This is the bottom line on the "Special Olympics" crack the President made when he visited Leno: It was not smart, some people may have found it offensive, and it was not classy, to say the least.
But it is not the scandal that lots of folks in the media are making it out to be. Today I was talking about Obama's remarks with a father of a son who has Downs Syndrome. He said that the heat Obama is facing over this off-the-cuff remark is ridiculous. He said that it was the kind of wise crack that normal people in regular conversation would make. He said that if you want to criticize Obama's policies that is fine and that there is plenty to criticize, but to focus on this stupid joke made on Leno is just plain stupid. I have rarely defended Obama during his adminstration, but I agree with this father who has a Downs Syndrome son.
I will add, however, that if a Republican had decided to make the very same remark made by Obama on Leno it would be a whole different ball game. I bet he would not be able to get away with merely apologizing. I bet the criticism would reach a whole different level. I bet that a mere "I'm sorry" would not be enough.
Nonetheless, I judge Republicans and Democrats by the same standard, no matter who makes the stupid remark. Therefore, I think there are far more important things in Obama's agenda that conservatives should focus their criticism on.
If you believe that my take on Obama's remark is off the wall, or you know a parent of a special needs child that has a different take, feel free to leave a comment.
Tweet
Saturday, March 21, 2009
The Obama "Special Olympics" Joke
NYT: "Administration Seeks Increase In Oversight Of Executive Pay"
The New York Times reports that the Obama administration will call this week "for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said."
Is it not a dangerous precedent if Obama begins overseeing executive pay only three months into his presidency? What is to stop the federal government from defining the wage of any American? What is to stop the federal government from interfering in any decision of any business? This does not sound like capitalism to me.
Just a week after the country hears nonstop criticism about AIG bonuses, AIG bonuses that the Obama stimulus specifically protected, the NYT reports that Obama is ready to "oversee" executive pay. Is that a coincidence?
Unfortunately, Americans have forgotten what capitalism means. Perhaps an old pro-capitalist propaganda film from 1948 would be appropriate in these times. This video below from a time when the opponents of capitalism were clear and open about their agenda. They were not just socialists and they were not just liberals. They were the Communists under the mass-murderer Joseph Stalin. Today those claiming to have created a socialist Soviet paradise have disappeared into the dustbin of history. What we are left with is those proposing a soft tyranny that will creep upon our nation step by step before we even know that it happened. Before we have the chance to make a difference.
Tweet
Congressional Budget Office: $1 Trillion Deficits Estimated For Each Of Next 10 Years
The USA Today reports that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimate released Friday shows that Obama's budget would generate unsustainably large deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade. The USA Today reports that "the new Congressional Budget Office figures predict Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That's $2.3 trillion worse than the administration predicted in its budget just last month. Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4% of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5% of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level."
"This report should serve as the wake-up call this Administration needs," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "We simply cannot continue to mortgage our children and grandchildren's future to pay for bigger and more costly government."
Tweet
Friday, March 20, 2009
Congress And Geithner Knew About AIG Bonuses On March 3rd
Timmy Geithner and Congress pretend they had no idea that AIG was going to be paying out the bonuses until late last week. A C-SPAN clip from a March 3rd hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee shows Tim Geithner was specifically asked about the AIG bonuses by Rep. Joseph Crowley.
Tweet
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Egyptian Cleric Sheik Masoud Anwar: The Worst Enemies Of The Muslims - After Satan - Are The Jews
To view the Islamofascist anti-Semitic venom for yourself visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2054.htm.
Tweet
Dodd Blames Obama Administration For Bonus Amendment
Bloomberg reports that "Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said the Obama administration asked him to insert a provision in last month’s $787 billion economic- stimulus legislation that had the effect of authorizing American International Group Inc.’s bonuses. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said yesterday he agreed to modify restrictions on executive pay at companies receiving taxpayer assistance to exempt bonuses already agreed upon in contracts. He said he did so without realizing the change would benefit AIG, whose recent $165 million payment to employees has sparked a public furor."
Tweet
Duke Coach On Obama: "The Economy Is Something He Should Focus On...More Than The Brackets"
Senator John Cornyn also nailed Obama for filling out brackets when he should be worried about the economic crisis, saying, “I appreciate that President Obama has completed his ‘March Madness’ Tournament Bracket. Yet the organizational chart of his administration still has far too many open slots.”:
Tweet
Charles Krauthammer: "Congress At Its Absolute Demagogic Worst" In AIG Controversy And In "Interrogation" Of Edward Liddy
As always, columnist Charles Krauthammer nails the analysis on the head:
Tweet
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Senator Chris Dodd And The AIG Bonuses
Fox Business reports "Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group...bonus recipients so the government could recoup some or all of the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax.
While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. The provision, now called the 'Dodd Amendment' by the Obama Administration provides an 'exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009' -- which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax."
This stimulus package was passed without anyone knowing what the hell was in it. Chris Dodd, who helped get us into this financial mess, put an amendment into the non-stimulus spendapalooza porkulus package allowing for the bonuses and now has the audacity to show an ounce of outrage. How dare the very politicians behind crafting the massive bailout pretend to be angry over money being wasted by AIG. Where is the outrage over taxpayer money being wasted by Congress far in excess of the $160 million in AIG bonuses?
This is a Democrat scandal. Every House Republican voted against the stimulus package. All but three Senate Republicans voted against the stimulus package. Now the very Democrats that threw taxpayer money around like it was nothing are shouting foul. Shame on them!
Tweet
ABC News Report From Iraq
Why have we not been hearing the stories day by day about the goings on in Iraq? Because things are going pretty damn well. No news is good news. Watch this ABC news report and you will see a very upbeat report on Iraq. If we continue to hear stories of such success, George W. Bush will go down in the history books as sticking with the fight until victory against all odds and against all political opposition. He will go down in the books as having removed one of the world's most dangerous dictators and mass murderers, an enemy of the United States, and having achieved success.
Tweet
Monday, March 16, 2009
American Legion Leader "Deeply Disappointed And Concerned" After Meeting With Obama
PRNewswire-USNewswire reports:
The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.
“It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan,” said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. “He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it.”
The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, “This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ‘ to care for him who shall have borne the battle’ given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm’s way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America’s veterans!”
Commander Rehbein was among a group of senior officials from veterans service organizations joining the President, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Steven Kosiak, the overseer of defense spending at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The group’s early afternoon conversation at The White House was precipitated by a letter of protest presented to the President earlier this month. The letter, co-signed by Commander Rehbein and the heads of ten colleague organizations, read, in part, ” There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veteran’s personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide. While we understand the fiscal difficulties this country faces right now, placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable.”
Tweet
UW-Milwaukee Study Finds Earth Is Undergoing Natural Climate Shift
ABC's WISN reports:
A new study by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee could turn the climate change world upside down.
Scientists at the university used a math application known as synchronized chaos and applied it to climate data taken over the past 100 years.
"Imagine that you have four synchronized swimmers and they are not holding hands and they do their program and everything is fine; now, if they begin to hold hands and hold hands tightly, most likely a slight error will destroy the synchronization. Well, we applied the same analogy to climate," researcher Dr. Anastasios Tsonis said.
Scientists said that the air and ocean systems of the earth are now showing signs of synchronizing with each other.
Eventually, the systems begin to couple and the synchronous state is destroyed, leading to a climate shift.
"In climate, when this happens, the climate state changes. You go from a cooling regime to a warming regime or a warming regime to a cooling regime. This way we were able to explain all the fluctuations in the global temperature trend in the past century," Tsonis said. "The research team has found the warming trend of the past 30 years has stopped and in fact global temperatures have leveled off since 2001."
The most recent climate shift probably occurred at about the year 2000.
Now the question is how has warming slowed and how much influence does human activity have?
"But if we don't understand what is natural, I don't think we can say much about what the humans are doing. So our interest is to understand -- first the natural variability of climate -- and then take it from there. So we were very excited when we realized a lot of changes in the past century from warmer to cooler and then back to warmer were all natural," Tsonis said.
Tsonis said he thinks the current trend of steady or even cooling earth temps may last a couple of decades or until the next climate shift occurs.
Tweet
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Cheney Blasts Obama Saying His Strategy Will "Raise the Risk" Of A Terror Attack
Cheney on Rush Limbaugh:
Cheney on Obama policies and the economy:
Tweet
RSS Feed (xml)