Obama Renews Patriot Act

Where's the outrage?

Campaigner Obama promised to give Americans what they thought they wanted knowing he couldn't deliver if elected. In other cases he hid his true intentions. I don't know what's better or worse, his broken or kept promises. Just words.

What Exactly Is Reconciliation?

For the policy wonks like me

Some of our commenters may be parliamentarians in their own right, I'm not. This thread is for those like me. I did some looking and was surprised by how hard it was to find a detailed explanation of the process and how it relates to health care reform. This does.

A few notes:

This was written before Scott Brown won "Ted Kennedy's seat" and in fact defore the Senators death.

The article refers to the HELP committee. HELP stands for Health, Education, Labor & Pensions. I had to look it up.

Obviously, the October 15 deadline referred to has passed.

The explanation is in two parts. The link for the second part is at the bottom of the first.

Generic Ballot: Republicans 44%, Democrats 35%

Republicans Still Out Front

National Taxpayers Union gives Foxx an "A" for votes on taxes, spending

02/24/10

Foxx’s 94 percent rating highest among North Carolina delegation

WASHINGTON—The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) today awarded Foxx an “A” grade for her record of consistently voting to reduce spending and keep taxes low. In NTU’s detailed rating of more than 300 House votes in 2009 Foxx scored a 94 percent, giving her the highest score out of North Carolina’s congressional delegation.

“Working hard to keep federal government spending in check and to keep North Carolina families’ taxes low is one of my top priorities,” Foxx said. “So I’m pleased that NTU recognized my commitment to fiscal responsibility and limited government in their 2009 vote ratings.”

NTU’s rating of members of Congress’ votes covers 333 House votes in 2009 that had a significant affect on taxes, spending or debt. Foxx’s “A” grade reflects her voting record on these 333 votes and also earns her the NTU’s “Taxpayers’ Friend Award”.

For more information on NTU’s congressional ratings, how the ratings are calculated and what roll call votes are used please visit www.ntu.org.

Health Care Summit Farce

If you are watching this farce called a Health Care Summit, I hope you are also watching Newt's live comments on The Real Story.

Just as we feared, Obama has suckered the Republicans. Lamar Alexander told the president at the beginning, that the American people wanted them to work on health reform piece meal. In no time at all Obama flipped them and had them debating the details of a comprehensive bill. Lamar should have listened to himself and the Republicans should go home after lunch. They have been had.

Update On The "Much Ado About Nothing" Thread

This was too important to take a chance on being missed so a new thread is in order. John Yoo has weighed in.
My Gift To The Obama Presidency.

Obama Did Not Give The Dalai Lama Cufflinks

The story is false.

A commenter, Ty Hallsted, questioned the accuracy of the story and wrote:

I did google "Dalai lama cufflinks". Compare the results you get with that search compared to "Obama gives ipod to queen." There is a striking lack of major news sources with he former where the latter includes NYTimes, PCWorld, LATimes, NYDailyNews and others. The cufflinks story also doesn't appear on Drudge or Politico. Let's nail Obama for the stupid stuff he does, not the stupid stuff he apparently hasn't done.

It seems his suspicions were correct. Obama actually gave the Dalai Lama a very thoughtful gift. I owe him an apology. Mr. Obama, I'm sorry. Many thanks to Ty Hallsted.

As I told Mr. Hallsted, the story was very believable given Obama's history of gift giving. The "major news sources" he refers to don't impress me much in that they are frequently wrong when other less conventional sources are often right. The National Enquirer is up for a Pulitzer and the New York Times have been discredited time and time again. The paradigm has shifted. What's a blogger to do?

For one thing, I should be more careful. Believable does not equal true. I let my guard down because it was was easier. Nothing's easy. I apologize for the confusion. I have removed the post.

DEMOCRATS ON USING RECONCILIATION

RAMPANT HYPOCRISY

In case this gets pulled before you can see the video, it includes Obama, Hillary, Schumer, Biden, Dodd all freaking out about Republicans' threat to use Reconciliation. They point out that such misuse of the option will destroy the Senate and make it just a pale copy of the House of Representatives. The founders of our country carefully crafted two houses, one to represent the passions of the people, and the other to cool down those passions.

Every one in the country needs to see this video which is running on Breitbart and on Drudge.

Also, everyone needs to hear Senator Byrd's explanation of why he developed Reconciliation in the beginning and why this present threat to use it is a dastardly corruption of his work.Byrd's Letter((Contributed by Guy Faulkes)

Let's Talk About It. What's "It"?

Maybe it's a bit much to give this it's own thread. I most certainly welcome comments and suggestions but this is more of a chance for me to explain my position in an effort to improve dialog.

Before I was administrating I sometimes felt constrained as a commenter by Blogger's insistence to stay on topic. Now that the shoe is on the other foot I have a deeper understanding of his stance for various reasons. Sometimes the point I'm trying to make is completely missed (probably my fault). Some blog posts require more research and thought. My passion for a subject and interest in the discussion of it also play a role.

Having said that, I must admit that I sometimes cringe just a little when thoughtful commenters apologize for going off topic. This is not because I don't appreciate their considerate caveat, I do. It's because being a blogger means spurring discourse and the last thing I want is to stifle dialog. I don't want people walking on eggshells and I don't really want to spend my time cracking the whip and weighing the merits of each post. Some of the most enlightening discussions have had little to do with the original post.

I said thoughtful commenters. I'd add considerate and insightful. Not all commenters fit this description. To be clear, I'm not talking about Liberal or Conservative. I'm talking about thoughtful vs. thoughtless, considerate vs. rude and insightful vs. inane. I have been all of those things, so have many of you. There is a distinction between a thoughtless rude inane post and a thoughtless rude inane poster. Over time this distinction becomes clear.

I've already said I don't want to spend my time weighing the merits of each post but I suppose it's my job to weigh the merits of each poster. We all do, however the bar for action is high. It's on me to pull the trigger. Recently, I was forced to take a stand on one particular commenter. Enough is enough.

So what does all this mean? What can I do? This thread is a start. I will add some guidelines to the top of the page after some consideration and suggestions. I will continue to start threads on topics that have been requested if I can. I will see if I can put up some kind of suggestion box, that might be helpful if I can figure out how. I'll also continue the open threads (Weed Patch).

What can you do? Try to stay on topic, at least for the first 20 to 30 comments. As a thread develops it takes on a life of it's own and I encourage that. Just give it a little time to germinate. After that if you want to go off topic feel free to thoughtfully do so. This is as much your blog as it is mine. Try not to enable the disruptors by taking their bait. Yea I know, it's easier said than done. I've certainly taken my share of bait. As much as I hate to admit it, thoughtless rude inane posters generate a ton of comments. That part is great but I'd rather have quality than quantity. It can get old quick when the conversation goes absolutely nowhere.

Finally, I'd encourage every one to help raise the profile of our blogging community. I have some very dear, very liberal friends. I intend to contact some of them to encourage participation. I may spread the link around on some other blogs as well. The more thoughtful viewpoints the better.

My sincere appreciation of everyone who continue to support and contribute to this blog should not go unmentioned. Thank You.

It's On!

Sorry to keep going here but this ought to be good.

Just Wondering

I've been thinking about 2012. If things continue to go the way they are, when will Democrats turn on Obama? I mean in a big way. My main fear is Hillary. What if she resigned dramatically in opposition to Obama's policies? Wouldn't Democrats who fell for Obama turn to her instead of Republicans? Or will the Democrat brand be so damaged they won't? If they do, will Republicans go Democrat lite to compete with her?

Has a sitting President ever been defeated in the primaries? If so, did their party go on to win?

I'm not trying to throw cold water. I hope I didn't scare anyone.

RIP Mainstream Media

The "National Enquirer" has been accepted to compete for a Pulitzer Prize. They are eligible in two categories: "National News Reporting" and "Investigative Reporting" for the work on the John Edwards scandal. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Any number of so called "journalist" could have reported the story but they were too busy covering it up. It was easy picking. Still, hat tip to the rag.

If I could award the prize for investigative reporting I'd give it to James O'Keefe for his ACORN expose'. It was as big a scandal as any and his work, along with Hannah Giles, has had dramatic impact. Politico reports, "ACORN has dissolved as a national structure of state organizations". It's not over yet. President Obama has repeatedly denied any real connection with the organization. During the campaign there were investigations of voter fraud in 14 states. That was enough for Obama to distance himself. It was also enough to inspire O'Keefe to dig deeper while the mainstream media refused to. After the new evidence came out Obama distanced himself further.

Perhaps "distanced himself" is the wrong phrase. He lied.

Glenn Beck at CPAC

It's an hour long so I don't know how many of you will watch it. The dude is entertaining, it goes quick. I do hope the liberals check it out because he rips Republicans as have many conservatives.

Much Ado Over Nothing

Bush officials have been cleared of professional misconduct for the "torture memos" after seven years. I could have saved them a lot of time if they had asked.

I Me My

Me the people.

Nuclear Power Play

With poll numbers plummeting President Obama needs a big play. This may be it. I applaud his decision.

Global Meltdown

***UPDATE***
It just never ends.
****
Since the last thread on global warming there have been a lot of new developments. We've already beat it to death so I didn't want to pile on. If you've lost track, here's a list of the various scandals to date. Now climate scientist Phil Jones is admitting there has been no warming since 1995.

It's over. Only flat-earthers still believe the hoax. What else is there to say? Leave it to Rush to put a new twist on the subject. He is welcoming the duped back to reality with open arms.

If Rush can do it we can too. Libs, you've been lied to. Through no fault of your own you have been fed crackpot science topped with a healthy dose of fear. You, as an American, are NOT destroying the earth. You can rest easy, this is very good news. Isn't it? There is no need to apologize for your contemptuousness at those who used real science and common sense, we forgive you. Welcome home.

Sen. Feinstein asks about chance of attempted terrorist attack

This is a video is of those right wing fear mongers the liberals on our blog are always accusing us of being.

No Expectation of Privacy

Hey everybody, watch the liberals run and hide. This is the Patriot Act's big brother.

Reality Check

Never Forget.

For Your Valentine

If you read the fine print it was paid for by the Republican National Committee. I love it! Click on the pictures to see the captions. They're all good. Funny stuff.

Is CNN Fair?

Commenter Mike D. suggested this would make a good thread, hat tip to him. It's hard to argue with the example Rush gives...that's nothing new.

Miss Me Yet?

As a matter of fact...

Fox Way Ahead of the Rest.

From Newsmax.com Feb. 7

Fox News had all 13 of the top cable news shows in total viewers for the fifth month in a row in January, and had the best January in its history.
Fox was up 22 percent in total viewers in January compared to January 2009, and up an extraordinary 51 percent in the key 25-to-54 demographic.
CNN was down 34 percent in total viewers in January compared to the previous year, and MSNBC was down 26 percent.

Fox dominated its rivals in covering the major political event of the month, Republican Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts special election for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, mediaite.com reported.

Fox was also helped by Sarah Palin, who joined the network as an analyst and drew 3.95 million viewers for her first appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Jan. 12.

For the month, Fox averaged 2.94 million prime-time viewers, compared to 946,000 for CNN and 838,000 for MSNBC, according to Nielsen.

CNN topped MSNBC in weekday prime-time viewers during January for the first time in six months, helped by its comprehensive coverage of earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

And MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann slipped to third in his time slot behind Bill O’Reilly on Fox and HLN’s Nancy Grace

Rush Limbaugh -- Dancing Fool

Hitler finds out that Rush Limbaugh won the "Judges Dance Contest" at the Miss America Contest

Our National Security Has A Leak

The abysmal handling of the "underwear bomber" has been a political embarrassment because of the missed opportunity to gather intelligence. The administration could save a little face if they could get good intelligence despite the bumbling. Revealing the fact that mirandized cooperation is occurring would help Al Qaeda and threaten national security.

Let's see...save face or threaten national security...it's a no-brainer.

"FBI officials stressed the importance of not disclosing the fact of his cooperation in order to protect ongoing and follow-on operations to neutralize additional threats to the American public".

What Else Would We Expect?

Rahm Emanuel is back in the news. At a strategy session with liberal groups and White House aides, Mr. Emanuel was told of plans to run ads attacking the "blue dog" Democrats for daring to oppose Obama's health care overhaul. He responded by saying the idea was "retarded". He preceded that word with another. More on that in a minute.

Sarah Palin has called for his firing on her facebook page.

I don't walk in Sarah Palin's shoes but if you ask me, the PC word police have too much power. There are now calls to remove the phrase "mentally retarded" from all government documents. The issue to me is who the vitriol comes from and how that directly contradicts President Obama's calls for civility.

Rahm Emanuel is infamous for this kind of rhetoric. President Obama claims to want civility in a speech at the recent prayer breakfast.

The above links are where the following excerpts came from but don't look at them yet. I want to present them in a different way, juxtaposed together. Obama's words are in bold and Emanuels antics are in italics. There is also a short video of Obama contradicting his own self. If read and watched in the order presented it has more impact. Be warned, the offensive quote will be unedited when you click "Read More".

"At times, it seems like we're unable to listen to one another; to have at once a serious and civil debate."

Emanuel is known for his panache for treating donors right. He sends them cheesecakes from Eli's, the famous Chicago bakery. But the one pollster who notoriously ticked off Rahmbo received a 2 1/2 foot decomposing fish in the mail -- ripe, stinky, and to the point.

"And this erosion of civility in the public square sows division and distrust among our citizens. It poisons the well of public opinion. It leaves each side little room to negotiate with the other."

Oh really, Mr. Obama?

"Empowered by faith, consistently, prayerfully, we need to find our way back to civility".

His foray into fundraising started in Chicago while campaigning for Mayor Richard Daley's reelection, when Emanuel raised a record number of donations. His sales pitch was simple enough: He'd tell contributors he found their offers so low it was embarrassing and then hang up on them. Mortified, the donors were shamed into calling back and giving more.

"That begins with stepping out of our comfort zones in an effort to bridge divisions."

A celebratory dinner took place at a Little Rock restaurant just after Bill Clinton won in 1992.

It was there that Emanuel, then Clinton’s chief fund-raiser, repaired with George Stephanopoulos, Mandy Grunwald and other aides to Doe’s, the campaign hangout. Revenge was heavy in the air as the group discussed the enemies – Democrats, Republicans, members of the press – who wronged them during the 1992 campaign. Clifford Jackson, the ex-friend of the President and peddler of the Clinton draft-dodging stories, was high on the list. So was William Donald Schaefer, then the Governor of Maryland and a Democrat who endorsed George Bush. Nathan Landow, the fund-raiser who backed the candidacy of Paul Tsongas, made it, too.

Suddenly Emanuel grabbed his steak knife and, as those who were there remeber it, shouted out the name of another enemy, lifted the knife, then brought it down with full force into the table. ”Dead!” he screamed. As he shouted each name, he stabbed the table with his steak knife: "Nat Landow! Dead! Cliff Jackson! Dead!" Apparently, others joined in.

"Civility also requires relearning how to disagree without being disagreeable"

Fucking retarded.

The Shoe Bomber Was Mirandized

According to this Politico story, Richard Reid was read his Miranda rights within five minutes of his arrest. He is a British citizen and was not on a watch list so it's a little easier to overlook any terrorist ties and treat him as a common criminal...but not much. Not after 9/11.

Our Humble Obama

THE MAYOR OF TAMPA

Behind Obama's Phoney Deficit Numbers

How can you tell if Obama is lying? His lips are moving. cymbal crash

Obama to the World: Do As I say Not As I Do

President Obama famously told the UN of his desire for a world without nuclear weapons. In my opinion it is a good thing he didn't mean it.

Who Gives?

The White House has proposed cutting the tax deduction for charitable donations in the 2011 budget. Appalling!

This proposal was defeated last year and it's not going anywhere this year either. When I read about this on HotAir there was a link to this story that breaks down who gives the most and least. Myths are busted.

The Best Health Care In The World

Why would the premier of Newfoundland, a man with access to the finest Canadian health care available, come to America for heart surgery?