Hey - LONG time away! But, I'm older and more mature now...whatever. Anyway - many of you have probably seen this. It's a letter that is going around the email highway supposedly written by a 4th grade teacher (she didn't write it). But - it is something I wish I would have penned! Whomever the author is makes a great point!
April 27, 2009
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally. You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States.
You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth. I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about?
Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century? Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You don't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?
I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you. You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members -- on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't! Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million -- not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you. I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
Sincerely,
Every Real American
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Yes, More Stimulating Info...
We are being sold a line of...well - a line! This "strangulus" bill is just a horrible idea, and many, many Americans think so. But, our elected crooks are NOT listening to us. They're listening to the special interest groups that will benefit from this "rescue" package. What our government is doing is unconstitutional! There are no provisions in the Constitution for the government to spend our money on what they're spending it on. And if this whole thing is about getting money back in the banks - do THAT! Better yet - let the American citizen put their money back in the system! I'm sorry Newsweak, (I know how it's spelled!) but we are NOT all socialists now - not this guy and not millions of others who are thinking still, anyway.
Anyway...the following is from Nathaniel Ward, writing at www.myHeritage.org.
President Barack Obama urged Congress to move quickly on finalizing the legislation, saying that failure to act would mean still further economic decline. This just isn't true. In fact, Heritage economist J.D. Foster told a conference on economic recovery today that the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan will only deepen the recession. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office agrees, arguing that it will depress economic activity. Worse, Foster argued that the massive spending could drive up interest rates to crippling levels, while the tax increases scheduled for next year will not advance the recovery one bit. On Heritage's Foundry blog, Conn Carroll looks at other "stimulus" myths repeated during the press conference.
In his remarks yesterday, the President said that most economists from across the political spectrum support this sort of massive government spending to "stimulate" the economy.
Writing on National Review Online, Heritage budget expert Brian Riedl debunks the myth of "bipartisan consensus" on this legislation. Nobel Laureates Ed Prescott, James Buchanan, and Vernon Smith recently joined 200 other economists signing a letter opposing the legislation. Other notable economists critical of the stimulus package include Nobel Laureate Gary Becker, as well as Robert Barro, Greg Mankiw, Arthur Laffer, and Larry Lindsey. Martin Feldstein, who had been the only notable conservative economist loudly supporting the stimulus, has since changed his mind.
More liberal economists such as Alice Rivlin and Alan Blinder have also strongly criticized certain aspects of the spending bill.
Anyway...the following is from Nathaniel Ward, writing at www.myHeritage.org.
President Barack Obama urged Congress to move quickly on finalizing the legislation, saying that failure to act would mean still further economic decline. This just isn't true. In fact, Heritage economist J.D. Foster told a conference on economic recovery today that the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan will only deepen the recession. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office agrees, arguing that it will depress economic activity. Worse, Foster argued that the massive spending could drive up interest rates to crippling levels, while the tax increases scheduled for next year will not advance the recovery one bit. On Heritage's Foundry blog, Conn Carroll looks at other "stimulus" myths repeated during the press conference.
In his remarks yesterday, the President said that most economists from across the political spectrum support this sort of massive government spending to "stimulate" the economy.
Writing on National Review Online, Heritage budget expert Brian Riedl debunks the myth of "bipartisan consensus" on this legislation. Nobel Laureates Ed Prescott, James Buchanan, and Vernon Smith recently joined 200 other economists signing a letter opposing the legislation. Other notable economists critical of the stimulus package include Nobel Laureate Gary Becker, as well as Robert Barro, Greg Mankiw, Arthur Laffer, and Larry Lindsey. Martin Feldstein, who had been the only notable conservative economist loudly supporting the stimulus, has since changed his mind.
More liberal economists such as Alice Rivlin and Alan Blinder have also strongly criticized certain aspects of the spending bill.
Friday, February 6, 2009
More Borrowed Info
So I don't have any unique thoughts lately...so what. My brain is over-stimulus-ed! This spending bill is killing me. "What do you think stiulus is? It's spending! Seriously." Loosely quoted from Pres. Obama, but the gist of his statement nonetheless. OK - seriously? We get it that "stimulus" is spending. But this is just WRONG! The money being spent here is NOT job-creating! It's special interest spending gone wild. Anyway - here's something from The Foundry from The Heritage Foundation (there are hyperlinks in this article, too that have additional information):
"Morning Bell: Stop Digging
Posted By Conn Carroll On February 6, 2009
Another day, another poll showing public support for President Barack Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan sinking fast. Trying to turn these numbers around, Obama went on the offensive yesterday delivering some red meat to House Democrats at their posh Resort and Spa retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. Defending his plan, Obama told Democrats: “[We] are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. … I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office. … What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending — that’s the whole point! Seriously.”
Seriously, where has Obama been the last eight years? What does he think got us into this mess? Where does he think those deficits came from? Here are the facts. Before President Bush took office, the federal government took in $2 trillion in revenue in 2000. In 2009, the federal government is expected to take in $2.4 trillion. After eight years under President Bush, the federal government is taking in $400 billion more a year in revenue. So why did Congressional Budget Office project a $1.4 trillion deficit for the 2009 budget? Massive spending increases. As McClatchy reports “George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he’s arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ.” McClatchy goes on to detail Bush’s spending binge including an 18% increase in education spending, a doubling of agriculture spending, the 2003 Medicare expansion which was the “biggest single expansion in the programs history”, and the $295 billion 2005 infrastructure bill.
So to recap, in 2000 the federal government spent just $1.8 trillion. Now the CBO estimates that the feds will spend almost double that, $3.5 trillion, in 2009 (and that does not include Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan). Combining the increased $400 billion in revenue with the $1.7 trillion increase in spending, we see that the mountains of debt Obama is whining about inheriting all came from massive increases in federal spending. It was borrowing and spending that got us into this mess. Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan is not a ‘change’ from Bush, it is Bushonomics on steroids.
And the $816 billion price tag is a completely dishonest scoring of the plan’s real size. This is because the stimulus bill pretends that most of its welfare benefit increases will lapse after two years. In fact, both Congress and President Obama intend for most of these increases to become permanent. The notion that Congress intends to temporarily increase Pell grants and Earned Income Tax Credit benefit levels for just two years and then let benefits fall back to their original status is out of touch with Washington reality. Any Congressman who, two years from now, suggests that the new welfare spending be allowed to lapse to pre-stimulus levels would be pilloried for slashing welfare.
According to a new study by Heritage senior research fellow Robert Rector, once the hidden welfare spending in the bill is counted, the total ten year fiscal burden (added to the national debt) will not be $816 billion, as claimed, but $1.34 trillion. Where is Obama going to find all the money to pay for this spending? Right now Treasury securities are selling at high prices and with low yields. But how long will credit be cheap? Will it still be when the Treasury is scrounging around in the international credit markets six months or a year from now? China and Japan account for almost 65% of total Treasury securities held by foreign owners. But their economies are also slowing. If they even start slowing their appetite for U.S. debt, a drop in world market demand for Treasurys could drive borrowing costs upward, and there could be a ballooning of the interest cost line in the budget that will worsen an already frightening outlook.
Last night Obama told Democrats, “If you’re headed for a cliff, you have to change direction.” That’s a decent analogy, but the problem is his Trillion Dollar Debt Plan is not a change in direction. It is a foot on the accelerator. Instead, the Senators voting today should take another saying to heart: “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”
"Morning Bell: Stop Digging
Posted By Conn Carroll On February 6, 2009
Another day, another poll showing public support for President Barack Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan sinking fast. Trying to turn these numbers around, Obama went on the offensive yesterday delivering some red meat to House Democrats at their posh Resort and Spa retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. Defending his plan, Obama told Democrats: “[We] are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. … I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office. … What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending — that’s the whole point! Seriously.”
Seriously, where has Obama been the last eight years? What does he think got us into this mess? Where does he think those deficits came from? Here are the facts. Before President Bush took office, the federal government took in $2 trillion in revenue in 2000. In 2009, the federal government is expected to take in $2.4 trillion. After eight years under President Bush, the federal government is taking in $400 billion more a year in revenue. So why did Congressional Budget Office project a $1.4 trillion deficit for the 2009 budget? Massive spending increases. As McClatchy reports “George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he’s arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ.” McClatchy goes on to detail Bush’s spending binge including an 18% increase in education spending, a doubling of agriculture spending, the 2003 Medicare expansion which was the “biggest single expansion in the programs history”, and the $295 billion 2005 infrastructure bill.
So to recap, in 2000 the federal government spent just $1.8 trillion. Now the CBO estimates that the feds will spend almost double that, $3.5 trillion, in 2009 (and that does not include Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan). Combining the increased $400 billion in revenue with the $1.7 trillion increase in spending, we see that the mountains of debt Obama is whining about inheriting all came from massive increases in federal spending. It was borrowing and spending that got us into this mess. Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan is not a ‘change’ from Bush, it is Bushonomics on steroids.
And the $816 billion price tag is a completely dishonest scoring of the plan’s real size. This is because the stimulus bill pretends that most of its welfare benefit increases will lapse after two years. In fact, both Congress and President Obama intend for most of these increases to become permanent. The notion that Congress intends to temporarily increase Pell grants and Earned Income Tax Credit benefit levels for just two years and then let benefits fall back to their original status is out of touch with Washington reality. Any Congressman who, two years from now, suggests that the new welfare spending be allowed to lapse to pre-stimulus levels would be pilloried for slashing welfare.
According to a new study by Heritage senior research fellow Robert Rector, once the hidden welfare spending in the bill is counted, the total ten year fiscal burden (added to the national debt) will not be $816 billion, as claimed, but $1.34 trillion. Where is Obama going to find all the money to pay for this spending? Right now Treasury securities are selling at high prices and with low yields. But how long will credit be cheap? Will it still be when the Treasury is scrounging around in the international credit markets six months or a year from now? China and Japan account for almost 65% of total Treasury securities held by foreign owners. But their economies are also slowing. If they even start slowing their appetite for U.S. debt, a drop in world market demand for Treasurys could drive borrowing costs upward, and there could be a ballooning of the interest cost line in the budget that will worsen an already frightening outlook.
Last night Obama told Democrats, “If you’re headed for a cliff, you have to change direction.” That’s a decent analogy, but the problem is his Trillion Dollar Debt Plan is not a change in direction. It is a foot on the accelerator. Instead, the Senators voting today should take another saying to heart: “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Letting Go and Pressing On
Last night a young lady gave her life over to God by being immersed into Christ. It was a pretty cool event. It's always good to see a young (or old) person commit their lives to Christ. I am happy for her and for her parents who have invested their lives in raising their kids to get them to this point - the point of giving it all over to God. But, it makes me think, too. This young lady is stepping into a new life! And by "new", I mean different than probably 95%+ of the kids at her school, most of the people she'll run into in life - we're talking very different!
But, that's what it is isn't it? That's what Peter was trying to tell the Christians he was writing to when he says, "So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy...And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests...You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession" (1 Pet 1:14-15; 2:5, 9 - NLT). We are different. At least we should be. And when you're in the 8th grade, surrounded by either ungodly punks or people who are pseudo-Christian, it's going to be hard. Well, truth is, I'm in that situation and I'm almost 40! That's where we all are. And it's tough to be holy, separate people.
My prayer for this young lady is that she'll hang in there. I think she will - she's a good kid. What I pray doesn't happen is what's happened to too many...the Slow Fade. Do you know that song? It's by Casting Crowns. Look at these words: "It's a slow fade when you give yourself away. It's a slow fade, when black and white have turned to gray. Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid, when you give yourself away. People never crumble in a day. It's a slow fade." (The song was in "Fireproof" by the way.) But isn't that the case. People rarely intentionally fall away from their relationship with God. It just happens...slowly...gradually...then one day they're back in the old life. This won't happen for this young lady - that's my prayer. We won't allow it, as her Christian family.
So, to prevent this Slow Fade, what can we do? Well, I'll answer with words from another "Fade" song. This one by Jeremy Camp: "Let it Fade", "Let this old life crumble, let it fade. Let this new life offered be your saving grace. Let this old life crumble, let it fade, let it fade." Nice words, Jeremy. But Paul says it best, "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Cor 5:17).
But, that's what it is isn't it? That's what Peter was trying to tell the Christians he was writing to when he says, "So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy...And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests...You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession" (1 Pet 1:14-15; 2:5, 9 - NLT). We are different. At least we should be. And when you're in the 8th grade, surrounded by either ungodly punks or people who are pseudo-Christian, it's going to be hard. Well, truth is, I'm in that situation and I'm almost 40! That's where we all are. And it's tough to be holy, separate people.
My prayer for this young lady is that she'll hang in there. I think she will - she's a good kid. What I pray doesn't happen is what's happened to too many...the Slow Fade. Do you know that song? It's by Casting Crowns. Look at these words: "It's a slow fade when you give yourself away. It's a slow fade, when black and white have turned to gray. Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid, when you give yourself away. People never crumble in a day. It's a slow fade." (The song was in "Fireproof" by the way.) But isn't that the case. People rarely intentionally fall away from their relationship with God. It just happens...slowly...gradually...then one day they're back in the old life. This won't happen for this young lady - that's my prayer. We won't allow it, as her Christian family.
So, to prevent this Slow Fade, what can we do? Well, I'll answer with words from another "Fade" song. This one by Jeremy Camp: "Let it Fade", "Let this old life crumble, let it fade. Let this new life offered be your saving grace. Let this old life crumble, let it fade, let it fade." Nice words, Jeremy. But Paul says it best, "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Cor 5:17).
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A Few Questions from Glenn Beck
Yeah - I'm stealing stuff for two posts in a row. But, I think this is pretty cool. Look it over and see what you think...
WE Surround Them
February 4, 2009 - 9:30 ET
GLENN: So I'm going to just ask you right now just to think of these things and just answer out loud. Just say to yourself yes or no. Yes or no. Is this who I am? Is this what I believe? Because I believe you and I agree on most of these.
1) Yes or no: Do you believe America is a good place, that we've lost our way over the years, that we have done bad things but generally speaking we tried hard. We try to make amends. We have tried to do the right thing. Just like everybody else, we fail from time to time and we have truly lost our way in the last 20 years. But gosh, if you look at America, she's good and our founders were good and our founding documents are good. We've just strayed too far away from them. Yes or no.
2) Yes or no: I believe in God. I may not go to the same church or synagogue or mosque as the majority of people in America, but I believe in God and he is the center of my life, and God does not tell people to behead others or to persecute others that see God in a different way. As long as that god is not telling them to persecute others.
Yes or no.
3) Yes or no: It is my responsibility to try to be better and a more honest person than I was yesterday. Sometimes I fail, I'll make mistakes, but it's my main mission to be better than I was personally than I was yesterday.
4) Yes or no: The family is sacred. I and my spouse are the ultimate authority under God when it comes to my family. I raise my family, and that comes with a grave responsibility. If I fail, I answer to God.
5) Yes or no: If you break the law, you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6) Yes or no: I have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but that is not a guarantee of equal results.
7) Yes or no: I work hard for what I have, and I will share it with others that I choose when I choose, should I choose. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8) It is not un-American for anyone to disagree with my opinion, but my opinion or others' opinions may be anti-American. Anti-American rhetoric would be anything that is destructive to the Constitution and our country as our founders understood it.
9) And the last one is the government works for me. The government answers to me. I do not answer to the government.
How many are there? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. There are nine of them. Do you agree with seven of them?
Here's what I want you to do. Step one: No matter where you are right now, I want you to take a picture of yourself. I want you to take a picture, and I ask you and you'll understand as we go in the next couple of weeks, I ask you if you could bring these and ask your children -- can we post these please on the Internet, on the website? I want you to ask as many people as you know, do you believe in these things? Just seven out of nine. Do you believe in them? Then will you please take a picture of yourself. If you ask your family and you ask your children tonight, do you believe in these things. Take a picture of your spouse. Not as a family. Take them one at a time and send them to me, e-mail them to me at -- what is the address, Stu?wesurroundthem@gmail.com. This is how much I believe that you are not alone.
Please, if you agree with these things, please send me a photo. I will explain on, is it -- do we know, is it going to be February 27th? We don't know? We don't have a date yet. And I'll explain on February 27th -- I think it's going to be that date, in the next couple of weeks -- and I'm going to do a special radio show and television show. It's going to be a live show. We are going to also have you have an opportunity to attend. I will tell you about that in the coming days. I will also tell you in the coming days that you don't have to come to New York to be a part of it, either. But this is all going to be grassroots. I believe it's going to be February 27th. Could be a week later. Don't be alone, and you'll understand why on that day. But I ask you today, do this one thing. Do you believe in these things? Do you believe in these things? If you do, then do me a favor, please, do your children a favor. Take a picture of yourself and send it to me at wesurroundthem@gmail.com.
February 4, 2009 - 9:30 ET
GLENN: So I'm going to just ask you right now just to think of these things and just answer out loud. Just say to yourself yes or no. Yes or no. Is this who I am? Is this what I believe? Because I believe you and I agree on most of these.
1) Yes or no: Do you believe America is a good place, that we've lost our way over the years, that we have done bad things but generally speaking we tried hard. We try to make amends. We have tried to do the right thing. Just like everybody else, we fail from time to time and we have truly lost our way in the last 20 years. But gosh, if you look at America, she's good and our founders were good and our founding documents are good. We've just strayed too far away from them. Yes or no.
2) Yes or no: I believe in God. I may not go to the same church or synagogue or mosque as the majority of people in America, but I believe in God and he is the center of my life, and God does not tell people to behead others or to persecute others that see God in a different way. As long as that god is not telling them to persecute others.
Yes or no.
3) Yes or no: It is my responsibility to try to be better and a more honest person than I was yesterday. Sometimes I fail, I'll make mistakes, but it's my main mission to be better than I was personally than I was yesterday.
4) Yes or no: The family is sacred. I and my spouse are the ultimate authority under God when it comes to my family. I raise my family, and that comes with a grave responsibility. If I fail, I answer to God.
5) Yes or no: If you break the law, you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6) Yes or no: I have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but that is not a guarantee of equal results.
7) Yes or no: I work hard for what I have, and I will share it with others that I choose when I choose, should I choose. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8) It is not un-American for anyone to disagree with my opinion, but my opinion or others' opinions may be anti-American. Anti-American rhetoric would be anything that is destructive to the Constitution and our country as our founders understood it.
9) And the last one is the government works for me. The government answers to me. I do not answer to the government.
How many are there? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. There are nine of them. Do you agree with seven of them?
Here's what I want you to do. Step one: No matter where you are right now, I want you to take a picture of yourself. I want you to take a picture, and I ask you and you'll understand as we go in the next couple of weeks, I ask you if you could bring these and ask your children -- can we post these please on the Internet, on the website? I want you to ask as many people as you know, do you believe in these things? Just seven out of nine. Do you believe in them? Then will you please take a picture of yourself. If you ask your family and you ask your children tonight, do you believe in these things. Take a picture of your spouse. Not as a family. Take them one at a time and send them to me, e-mail them to me at -- what is the address, Stu?wesurroundthem@gmail.com. This is how much I believe that you are not alone.
Please, if you agree with these things, please send me a photo. I will explain on, is it -- do we know, is it going to be February 27th? We don't know? We don't have a date yet. And I'll explain on February 27th -- I think it's going to be that date, in the next couple of weeks -- and I'm going to do a special radio show and television show. It's going to be a live show. We are going to also have you have an opportunity to attend. I will tell you about that in the coming days. I will also tell you in the coming days that you don't have to come to New York to be a part of it, either. But this is all going to be grassroots. I believe it's going to be February 27th. Could be a week later. Don't be alone, and you'll understand why on that day. But I ask you today, do this one thing. Do you believe in these things? Do you believe in these things? If you do, then do me a favor, please, do your children a favor. Take a picture of yourself and send it to me at wesurroundthem@gmail.com.
What On EARTH!!!???!!!
OK - I want to just write about this. But, I go to the Heritage Foundation website and, lo and behold, they've said it all for me. So, I'll just steal this from them. Please read this and send it to everyone you know. Politics aside - this is SUCH a BAD idea!!!!!!
There are two competing story lines developing on the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan. The first is that the bill passed by the House is basically a sound spending plan that only needs a few minor changes in the Senate before it can be passed and single-handedly save the entire U.S. economy from total collapse. So, National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers tells the USA Today, "We're focused on the pie, not the crumbs. The president is prepared to compromise but our focus is on the fact that the American economy badly needs help." President Barack Obama was also on message last night telling ABC News: "The overwhelming bulk of the package is sound. Most of the programs that have been criticized as part of this package amount to less than 1% of the overall package." That is the official White House version of events. Then there is the truth.
The truth is that the vast majority Obama's Trillion Dollar Debt Plan has nothing to do with stimulating the economy and everything to do with permanently redistributing spending and power away from the private sector and toward government. That is why the plan is costlier than the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. That is why it is larger than the entire GDP of India. That is why the plan will send our debt-to-GDP levels to unprecedented heights. Remember, only 15% of the spending in this debt plan goes to infrastructure. So where does the rest of the money go? Obama's Trillion Dollar Debt Plan doubles the size of the entire Education Department and according to the New York Times, expands government health care spending in a way that fundamentally "rewrit[es] the social contract with the poor in ways [the left] have long yearned to do."
As conservative stalwart Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) writes in today's Wall Street Journal: "As a nation, we got into this mess by spending and investing money that didn't exist. We won't get out of it by doing more of the same." Coburn is not alone in this assessment. The Washington Post reports today that Senate Democratic leaders have conceded they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written. And it is not just because conservatives like Sen. Coburn object. Moderate Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are also not happy with the core of the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan. Nelson says he and Collins have identified "tens of billions" in cuts they will ask Obama to remove. But Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) had an even more honest assessment of the bill telling the Post that "many of the provisions were jammed into the legislation by members of the Appropriations Committee who were 'trying to short-circuit the normal legislative process.'" Snowe concluded: "They should scrub it."
There is an alternative. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has an idea he calls The American Option. Instead of permanently expanding the size and power of Washington, DeMint's idea would free American entrepreneurs from their stifling tax burdens and allow them to create millions of new private sector jobs. The American Option would create rapid growth in wages and business incomes by reducing business taxes from 35% to 25%; reducing the estate tax to 15%; keeping the tax rates on dividends and capital gains at 15%; reducing individual tax rates to three levels and permanently repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). According to a study by the Center for Data Analysis this policy would increase employment by a half million jobs in 2009 and by 1.3 million jobs in 2010, and create 4.8 million jobs between 2009 and 2012. By contrast, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan will only create 1.2 million to 3.6 million jobs, one in five of which will be a government job.Commenting on the rapidly shrinking support for the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) predicted that "100 decisions" will be "made between now and when we deliver the bill to the president's desk." Let's hope our Senator's choose freedom and small government over Washington control over the economy and trillion dollar deficits for years to come.
(Morning Bell - heritage.com)
There are two competing story lines developing on the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan. The first is that the bill passed by the House is basically a sound spending plan that only needs a few minor changes in the Senate before it can be passed and single-handedly save the entire U.S. economy from total collapse. So, National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers tells the USA Today, "We're focused on the pie, not the crumbs. The president is prepared to compromise but our focus is on the fact that the American economy badly needs help." President Barack Obama was also on message last night telling ABC News: "The overwhelming bulk of the package is sound. Most of the programs that have been criticized as part of this package amount to less than 1% of the overall package." That is the official White House version of events. Then there is the truth.
The truth is that the vast majority Obama's Trillion Dollar Debt Plan has nothing to do with stimulating the economy and everything to do with permanently redistributing spending and power away from the private sector and toward government. That is why the plan is costlier than the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. That is why it is larger than the entire GDP of India. That is why the plan will send our debt-to-GDP levels to unprecedented heights. Remember, only 15% of the spending in this debt plan goes to infrastructure. So where does the rest of the money go? Obama's Trillion Dollar Debt Plan doubles the size of the entire Education Department and according to the New York Times, expands government health care spending in a way that fundamentally "rewrit[es] the social contract with the poor in ways [the left] have long yearned to do."
As conservative stalwart Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) writes in today's Wall Street Journal: "As a nation, we got into this mess by spending and investing money that didn't exist. We won't get out of it by doing more of the same." Coburn is not alone in this assessment. The Washington Post reports today that Senate Democratic leaders have conceded they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written. And it is not just because conservatives like Sen. Coburn object. Moderate Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are also not happy with the core of the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan. Nelson says he and Collins have identified "tens of billions" in cuts they will ask Obama to remove. But Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) had an even more honest assessment of the bill telling the Post that "many of the provisions were jammed into the legislation by members of the Appropriations Committee who were 'trying to short-circuit the normal legislative process.'" Snowe concluded: "They should scrub it."
There is an alternative. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has an idea he calls The American Option. Instead of permanently expanding the size and power of Washington, DeMint's idea would free American entrepreneurs from their stifling tax burdens and allow them to create millions of new private sector jobs. The American Option would create rapid growth in wages and business incomes by reducing business taxes from 35% to 25%; reducing the estate tax to 15%; keeping the tax rates on dividends and capital gains at 15%; reducing individual tax rates to three levels and permanently repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). According to a study by the Center for Data Analysis this policy would increase employment by a half million jobs in 2009 and by 1.3 million jobs in 2010, and create 4.8 million jobs between 2009 and 2012. By contrast, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan will only create 1.2 million to 3.6 million jobs, one in five of which will be a government job.Commenting on the rapidly shrinking support for the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) predicted that "100 decisions" will be "made between now and when we deliver the bill to the president's desk." Let's hope our Senator's choose freedom and small government over Washington control over the economy and trillion dollar deficits for years to come.
(Morning Bell - heritage.com)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
When Reality Sets In
Well, it's been a while. I've been on vacation to see family for the holidays and then moved from one house to another - in the same neighborhood, but a move nonetheless. But, now it's back to real life. And what a day for it! The Obamuration! The New Messiah has come! I think I feel a tingle going up my leg.
I'm just a little confused though. My checkbook is still stuggling to stay afloat. I thought it was supposed to be a perfect 72 degrees from now on. As far as I can tell, gas prices are about the same today as they were yesterday. Hamas still hates Israel. Obama supporters were not incredibly classy, upright citizens all the sudden. (See - "NaNaNaNa, Hey Hey, Goodbye!" How tacky!) And, people in our own country are still out of work, homeless and hungry in some places. What happened? The only thing different is that it seems like global warming may have stopped in its tracks. (Did BHO speak and the temperatures decrease?)
I'll tell you what happened and is happening...reality. Soon it will hit us as a country too. Soon we'll see what trillion dollar bailouts do for our economy.
Hang on to your hats. Change is coming...oh yes - it's coming. Let's just hope we can keep some of our own change at the end of it all!
I'm just a little confused though. My checkbook is still stuggling to stay afloat. I thought it was supposed to be a perfect 72 degrees from now on. As far as I can tell, gas prices are about the same today as they were yesterday. Hamas still hates Israel. Obama supporters were not incredibly classy, upright citizens all the sudden. (See - "NaNaNaNa, Hey Hey, Goodbye!" How tacky!) And, people in our own country are still out of work, homeless and hungry in some places. What happened? The only thing different is that it seems like global warming may have stopped in its tracks. (Did BHO speak and the temperatures decrease?)
I'll tell you what happened and is happening...reality. Soon it will hit us as a country too. Soon we'll see what trillion dollar bailouts do for our economy.
Hang on to your hats. Change is coming...oh yes - it's coming. Let's just hope we can keep some of our own change at the end of it all!
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