dozen Somali-American men who disappeared from their homes in the Minneapolis area late last year and may have joined terrorist groups overseas. One of the men, 27-year-old Shirwa Ahmed, later blew himself up in Somalia. The FBI recently called him the first U.S. citizen to carry out a suicide bombing, and FBI Director Mueller said he was "radicalized in his hometown in Minnesota."
The FBI has interviewed at least 50 people in the Somali community and subpoenaed at least 10 people to testify before a grand jury in Minneapolis, according to Farhan Hurre, the director of the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in St. Paul, one of the largest mosques in the Twin Cities. He said most of those subpoenaed are students at the University of Minnesota. At least two of the men still missing were students at the University of Minnesota.
A woman who identified herself as a 20-year-old student at the University of Minnesota said she testified before the grand jury this morning, after receiving a subpoena on Friday. A copy of the subpoena obtained by Fox News says, "You are hereby commanded to appear and testify before the Grand Jury of the United States District Court." The subpoena told her to appear at 9 a.m. local time.
She said FBI agents previously told her that she has "some important information" related to an ongoing FBI investigation. The woman told Fox News she knew four of the Minneapolis-area men who went missing late last year, but she said they were only "acquaintances" whom she knew from growing up in the area. - FOX News Story
Is it OK to Wish Obama to Fail?
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just minutes before learning of the terrorist attacks on America, Democratic strategist James Carville was hoping for President Bush to fail, telling a group of Washington reporters: "I certainly hope he doesn't succeed."Carville was joined by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who seemed encouraged by a survey he had just completed that revealed public misgivings about the newly minted president.
"We rush into these focus groups with these doubts that people have about him, and I'm wanting them to turn against him," Greenberg admitted.
The pollster added with a chuckle of disbelief: "They don't want him to fail. I mean, they think it matters if the president of the United States fails."
Minutes later, as news of the terrorist attacks reached the hotel conference room where the Democrats were having breakfast with the reporters, Carville announced: "Disregard everything we just said! This changes everything!"
The press followed Carville's orders, never reporting his or Greenberg's desire for Bush to fail. The omission was understandable at first, as reporters were consumed with chronicling the new war on terror. But months and even years later, the mainstream media chose to never resurrect those controversial sentiments, voiced by the Democratic Party's top strategists, that Bush should fail.
That omission stands in stark contrast to the feeding frenzy that ensued when radio host Rush Limbaugh recently said he wanted President Obama to fail. The press devoted wall-to-wall coverage to the remark, suggesting that Limbaugh and, by extension, conservative Republicans, were unpatriotic.
"The most influential Republican in the United States today, Mr. Rush Limbaugh, said he did not want President Obama to succeed," Carville railed on CNN recently. "He is the daddy of this Republican Congress."
Limbaugh, a staunch conservative, emphasized that he is rooting for the failure of Obama's liberal policies.
"The difference between Carville and his ilk and me is that I care about what happens to my country," Limbaugh told Fox on Wednesday. "I am not saying what I say for political advantage. I oppose actions, such as Obama's socialist agenda, that hurt my country.
"I deal in principles, not polls," Limbaugh added. "Carville and people like him live and breathe political exploitation. This is all a game to them. It's not a game to me. I am concerned about the well-being and survival of our nation. When has Carville ever advocated anything that would benefit the country at the expense of his party?"
Carville told Politico that focusing on Limbaugh is a deliberate strategy aimed at undermining Republicans.
"The television cameras just can't stay away from him," he said. "Our strategy depends on him keeping talking, and I think we're going to succeed."
Greenberg added: "He's driving the Republican reluctance to deal with Obama, which Americans want."
In 2006, 51 percent of Democrats wanted Bush to fail, according to a FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll. - FOX News
Listen, this whole thing is blown way out of proportion. This is just another one of those things that the Media is driving. They Drove Obama, the Economy, now this. Of course, if you didn't support them and your team gets beat, it is human nature to want the other team to fail. That is life. Drop it already.
Obama remarks on Earmarks
President Obama addresses the earmark concerns in the bill just signed. Below is an excerpt from his statements.
Now, yesterday Congress sent me the final part of last year's budget; a piece of legislation that rolls nine bills required to keep the government running into one, a piece of legislation that addresses the immediate concerns of the American people by making needed investments in line with our urgent national priorities.
That's what nearly 99 percent of this legislation does -- the nearly 99 percent that you probably haven't heard much about.
What you likely have heard about is that this bill does include earmarks. Now, let me be clear: Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts, and that's why I've opposed their outright elimination. And I also find it ironic that some of those who rail most loudly against this bill because of earmarks actually inserted earmarks of their own –- and will tout them in their own states and their own districts.
But the fact is that on occasion, earmarks have been used as a vehicle for waste, and fraud, and abuse. Projects have been inserted at the 11th hour, without review, and sometimes without merit, in order to satisfy the political or personal agendas of a given legislator, rather than the public interest. There are times where earmarks may be good on their own, but in the context of a tight budget might not be our highest priority. So these practices hit their peak in the middle of this decade, when the number of earmarks had ballooned to more than 16,000, and played a part in a series of corruption cases.
Wow earmarks ballooned to more than 16,000!!! Hello, this bill has nearly 8,000 earmarks. That is half of what you call ballooning.
In 2007, the new Democratic leadership in Congress began to address these abuses with a series of reforms that I was proud to have helped to write. We eliminated anonymous earmarks and created new measures of transparency in the process, so Americans can better follow how their tax dollars are being spent. These measures were combined with the most sweeping ethics reforms since Watergate. We banned gifts and meals and made sure that lobbyists have to disclose who they're raising campaign money from, and who in Congress they send it to. So we've made progress. But let's face it, we have to do more.
It doesn't appear that those reforms are working very well.
I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it's necessary for the ongoing functions of government, and we have a lot more work to do. We can't have Congress bogged down at this critical juncture in our economic recovery. But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change.
Blah blah blah. If you are serious about reform then get serious. This is a bunch of BS. This is like telling the kid it isn't ok to eat the cookie before dinner and next time they can't have a cookie but go ahead this time.
In my discussions with Congress, we have talked about the need for further reforms to ensure that the budget process inspires trust and confidence instead of cynicism. So I believe as we move forward, we can come together around principles that prevent the abuse of earmarks.
These principles begin with a simple concept: Earmarks must have a legitimate and worthy public purpose. Earmarks that members do seek must be aired on those members' websites in advance, so the public and the press can examine them and judge their merits for themselves. Each earmark must be open to scrutiny at public hearings, where members will have to justify their expense to the taxpayer.
How is that going to work? Who decides? Everyone thinks there earmark is important. Do we all remember in the Stimulus there was money for a train from Vegas to Disney? How does that have the public in mind? That was a pet project.
Next, any earmark for a for-profit private company should be subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other federal contracts. The awarding of earmarks to private companies is the single most corrupting element of this practice, as witnessed by some of the indictments and convictions that we've already seen. Private companies differ from the public entities that Americans rely on every day –- schools, and police stations, and fire departments.
When somebody is allocating money to those public entities, there's some confidence that there's going to be a public purpose. When they are given to private entities, you've got potential problems. You know, when you give it to public companies -- public entities like fire departments, and if they are seeking taxpayer dollars, then I think all of us can feel some comfort that the state or municipality that's benefitting is doing so because it's going to trickle down and help the people in that community. When they're private entities, then I believe they have to be evaluated with a higher level of scrutiny.
Furthermore, it should go without saying that an earmark must never be traded for political favors.
And finally, if my administration evaluates an earmark and determines that it has no legitimate public purpose, then we will seek to eliminate it, and we'll work with Congress to do so. - CBS News
Now, yesterday Congress sent me the final part of last year's budget; a piece of legislation that rolls nine bills required to keep the government running into one, a piece of legislation that addresses the immediate concerns of the American people by making needed investments in line with our urgent national priorities.
That's what nearly 99 percent of this legislation does -- the nearly 99 percent that you probably haven't heard much about.
What you likely have heard about is that this bill does include earmarks. Now, let me be clear: Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts, and that's why I've opposed their outright elimination. And I also find it ironic that some of those who rail most loudly against this bill because of earmarks actually inserted earmarks of their own –- and will tout them in their own states and their own districts.
But the fact is that on occasion, earmarks have been used as a vehicle for waste, and fraud, and abuse. Projects have been inserted at the 11th hour, without review, and sometimes without merit, in order to satisfy the political or personal agendas of a given legislator, rather than the public interest. There are times where earmarks may be good on their own, but in the context of a tight budget might not be our highest priority. So these practices hit their peak in the middle of this decade, when the number of earmarks had ballooned to more than 16,000, and played a part in a series of corruption cases.
Wow earmarks ballooned to more than 16,000!!! Hello, this bill has nearly 8,000 earmarks. That is half of what you call ballooning.
In 2007, the new Democratic leadership in Congress began to address these abuses with a series of reforms that I was proud to have helped to write. We eliminated anonymous earmarks and created new measures of transparency in the process, so Americans can better follow how their tax dollars are being spent. These measures were combined with the most sweeping ethics reforms since Watergate. We banned gifts and meals and made sure that lobbyists have to disclose who they're raising campaign money from, and who in Congress they send it to. So we've made progress. But let's face it, we have to do more.
It doesn't appear that those reforms are working very well.
I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it's necessary for the ongoing functions of government, and we have a lot more work to do. We can't have Congress bogged down at this critical juncture in our economic recovery. But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change.
Blah blah blah. If you are serious about reform then get serious. This is a bunch of BS. This is like telling the kid it isn't ok to eat the cookie before dinner and next time they can't have a cookie but go ahead this time.
In my discussions with Congress, we have talked about the need for further reforms to ensure that the budget process inspires trust and confidence instead of cynicism. So I believe as we move forward, we can come together around principles that prevent the abuse of earmarks.
These principles begin with a simple concept: Earmarks must have a legitimate and worthy public purpose. Earmarks that members do seek must be aired on those members' websites in advance, so the public and the press can examine them and judge their merits for themselves. Each earmark must be open to scrutiny at public hearings, where members will have to justify their expense to the taxpayer.
How is that going to work? Who decides? Everyone thinks there earmark is important. Do we all remember in the Stimulus there was money for a train from Vegas to Disney? How does that have the public in mind? That was a pet project.
Next, any earmark for a for-profit private company should be subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other federal contracts. The awarding of earmarks to private companies is the single most corrupting element of this practice, as witnessed by some of the indictments and convictions that we've already seen. Private companies differ from the public entities that Americans rely on every day –- schools, and police stations, and fire departments.
When somebody is allocating money to those public entities, there's some confidence that there's going to be a public purpose. When they are given to private entities, you've got potential problems. You know, when you give it to public companies -- public entities like fire departments, and if they are seeking taxpayer dollars, then I think all of us can feel some comfort that the state or municipality that's benefitting is doing so because it's going to trickle down and help the people in that community. When they're private entities, then I believe they have to be evaluated with a higher level of scrutiny.
Furthermore, it should go without saying that an earmark must never be traded for political favors.
And finally, if my administration evaluates an earmark and determines that it has no legitimate public purpose, then we will seek to eliminate it, and we'll work with Congress to do so. - CBS News
Obama Signs Earmark Laden Bill
Noting that the $410 billion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last night is “imperfect,” President Obama this morning spoke on the topic of earmarks, the inclusion of which in the bill was a rallying point for Republican opposition.
The president said he plans to sign the spending bill despite the presence of earmarks “because it is necessary for the ongoing functions of government” – though, notably, he did not hold a public signing ceremony.
The president said some earmarks are legitimate. “Done right,” he said, “earmarks give legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their district, and that’s why I have opposed their outright elimination.”
In a shot aimed largely at Republicans, he also said he finds “it ironic that some of those who railed the loudest against this bill because of earmarks actually inserted earmarks of their own – and will tout them in their own states and districts.”
Still, he said, “earmarks have been used as a vehicle for waste, fraud, and abuse.” He said he viewed his signing of the spending bill as “a departure point for more far-reaching change” and called for reforms to prevent earmark abuse in the future.
The president then laid out three principles for proper use of earmarks. First, he said, they “must have a legitimate and worthy public purpose” and be publicly aired in advance.
Second, since the “awarding of earmarks to private companies is the single most corrupting element of this practice,” the president said “any earmark for a for-profit private company should be subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other federal contracts.”
Third, he said, an earmark must not be traded for political favors – something that “should go without saying.”
And fourth, he vowed to seek to eliminate any earmarks that the adminiration determines have “no legitimate public purpose.” - CBS News
What a bunch of crappy crap crap. The Government is running just fine without this bill. They are mandated to run at previous years levels until a spending bill is fine. Don't tell me that it was necessary. Plus, the Stimulus bill added funds to their coffers anyways.
Who is the man behind the curtain?
The president said he plans to sign the spending bill despite the presence of earmarks “because it is necessary for the ongoing functions of government” – though, notably, he did not hold a public signing ceremony.
The president said some earmarks are legitimate. “Done right,” he said, “earmarks give legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their district, and that’s why I have opposed their outright elimination.”
In a shot aimed largely at Republicans, he also said he finds “it ironic that some of those who railed the loudest against this bill because of earmarks actually inserted earmarks of their own – and will tout them in their own states and districts.”
Still, he said, “earmarks have been used as a vehicle for waste, fraud, and abuse.” He said he viewed his signing of the spending bill as “a departure point for more far-reaching change” and called for reforms to prevent earmark abuse in the future.
The president then laid out three principles for proper use of earmarks. First, he said, they “must have a legitimate and worthy public purpose” and be publicly aired in advance.
Second, since the “awarding of earmarks to private companies is the single most corrupting element of this practice,” the president said “any earmark for a for-profit private company should be subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other federal contracts.”
Third, he said, an earmark must not be traded for political favors – something that “should go without saying.”
And fourth, he vowed to seek to eliminate any earmarks that the adminiration determines have “no legitimate public purpose.” - CBS News
What a bunch of crappy crap crap. The Government is running just fine without this bill. They are mandated to run at previous years levels until a spending bill is fine. Don't tell me that it was necessary. Plus, the Stimulus bill added funds to their coffers anyways.
Who is the man behind the curtain?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Is Obama Feeding us a line of BS?
In 2007, the federal budget deficit was $162 billion (1.2% of gross domestic product). For 2009, the budget deficit is projected to be 11 times larger: $1.752 trillion. This World War II-like deficit (12.3% of GDP) is not all on President Obama. Much of it is due to policies put in place by President Bush, Hank Paulson and last year's Congress. President Obama's "stimulus" bill will certainly raise the deficit, but, to be fair, it is not the predominant digger of this year's large fiscal hole.
Nonetheless, contrary to the spin of big-government types, these deficits are not just temporary. In fact, the Obama administration uses every trick in the book to convert an understandable and potentially temporary budget lapse this year into a structural lack of fiscal responsibility.
Despite the rosiest economic projections we have possibly ever seen, as well as one of the largest tax hikes in history, President Obama's budget fails to achieve balance at any time in the next decade. The smallest deficit (at least as far as the eye can see) will be $533 billion in 2013. This is amazing, especially when the economic growth forecast is considered. Team Obama suggests that real GDP will grow significantly faster in the years ahead than it has in the past.
To top it off, that $533 billion deficit in 2013 assumes we have largely withdrawn our military from Iraq. In other words, if we look at just domestic spending, the budget deficit is growing even more rapidly.
It is impossible to blame tax cuts for this situation. By 2013, the Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 would no longer be in place. In the Obama budget, tax revenue is expected to be 19% of GDP in 2013--a higher share of GDP than in 2007. It doesn't take a rocket scientist at this point to understand that every dime of the increase in the deficit between 2007 and 2013 is due to higher spending, not excessively low taxes on the rich.
One thing to remember about all of these numbers is that they are based on a very "rosy" economic scenario. If the economy falls short of the optimistic assumptions, the deficit will be substantially larger than projected. - Forbes.com
Pet Project Spending Bill Passes
WASHINGTON -- Congress on Tuesday cleared for President Obama's signature a $410 billion measure to fund the government, a measure denounced by most Republicans as an example of reckless spending.
The Senate approved the measure by voice after it cleared a key procedural hurdle by a 62-35 vote. Sixty votes were required to shut down debate.
Obama will sign the measure Wednesday, the White House said, but he will also announce steps aimed at curbing lawmakers' penchant for pet projects.
The $410 billion bill is chock-full of lawmakers' pet projects and significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy research and other programs. It was supposed to have been completed last fall.
The bill ran into an unexpected political hailstorm in Congress after Obama's spending-heavy economic stimulus bill and his 2010 budget plan forecasting a $1.8 trillion deficit for the current budget year. And Republicans seized on Obama's willingness to sign a bill packed with pet projects after he assailed them as a candidate.
"If it had not been for the stimulus and the budget proposal it might have been ... noncontroversial," said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. "The stimulus bill riled an awful lot of people up. ... And then the budget proposal comes out."
Within Democratic ranks, there was relief, not jubilation.
The 1,132-page spending bill has an extraordinary reach, wrapping together nine spending bills to fund the annual operating budgets of every Cabinet department except for Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.
Described by lawmakers as a $410 billion measure -- but officially tallied by the Congressional Budget Office at $408 billion because of technicalities involving heating subsidies for the poor -- the bill was written mostly over the course of last year, with support from key Republicans such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the Senate's No. 3 Republican.
They sit on the Senate Appropriations Committee. McConnell is the successful sponsor or co-sponsor of $76 million worth of pet projects, known as "earmarks," not requested by former President George W. Bush, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. Alexander obtained a more modest 36 earmarks totaling $32 million.
Alexander supported the measure in the end; McConnell did not.
But bipartisan support for the bill evaporated after projected deficits quadrupled and Obama's economic recovery bill left many of the same spending accounts swimming in cash.
Congressional aides say the true cost is closer to $410 billion once heating subsidies for the poor passed last year are included.
Some Republicans noted that the government has been functioning just fine for more than five months at last year's funding levels.
"Why not go back to 2008 levels," said Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. "That would be a responsible action that might start giving confidence to the American people."
At issue is the approximately one-third of the budget passed each year by Congress for the operating budgets of Cabinet departments and other agencies. The rest of the budget is comprised of benefits programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- as well as interest payments on the swelling $11 trillion national debt.
Adding in spending bills passed last year for defense, homeland security and the Veterans Administration -- as well as $288.7 billion in appropriated money in the stimulus bill -- total appropriations so far for 2009 have reached $1.4 trillion. And that's before the Pentagon submits another $75 billion or so request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Appropriated spending for 2008 was $1.2 trillion; Obama's budget for next year calls for $1.3 trillion in appropriations.
Democrats had long feuded with Bush over domestic appropriations levels and stopped action on the nine bills last year, gambling that Obama would win the election and restore hundreds of cuts proposed by Bush.
And, to the embarrassment of Obama -- who promised during last year's campaign to force Congress to curb its pork-barrel ways -- the bill contains 7,991 earmarks totaling $5.5 billion, according to calculations by the Republican staff of the House Appropriations Committee. - FOX News
Republicans and Democrats alike got in on the act for this Pet Spending Bill. Obama will flip all of us the bird and sign it. Everyone wants to preach cutting the earmarks out of stuff, but it appears the only one serious about it was John McCain. Not the Congress, Now we know not Obama.
Media Trying to make Obama Fail?
Less than two months into Barack Obama’s presidency, it has become clear that the top threat to his ability to accomplish his goals – from reversing the recession to reforming health care to building a greener economy – is not just an obstructionist Republican Party but a U.S. news media that remains largely tilted to the Right.
There is the powerful right-wing media – with its many outlets in print, radio, TV and the Internet – but also a mainstream/corporate media that can’t escape the old dynamic of framing stories negatively about Democrats and granting Republicans every benefit of the doubt.
So, when Obama pushed for a $787 billion stimulus plan, it was treated as too big and too bloated – at least until the new GDP and unemployment numbers came in and suddenly the package was too small and too modest.
When the New York Times and the Washington Post wrote about the stunning 6.2 percent decline in the gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of 2008, their stories focused on Obama’s policy failures, without mentioning that George W. Bush was President throughout the fourth quarter.
Mainstream pundits also are echoing the view from the right-wing media – and from CNBC’s business boosters – that Obama has become “the great wealth destroyer” because of the stock market drop from the Nov. 4 election to today.
Left out of many of these commentaries is the fact that the sharp declines were already underway and were clearly the result of the Wall Street financial crisis that occurred under Bush - Democrat Underground
I am not really sure what rock this person has been hiding under for the past few years, but are you kidding me. Obama has been and is the Media darling. All through the campaign he could do no wrong. Even with the Wright and Ayers stuff, he was golden.
You have got to be kidding me about the media supporting the Republicans and bashing the Democrats. What Network do you watch?
There is the powerful right-wing media – with its many outlets in print, radio, TV and the Internet – but also a mainstream/corporate media that can’t escape the old dynamic of framing stories negatively about Democrats and granting Republicans every benefit of the doubt.
So, when Obama pushed for a $787 billion stimulus plan, it was treated as too big and too bloated – at least until the new GDP and unemployment numbers came in and suddenly the package was too small and too modest.
When the New York Times and the Washington Post wrote about the stunning 6.2 percent decline in the gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of 2008, their stories focused on Obama’s policy failures, without mentioning that George W. Bush was President throughout the fourth quarter.
Mainstream pundits also are echoing the view from the right-wing media – and from CNBC’s business boosters – that Obama has become “the great wealth destroyer” because of the stock market drop from the Nov. 4 election to today.
Left out of many of these commentaries is the fact that the sharp declines were already underway and were clearly the result of the Wall Street financial crisis that occurred under Bush - Democrat Underground
I am not really sure what rock this person has been hiding under for the past few years, but are you kidding me. Obama has been and is the Media darling. All through the campaign he could do no wrong. Even with the Wright and Ayers stuff, he was golden.
You have got to be kidding me about the media supporting the Republicans and bashing the Democrats. What Network do you watch?
Dow posts Huge Jump
(CBS/AP) Wall Street got some good news from Citigroup, and responded with a huge rally.
Led by financial stocks, the market made its first big move upward in weeks Tuesday after Citigroup Inc. said it had operated at a profit during the first two months of the year. All the major indexes soared more than 4.5 percent, and the Dow Jones industrials shot up more than 300 points.
Still, while word of Citi's performance at least temporarily broke a months-long torrent of bad news from the banking industry, analysts weren't ready to say the stock market was at a turning point and about to barrel higher.
I don't think that's rally is in any way an all clear signal for the market," Michael Farr, president of Farr, Miller and Washington, told CBS News. "The economy is in very tough shape. We are really struggling with out financial and banking system. And it may go lower."
But the Citigroup news offered investors some hope that the first quarter will show some signs of improvement.
"What about tomorrow? You know, carpe diem - live for the day. Enjoy this moment. We haven't had enough of them," said Farr.
In a letter sent to employees Monday, Citi Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said the first-quarter performance so far has been the bank's best since the third quarter of 2007 — the last time it recorded net income for a full period. Based on historical revenue and expense rates, Citi's projected earnings before taxes and one-time charges would be about $8.3 billion for the full quarter. - CBS
Led by financial stocks, the market made its first big move upward in weeks Tuesday after Citigroup Inc. said it had operated at a profit during the first two months of the year. All the major indexes soared more than 4.5 percent, and the Dow Jones industrials shot up more than 300 points.
Still, while word of Citi's performance at least temporarily broke a months-long torrent of bad news from the banking industry, analysts weren't ready to say the stock market was at a turning point and about to barrel higher.
I don't think that's rally is in any way an all clear signal for the market," Michael Farr, president of Farr, Miller and Washington, told CBS News. "The economy is in very tough shape. We are really struggling with out financial and banking system. And it may go lower."
But the Citigroup news offered investors some hope that the first quarter will show some signs of improvement.
"What about tomorrow? You know, carpe diem - live for the day. Enjoy this moment. We haven't had enough of them," said Farr.
In a letter sent to employees Monday, Citi Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said the first-quarter performance so far has been the bank's best since the third quarter of 2007 — the last time it recorded net income for a full period. Based on historical revenue and expense rates, Citi's projected earnings before taxes and one-time charges would be about $8.3 billion for the full quarter. - CBS
Pelosi Airlines is up and Running on our Dime
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly requested military aircraft to shuttle her and her colleagues and family around the country, according to a new report from a conservative watchdog group. Representatives for Judicial Watch, which obtained e-mails and other documents from a Freedom of Information request, said the correspondence shows Pelosi has abused the system in place to accommodate congressional leaders and treated the Air Force as her "personal airline."
The e-mails showed repeated attempts by Pelosi aides to request aircraft, sometimes aggressively, and by Department of Defense officials to accommodate them.
"I think that's above and beyond what other members of Congress are doing and what is expected of our elected officials," said Jenny Small, a researcher with the group.
The group reported that Pelosi was notorious for making special demands for high-end aircraft, lodging last-minute cancellations, and racking up additional expenses for the military.
In one e-mail, aide Kay King complained to the military that they had not made available any aircraft the House speaker wanted for Memorial Day recess.
"It is my understanding there are NO G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable ... The Speaker will want to know where the planes are," King wrote.
In another, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King wrote: "This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset Speaker."Pelosi's office has not yet responded to requests for comment - FOX News
It is nice to be Queen. Sometimes I really think that she is the true Vice President. She has a bigger pair than some of the other knobs that try to assume power in Washington, you gotta give her that.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Rush wants Obama to Fail, Dems wanted Bush to Fail
Rush Limbaugh took a lot of heat for saying he wants President Obama to fail -- but a lot of Democrats felt the same way about former President George W. Bush during his second term.
An August 2006 poll conducted by FOX News/Opinion Dynamics showed 51 percent of Democrats did not want Bush to succeed. Thirty-four percent of independents also did not want Bush to succeed.
By comparison, 90 percent of Republicans said at the time that they wanted Bush to succeed, and 40 percent of Democrats said the same.
Conservative radio talk show host Limbaugh says he doesn't want the economy to fail -- just Obama's policies. But his comments last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference drew sharp criticism from the White House.
After CPAC, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told CBS' "Face the Nation" that Limbaugh's stance was the "wrong philosophy for America." - FOX News
I must be slow on the uptick here. What is all of this about? Sure most of us want Obama's policies to fail. If you don't believe in bigger Government, more spending, higher taxes, then you want them to fail. I don't get why that is news? I don't want the US to fail, the economy to fail, just the policies of someone that I disagree with.
Chinese / American Relations Strained
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon charged Monday that five Chinese ships shadowed and maneuvered dangerously close to a U.S. Navy vessel in an apparent attempt to harass the American crew.Defense officials in the Obama administration said the incident Sunday followed several days of "increasingly aggressive" acts by Chinese ships in the region. The incident took place in international waters in the South China Sea, about 75 miles south of Hainan Island.
U.S. officials said a protest was lodged with the Chinese government over the weekend and it was to be repeated to a Beijing military attache at a Pentagon meeting Monday.
The USNS Impeccable sprayed one ship with water from fire hoses to force it away. Despite the force of the water, Chinese crew members stripped to their underwear and continued closing within 25 feet, the Defense Department said.
"On March 8, 2009, five Chinese vessels shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity to USNS Impeccable, in an apparent coordinated effort to harass the U.S. ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters," the Pentagon statement said. - FOX News Story
Obama Dips in Polls
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 39% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-one percent (31%) Strongly Disapprove to give Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of +8. - Rasmussen
This is after huge approval numbers throughout his Young Presidency. He had a +30 mark on inauguration. Although his approval remains high at 56%, there is growing signs of impatience among the Voters.
The President has been banking everything on his Stimulus Package and the American People are finding that more and more spending is not solving the problem, but more accurately could be compounding it.
This combined with his budget proposal has many American worried about the huge deficits and Big Government spending.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Obama, Don't Overreact on Economy Woes
For the first time since taking office, President Obama is suggesting that some Americans may be overreacting to the nation's economic woes by dramatically ratcheting back their spending.
"What I don’t think people should do is suddenly stuff money in their mattresses and pull back completely from spending," Obama told The New York Times in an interview published on the Web Saturday. "I don’t think that people should be fearful about our future. I don’t think that people should suddenly mistrust all of our financial institutions because the overwhelming majority of them actually have managed things reasonably well."
In the same interview, conducted aboard Air Force One as he returned from a trip to Ohio on Friday, Obama flatly dismissed a question asking if he was a socialist, saying "the answer would be no." After the interview, he called back to say, " It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question." - Politico
Hasn't it been Obama who since he won the election has been saying how dire the economy is? Everything has been an emergency because of the Economic Disaster? The worst Economy in our life time?
Oh wait, not really. I just wanted to spend a whole bunch of your money, I knew I couldn't get it unless you really thought it was bad. Don't panic, it is ok. I have fixed it, go ahead and invest you money and spend at will.
We can always bail you out if it doesn't work.
"What I don’t think people should do is suddenly stuff money in their mattresses and pull back completely from spending," Obama told The New York Times in an interview published on the Web Saturday. "I don’t think that people should be fearful about our future. I don’t think that people should suddenly mistrust all of our financial institutions because the overwhelming majority of them actually have managed things reasonably well."
In the same interview, conducted aboard Air Force One as he returned from a trip to Ohio on Friday, Obama flatly dismissed a question asking if he was a socialist, saying "the answer would be no." After the interview, he called back to say, " It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question." - Politico
Hasn't it been Obama who since he won the election has been saying how dire the economy is? Everything has been an emergency because of the Economic Disaster? The worst Economy in our life time?
Oh wait, not really. I just wanted to spend a whole bunch of your money, I knew I couldn't get it unless you really thought it was bad. Don't panic, it is ok. I have fixed it, go ahead and invest you money and spend at will.
We can always bail you out if it doesn't work.
Obama Team again Failing to fulfil Promise
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Facing mounting criticism of a spending package packed with billions of dollars in earmarks, the Obama administration made a vow Sunday: This president will bring a halt to pork-laden bills. Peter Orszag says it is too late to cut earmarks from the spending bill inherited from the Bush administration.
"[Such bills] will not happen when the president has the full legislative and appropriations process in place," Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told CNN's "State of the Union with John King."
He argued that the White House had little choice but to support the $410 billion omnibus spending bill, which it inherited from the previous administration. The bill would keep the government running through 2009.
"This is like your relief pitcher coming into the ninth inning and wanting to redo the whole game," Orszag said. "Next year we're going to be the starting pitcher, and the game's going to be completely different." - CNNDon't feed us all that line of Bull. The Baseball analogy doesn't work. If you know Baseball then use the analogy correctly. It is like the relief pitcher coming in with the bases loaded and a 3-0 count on the batter. It is up to you to tighten the belt and shut this down right now. You have no room for error, make the move right now. Not the Bull that this guy is trying to feed us.
Quit trying to get out of this. You promised to stop pork barrel spending, so STOP IT! If the Senate won't stop it, VETO IT. Be a leader.
Obama Team Pleads for Patience
Concern is growing that the Obama administration's prescriptions for the ailing economy aren't working because the stock market still continues to collapse, unemployment rates are up and no signs of a turnaround can be seen yet, but the president's supporters say patience will pay off.
"I wouldn't measure the stock market over the day to day as to how well we're doing. I think that you're going to have to give the president's plans, which are just taking effect this week, some time to work," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday.
"It does take some time before things -- before people realize that the substance is actually getting better. My guess is that'll start later this year or the first part of next year, and we're moving aggressively to make sure that it does," said Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.
Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the economy is in a shambles and even the White House's estimates may need to be revised, but it's too soon to consider a sequel to the $787 billion tax and spending plan that passed a month ago.
"I don't think we should be chasing our tail, constantly revising assumptions," Orszag said. "Let's see what happens, let it work. We'll have a mid-session review later in the year. We'll have an opportunity to revise the assumptions at that point."
As the stimulus plan starts to get pumped into the economy, a number of criticisms have been made about the spending bill being offered up by President Obama for fiscal year 2010.
"We had a plan to stimulate the economy that cost half as much as the president's proposal and would have created twice as many jobs," Republican Minority Leader John Boehner said on CBS' "Face the Nation.
"And as we look at their budget, it's pretty clear that their budget spends too much. It taxes too much. And it borrows too much from our kids and grandkids. It's time for government to go on this diet. It's time for government to tighten their belt and show the American people that we get it," Boehner said.
On top of the proposed $3.7 trillion budget, several are questioning the existing budget bill for that has yet to be passed for the remainder of fiscal year 2009, which is halfway finished.
"The budget is a radical, reckless exercise that is scaring the hell out of everybody who is watching this country's financial situation," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
"We're talking about $480 billion of taxpayers' money loaded down with $8 billion worth of earmark pork barrel projects," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told "FOX News Sunday." "And it is not last year's business. It's money that's going to be spent as soon as the president signs the bill. And he shouldn't sign it. He should veto it and send it right back."
But Orszag said what is reckless are Republican efforts led by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to privatize Social Security and Medicare.
"The senior Republican on the House Budget Committee has put forward a plan that includes $3 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, a Medicare program, when you turn 65, you'd be handed a check for 80 percent of the cost of health care and then you're on your own; and a Social Security plan in which your Social Security fund would be invested in the stock market. I'm not making this stuff up," he said.
Ryan told FOX News that his plan avoids efforts to "effectively nationalize health care and the energy sector by fall" and privatization would work because it would be voluntary and would've kept older workers in the bond market, not dealing in stocks.
He said the rate of return on Social Security taxes for his children is estimated at negative 1 percent.
"Social Security is already telling younger people that the money is not going to be there right now, so let's dispel the illusion" that privatization would be riskier than the government program.
Schumer and Graham appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press;" Orszag appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation;" and Bayh spoke on ABC's "This Week." - FOX News
This seems an awful lock like Deja Vu. The Democrats kicked and screamed at Bush for his pleas for patience. Now they are doing the same. But this time it is ok. No it isn't! You have spent Billions of Dollars we don't have and have made promises that you aren't keeping. There is no Patience. Not when you continue to ask the American People to spend more and more on your projects and can't show us anything in return.
Obama making Economy Worse?
resident Barack Obama offered his domestic-policy proposals as a "break from a troubled past." But the economic outlook now is more troubled than it was even in January, despite Obama's bold rhetoric and commitment of more trillions of dollars.
And while his personal popularity remains high, some economists and lawmakers are beginning to question whether Obama's agenda of increased government activism is helping, or hurting, by sowing uncertainty among businesses, investors and consumers that could prolong the recession.
Although the administration likes to say it "inherited" the recession and trillion-dollar deficits, the economic wreckage has worsened on Obama's still-young watch.
Every day, the economy is becoming more and more an Obama economy.
More than 4 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007 _ roughly half in the past three months.
Stocks have tumbled to levels not seen since 1997. They are down more than 50 percent from their 2007 highs and 20 percent since Obama's inauguration.
The president's suggestion that it was a good time for investors with "a long-term perspective" to buy stocks may have been intended to help lift battered markets. But a big sell-off followed.
Presidents usually don't talk about the stock market. But the dynamics are different now.
A higher percentage of people have more direct exposure to stocks _ including through 401(k) and other retirement plans _ than ever.
So a tumbling stock market is adding to the national angst as households see the value of their investments and homes plunge as job losses keep rising. - AP Story
I and many others have been saying this for quite some time. The problem has been and continues to be Congress. There is nothing to hold things in balance.
5 Shot in Illinois Church during Service
A gunman reportedly stepped on stage at First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill. and opened fire, shooting five people and killing the pastor.
Parishioners charged the gunman, who was reportedly stabbed by one of them. The suspect is in police custody.
Pastor Fred Winters was shot three times, police said. He died at Anderson Hospital, a spokeswoman told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Winters reportedly welcomed the man onto the stage before he started shooting. It was not clear if the two knew each other or if the gunman was a parishioner.
Six people, two in critical condition, were taken to a local hospitals.
The church has an average attendance of more than 1,200 and was officially organized on March 4, 1945, according to their Web site. - FOX News
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