This is really good.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Blame Bush
Yep, it's all George Bush's fault. Really, it is! No, seriously, it is!!!
Here's an opinion piece by Chuck Green who writes "Greener Pastures" for the Denver Post Aurora Sentinel...one of the more liberal papers in the country. Additionally, Mr. Green is a life-long Democrat...so this is rather a stunning piece...
Obama is victim of Bush's failed promises
Greener Pastures Column -- 5/15/10
Barack Obama is setting a record-setting number of records during his first year in office:
? Largest budget ever.
? Largest deficit ever.
? Largest number of broken promises ever.
? Most self-serving speeches ever.
? Largest number of agenda-setting failures ever.
? Fastest dive in popularity ever.
Wow! Talk about change.
Just one year ago, fresh from his inauguration celebrations, President Obama was flying high. After one of the nation's most inspiring political campaigns, the election of America's first black president had captured the hopes and dreams of millions. To his devout followers, it was inconceivable that a year later his administration would be gripped in self-imposed crisis.
Of course, they don't see it as self-imposed. It's all George Bush's fault.
George Bush, who doesn't have a vote in congress and who no longer occupies the White House, is to blame for it all.
He broke Obama's promise to put all bills on the White House web site for five days before signing them.
He broke Obama's promise to have the congressional health care negotiations broadcast live on C-SPAN.
He broke Obama's promise to end earmarks.
He broke Obama's promise to keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent.
He broke Obama's promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo in the first year.
He broke Obama's promise to make peace with direct, no precondition talks with America's most hate-filled enemies during his first year in office, ushering in a new era of global cooperation.
He broke Obama's promise to end the hiring of former lobbyists into high White House jobs.
He broke Obama's promise to end no-compete contracts with the government.
He broke Obama's promise to disclose the names of all attendees at closed White House meetings.
He broke Obama's promise for a new era of bipartisan cooperation in all matters.
He broke Obama's promise to have chosen a home church to attend Sunday services with his family by Easter of last year.
Yes, it's all George Bush's fault. President Obama is nothing more than a puppet in the never-ending failed Bush administration.
If only George Bush wasn't still in charge, all of President Obama's problems would be solved. His promises would have been kept, the economy would be back on track, Iran would have stopped its work on developing a nuclear bomb and would be negotiating a peace treaty with Israel. North Korea would have ended its tyrannical regime, and integrity would have been restored to the federal government.
Oh, and did I mention what it would be like if the Democrats, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, didn't have the heavy yoke of George Bush around their necks? There would be no ear marks, no closed-door drafting of bills, no increase in deficit spending, no special-interest influence (unions), no vote buying (Nebraska, Louisiana).
If only George Bush wasn't still in charge, we'd have real change by now.
All the broken promises, all the failed legislation and delay (health care reform, immigration reform) is not President Obama's fault or the fault of the Democrat-controlled Congress. It's all George Bush's fault.
Take for example the decision of Eric Holder, the president's attorney general, to hold terrorists' trials in New York City. Or his decision to try the Christmas Day underpants bomber as a civilian.
Two disastrous decisions.
Certainly those were bad judgments based on poor advice from George Bush.
Need more proof?
You might recall that when Scott Brown won the election to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, capturing "the Ted Kennedy seat", President Obama said that Brown's victory was the result of the same voter anger that propelled Obama into office in 2008. People were still angry about George Bush and the policies of the past 10 years, and they wanted change.
Yes, according to the president, the voter rebellion in Massachusetts was George Bush's fault.
Therefore, in retaliation, they elected a Republican to the Ted Kennedy seat, ending a half-century of domination by Democrats. It is all George Bush's fault.
Will the failed administration of George Bush ever end, and the time for hope and change ever arrive?
Will President Obama ever accept responsibility for something... - anything?
(Chuck Green is a veteran Colorado journalist and former editor-in-chief of The Denver Post.)
Mike Holcomb
Here's an opinion piece by Chuck Green who writes "Greener Pastures" for the Denver Post Aurora Sentinel...one of the more liberal papers in the country. Additionally, Mr. Green is a life-long Democrat...so this is rather a stunning piece...
Obama is victim of Bush's failed promises
Greener Pastures Column -- 5/15/10
Barack Obama is setting a record-setting number of records during his first year in office:
? Largest budget ever.
? Largest deficit ever.
? Largest number of broken promises ever.
? Most self-serving speeches ever.
? Largest number of agenda-setting failures ever.
? Fastest dive in popularity ever.
Wow! Talk about change.
Just one year ago, fresh from his inauguration celebrations, President Obama was flying high. After one of the nation's most inspiring political campaigns, the election of America's first black president had captured the hopes and dreams of millions. To his devout followers, it was inconceivable that a year later his administration would be gripped in self-imposed crisis.
Of course, they don't see it as self-imposed. It's all George Bush's fault.
George Bush, who doesn't have a vote in congress and who no longer occupies the White House, is to blame for it all.
He broke Obama's promise to put all bills on the White House web site for five days before signing them.
He broke Obama's promise to have the congressional health care negotiations broadcast live on C-SPAN.
He broke Obama's promise to end earmarks.
He broke Obama's promise to keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent.
He broke Obama's promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo in the first year.
He broke Obama's promise to make peace with direct, no precondition talks with America's most hate-filled enemies during his first year in office, ushering in a new era of global cooperation.
He broke Obama's promise to end the hiring of former lobbyists into high White House jobs.
He broke Obama's promise to end no-compete contracts with the government.
He broke Obama's promise to disclose the names of all attendees at closed White House meetings.
He broke Obama's promise for a new era of bipartisan cooperation in all matters.
He broke Obama's promise to have chosen a home church to attend Sunday services with his family by Easter of last year.
Yes, it's all George Bush's fault. President Obama is nothing more than a puppet in the never-ending failed Bush administration.
If only George Bush wasn't still in charge, all of President Obama's problems would be solved. His promises would have been kept, the economy would be back on track, Iran would have stopped its work on developing a nuclear bomb and would be negotiating a peace treaty with Israel. North Korea would have ended its tyrannical regime, and integrity would have been restored to the federal government.
Oh, and did I mention what it would be like if the Democrats, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, didn't have the heavy yoke of George Bush around their necks? There would be no ear marks, no closed-door drafting of bills, no increase in deficit spending, no special-interest influence (unions), no vote buying (Nebraska, Louisiana).
If only George Bush wasn't still in charge, we'd have real change by now.
All the broken promises, all the failed legislation and delay (health care reform, immigration reform) is not President Obama's fault or the fault of the Democrat-controlled Congress. It's all George Bush's fault.
Take for example the decision of Eric Holder, the president's attorney general, to hold terrorists' trials in New York City. Or his decision to try the Christmas Day underpants bomber as a civilian.
Two disastrous decisions.
Certainly those were bad judgments based on poor advice from George Bush.
Need more proof?
You might recall that when Scott Brown won the election to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, capturing "the Ted Kennedy seat", President Obama said that Brown's victory was the result of the same voter anger that propelled Obama into office in 2008. People were still angry about George Bush and the policies of the past 10 years, and they wanted change.
Yes, according to the president, the voter rebellion in Massachusetts was George Bush's fault.
Therefore, in retaliation, they elected a Republican to the Ted Kennedy seat, ending a half-century of domination by Democrats. It is all George Bush's fault.
Will the failed administration of George Bush ever end, and the time for hope and change ever arrive?
Will President Obama ever accept responsibility for something... - anything?
(Chuck Green is a veteran Colorado journalist and former editor-in-chief of The Denver Post.)
Mike Holcomb
Monday, August 23, 2010
The White House War on Jobs
By Michelle Malkin • August 23, 2010 10:13 AM
How’s that Summer of Recovery working out for you? Continuing my series on the White House War on the West, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s attack on the economy, and the White House land lock-up (Part 1, Part 2) and ocean grab, here is the latest on Barack Obama’s deliberate job destruction policies.
According to the WSJ, the administration forged ahead with its junk science deepwater drilling ban despite knowing it would cost 23,000 jobs.
Senior Obama administration officials concluded the federal moratorium on deepwater oil drilling would cost roughly 23,000 jobs, but went ahead with the ban because they didn’t trust the industry’s safety equipment and the government’s own inspection process, according to previously undisclosed documents.
Marcia McNutt, an Obama administration science adviser, commented on the corporate culture of BP in a memo sent to Michael Bromwich, the administration’s new top offshore oil exploration regulator, on June 28.
Critics of the moratorium, including Gulf Coast political figures and oil-industry leaders, have said it is crippling the region’s economy, and some have called on the administration to make public its economic analysis. A federal judge who in June threw out an earlier six-month moratorium faulted the administration for playing down the economic effects…
Sound familiar?
Just last month, you’ll recall, the TARP inspector general reported on how the capricious Dealeragate mandates of Obama’s non-expert auto experts deliberately destroyed jobs in the name of “shared sacrifice” to appease Big Labor.
Then there are more and more Obamacare job-killing stories piling up like this one:
Assurant Health is eliminating 130 jobs at its offices in Milwaukee and Plymouth, Minn., by Oct. 1 as the health insurer prepares for changes under federal health care reform.
The company, which sells health insurance for individuals and small employers as well as short-term policies, faces an onslaught of new federal health care reform regulations, including the requirement that it spend 80% of premiums on medical care.
…The new regulations under federal health care reform are expected to remake the industry, particularly for insurance sold to individuals and families and to small employers, such as those with 100 or fewer workers.
State insurance commissioners are still working on the proposed rules for the percentage of premiums that must be spent on medical care. The requirement is expected to lower profit margins and to force some companies out of the market.
And then there’s the impending expiration of the Bush tax cuts. The Chamber of Commerce minces no words. Via The Hill:
U.S. Chamber of Commerce economist Martin Regalia on Monday said the tax increases advocated by President Obama would essentially kill any chance for an economic rebound.
“That’s what you’re suggesting, is a corporate bullet in the head,” Regalia said. “That is going to be a bullet in the head for an awful lot of people that are going to be laid off and an awful lot of people who are hoping to get their jobs back.”
Regalia made the comment at an American Petroleum Institute event on the tax increases proposed by the Obama administration. Much of the discussion focused on tax cuts enacted by President George W. Bush that are slated to expire at the end of the year.
Obama has suggested continuing the breaks that benefit the middle class and most small businesses while allowing tax cuts for wealthier entities to expire. Regalia said that plan will fail to boost economic demand.
“The thing [the administration] sees the least about the economy are the synergies,” he said. “Many of these small businesses sell into big business. … Saying ‘I’m going to stimulate the small part of the economy and not the big part of the economy’ is a fool’s error. It’s almost impossible to do.”
All this comes on top of last week’s news “showing jobless claims rose more than forecast and manufacturing in the Philadelphia region unexpectedly shrank.”
One shudders to think how many more jobs will be on the chopping block after the president finishes “recharging his batteries” on Martha’s Vineyard.
By Michelle Malkin • August 23, 2010 10:13 AM
How’s that Summer of Recovery working out for you? Continuing my series on the White House War on the West, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s attack on the economy, and the White House land lock-up (Part 1, Part 2) and ocean grab, here is the latest on Barack Obama’s deliberate job destruction policies.
According to the WSJ, the administration forged ahead with its junk science deepwater drilling ban despite knowing it would cost 23,000 jobs.
Senior Obama administration officials concluded the federal moratorium on deepwater oil drilling would cost roughly 23,000 jobs, but went ahead with the ban because they didn’t trust the industry’s safety equipment and the government’s own inspection process, according to previously undisclosed documents.
Marcia McNutt, an Obama administration science adviser, commented on the corporate culture of BP in a memo sent to Michael Bromwich, the administration’s new top offshore oil exploration regulator, on June 28.
Critics of the moratorium, including Gulf Coast political figures and oil-industry leaders, have said it is crippling the region’s economy, and some have called on the administration to make public its economic analysis. A federal judge who in June threw out an earlier six-month moratorium faulted the administration for playing down the economic effects…
Sound familiar?
Just last month, you’ll recall, the TARP inspector general reported on how the capricious Dealeragate mandates of Obama’s non-expert auto experts deliberately destroyed jobs in the name of “shared sacrifice” to appease Big Labor.
Then there are more and more Obamacare job-killing stories piling up like this one:
Assurant Health is eliminating 130 jobs at its offices in Milwaukee and Plymouth, Minn., by Oct. 1 as the health insurer prepares for changes under federal health care reform.
The company, which sells health insurance for individuals and small employers as well as short-term policies, faces an onslaught of new federal health care reform regulations, including the requirement that it spend 80% of premiums on medical care.
…The new regulations under federal health care reform are expected to remake the industry, particularly for insurance sold to individuals and families and to small employers, such as those with 100 or fewer workers.
State insurance commissioners are still working on the proposed rules for the percentage of premiums that must be spent on medical care. The requirement is expected to lower profit margins and to force some companies out of the market.
And then there’s the impending expiration of the Bush tax cuts. The Chamber of Commerce minces no words. Via The Hill:
U.S. Chamber of Commerce economist Martin Regalia on Monday said the tax increases advocated by President Obama would essentially kill any chance for an economic rebound.
“That’s what you’re suggesting, is a corporate bullet in the head,” Regalia said. “That is going to be a bullet in the head for an awful lot of people that are going to be laid off and an awful lot of people who are hoping to get their jobs back.”
Regalia made the comment at an American Petroleum Institute event on the tax increases proposed by the Obama administration. Much of the discussion focused on tax cuts enacted by President George W. Bush that are slated to expire at the end of the year.
Obama has suggested continuing the breaks that benefit the middle class and most small businesses while allowing tax cuts for wealthier entities to expire. Regalia said that plan will fail to boost economic demand.
“The thing [the administration] sees the least about the economy are the synergies,” he said. “Many of these small businesses sell into big business. … Saying ‘I’m going to stimulate the small part of the economy and not the big part of the economy’ is a fool’s error. It’s almost impossible to do.”
All this comes on top of last week’s news “showing jobless claims rose more than forecast and manufacturing in the Philadelphia region unexpectedly shrank.”
One shudders to think how many more jobs will be on the chopping block after the president finishes “recharging his batteries” on Martha’s Vineyard.
Obama on Social Security: Ending Bipartisanship Hopes
Surprise, surprise, surprise! (Said in the voice of Gomer Pyle.)
Obama on Social Security: Ending Bipartisanship Hopes
Obama on Social Security: Ending Bipartisanship Hopes
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Porkulus Dollars At Work
Good Grief...Will it never end?
Porkulus dollars at work: Eco-snitch trash cans by Michelle Malkin on Friday, August 20, 2010
Lots of buzz today about the microchip-implanted trash bins in Cleveland that will tell city collectors when residents haven’t recycled. The Cleveland Dealer reports today:
It would be a stretch to say that Big Brother will hang out in Clevelanders’ trash cans, but the city plans to sort through curbside trash to make sure residents are recycling — and fine them $100 if they don’t.
The move is part of a high-tech collection system the city will roll out next year with new trash and recycling carts embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes.
The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection. If a chip show a recyclable cart hasn’t been brought to the curb in weeks, a trash supervisor will sort through the trash for recyclables.
The city expanded a pilot program for the carts and will now use $2.5 million in local tax money to fund the expansion.
Guess what else?
You are helping pay for this eco-snitch program in other cities with federal stimulus money.
From the Coburn-McCain stimulus waste report released earlier this month, we learn that $500,000 of the porkulus went to Dayton, Ohio for nosy trash cans.
Yeah. It stinks. And taxpayers don’t need any high-falutin’ technology to detect it.
Porkulus dollars at work: Eco-snitch trash cans by Michelle Malkin on Friday, August 20, 2010
Lots of buzz today about the microchip-implanted trash bins in Cleveland that will tell city collectors when residents haven’t recycled. The Cleveland Dealer reports today:
It would be a stretch to say that Big Brother will hang out in Clevelanders’ trash cans, but the city plans to sort through curbside trash to make sure residents are recycling — and fine them $100 if they don’t.
The move is part of a high-tech collection system the city will roll out next year with new trash and recycling carts embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes.
The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection. If a chip show a recyclable cart hasn’t been brought to the curb in weeks, a trash supervisor will sort through the trash for recyclables.
The city expanded a pilot program for the carts and will now use $2.5 million in local tax money to fund the expansion.
Guess what else?
You are helping pay for this eco-snitch program in other cities with federal stimulus money.
From the Coburn-McCain stimulus waste report released earlier this month, we learn that $500,000 of the porkulus went to Dayton, Ohio for nosy trash cans.
Yeah. It stinks. And taxpayers don’t need any high-falutin’ technology to detect it.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Morning Bell: The Gulf Recovery Obama Does Not Want to See | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.
Did you take a vacation this summer? Well, the prez and his family certainly have...bunches of them.
Morning Bell: The Gulf Recovery Obama Does Not Want to See | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.
Morning Bell: The Gulf Recovery Obama Does Not Want to See | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.
Tea Party Article (USA Today)
Tea Party' members offer a ground-level view
A year ago, the political hurricane known as the "Tea Party" erupted in made-for-YouTube confrontations at congressional town hall meetings on the pending health care overhaul.
This August, the movement's supporters seem less rowdy — perhaps because they're pounding the pavement and dialing phones, trying to alter the balance of power in Congress in the fall elections. While Tea Party-favored candidates have lost in contests including the California GOP Senate primary, they have won Republican Senate primaries in Colorado, Kentucky, Nevada and Utah.
They say it's just the start.
"We're not in this to make noise and to saber-rattle," says Dan Blanchard of the Louisville Tea Party, which helped Rand Paul claim the Senate nomination in Kentucky. "We're in this thing to win."
The test now: Whether Paul and others can prevail under even tougher scrutiny and win over the broader electorate that votes in November. That will require a sustained commitment from a network that revels in its bottom-up nature and loose organization.
"That's part of the verve and vibrancy," says Rep. Michele Bachmann. At the first meeting of the congressional Tea Party Caucus last month, the Minnesota Republican underscored the primacy of the grass roots by having members of the public sit on the dais normally reserved for members of Congress. Lawmakers sat in the audience.
Because the Tea Party is so determinedly decentralized, USA TODAY reached out to activists from New York to California, Ohio to Louisiana to get a sense of the breadth and depth of the movement's motivations, priorities, concerns and aspirations.
While it's difficult to generalize about any group, especially one still in evolution, the interviews provide a ground-level glimpse in their own words of the passions that drive the movement.
Among consistent themes, they:
•Keep it local. Chris Littleton, head of a Tea Party group in Cincinnati, says the activists he knows are driven by "this sense that you have to own your backyard first."
"I can't fix what is happening in D.C.," Littleton says. "But I can fix what is happening in my backyard. I can affect my township, my county, my city, my congressional district and my state."
Those interviewed reject the idea of national leaders or centralized organizations running things.
"The normal thing that people are looking for is some sort of organized structure, driven from the top down," says Mark Lloyd, chairman of the Lynchburg Tea Party in Virginia. "But ... it's more of an attitude, and the attitude is of course just visceral patriotism, and a focus on limited government, fiscal responsibility, constitutional government or governance and personal liberties."
•Focus on fiscal issues. These Tea Party supporters say they emphasize fiscal conservatism and limited government over social issues.
In founding the congressional Tea Party Caucus, Bachmann says she focused on three ideas that she thinks unite the "various flavors" of the movement: "Act within the Constitution; we're taxed enough already; and don't spend more than you bring in."
"We don't get involved in the abortion issue, the gay-marriage issue, because we feel like that's when it starts dividing people," says Nita Thomas, leader of a group in Cincinnati.
•Reject forming a third party. "I don't like third parties," says Melanie Morgan, a former talk-show host who has been working with the Tea Party movement in California. "They don't work. Ask the people who supported Ross Perot. We ended up with Bill Clinton for eight years."
"There are plenty of alternative parties out there," says Bradley Rees, a factory worker in Lynchburg who writes a blog and hosts an Internet radio show. "The Tea Party is best served by being a watchdog group independent of all parties."
•Resent their portrayal in news stories.Liberal commentators including Eric Boehlert of Media Matters argue that some news organizations have overstated the clout of the Tea Party, but the activists USA TODAY interviewed call coverage in many newspapers and TV outlets unfairly negative.
They bristle in particular at stories that portray them as racists. Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said they were subjected to racial epithets during a demonstration by Tea Party activists on Capitol Hill earlier this year. Last month, the NAACP asked Tea Party activists to disavow the racist rhetoric of some members of the movement.
Mark Meckler, a California lawyer and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, says his group and others have denounced those who have made racially inflammatory remarks. "It's demonstrated that the movement has matured," he says.
C.L. Bryant, an African-American pastor of a church in Louisiana who has made frequent appearances on television and at rallies to defend the Tea Party, says attributing the views of a few fringe elements to the entire movement would be akin to assuming that all NAACP members agree with the New Black Panther movement's hostility to whites.
"No matter which side of the aisle you're on, we do have to admit there are nuts among us," Bryant says.
•Have no consensus on or much enthusiasm about the 2012 presidential field.
"I've got some people I think have some promise, but we've got a lot of time between now and then," Lloyd says. "I have been disappointed so much by the Republican Party that I'm just not prepared to put a lot of hope in any one person."
Littleton accuses GOP politicians of "pandering" to the Tea Party. "There's tons of rhetoric out there from all of these born-again conservatives," he says, "but I've yet to see anybody who's really standing tall on all of this stuff."
Many Tea Party supporters are Republicans or Republican-leaning voters who felt betrayed by the GOP during George W. Bush's presidency and since. They cite the Wall Street bailout known as TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) and the Medicare prescription-drug benefit as the sort of expensive, big government programs they decry.
"I got angry when I was watching them pass the TARP bill," signed by Bush in October 2008, says Howard Hellwinkel, a New York businessman.
Some worry that their success may attract what Bryant calls "unscrupulous political operatives" who will try to co-opt the movement.
There also has been squabbling among Tea Party groups. "If some of these individuals don't tone it down and back off and play nice with one another, they are going to take a perfectly good movement and ruin it," Morgan warns.
Yet most Tea Party members describe their experience of the past year — for many, their introduction to activism — as overwhelmingly positive. Like the liberal Internet activists who powered the rise of Howard Dean in the 2004 Democratic presidential race and then of Barack Obama four years later, this new conservative movement has sparked a new wave of activists who are determined to be a factor this year and in campaigns to follow.
"We're a bunch of citizens who want to hold officials accountable," says Joe Thompson, who is working to defeat veteran Democratic Rep. John Spratt in South Carolina.
Tea Party activists talk about what they believe and how they plan to act
'I'm not the national spokeswoman'
GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann, a two-term member of the House from Minnesota, has become a favorite speaker at Tea Party rallies. Though the 54-year-old congresswoman started an official Tea Party Caucus in the House, she's eager to portray herself as a facilitator of the movement, not a leader.
"I'm not the national spokeswoman. No person in Congress is the spokesperson for the Tea Party because it's an organic, spontaneous movement by people all across the country. ...
"Our goal is not to co-opt the movement. We don't want to run it from Washington, D.C. We don't want to give directives to the Tea Party movement. We don't want to give them an agenda or tell them what to do or tell them what to do or manage them in any way.
"We are here for one simple but profound reason and that is to listen to them, because we think they have credibility. ...
"There was a number of (Tea Party leaders) that were very nervous and very concerned that by starting a Tea Party Caucus in Washington, our intention was to institutionalize the Tea Party and to effectively run it out of Washington. And that wasn't my objective, and it certainly wasn't their objective either, because for many good reasons, they're distrustful of Washington."
On how she gets elected in a state that has a longer record of voting Democrat for president than any other :
"Minnesota really doesn't like phonies. ... They appreciate a politician who will be who they say they are. As far left as (the late Democratic senator) Paul Wellstone was, he was respected for not squishing on his views, and I'm the same way.
"I'm a strong, unashamed, unapologetic conservative activist for the free market. People know that about me, and I'm respected because I don't squish on my views."
'I've become the pastor of the Tea Party'
C.L. Bryant, 55, of Grand Cane, La., says he may lose his pulpit over his Tea Party activism, which began almost accidentally when he attended a rally a year ago in Shreveport. A former president of the NAACP in Garland, Texas, he says he's sorry that his predominantly black Baptistcongregation is frustrated with him.
"I've become the pastor of the Tea Party. ...
"I was flipping through the AM stations and I ran across a guy called Rush (Limbaugh). ... Even though I knew he was an entertainer ... there were some things that he said that rang true. So my lean toward conservatism actually began with listening to a conservative radio program."
On accusations of racism within the Tea Party:
"It has nothing to do with race. It has to do with the state of our country. Anybody in their right mind would be in favor of lower taxes, less government intrusion and more fiscal responsibility, whether you are black or white."
Some in his congregation "are emotionally attached to their skin color. ... This is not anything that has to do with skin color."
On why he's supporting the re-election of Republican Sen. David Vitter, who has admitted to hiring prostitutes:
"If you have no sin, then sure you go ahead and throw the first stone. One thing I admire about him is that when this came to light, he did not run from it, he did not duck it, he did not dodge it. He stood up to it like a man ought to. ...
"The only thing we can do is look at how a person handles his mistakes once they are revealed. I think he handled them honorably."
On why he opposes President Obama:
"He's too liberal for me."
'Three core values span everything we do'
Chris Littleton, 31, helped found the Cincinnati Tea Party last year. He says he has gone from someone who "never voted in a primary" to political activist. He's closely following a rematch between former Republican congressman Steve Chabot of Cincinnati and the Democrat who defeated him last year, Democratic Rep. Steve Driehaus.
"I had nothing to do with politics. I actually probably wanted nothing to do with politics. Until we all kind of crossed that line, which is: 'All right, we need to engage at this point or else the nation is going to hell in a handbasket, and if we don't do something about it, then that's exactly what's going to happen.'
"So there are high numbers of new people, and I think that's really the win for the campaign. ...
"My idea was ... if McDonald's can have a franchise on every corner, why can't people of like minds? Dump this party nonsense, this partisan nonsense and that's to where we are. There are certain things that I think 80%-90% of people believe in, and let's focus on those things, and let's put one of these little groups in every single precinct, every single voting precinct, every neighborhood in the United States.
"We have three core values that really, I guess, span everything we do. ...
"One, a fundamental limitation of government. The limited government is key. We believe that the more control and influence the size of government, the more it grows, the less important the individual is. ...
"And then the next would be fiscal responsibility. There is no excuse in the world why our government can't be fiscally responsible. ...
"And the last one is free markets, or you could call it free enterprise. The ability to earn your own way, to generate your own wealth, to create your own American dream should be relatively free from all of the inhibitions of the government."
'A fiscal movement'
Melanie Morgan, 53, of San Francisco, is a former radio talk show host who has been working with the Tea Party Express, a California-based group. She worked this year for Chuck DeVore, a California assemblyman who was seeking the GOP nomination for Senate. He lost to Carly Fiorina, who will face veteran Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer this fall.
"I was asked by Tea Party Express to introduce Sarah Palin in Searchlight, Nev., when the Tea Party Express kicked off their cross-country tour. And that was very exciting. The momentum was just phenomenal. The crowds were huge and of course under-reported by the mainstream media. There were probably 30,000 people there who had come from all across the United States to watch this moment in history. ...
"I would define the Tea Party movement as a fiscal movement. This is not a movement based on social issues. Many conservatives are involved only because of the fiscal aspect of smaller government, of lower taxation, of an accountability as far as the debt is concerned, the runaway spending by the liberal Congress. These are the issues that motivate us, that animate us. We're not talking abortion and we are not discussing gay marriage or anything that even comes close to approximating those issues.. .
On what she'll do in the California Senate race:
"To tell you the truth, to be honest, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm certainly not getting involved. I've not been approached by the Fiorina campaign. If I had been asked to help I probably would have been a good little trooper. But they apparently are not reaching out at a grass-roots level, so I'm not going to offer to step in.
"Anybody obviously is better to me than Barbara Boxer ... but Carly Fiorina has got to earn the support of Californians."
'Hold him accountable'
Mica Sims, 26, is a stay-at-home mom and organizer of Tea Party groups in Lexington, Ky. She was among the first in the movement to embrace Rand Paul, who won the state's Republican Senate nomination over Trey Grayson, the candidate backed by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and others.
"We took on the establishment and we won. ...
"The message that we sent to Washington is that we are conservatives first and foremost, and mostly fiscal conservatives. Half of the Republicans in Washington voted for the bailout, voted for the TARP, voted for the stimulus, things that we Tea Party (supporters) are rallying against. ... We need some fiscal conservatives back and we believe as a people in Kentucky that Rand Paul will carry that message. ...
"The Tea Parties don't stop in November. I often say the Tea Party movement is going to start in November. ... As much as I have worked so hard for Rand Paul during this election, I will work 10 times harder once he is in Washington to hold him accountable, because that's what it is: They get to Washington and they get so disenfranchised from the American people and what is actually going on.
"If he gets in Washington and he changes, by God, I'll vote him out. I'll do everything I can to get him out. ... When I think of the Tea Party, I think, 'Wow, we're just getting going.' Now I have a candidate (for governor next year). ... We're going to get full force behind him. Then after that, after next year, we're up for another presidential election. I don't see the Tea Party movement going away anytime soon. We have a voice. Why would we stop?"
'Liberal bias in the media' hurts the movement
Mark Lloyd, 50, is a salesman and chairman of the Lynchburg Tea Party in Virginia's 5th Congressional District, where several Tea Party groups are trying to defeat Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello. Another local Tea Party group had plans to burn the congressman in effigy to protest the signing of the health care bill but backed off after a furor.
"In my personal opinion, I think if they would have done it, it would have been counterproductive. ... There are lines that can be crossed if we're not careful. To me, I understand the freedom of speech aspects of it, but I wouldn't have done it."
Would it have put the Tea Party in a difficult place?
"The media does everything they can to make sure it does put the Tea Parties in a bad place. ...
"For instance, I had a Tea Party meeting last Thursday. OK? We had over 120 people in our meeting in Lynchburg, Va. Now, that room was filled with good people. You will see doctors, lawyers, college professors, highly educated people, professionals of all sorts. And who does the media pick out? On the way out, they'll find the person who is the least sophisticated in appearance, and that's the one that gets all the time and whatever. That's so typical. That's typical of what happens and how the media tries to paint the Tea Party. ...
"Liberal bias in the media is what paints ... the face of the Tea Party as being something less than good, and they do that so the people just now awakening to the terrible problems in this country would be repulsed by the Tea Party. That is very much what's going on: Put the Tea Party in a bad light and it works for the liberals."
A year ago, the political hurricane known as the "Tea Party" erupted in made-for-YouTube confrontations at congressional town hall meetings on the pending health care overhaul.
This August, the movement's supporters seem less rowdy — perhaps because they're pounding the pavement and dialing phones, trying to alter the balance of power in Congress in the fall elections. While Tea Party-favored candidates have lost in contests including the California GOP Senate primary, they have won Republican Senate primaries in Colorado, Kentucky, Nevada and Utah.
They say it's just the start.
"We're not in this to make noise and to saber-rattle," says Dan Blanchard of the Louisville Tea Party, which helped Rand Paul claim the Senate nomination in Kentucky. "We're in this thing to win."
The test now: Whether Paul and others can prevail under even tougher scrutiny and win over the broader electorate that votes in November. That will require a sustained commitment from a network that revels in its bottom-up nature and loose organization.
"That's part of the verve and vibrancy," says Rep. Michele Bachmann. At the first meeting of the congressional Tea Party Caucus last month, the Minnesota Republican underscored the primacy of the grass roots by having members of the public sit on the dais normally reserved for members of Congress. Lawmakers sat in the audience.
Because the Tea Party is so determinedly decentralized, USA TODAY reached out to activists from New York to California, Ohio to Louisiana to get a sense of the breadth and depth of the movement's motivations, priorities, concerns and aspirations.
While it's difficult to generalize about any group, especially one still in evolution, the interviews provide a ground-level glimpse in their own words of the passions that drive the movement.
Among consistent themes, they:
•Keep it local. Chris Littleton, head of a Tea Party group in Cincinnati, says the activists he knows are driven by "this sense that you have to own your backyard first."
"I can't fix what is happening in D.C.," Littleton says. "But I can fix what is happening in my backyard. I can affect my township, my county, my city, my congressional district and my state."
Those interviewed reject the idea of national leaders or centralized organizations running things.
"The normal thing that people are looking for is some sort of organized structure, driven from the top down," says Mark Lloyd, chairman of the Lynchburg Tea Party in Virginia. "But ... it's more of an attitude, and the attitude is of course just visceral patriotism, and a focus on limited government, fiscal responsibility, constitutional government or governance and personal liberties."
•Focus on fiscal issues. These Tea Party supporters say they emphasize fiscal conservatism and limited government over social issues.
In founding the congressional Tea Party Caucus, Bachmann says she focused on three ideas that she thinks unite the "various flavors" of the movement: "Act within the Constitution; we're taxed enough already; and don't spend more than you bring in."
"We don't get involved in the abortion issue, the gay-marriage issue, because we feel like that's when it starts dividing people," says Nita Thomas, leader of a group in Cincinnati.
•Reject forming a third party. "I don't like third parties," says Melanie Morgan, a former talk-show host who has been working with the Tea Party movement in California. "They don't work. Ask the people who supported Ross Perot. We ended up with Bill Clinton for eight years."
"There are plenty of alternative parties out there," says Bradley Rees, a factory worker in Lynchburg who writes a blog and hosts an Internet radio show. "The Tea Party is best served by being a watchdog group independent of all parties."
•Resent their portrayal in news stories.Liberal commentators including Eric Boehlert of Media Matters argue that some news organizations have overstated the clout of the Tea Party, but the activists USA TODAY interviewed call coverage in many newspapers and TV outlets unfairly negative.
They bristle in particular at stories that portray them as racists. Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said they were subjected to racial epithets during a demonstration by Tea Party activists on Capitol Hill earlier this year. Last month, the NAACP asked Tea Party activists to disavow the racist rhetoric of some members of the movement.
Mark Meckler, a California lawyer and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, says his group and others have denounced those who have made racially inflammatory remarks. "It's demonstrated that the movement has matured," he says.
C.L. Bryant, an African-American pastor of a church in Louisiana who has made frequent appearances on television and at rallies to defend the Tea Party, says attributing the views of a few fringe elements to the entire movement would be akin to assuming that all NAACP members agree with the New Black Panther movement's hostility to whites.
"No matter which side of the aisle you're on, we do have to admit there are nuts among us," Bryant says.
•Have no consensus on or much enthusiasm about the 2012 presidential field.
"I've got some people I think have some promise, but we've got a lot of time between now and then," Lloyd says. "I have been disappointed so much by the Republican Party that I'm just not prepared to put a lot of hope in any one person."
Littleton accuses GOP politicians of "pandering" to the Tea Party. "There's tons of rhetoric out there from all of these born-again conservatives," he says, "but I've yet to see anybody who's really standing tall on all of this stuff."
Many Tea Party supporters are Republicans or Republican-leaning voters who felt betrayed by the GOP during George W. Bush's presidency and since. They cite the Wall Street bailout known as TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) and the Medicare prescription-drug benefit as the sort of expensive, big government programs they decry.
"I got angry when I was watching them pass the TARP bill," signed by Bush in October 2008, says Howard Hellwinkel, a New York businessman.
Some worry that their success may attract what Bryant calls "unscrupulous political operatives" who will try to co-opt the movement.
There also has been squabbling among Tea Party groups. "If some of these individuals don't tone it down and back off and play nice with one another, they are going to take a perfectly good movement and ruin it," Morgan warns.
Yet most Tea Party members describe their experience of the past year — for many, their introduction to activism — as overwhelmingly positive. Like the liberal Internet activists who powered the rise of Howard Dean in the 2004 Democratic presidential race and then of Barack Obama four years later, this new conservative movement has sparked a new wave of activists who are determined to be a factor this year and in campaigns to follow.
"We're a bunch of citizens who want to hold officials accountable," says Joe Thompson, who is working to defeat veteran Democratic Rep. John Spratt in South Carolina.
Tea Party activists talk about what they believe and how they plan to act
'I'm not the national spokeswoman'
GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann, a two-term member of the House from Minnesota, has become a favorite speaker at Tea Party rallies. Though the 54-year-old congresswoman started an official Tea Party Caucus in the House, she's eager to portray herself as a facilitator of the movement, not a leader.
"I'm not the national spokeswoman. No person in Congress is the spokesperson for the Tea Party because it's an organic, spontaneous movement by people all across the country. ...
"Our goal is not to co-opt the movement. We don't want to run it from Washington, D.C. We don't want to give directives to the Tea Party movement. We don't want to give them an agenda or tell them what to do or tell them what to do or manage them in any way.
"We are here for one simple but profound reason and that is to listen to them, because we think they have credibility. ...
"There was a number of (Tea Party leaders) that were very nervous and very concerned that by starting a Tea Party Caucus in Washington, our intention was to institutionalize the Tea Party and to effectively run it out of Washington. And that wasn't my objective, and it certainly wasn't their objective either, because for many good reasons, they're distrustful of Washington."
On how she gets elected in a state that has a longer record of voting Democrat for president than any other :
"Minnesota really doesn't like phonies. ... They appreciate a politician who will be who they say they are. As far left as (the late Democratic senator) Paul Wellstone was, he was respected for not squishing on his views, and I'm the same way.
"I'm a strong, unashamed, unapologetic conservative activist for the free market. People know that about me, and I'm respected because I don't squish on my views."
'I've become the pastor of the Tea Party'
C.L. Bryant, 55, of Grand Cane, La., says he may lose his pulpit over his Tea Party activism, which began almost accidentally when he attended a rally a year ago in Shreveport. A former president of the NAACP in Garland, Texas, he says he's sorry that his predominantly black Baptistcongregation is frustrated with him.
"I've become the pastor of the Tea Party. ...
"I was flipping through the AM stations and I ran across a guy called Rush (Limbaugh). ... Even though I knew he was an entertainer ... there were some things that he said that rang true. So my lean toward conservatism actually began with listening to a conservative radio program."
On accusations of racism within the Tea Party:
"It has nothing to do with race. It has to do with the state of our country. Anybody in their right mind would be in favor of lower taxes, less government intrusion and more fiscal responsibility, whether you are black or white."
Some in his congregation "are emotionally attached to their skin color. ... This is not anything that has to do with skin color."
On why he's supporting the re-election of Republican Sen. David Vitter, who has admitted to hiring prostitutes:
"If you have no sin, then sure you go ahead and throw the first stone. One thing I admire about him is that when this came to light, he did not run from it, he did not duck it, he did not dodge it. He stood up to it like a man ought to. ...
"The only thing we can do is look at how a person handles his mistakes once they are revealed. I think he handled them honorably."
On why he opposes President Obama:
"He's too liberal for me."
'Three core values span everything we do'
Chris Littleton, 31, helped found the Cincinnati Tea Party last year. He says he has gone from someone who "never voted in a primary" to political activist. He's closely following a rematch between former Republican congressman Steve Chabot of Cincinnati and the Democrat who defeated him last year, Democratic Rep. Steve Driehaus.
"I had nothing to do with politics. I actually probably wanted nothing to do with politics. Until we all kind of crossed that line, which is: 'All right, we need to engage at this point or else the nation is going to hell in a handbasket, and if we don't do something about it, then that's exactly what's going to happen.'
"So there are high numbers of new people, and I think that's really the win for the campaign. ...
"My idea was ... if McDonald's can have a franchise on every corner, why can't people of like minds? Dump this party nonsense, this partisan nonsense and that's to where we are. There are certain things that I think 80%-90% of people believe in, and let's focus on those things, and let's put one of these little groups in every single precinct, every single voting precinct, every neighborhood in the United States.
"We have three core values that really, I guess, span everything we do. ...
"One, a fundamental limitation of government. The limited government is key. We believe that the more control and influence the size of government, the more it grows, the less important the individual is. ...
"And then the next would be fiscal responsibility. There is no excuse in the world why our government can't be fiscally responsible. ...
"And the last one is free markets, or you could call it free enterprise. The ability to earn your own way, to generate your own wealth, to create your own American dream should be relatively free from all of the inhibitions of the government."
'A fiscal movement'
Melanie Morgan, 53, of San Francisco, is a former radio talk show host who has been working with the Tea Party Express, a California-based group. She worked this year for Chuck DeVore, a California assemblyman who was seeking the GOP nomination for Senate. He lost to Carly Fiorina, who will face veteran Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer this fall.
"I was asked by Tea Party Express to introduce Sarah Palin in Searchlight, Nev., when the Tea Party Express kicked off their cross-country tour. And that was very exciting. The momentum was just phenomenal. The crowds were huge and of course under-reported by the mainstream media. There were probably 30,000 people there who had come from all across the United States to watch this moment in history. ...
"I would define the Tea Party movement as a fiscal movement. This is not a movement based on social issues. Many conservatives are involved only because of the fiscal aspect of smaller government, of lower taxation, of an accountability as far as the debt is concerned, the runaway spending by the liberal Congress. These are the issues that motivate us, that animate us. We're not talking abortion and we are not discussing gay marriage or anything that even comes close to approximating those issues.. .
On what she'll do in the California Senate race:
"To tell you the truth, to be honest, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm certainly not getting involved. I've not been approached by the Fiorina campaign. If I had been asked to help I probably would have been a good little trooper. But they apparently are not reaching out at a grass-roots level, so I'm not going to offer to step in.
"Anybody obviously is better to me than Barbara Boxer ... but Carly Fiorina has got to earn the support of Californians."
'Hold him accountable'
Mica Sims, 26, is a stay-at-home mom and organizer of Tea Party groups in Lexington, Ky. She was among the first in the movement to embrace Rand Paul, who won the state's Republican Senate nomination over Trey Grayson, the candidate backed by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and others.
"We took on the establishment and we won. ...
"The message that we sent to Washington is that we are conservatives first and foremost, and mostly fiscal conservatives. Half of the Republicans in Washington voted for the bailout, voted for the TARP, voted for the stimulus, things that we Tea Party (supporters) are rallying against. ... We need some fiscal conservatives back and we believe as a people in Kentucky that Rand Paul will carry that message. ...
"The Tea Parties don't stop in November. I often say the Tea Party movement is going to start in November. ... As much as I have worked so hard for Rand Paul during this election, I will work 10 times harder once he is in Washington to hold him accountable, because that's what it is: They get to Washington and they get so disenfranchised from the American people and what is actually going on.
"If he gets in Washington and he changes, by God, I'll vote him out. I'll do everything I can to get him out. ... When I think of the Tea Party, I think, 'Wow, we're just getting going.' Now I have a candidate (for governor next year). ... We're going to get full force behind him. Then after that, after next year, we're up for another presidential election. I don't see the Tea Party movement going away anytime soon. We have a voice. Why would we stop?"
'Liberal bias in the media' hurts the movement
Mark Lloyd, 50, is a salesman and chairman of the Lynchburg Tea Party in Virginia's 5th Congressional District, where several Tea Party groups are trying to defeat Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello. Another local Tea Party group had plans to burn the congressman in effigy to protest the signing of the health care bill but backed off after a furor.
"In my personal opinion, I think if they would have done it, it would have been counterproductive. ... There are lines that can be crossed if we're not careful. To me, I understand the freedom of speech aspects of it, but I wouldn't have done it."
Would it have put the Tea Party in a difficult place?
"The media does everything they can to make sure it does put the Tea Parties in a bad place. ...
"For instance, I had a Tea Party meeting last Thursday. OK? We had over 120 people in our meeting in Lynchburg, Va. Now, that room was filled with good people. You will see doctors, lawyers, college professors, highly educated people, professionals of all sorts. And who does the media pick out? On the way out, they'll find the person who is the least sophisticated in appearance, and that's the one that gets all the time and whatever. That's so typical. That's typical of what happens and how the media tries to paint the Tea Party. ...
"Liberal bias in the media is what paints ... the face of the Tea Party as being something less than good, and they do that so the people just now awakening to the terrible problems in this country would be repulsed by the Tea Party. That is very much what's going on: Put the Tea Party in a bad light and it works for the liberals."
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Dems searching for way to blame Bush without looking like whiners | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
Time for Obama to man up and quit blaming Bush.
Dems searching for way to blame Bush without looking like whiners | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
Dems searching for way to blame Bush without looking like whiners | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
Obama, in repeat of play-acting strategy, calls on Congress for vote already in the bag | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
What's Wrong with Paul Ryan's Plan? - Business - The Atlantic
This guy says it how it is. You know how I love a straight shooter!
What's Wrong with Paul Ryan's Plan? - Business - The Atlantic
What's Wrong with Paul Ryan's Plan? - Business - The Atlantic
Monday, August 9, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
9 Principles and 12 Values Worth Believing In
The 9 Principles
1. America Is Good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
God “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
Honesty “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
Justice “I deem one of the essential principles of our government… equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness “Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.” Thomas Jefferson
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
Charity “It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.” George Washington
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
On your right to disagree “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
Who works for whom? “I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.” Thomas Jefferson
The 12 Values
* Honesty
* Reverence
* Hope
* Thrift
* Humility
* Charity
* Sincerity
* Moderation
* Hard Work
* Courage
* Personal Responsibility
* Gratitude
1. America Is Good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
God “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
Honesty “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
Justice “I deem one of the essential principles of our government… equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness “Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.” Thomas Jefferson
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
Charity “It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.” George Washington
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
On your right to disagree “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
Who works for whom? “I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.” Thomas Jefferson
The 12 Values
* Honesty
* Reverence
* Hope
* Thrift
* Humility
* Charity
* Sincerity
* Moderation
* Hard Work
* Courage
* Personal Responsibility
* Gratitude
Friday, August 6, 2010
Are You My Friend?
Ya know, if you really want to know who your friends are, just speak your mind. The answer will be pretty clear.
"Say what you mean, and mean what you say...for those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
"Say what you mean, and mean what you say...for those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Summary of Life
Thank God for good friends who send you mindless stuff like this when you've had a rough day. Love you, Kel!
GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandma's lap.
GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED
1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.
THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:
1) You believe in Santa Claus.
2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.
SUCCESS:
At age 4 success is . . . . Not piddling in your pants.
At age 12 success is . . . Having friends.
At age 17 success is . . Having a driver's license.
At age 35 success is . . . ..Having money.
At age 50 success is . . . Having money.
At age 70 success is . .. . Having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . ... . Having friends.
At age 80 success is . . .. Not piddling in your pants.
GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandma's lap.
GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED
1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.
THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:
1) You believe in Santa Claus.
2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.
SUCCESS:
At age 4 success is . . . . Not piddling in your pants.
At age 12 success is . . . Having friends.
At age 17 success is . . Having a driver's license.
At age 35 success is . . . ..Having money.
At age 50 success is . . . Having money.
At age 70 success is . .. . Having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . ... . Having friends.
At age 80 success is . . .. Not piddling in your pants.
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