The President's STFU Address

President Obama's address to the nation last week was Castro-esque, in length if not in tone.   This is a divide and conquer, in you face, agitator President. 


Cross him, and he'll call you out publicly just like Chairman Mao used to do.

QandO does a good summary of AP's fact checking, giving it an overall thumbs up:

Surprisingly, AP does it (credit where credit is due).  They cover the “spending freeze” (it would amount to less than 1% of the deficit) [...]  They also point out that the nonsense about the health care plan preserving the “right” of Americans to keep their doctor and their plan isn’t exactly true [...] And they take on the claim about lobbyists...

But the Stalin-worthy coup de grace was Obama's disgraceful denigration of a co-equal branch of government:

“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections.”

QandO Continues:

And I have to say, trying to humiliate the SCOTUS in a public speech with them sitting right there open to such ridicule is a politically stupid stunt. [...]

They’re not underlings like the JCS who have to sit there and take it. They are members of an equal and separate branch. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of that little bit of political stupidity.

Politifact says that if it’s true, it is “barely true”. They have a very fine write up which I encourage you to read about why Justice Alito may have been absolutely justified in his silently mouthed “not true” as Obama took that shot.

The President's Demagogic Breach of Decorum was also "Factually Incorrect"

Foreigners still can't contribute to US Political Campaigns:

Foreign nationals, specifically defined to include foreign corporations, are prohibiting from making "a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State or local election" under 2 U.S.C. Section 441e, which was not at issue in the case.

Foreign corporations are also prohibited, under 2 U.S.C. 441e, from making any contribution or donation to any committee of any political party, and they prohibited from making any "expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication." (Bradley A. Smith, Professor of Law)

A Mixture of Religion and Politics

I find it heartening to see religious people of different denominations in this country lay down sectarian sniping to make common cause on important social and moral issues.  

Mike Potemra plumbs a little-explored area of the Scott Brown phenomenon:  His ecumenism.  Brown is a Protestant but enjoys hearty Catholic support.  They don't agree on every issue, but he doesn't pander and they don't stomp their feed insisting that he toe the line.  Refreshing.

Embedded in his interesting and short article, I  found this gem that reminds us that we are in no danger of a theocratic takeover:

As my friend Paul Mankowski, S.J., once remarked, the Catholic Church’s moral agenda would be much advanced if every Catholic in Congress was replaced with a Mormon or a Muslim. (First Things - Joseph Bottums)

Catholic Politicians can't even get it right on Social Programs

What about individual almsgiving and acts of personal charity—concepts that greatly predate the existence of the modern welfare state? Indeed, the seven corporal works of mercy, which are included in the Catechism, are directed toward individuals, not governments.

We’re not saying that there shouldn’t be any government programs, but, at the same time, we recognize that the Church is open to different means on how to achieve important goals for alleviating human suffering.

As Doctor Tom Coburn, Republican Senator from Oklahoma has observed, "spending other people's money is not compassionate."

Why Federal Tax Dollars are Paying for a Train in Florida

In answer to your question, a little story, and I have to give credit where credit is due... I got this from my brother in an email:

It's a slow day in a little east Texas town. The sun is beating down, and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit......

On this particular day a rich tourist from back east is driving through town. He stops at the motel and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.

As soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel.

The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit.

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.

The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the $100 bill, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today.

Wish I knew the author... he is obviously quite astute.

~Finntann~

Why are federal tax dollars paying for a train in Florida?

Tomorrow, Today and Yesterday

 

 

And now for something completely different...

I LIKE PIE!

I like pie, and it's a problem.

I eat a lot of pie... at least one whole pie a day, 365 pies a year.

My problem is I am obese, some people even say "bloated".

Lately people have become dissatisfied with the amount of pie I eat, they say I eat too much, not only of my pie, but of their pie too.

I've decided to make major changes in my diet... I, am going to eat less pie.

For the next three years I am only going to eat 361 and a half pies a year.

Some people trumpet this as a "major change"

Other's ridicule me and say I should only eat a little pie, and less of theirs.

I like Pie!

The Congressional Budget Office reports that the 2010 deficit is only going to be 1.3 trillion dollars, down from 1.4 trillion last year.

The Obama administration is expected to announce a three year freeze in spending on certain government agencies and programs that congress specifically funds, and exempt security related budgets and entitlements.

The government is going to eat less pie, roughly 3 and a half less pies a year, just like me.

Sure I'm fat, bloated, and eating every pie in sight... but the problem isn't that we are eating too much pie, the problem is that we are eating more pie than we could ever bake ourselves. I'm eating Chinese pie, Saudi Arabian pie, pies from every corner of the world. Sooner or later people are gonna stop giving us pies...

But Hell, I like pork too....and I eat tons of that.

Colorado Reaction to Dem Health Care? Revulsion

People from both sides of the political spectrum — and apolitical consumers — said they were deeply skeptical about the health care bill being put together by Congress and the White House.

About 800,000 Colorado residents, representing one-sixth of the state’s population, are uninsured. The state’s politics are mixed and somewhat unpredictable. Colorado has a sizable contingent of people who want a single-payer government-financed health care system, as well as libertarians and Tea Party protesters opposed to big government.

Few of those interviewed here expect to see direct benefits from the legislation. Many complained of sweetheart deals done to win votes in the Senate. Liberals and conservatives alike said Congress was too influenced by special interests.

Here is a typical Colorado woman:

Tamara L. Kirch, who is uninsured and stands to benefit from the legislation, bristled at the proposed requirement to buy insurance.

“We have a frontier mentality,” Ms. Kirch said. “I don’t want the government telling me what to do.” (She feels the same way about abortion: “The government should not tell a woman what to do with her womb.”)

Continue reading, and you see even Democrats are upset, although they blame "Corporations" and "special interests."  The common reaction seems to be disgust at the DC Democrats' embarrassing display

The final part of the article inadvertently makes the case for congress dropping the whole failed project and leaving it to the states to innovate and develop unique solutions that work for them:

Colorado has been an incubator of innovation. Denver Health is considered a model for public hospitals. Health economists point to Grand Junction, Colo., to show how collaboration by doctors and hospitals can produce high-quality, low-cost care.

Bottom Line:  This is bad for Democrats in Colorado.

NY Times