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Archives - September 2010 |
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Archives |
Thursday, September 30, 2010 - 8:15pm Obama's Assassination Program President Obama is beginning to look a lot like President Bush as his record on civil rights appears criminal. Glenn Greenwald writes about it extensively here, but it seems that our beloved leader thinks he has the authority to kill American citizens without any charges, trial, or due process of any kind. George Bush gave the CIA permission to kill U.S. citizens abroad after the attacks of 9/11, according to well-respected journalist Dana Priest of The Washington Post. Apparently, the Obama thugs have decided to keep the same policy. In fact, the CIA has three U.S. citizens on Obama's death list.
Bush hid behind the edict of "state secrets" as a rationale for denying the legal process to people he deemed threatening. Like Bush, President Obama is adopting the same argument. With Bush, it began with Jose Padilla, an American citizen who was held without charges or trial for months. Bush claimed he was a terrorist. With Obama, the focus is on Anwar Awlaki, another U.S. citizen who the president claims to be a terrorist. Are we really naive enough to believe a corrupt government to speak the truth whenever they call a citizen a terrorist? What's next? Targeting activists, journalists, and bloggers? Oh wait, they're already doing that in Pennsylvania. What makes us believe the federal government isn't doing it too? President Obama is quickly moving down the path to tyranny with these targeted murders. Bush paved the road during his presidency with his unlawful behavior, but we believed Obama would right this egregious wrong. Unfortunately, he decided that the right to kill was a power he couldn't live without.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 - 8:12pm Congress Goes After China The House of Representatives (finally) passed a bill today designed to even the international trade playing field and combat the gross manipulation by the People's Republic of China on their currency. The Chinese yuan is considered to be extremely undervalued, as the government deliberately restricts it from moving up.
Limiting the value of the currency makes Chinese goods less expensive to purchase in the United States and increases the price of U.S. made goods sold in China. The net effect is a loss of American manufacturing jobs and business. The majority of both Democrats and Republicans agreed on this issue, as demonstrated by the 348 to 79 vote. The legislation will impose fees on goods imported into the United States from countries who are deemed to have an undervalued currency (i.e. China). The free trade policy of the United States has worked against it for many years, as other nations impose taxes and tariffs on goods from the U.S. coming into their land. The imbalance has made America less competitive and has resulted in an astronomical trade deficit. I'm all for free trade, but not if other countries refuse to play fair. It's about time Congress stepped up and passed legislation to fight the problem. They need to stay more aggressive in this respect. After all, it's about jobs. If American businesses can sell more product in foreign countries, they will increase profits and be able to hire more workers.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - 8:40pm Another Tea Party Loon Slipping Republican Rand Paul's strong lead in the State of Kentucky is beginning to erode, as the latest poll by SurveyUSA narrows his lead over Democrat Jack Conway to just 2 percent. Paul was one of the first tea baggers to win a GOP nomination and up until the time he started speaking, he was actually doing well. The son of Congressman Ron Paul, Rand has raised eyebrows in his opposition to the Civil Rights Act, making the off the wall argument that the government shouldn't be involved in property of business owners. If that's where his off-the-wall views stopped, he still might be acceptable down in Kentucky. However, new revelations show Paul in favor of a $2,000 deductible for Medicare recipients and claiming that drugs are not a real issue in the state.
I suppose you could make a valid, albeit extremely unpopular, case that a deductible is one way to help pay for Medicare, but to believe that drug abuse is not a problem is just plain ignorant. The American public appears to be one of the most drugged-up societies in the world, from marijuana to cocaine to rampant abuse of prescription drugs. As expected, Tea Party candidates like Rand Paul are showing their true colors after being examined a little closer. With another five weeks until the election, I would expect Paul's support to slowly erode right up until election day. Even though he's not leading in any of the polls today, Jack Conway could definitely pull out the victory. Monday, September 27, 2010 - 8:25pm Baker Gains on Patrick in MA Governor Deval Patrick (D) is losing ground in his bid to win re-election in Massachusetts as Chris Baker (R) has pulled virtually even in a new poll. The Boston Globe reports that Baker has climbed to 34 percent, while Patrick captured 35 percent. Independent candidate Tim Cahill appears to be fading, as he registered a distant third place with 11 percent of the vote.
Despite his lagging poll numbers, it is believed that Cahill is still taking votes away from Baker as the anti-Deval crowd is split in two. One of Cahill's top aides has already quit and if he drops out of the race, it could be a huge boost for the Republican. Although Governor Patrick has been leading the polls throughout, the anti-incumbent sentiment is strong here in the Commonwealth. The Obama wannabe has been an abject failure in his short time at the top. He has already raised a series of taxes for Mass residents, including a staggering 25% increase to the sales tax; during a recession no less. His argument was to raise revenue to balance the budget, but it also helped fund his own personal spending spree. In his first few months in office, he upgraded his state car to a phat Cadillac and spent over $10,000 on drapes for the suite in the state house. After receiving flak over the car, he swapped out the Caddy for a $52,000 Chevy Hybrid, which was actually a more expensive choice. Patrick has also tried to bring casino gambling to Massachusetts, but has thus far been unsuccessful. While the casinos would have raised a tremendous amount of revenue, the Governor already had the funds allocated to another massive, $1 billion government spending project. Massachusetts is arguably the most liberal state in the union, but it has been known to elect Republican Governors to keep the Democratic legislature in-line. Unfortunately, Deval Patrick's predecessor was none other than Mitt "I'll say anything to get elected" Romney. I don't know if Chris Baker is any better or worse than Mitt Romney, but he is most certainly an upgrade over Deval Patrick. The career beaurocrat has been a total disappointment and needs to go away.
Sunday, September 26, 2010 - 10:20am Castle Considers Write-In Bid Republican Mike Castle is seriously considering a write-in candidacy in Delaware for the open Senate seat. Even though he lost a fair fight by more than seven percent to loony toon Christine O'Donnell, the 71-year old is getting a lot of support to give it another shot. If Castle does decide to throw his name in the ring, it will be a three-way race with two conservatives against Democrat Chris Coons. With Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski already paving the way for write-in losers, the flak Castle receives could be relatively minor. His rationale for perhaps coming back could be his strong poll numbers against Coons in a hypothetical two-man race. In addition, Christine O'Donnell is down by double-digits to Coons. There is no polling data that considers all three candidates, but Castle could win with merely 35% of the vote. He would need to claim the center and win independent voters by a wide margin. He would also need to pry votes away both from the Republican contender and the Democrat. In the end, Castle's bid to stay in Washington will likely crash and burn. If anything, it will give Christine O'Donnell a better chance of winning. Her support, albeit low, is very loyal. Castle could conceivably take enough votes away from Coons to propel the Sarah Palin wannabe all the way to victory. Friday, September 24, 2010 - 10:20pm Congress Proves They're a Joke Rather than hold a crucial vote on tax cuts, the U.S. Congress today decided to invite a comedian, Stephen Colbert, to testify before them. As expected, Colbert ridiculed the idiots who requested his appearance by rolling out his inappropriate, conservative character on national television.
To make matters worse, Republican Steve King jumped on Fox News, feigning outrage and calling Colbert's show a waste of time and an insult to Americans. Um, earth to Mr. King.....you invited a known comedian to speak about his "expertise" on migrant farm workers?!? What did you expect?
Thursday, September 23, 2010 - 7:45pm Democrats Drop the Ball I should've known better. There was no way on God's green earth that the Democrats would actually do the right thing and vote to extend the Bush tax cuts. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the braindead liberal politicians on the Hill are refusing to vote on the issue before the November election, thus ensuring themselves a massive defeat in the mid-terms.
Both Reid and Pelosi face opposition from their own party, which is stunning and pathetic. Again, I plead with Democrats to take an Economis 101 class for once in their lives and get a clue. If they do not push the tax cuts further out, the probability that this economy dips back into recession increases dramatically. For his part, Harry Reid claims that they will absolutely, definitely come back in November after the elections and get it done. Of course, he's made empty promises before and this shouldn't be any different. He might have already lost his job at that time, so I doubt he'll go the extra mile while he's a lame duck. Republicans tend to win elections because they preach the simple message of tax cuts and smaller government. The Democrats had a golden opportunity to take this marquee, conservative issue and run with it. How in the world did they screw this up? Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - 8:30pm Democrats and Tax Cuts The two words just don't go together, yet tomorrow we may see House Democrats seek to extend the Bush era tax cuts beyond this calendar year. It's hard to believe, especially with Nancy Pelosi at the helm, but they have (finally) come the realization that raising taxes during an economic downturn is one of the worst decisions they could possibly make.
It remains to be seen whether tax cuts will be extended to the so-called wealthy Americans. In Obama's world, rich people start at $200,000/year for individuals and $250,000/year for families. Politically, the Democrats want to box Republicans into a corner by forcing them to defend these high-income earners. The GOP would argue, correctly in this case, that a tax hike on the people who already pay the most money will damage the economy. If nothing is done and taxes rise at the beginning of the year, it would shave 0.5% off our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If the cuts are extended to everyone but the wealthy, GDP will still be negatively impacted, probably by about 0.3%. Considering that GDP is only expected to increase by about 2% per year for the foreseeable future, the number is not insignificant. The last time I checked, rich folks get a vote too. Democrats need all the help they can get in November, so they would be wise to extend the cuts to everyone. It will improve their chances and help the economy. Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - 9:20pm Summers to Leave White House President Obama's top economic advisor, Larry Summers, will resign his position at the end of the year and return to Harvard University (to insult more women). His departure marks the third high-level member of Barack Obama's economic team to quit in the last few months. Earlier this summer, budget director Peter Orszag and Christina Romer, the head of the Council of Economic Advisors, resigned.
Although the President will say nice things on his way out the door, Summers' resignation is really addition by subtraction. His arrogance was disturbing, especially considering that he helped create the banking and housing crisis in the first place. People forget that he deregulated the banking industry in his position as Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton in 1999 by partially repealing Glass-Steagal. He also killed an attempt to regulate the derivatives market, which was badly needed at the time. Larry Summers' incompetence led to the subprime mortgage crisis that began in 2007. Yet, the experience never humbled him. Rather, he became even more egotistical and self-centered. His latest proposal as Obama's advisor was to limit the size of American banks, which is exactly the wrong strategy to take to fix the financial system. Bank size was never the problem. The problem was always about over-leverage and the ability of retail banks to build massive derivatives portfolios. Unfortunately, Larry didn't want to upset his buddies on Wall Street by regulating their corrupt and greedy industry. This was yet another terrible hiring decision by Barack Obama. Maybe if he had spent any time in the private sector and gained some, ya know, experience, he wouldn't keep making so many mistakes. Monday, September 20, 2010 - 8:20pm Great Recession Over? Really? According to a panel of professional economists, the so-called Great Recession started in December 2007 and officially ended in June 2009. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) came to this conclusion just today, an entire fifteen months after the fact, and also declared that a double-dip recession is not possible since any new recession would be the beginning of a new economic downturn.
Well, I guess we can all rest easy now in our beautiful homes and go back to our nice, cushy jobs. What, you mean the unemployment rate is still hovering near 10% and millions of houses in America are empty or severely underwater? I guess these brilliant economists must've missed that part. Does anyone out there actually feel like this recession is over? While the researchers may be technically correct on the beginning and end of the recession, they fail to use common sense. The reality is the government has been propping up the economy for the last two years with TARP money, an $800 billion stimulus package, homebuyer tax credits, Cash-for-Clunkers, mortgage assistance plans like HAMP, low interest rates, and a slew of additional spending initiatives. Take those government handouts away and this economy is still in the doldrums. Only when the calendar moves to 2012 will we have a clear understanding of whether the U.S. can function properly without extra support. At that time, the majority of the stimulus funds would have been allocated and most other programs will have disappeared. We'll continue to have artificially low interest rates to prop up home prices, but that's about it...unless Congress finds something else to spend money on.
Sunday, September 19, 2010 - 9:55pm Witch Ripped on Sunday Talk Shows Canceling interviews with Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday with different excuses is not exactly the best way to make a good first impression. However, that is exactly what Christine O'Donnell did to both programs this weekend. As you might imagine, the snubbed hosts, Bob Schieffer and Chris Wallace, did not take too kindly to being blown off by the witchy woman.
The Democrats need to use this wackjob to their advantage. If they can portray Christine O'Donnell as the face of the Tea Party, they may be able to bury the entire movement. She's clearly the head loony toon of the Tea Party movement, but the others aren't far behind. Alaska Republican contender Joe Miller believes unemployment benefits are unconstitutional and Kentucky Republican Rand Paul thinks the Civil Rights Act of 1963 should never have been passed. At the end of the day, the majority of these Tea Party candidates are fringe radicals who don't belong anywhere near the United States Congress. If the Democrats continue to point out how extreme these people are in the next six weeks, they should actually be able to defeat most of them. Saturday, September 18, 2010 - 11:35pm Sounds Like Itch The incomparable Bill Maher has dug up some great video of this month's tea party wacko Christine O'Donnell. Apparently, the Republican nominee for Delaware's Senate seat appeared on Maher's show Politically Incorrect a total of 22 times. Considering that she was a nobody at the time, I'm betting good ole Bill kept putting her on the program solely because of the bizarre things eminating from her mouth.
The question is: Are you really mentally stable if you practice witchcraft? I'm gonnna go with a NO! O'Donnell may be aware of this perception as she cancelled her Sunday morning interview on Face the Nation after the story came out today. Perhaps she's adopting the Sarah Palin strategy of laying low and hoping she never gets a tough question. Bill Maher has a slew of other videos with crazy Christine comments and has threatened to blackmail her by releasing one clip each week until she appears on his current HBO show. She would be wise to take him up on his offer before he buries her for good. Friday, September 17, 2010 - 10:59pm Murkowski Announces Write-In Plan Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has decided to stay in the race to retain her seat by mounting a write-in campaign. Despite losing the Republican nomination fair-and-square to tea party wingnut Joe Miller, the senior Senator doesn't want to take no for an answer. With solid name recognition in a small state and a ton of money in the bank, Murkowski could be a formidable write-in candidate. This decision now puts Alaska in play for the Democratic candidate. Joe Miller (R) is currently leading Scott McAdams (D) by an average of 7%. However, since Murkowski is a sitting GOP Senator, it stands to reason that the vast majority of votes she receives would be taken from Miller.
Only once in history has a candidate won a Senate seat based on a write-in strategy. It's more likely that Murkowski will split the conservative vote with Miller as opposed to actually winning the election. That would be great news for McAdams, who should now run more competitively. The Democrats would have to put some bucks behind his campaign, but he could steal the seat for the left. Thursday, September 16, 2010 - 8:30pm Poverty Rate Jumps to 14.3%! New figures released today show the poverty rate in America climbing to 14.3 percent in 2009. That is an increase from 13.2 percent in 2008 and 12.5 percent the year prior. The income threshold to qualify for the distinction this year is merely $21,954 for a family of four. In raw numbers, the richest nation in the world has a staggering 43.6 million poor people.
According to the Commerce Department, the figure would've been higher if not for last year's stimulus (a.k.a. spending) package. However, experts believe the rate will move above 15% in the near future. The Democrats will tell you that government safety nets prevented even more people from falling below the poverty line. Republicans, on the other hand, would argue that removing many government programs would greatly improve the private sector of the economy, which in turn would reduce the unemployment rate and lower poverty in America. Like much the two parties fight over, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The reality is that federal safety nets help keep millions of people afloat, but most do nothing to help people move off government assistance. In fact, many programs actually provide a disincentive for people to find better, higher paying jobs. For example, to qualify for affordable housing, you can't make over a certain income level. Obviously, the country is not moving in the right direction in this arena. Perhaps when the left and right stop bickering at each other, they can sit down and enact a comprehensive reform bill. Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 8:45pm Largest Arms Deal in History If you're ever wondering who's responsible for all the wars in the world, look no further than the United States government. It matters not if a Republican or Democrat holds the presidency or Congress. Either way, they supply dozens of nations with sophisticated and deadly weapons.
Today's customer is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Never mind that they're barely an ally and reside in the unstable region of the Middle East. They have money and lots of it. Our government has agreed to give Saudi Arabia 84 F-15 combat aircraft, 200 Apache and Blackhawk helicopters, naval ships, advanced air-defense systems, and improvements to 70 older model attack airplanes. In return, American "defense" companies receive up to $90 billion! What a great deal! These arms deals are hardly ever reported by mainstream media outlets, yet they are clearly one of the most irresponsible uses of power by the American government. They have equipped nearly every country in the Middle East with weaponry and logistics. In fact, they have single-handedly made Israel a nuclear power. Israel is such a good customer that they've received $3 billion of free U.S. armaments every year for the past three decades. Of course, the U.S. makes these sales to extend their influence in these regions, but an ally today may be your enemy tomorrow. Such was the case with Saddam Hussein. The United States supplied his country with a massive arsenal in their war against Iran in the 1980's. Only a few years later, he used his power to invade Kuwait and kill thousands of people. Nice, huh? The United States is again trying to limit the power of Iran (because it worked so well last time) by arming all of their neighbors. Is it just me or does that sound like a really, really bad strategy? Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - 9:15pm Castle Crushed in Delaware The Mike Castle political career has come to a screeching halt. Christine M. O'Donnell, a relative unknown only a month ago, has defeated the 71-year old favorite, former Governor, and nine-term Congressman by a resounding margin in the Delaware Republican primary.
Propelled by the Tea Party Express, O'Donnell won the primary by a tally of 53-47. It is a stunning victory, especially considering she had been expected to lose by double-digits. Now comes the hard part. With the spotlight squarely upon her, the Sarah Palin clone will have a lot of explaining to do about her bizarre and sketchy background. From unethical financial dealings to frivolous lawsuits to zero qualifications for the job, this'll be an entertaining show to watch. Christopher Coons, the Democratic nominee, is already licking his chops as he reportedly has even more skeletons to reveal about his new opponent. I can't wait. Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - 9:00pm Delaware Republican Primary The polls have closed in Delaware and tea party wacko Christine O'Donnell has a strong lead against the establishment Republican Michael Castle. The updated results are below.
The tea baggers are on the verge of pulling off a major upset. Unfortunately, it ensures the Democrats a victory in the general election. Just wait until O'Donnell's other skeletons come out. Monday, September 13, 2010 - 8:55pm Tea Party Nut in Delaware Christine O'Donnell is the latest tea bagger to threaten the GOP establishment as she battles Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware for the Republican Senate nomination. The political lightweight has come on strong in the last two weeks after winning the backing of nutjob Sarah Palin, the NRA, and getting the Tea Party Express to promise $250,000 in spending toward her campaign.
The candidate is considered un-delectable in a general election by Republican leadership as she has more than a few skeletons in her closet. The wingnut has denounced masturbation, believes she is being followed, and implied she was taking graduate classes at Princeton when she wasn't. O'Donnell didn't even finish her bachelor's degree until earlier this year. The fact that she received her undergraduate degree at all was surprising since her school, Fairleigh Dickinson University, sued her in 1994 for unpaid tuition. O'Donnell was also sued by her mortgage company in 2007, fired from her job at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) for running a for-profit business, pays half her rent with campaign money, and owes the IRS over $10,000 in back taxes. There's a lot more dirt, but that should be enough fodder for now. The primary is set for tomorrow and the latest poll actually shows O'Donnell with the lead. Public Policy Polling gives her a 47-44 advantage over Castle. If she's able to pull the victory off, it'll be proof that any idiot in America can win a primary. It'll also be an automatic Senate loss for the GOP. Sunday, September 12, 2010 - 9:10pm Restore Homebuyer Credit? The government's recent homebuyer tax relief program was a huge boost for the real estate market, but since the federal aid was removed from the system, the housing market has since cratered. Existing home sales fell by more than 27% in the month after the credit expired and prices are expected to drop an additional 10% even with mortgage rates at historically low levels.
The problem is fairly simply. Housing prices will not increase unless inflation rises dramatically or banks significantly relax their lending standards. Neither is expected to occur anytime soon, which means millions of homeowners will remain underwater, unable to move, and powerless to sell without bringing tens of thousands of dollars to the table. The result is a completely stagnant housing market across the nation. Without a healthy and functioning real estate industry, the economy will probably slide back into recession. As much as I despise government intervention in the private sector, it's absolutely necessary for the Obama administration to re-instate the homebuyer tax credit. They should maintain the same dollar figure of $8,000 and establish another short-term deadline to entice buyers to make decisions sooner rather than later. Some would argue to remove all federal relief in the housing market immediately. While this should be the ultimate goal, the economy is far too weak at this point to do so. This homebuyer program is the most economical method (relatively) the government has at its disposal. Plus, it's already been proven to be effective. Saturday, September 11, 2010 - 11:59pm Never Forget Hard to believe it's already been nine years since the September 11th attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. We must always remember what happened that day and who attacked us.
Unfortunately, the events of 9/11 have been exploited over the years by politicians, religious leaders, and others to further their own agenda. If you've been listening to the mainstream media lately, you'd think the entire Muslim community bombed the United States that dreadful morning. However, if you listened to the GOP, they would have you believe Iraq attacked America on 9/11. Of course, neither outrageous claim is true. The reality is that 19 members from the Al-Qaeda terrorist group attacked us that day. That's why American troops went to war in Afghanistan and that's the reason they're still over there fighting these extremists. Let's not forget their sacrifice or the individuals that lost their life in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Friday, September 10, 2010 - 6:10pm Democrats Narrow Gap Only two weeks ago, Republicans were crushing Democrats in the generic poll for Congressional voting with up to a 13% spread between the two parties. However, with a steady barrage of attacks, the left is narrowing the deficit quickly. RCP now places the average lead for the GOP at just 6.4%, with the latest polls from Quinnipiac and Gallup showing a 5% lead and a statistical tie, respectively.
The poll does not focus on any specific candidate and simply asks the likely or registered voter what party they are more likely to vote for in November. The Democrats led nearly every generic poll two years ago, but the Republicans were able to chip away at that margin over time. It wasn't until the GOP was ahead by double-digits last month did the liberals finally wake up and take notice. The only question at this point is whether they are too late. The mid-term elections are less than eight weeks away on the calendar. If the Democrats continue to attack on all fronts, they'll have an outside chance of drawing even on these generic poll numbers. Do that and they will be in a great position to hold both the House and Senate. Thursday, September 9, 2010 - 11:59pm Media Loves Book Burner Rather than cover real, actual news, the mainstream media has fixated itself all week on a bigoted pastor from Florida who wants to burn copies of the Quran. Today, the bible-thumping Jesus freak decided to cancel the book burning stunt, but later recanted after supposed assurances that the New York City mosque would be moved were denied. We should all understand that this clown has no more than 50 people following him. He is a complete joke and wouldn't even register on anyone's radar, but for news crews following him around like a lost puppy dog. At what point does the network media grow up and acknowledge that they have become part of the problem? If you give a racist a microphone and allow him to spew hatred for the whole world to hear, how can you be surprised when anger and violence follow? Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 8:30pm Another $50 Billion Spending Plan President Obama was on the campaign trail today, pitching an additional $50 billion spending program This time, he'd like to devote the funds to roads, bridges, and trains. Of course, this is money that doesn't exist, so the classic tax-and-spend liberal President has suggested...wait for it...higher taxes!
What Obama fails to realize (again) is that if you raise taxes on American corporations, you stop them from expanding their workforce and greatly reduce their competitiveness versus foreign companies. Aside from the tax increase, this spending plan is all about special interest groups. It has unions written all over it. Rather than focus on a much needed infrastructure project like high-speed rail, the vast majority of the funds would be for pet transportation projects. The money would also create a government-run infrastructure bank, which would supposedly be used to dole out all the money. We've already witnessed a wasteful $800 billion pork-barrel spending program that did nothing except dig a deeper hole for the American taxpayer. We certainly don't need this president promoting another reckless plan designed to line the pockets of his cronies. Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - 9:15pm Radical Church to Burn Quran Despite a grim warning from General David Petraeus, a 'Christian' group called Dove World Outreach Center still plans on burning copies of the Quran on Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of September 11th. Today's racist, pictured below, insisted he would go ahead with his book burning plans, even if it does endanger soldiers in Afghanistan and Americans around the world.
Reverend Terry Jones of Jacksonville believes Islam is the devil's religion and that we should not tolerate their radical behavior. Nice, huh? Hello pot...kettle here...um, you're black!!! Obviously, the only radical in this piece is the loony toon book burner shown above. However, since the Petraeus comments were reported, some of his limited number of followers (50 large) are having second thoughts. When the top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan makes a strong statement such as he did, people in America take notice. Unfortunately, Jones is still hell-bent on proceeding. I don't suppose it would help to point out that Islam did not attack us on 9/11. Monday, September 6, 2010 - 4:30pm Democrats Effort to Keep House A bloodbath is in store for Democrats come November and everybody knows it. After gaining control of Congress four years ago on the back of independent voters, the liberals have pushed through as much spending as possible. As if surprised by the reaction of their constituents, the Democrats are now scrambling to hold their majority in the House of Representatives. The hope and current strategy is to cut their losses on House members with little chance of winning and devote their vast resources toward candidates with a fighting chance. The good news is that the Dems have a ton of money, but the bad news is that Republicans are cleaning their clock in nearly every independent district in America. Rather than campaigning aggressively against their GOP counterparts, the Democrats have been wasting their time extolling their "accomplishments" of health-care reform and Wall Street regulation. The result thus far has been an unmitigated disaster as the Republicans continue to build their leads. The Democrats can strategize all they want about which candidate to support financially, but the key in the next eight weeks if for them to attack, attack, attack. Liberals need to remind voters that it was conservatives who gave us TARP, who led us into an unnecessary eight-year war, and who ran the deficit to astronomical levels. When Republicans were in charge, the country was being run into the ground (ok, it still is, but for some reason people think only the Dems did it). The Democrats have the money to go negative in dozens of Congressional races. If there is any hope of them keeping control of the House, they need to implement this attack strategy immediately. Sunday, September 5, 2010 - 10:52am Rubio Leads in Florida The three-way race for Senate in the State of Florida between Marco Rubio (R), Charlie Crist (I), and Kendrick Meek (D) is getting tighter. Rubio and Christ are the stronger candidates, but the two conservative could split the right side of the vote. Crist, the former Governor, is pitching himself as the moderate alternative to tea-bagger Rubio. Meek is the lesser known Democrat, but with the backing of the party, he could make strides in the last two months to get his message out to voters. The latest polling shows Rubio and Crist at the top with Meek trailing by double-digits. Meek has broken 20% in the right-leaning Rasmussen report, but he needs to start doing much better in a hurry.
Conventional wisdom would say that Crist or Rubio will be victorious. However, rarely has there been a third candidate with the support of the national party. The two men at the top will be hammering away at each other over the next eight weeks, while Meek may be able to take the high road. If he's given enough funds by the DNC to stay competitive, he can close the gap. It's a long shot, but if Crist and Rubio's negatives spike higher, Meek will be the likely beneficiary. Friday, September 3, 2010 - 6:25pm Economy Remains Weak The unemployment rate rose to 9.6% in the month of August, according to number released today by The Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition, 54,000 jobs were lost in the month, marking the third consecutive month that the economy shed positions. Most of the losses were attributed to layoffs of Census workers. The good news is that the private sector expanded payrolls by 67,000.
With gains in private sector employment for yet another month, it appears that the economy is slowly turning around. Unfortunately, it may not be coming around fast enough to save the Democrats in the mid-term elections. Considering the economy needs to add approximately 200,000 jobs every month just to keep up with new entrants into the workforce, the unemployment rates is likely to stay elevated for some time. The Democrats are not to blame for the terrible economy, but they will definitely be blamed for it. They could point to the gradual improvement since the beginning of the year, but the level of progress has been too slow to save them from the looming disaster in November. Thursday, September 2, 2010 - 10:45pm The Future of the Senate If the election for the United States Senate were held today, it appears the Democrats may be able to retain control, albeit just barely. According to the RealClearPolitics website, Republicans are expected to pick up eight seats with victories in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
With only a handful of seats up for grabs, picking up eight seats would a huge victory for the GOP. Even though they wouldn't gain control of the Senate, the gains would go a long way toward restoring the balance of power in Washington. Considering the House of Representatives is expected to go Republican, we may have gridlock once again inside the beltway. Without absolute power, Democrats will be hard-pressed to push through their radical spending agenda. If they can't get their garbage passed with 59 Senate seats and an enormous advantage in the House, they surely will be stuck in the mud for the remainder of Barack Obama's first term. Wednesday, September 1, 2010 - 7:59pm No Clunker Cash, No Sales Toyota, Ford and General Motors all reported sharp declines today in their August sales numbers. GM said that sales fell 10.6% in comparison to August of last year, but they actually fell 24.9% after factoring in discontinued brand names. Ford's sales dropped 10.7%, while Toyota plummeted 34%.
If the housing and auto industry cannot function properly without constant government intervention, this economy could be in serious trouble. These are the two most expensive items that the majority of American consumers buy and their continued strength is vital for the U.S. to avoid another recession. That doesn't mean I'm advocating for additional federal support, but it does demonstrate the extent of our economic problem. Unfortunately, our government is in no position to provide additional funding to these industries. Congress and the White House have nearly bankrupted America in the last few decades and we can't allow them to plunge even further into debt. As painful as it may be, we need to let the private sector to function on its own and wait for them to come back around.
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The
move is both political and economic. With the mid-term
elections less than six weeks away, the left is hoping
to gain some popularity among voters by keeping taxes
low. Democrats have been narrowing the gap against
Republicans in polling since Labor Day and this
extension could go a long way in helping them minimize
their losses. Economically, someone must have told them
that doing nothing could very well be the impetus that
pushes the U.S. into a double-dip recession.
This
may sounds confusing since the President's latest stump
speeches have been all about extending the tax cuts, but
what he isn't telling you is that this proposal
increases corporate taxes. That's right, he wants
to raise taxes on those big, bad oil companies. He
figures that the American public won't mind too much if
he targets the evil, energy industry.
Without the "Cash for Clunkers" program of
government-assisted car purchases (i.e. free handouts),
the auto companies are having trouble standing on their
own two feet. This does not bode well for the
overall economy, as the housing market has also shown
disturbing