Saturday, January 31, 2009

GOP response to Pres. Obama

This makes me kinda ill...but in order to make sure we give them a listen so we can say we tried to fairly listened to them...here is the GOP response to President Obama today.



Now... if you just can't stand to listen... which I really have a hard time doing..with most of them... here is a transcript of the words.

This is Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. Earlier this week, President Obama came to Capitol Hill to speak with members of my party about his plan for an economic recovery bill. The President said that a stimulus package is needed to revive the nation's troubled economy, and to help the millions of Americans who've been affected by it. And Republicans in Congress agree.

"Every day brings more news of layoffs, home foreclosures, and shuttered businesses. The Labor Department this week reported job losses in all 50 states in the month of December. In California alone, almost 80,000 people are newly out of work. And across the country, employers are cutting to the bone even at businesses that most Americans never thought were vulnerable.

"A problem that started on Wall Street is reaching deeper and deeper into Main Street. And the President is counting on members of Congress to come together in a spirit of bipartisanship to act. Unfortunately, the plan that Democrats in Congress put forward this week falls far short of the President's vision for a bill that creates jobs and puts us on a path to long-term economic health.

"Turning aside Republican ideas, Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives produced a massive bill that many analysts say is unlikely to create new jobs or boost the economy anytime soon. Most of the infrastructure projects it includes won't impact the economy for at least another year. Permanent spending would be expanded by about $240 billion, an increase that would lock in bigger and bigger deficits every year. And the bill is loaded with wasteful spending:

* $20 million for the removal of fish-passage barriers.
* $25 million to improve All Terrain Vehicle trails.
* $34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce building in Washington.
* And $600 million to buy new cars for government workers.

"The task for Democrats in the House was to craft a stimulus plan that was timely, targeted, and temporary. Apparently, they didn't get the memo. The bill they presented - and which House Democrats approved this week along a party line vote - looks more like a $1 trillion Christmas list.

"At a time when Americans are worried about holding onto their jobs and their homes, and learning to live with less, politicians in Washington shouldn't be spending taxpayer dollars on new cars for government workers or sprucing up federal buildings in Washington. And that's why Republicans are suggesting a simpler, more targeted plan that gets right at the heart of the economic crisis.

"Most economists agree that falling home values are the underlying cause of the recent downturn. Republicans think we need to fix this problem before we do anything else. So first, we propose providing government-backed, 4% fixed mortgages to any credit-worthy borrower. The availability of these low-interest loans would increase demand for houses significantly. And low interest mortgages would boost household income. The average family would see its monthly mortgage payment drop by $466 a month, or $5,600 a year. Over the life of a 30-year loan, that's a savings of $167,760.

"Next, in order to get money into the economy quickly, Republicans would cut income tax rates for working Americans right away. The federal government currently imposes a 10% tax on married couples for income up to $16,700. Republicans would cut that rate in half, putting about $500 into the pocket of every working family. Income between $16,700 and $67,900 is now taxed at 15%. Republicans would cut that rate to 10%. This would put another $1,100 into the pockets of working couples. Single filers would get similar rate reductions. But either way, everyone who works and pays income tax would see an immediate increase in pay.

"Republicans are committed to working with President Obama to steer Americans out of the current economic troubles. We believe the best way to do that is to stabilize housing prices, cut your mortgage payments, and let you keep more of what you earn. And as Congress considers the best way forward, on behalf of the American taxpayer, these are the principles Republicans will pursue.

"Thanks for listening."


So, now... there you go... you have had your dose of republican for the day, week, month or the year...however you feel about it... You may go in peace.

Change for the Better. Turn in your coins...

I found this on Pissed off Vet... so Hat Tip to him... He had not found the embed but I went searching and found it and I want to play it.. This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a while and it really sums up the Bush years.

There really isn't a lot to add to it.. The commentary speaks for itself.. So watch and laugh...lol

Blogroll Amnesty Day or why BAD is GOOD


This weekend until the 3rd of February is B.A.D. (Blogroll Amnesty Day). Now since I am new to all of this blogging stuff I have no clue to what all this means for sure...lol but it has been explained by Blue Gal here, or Skippy the bush Kangaroo here, or Jon Swift here .

The way I understand it they are the originators of this and continue to promote it and what a wonderful idea it is. So, my understanding of it is this. You link to at least 5 other blogs that are supposed to get less traffic than you. This is to help them get started and create traffic to them and promote blogging and the blogosphere.

What a wonderful idea, huh?? So my list will be below this great video I took from Blue Gal.. This is from Arianna Huffington... from the Huffington Post.. one of the greatest blogs of all.



Army of Dude

The News Guy

Political Inaction

Rate This Truck Stop

Wasilla Alaska Baby

Ok, those are my 5.. very diverse, very different.. kinda like me... I hope you enjoy some of my selections. They reflect some of my differing choices, some of my lifestyles of the past.

Have a great day... be kind to everyone...and enjoy reading.

Did You Know...2008 Version..Interesting Video Trivia Facts Mind Blowing Facts

This is wild and some staggering facts. Watching this and thinking about some of the things it says is just mind blowing. I don't know if you have ever watched the movie "Terminator" or the TeeVee series based on the movie, but parts of this made me think of that.

Thinking of the Super Computers, the knowledge base they will have. Just blows the mind. Of course thinking back over the years from the start of the computer I worked on in the early '80s which filled an entire room. Now they almost fit in your hand, well laptops do...and if you use one of the new cell phones such as the Blackberry, or the IPhone they do fit in your hand.

So, watch the video and see what you think. Think about what we have seen over the last few years and think about what we have to look forward to in the future with the President we have and Science being allowed again, instead of being laughed at.

The Presidents Weekly Address Jan. 31, 2009

Our President giving us his words of wisdom... The only thing I could add to this is that he should have said that the stupid republicans didn't help pass the bill in the house.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Senator Claire McCaskill Tells it Like It Is

I am so proud of my Senator.... She is one hell of a woman...

Economy shrinks at 3.8: It'll be interesting to see the Press Corps get laid off

From Crooks & Liars

Watching the White House Press Corps use right-wing talking points to attack President Obama's stimulus package over and over again got me thinking. I wonder how they would feel if most of them get laid off (except for Helen Thomas) and Gibbs takes questions from one source?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy shrank at a 3.8 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as the deepening recession forced consumers and businesses to throttle back spending.


Since Americans voted overwhelmingly for Obama and not to trust Conservative ideology to try and repair the damage caused by conservative ideology, it's very frustrating when the media simply ignore the damage they have done as Obama is trying to get his package off the ground.
A new poll in support of the stimulus plan:

A new poll by Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg.

A survey of 1,200 voters in 40 traditionally Republican congressional districts now held by Democrats Greenberg's firm conducted between Jan. 14 to 19 shows Obama's post-election honeymoon reaching a rapturous stage, with 44 percent of voters strongly supporting his policies.

A full 64 percent favor his economic plan, compared to 27 percent against. And precisely that same proportion favors the stimulus in 13 states that are expected to have competitive Senate races in 2010: Kentucky, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Colorado, Ohio, Kansas, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Greenberg says an incumbent's support for the economic plan appears to make voters more likely to reelect the lawmaker -- particularly good news for the 20 or so Democrats who in November captured districts that former President Bush carried in 2004. He said one-third of Republicans and two-thirds of independents are leaning with Obama's general goals on the recovery.

"If the Republican Party's goal is to cheer Rush Limbaugh, they're welcome to," Greenberg told a group of reporters, alluding to the radio talk-show host who's referred to the economic package as a "porkulus" bill.


So many people are hurting right now in this country and our media stacked the TV deck with Republicans last week so they could make up a phony argument that blames Nancy Pelosi for their no votes instead of their ideological/obstructionist play that the media knows is the root cause of their no vote. Let's see what happens next week. Will the media give equal opportunity to the Democratic Party to explain their positions? The country is still very much behind President Obama.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Eric Cantor Attacks the White House

Here go the Righties again... making up stories to scare the little children.. lol Those big, bad Lefties are putting out Attack ads, Throwing Mud, Making the Repugs look bad, ... watch this see what you think:



Here is the email they sent out to refute the AD, it is from none other than Eric Cantor... what a charmer he is.

"In his Inaugural Address, President Obama promised to put an end to the petty politics that have come to dominate Washington. Yet, today that message is threatened as the White House and their allies are making political threats rather than crafting a bipartisan economic stimulus plan," Cantor said. "Yesterday's vote was only the beginning of the process and House Republicans are committed to working with President Obama to find real economic solutions. We should not allow politics to destroy this process. Threats from unnamed White House sources undermine our national spirit of bipartisanship."

"In addition, President Obama should immediately disavow plans by some political groups who announced they will run attack ads against Republicans. Let us be clear: attack ads will not create jobs or help struggling families but will only serve to undermine our nation's desire for bipartisanship. Instead of thinking about winning at any cost, we should all be thinking about creating the jobs Americans need."


The "threat" Cantor is referring to is this reporting from Politico: "Pushing back against the unanimous House Republican vote against President Obama’s stimulus plan, the White House plans to release state-by-state job figures 'so we can put a number on what folks voted for an against,' an administration aide said."

They just keep spouting this Tax Cut nonsense, which we have seen does not work. It is what has gotten us into this mess we are in now. Pres. Obama had put in some of their ideas in the plan the house had put forward, yet it wasn't enough, they cried and whined and wanted more and more.

Well, they have just about shot themselves in the foot this time. I think maybe they have pushed it just a bit too far. But, who am I to say. We will see what happens when the bill comes back out of the senate.

Margaret & Helen take on Ann Coulter

Helen of Margaret & Helen decided to take one on the chin and read Ann Coulter's latest trash. Here is a portion of her take on the first chapter. That's all she has gotten down so far...lol

So I made some calls and found a copy of Ann Coulter’s new book at a used bookstore here in town. I was happy to know that my dollars would not go to support her, but I am a bit worried about a book that ended up in a used bookstore two weeks after it was published. Now Margaret told me she probably couldn’t find a Coulter book new, used or otherwise where she lives, so I told her to relax. I’ll read it and give her (and all of you) a summary here. Sort of a my version of the old Cliffs Notes concept. Do they still have those?

When I’m done anyone wanting the book can send me their address and we can mail it around until everyone has read it. That way no one has to actually buy it firsthand.

Anyway, here is the Hell ‘N Notes version of Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America by Ann Bigfoot Coulter
Chapter 1 - Liberal Motto: Speak Loudly and Carry a Small Victim

Now right off the bat I am a bit disappointed because Ann’s having a law degree led me to believe that she would be able to write intelligently. Apparently she can’t. I know they say that when you write for the masses you should strive for an 8th grade level vocabulary, but Ann must have lowered the standards a bit realizing she would be writing exclusively for an audience of right-wing conservatives. It appears she choose to write at an obedience school level. And even then she barely gets a passing grade in my book. Here is an example:

“Today there are more men who are sexually aroused by women in stiletto heels crushing live frogs to death while talking erotically to the frog than there are members of the Ku Klux Klan.”


As you can see, she has quite a funny take on it. But then they both have a funny take on life in general and Republicans especially...The post before this one was, Apparently Ann Coulters Feet Are As Big As An Emus. It was hilarious.

Here is another bit of her post today,

Now I know you think I am exaggerating or otherwise misrepresenting Ann’s words but honestly the woman really is an amazing yarn teller. She suggests the O.J. verdict is proof that racism doesn’t exist and Barack Obama was race-baiting when he referred to himself as black because he should have described himself as ”half white”.

Really. You can’t make this stuff up - unless you are Ann Coulter. My favorite part is when she claims “the poor” are actually counterfeit victims. That’s right folks - George Bush and Tom Delay can be victims but a poor person is either lying about being poor or deserves to be poor. Well I am glad Ms. Coulter has lots of money because when you are poor it is hard to afford designer shoes in a size 17ww. By the way, for some unknown reason Ann likes to put lots of individual words in quotations like “poor” and “racism” to suggest that those concepts really don’t exist. It’s an awkward writing style and kind of bothered me as a reader, but maybe Ann is just “smarter” than I am.


That sounds just like Ann Coulter. She has always seen herself as a victim, but not anyone else and she continues that thought in her book it seems like as Helen notes in her post, Ann says the only victims are
”George Bush, the duke Lacrosse players, Joe McCarthy, Jesse Helms, Tom Delay, the Swift Boat Veterans, and Sarah Palin.


But, check it out... they are great. Each of these ladies have such a unique way of putting things and even though they are not young they must be very young at heart. I love reading them. I am sure after reading a couple you will too.

The Republican's Plan...

Here is the Alternative plan the Republicans put forth last night. I tried to read it... it is not a clear and easy to read as the one the Dems put out. No, I am not just saying that... it is true.. There is too much.. part 2 of section 3 of sub section 14.

Just check it out yourself...I really am serious.. I like things to be in plain English so I can read it without having to decipher things.

Here is the link to Read the Stimulus.

Family Research Council's take on the Stimulus Plan and why it should not be passed..

This is purported to be a real email sent out by Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council asking their members to contact their representatives to vote against the stimulus plan. Note the different LIES in the message. From the easy ones, including number of pages, to the evil ACORN...lol yes, ACORN is back rearing its head..I have seen this for the last couple of days... Rushbo brought this up, I have been refuting it... Nowhere in this bill is ACORN mentioned..the answer I got from one person was...well they could be.. well so could I but I am not...geeze.

This is the intelligence we are fighting here. From the so called "smart people" who are supposed to be running our country. I think they are just a bunch of losers.. who are just really showing how ineffective they really are.



Email sent from Tony Perkins on behalf of the Family Research Council, January 27, 2009, entitled:

“Please contact your representative to vote against H.R.1, a stimulus bill full of earmarks and payback to liberal political cronies like ACORN and Planned Parenthood

Dear XXXXXXX,

Exactly what kind of stimulus did Speaker Nancy Pelosi have in mind? That’s a question more Americans should be asking now that details are trickling in about the controversial $825 billion ‘economic recovery’ package. $200 million for lawn care in Washington, D.C., $360 million to potentially be used to put on transsexual beauty pageants and erotic art shows. These are a few examples in the $825 BILLION (and counting!), over 1,588 page stimulus bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi argues this bill would stimulate the economy, however only 7 percent of the legislation actually goes towards infrastructure - the rest of the bill reads like a taxpayer funded payoff to groups that have supported liberal Democrats’ interests.
And what a pay off! ACORN, the long controversial group that purposefully tried to muck up last year’s elections to benefit the Democrats is being rewarded by Nancy Pelosi with potentially $4.19 BILLION in taxpayer funds. And more than 10 percent of the proposal-$87 billion-would be directed to groups like Planned Parenthood! The country’s recession is crippling families, and the Democrats’ solution is spending billions of dollars on contraception?
On the latest ‘This Week’ program on ABC, George Stephanopoulos pressed Speaker Pelosi for an explanation. She implied that making sure there are less children is a great way to stimulate the economy! Meanwhile she helped stop an amendment to the bill that would have protected parental rights!
Contact your Representative today to vote against H.R. 1, the so called ‘American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009′.
Thank you and God bless you
Stop Nancy Pelosi’s Taxpayer Funded Payoff Scheme
Sincerely,
Tony Perkins”

Most People Support Passage of Stimulus says Polls

This is just another indication that most people are smarter than the darn Republicans in Congress. They can't seem to get the idea we rejected their ideas and their ideals in the last elections. It wasn't just George Bush we were voting against it was all of the crap that got us into this mess in the first place. What do we need to do to get it through to them we don't want to do it their way any more.

This is another example that we are over the Republican way. Yes, Pres. Obama reached out to them, trying to get their support for his bill. Yes, Pres. Obama tried to bring them in so they wouldn't be completely left out in the dark, cold wilderness and look like a bunch of idiots wandering around. But they chose to reject it. Well, so be it. Let them reject away. As he told them the other day. "I Won!" Get over yourself, Republicans...go to the back of the room and sit down and shut up.

As President Barack Obama tries to win over reluctant Republicans on his economic stimulus plan, a slim majority of the American public wants to see Congress pass the roughly $800 billion package of new government spending and tax breaks. According to a Gallup Poll on Tuesday, 52 percent of the nation's adults favor congressional passage of plan and 37 percent are opposed, while 11 percent have no opinion.

A Diageo/Hotline poll conducted Jan. 21-24 put support for the stimulus plan at 54 percent to 34 percent even if it means increasing the federal deficit.

Lobbying for and against the bill has intensified in recent weeks.But despite all the focus on the plan, public opinion on the subject is virtually identical to where it stood three weeks ago. A Gallup Poll conducted Jan. 6-7 found 53 percent of Americans in favor of Congress passing a major economic stimulus program (then estimated at $775 billion) while 36 percent were opposed.

In the Diageo/Hotline poll, 27 percent said tax cuts for businesses to create jobs was the most important part of the stimulus plan, 17 percent cited spending on local governments and local school districts, 15 percent named spending on alternative energy technology and 14 percent said tax cuts for individuals.

Fifty-seven percent are confident the stimulus money will be spent wisely if the legislation is passed and 41 percent are not. Sixty-five percent are confident the package will be effective in stimulating the economy and 32 percent are not.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Support the Stimulus PLEASE

I am so angry right now I just don't know what to say. So, I think the best thing to do is let someone else do the talking for me. Here is what Bob Herbert had to say in the NY Times Op Ed Column the other day:

What’s up with the Republicans? Have they no sense that their policies have sent the country hurtling down the road to ruin? Are they so divorced from reality that in their delusionary state they honestly believe we need more of their tax cuts for the rich and their other forms of plutocratic irresponsibility, the very things that got us to this deplorable state?


Pretty well says it doesn't it?? Oh but he isn't done yet....lol He just keeps on.. Let's continue.

Maybe the Republicans don’t think there is an emergency. After all, it was Phil Gramm, John McCain’s economic guru, who told us last summer that the pain was all in our heads, that this was a “mental recession.”


Hmm do you get the idea he isn't very happy?? Like I said why should I vent when he says it better than anything I could do?? But, wait there is more.

The truth, of course, is that the country is hemorrhaging jobs and Americans are heading to the poorhouse by the millions. The stock markets and the value of the family home have collapsed, and there is virtual across-the-board agreement that the country is caught up in the worst economic disaster since at least World War II.

The Republican answer to this turmoil?

Tax cuts.

They need to go into rehab.

The question that I would like answered is why anyone listens to this crowd anymore. G.O.P. policies have been an absolute backbreaker for the middle class. (Forget the poor. Nobody talks about them anymore, not even the Democrats.) The G.O.P. has successfully engineered a wholesale redistribution of wealth to those already at the top of the income ladder and then, in a remarkable display of chutzpah, dared anyone to talk about class warfare.


To finish up, Mr. Herbert says this:

When the G.O.P. talks, nobody should listen. Republicans have argued, with the collaboration of much of the media, that they could radically cut taxes while simultaneously balancing the federal budget, when, in fact, big income-tax cuts inevitably lead to big budget deficits. We listened to the G.O.P. and what do we have now? A trillion-dollar-plus deficit and an economy in shambles.

This is the party that preached fiscal discipline and then cut taxes in time of war. This is the party that still wants to put the torch to Social Security and Medicare. This is a party that, given a choice between Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, would choose Ronald Reagan in a heartbeat.

Why is anyone still listening?


Like I said, I couldn't have said it better.. the only thing I could add is this... why is anyone listening? Why is Chris Matthews, or any of the people on MSNBC, CNN or any of the other channels putting any of these idiots on our TeeVees. I watched Dick Armey on with Chris Matthews tonight insult Joan Walsh because she dared question his Republican values, (as if he had any) and belittle her on national television. It was disgusting. But that is the Republican way.

You don't have anything substantive to say so you just throw out garbage. Just like the CBO report they all were running around quoting last week. And by all I mean all the republicans, all the media, ALL OF THEM. It started with Eric Cantor, then it was John Boehner, then the AP picked it up, then CNN, then MSNBC, FOX, all of them, started quoting from this CBO report on like the 20th, IT DID NOT EXIST. There was NO REPORT. But no one bothered to check.

Now, there is a report, they are now quoting the new and real report yet no one is calling out the false one that everyone quoted from before.

I could just go on and on with this... I am so angry... The republicans like to say they are the only patriotic ones, they are the ones who love our country, they are the ones who wave the flag, they are the ones who support our troops, yet they are the ones who are trying to stop this bill which does each of those things and then some. They refused to vote through the delay on the DTV transition, which would help a lot of elderly and fixed income people... because they have never cared about people who don't make a lot of money.

The Republicans have always been the wealthy and business party. And nothing has changed.

Again, I am asking you, no I am begging you... if you have a republican congress person or a repulican senator in your state or your area... write, call email do something to implore them to support this stimulus bill. Let them know how you feel.

I don't know.. maybe you don't support it. Maybe you think the country is doing fine. But, even if you are doing ok, look around... the rest of the country isn't.. your neighbor isn't.. and remember... we are our brother's keeper, we are our sister's keeper.

Check this video, then visit the web site.

A friend just sent this to me. It is one of the neatest things I have seen. Don't let the title throw you off... You might think it is something different...but listen to the video first...watch it all the way through... then go to the web site and see what it is all about.

It is worth the time and the trouble. Very, very cool.



Born Again American

What is CNN's Ed Henry's Agenda??

He is hammering Robert Gibbs in every press conference with questions about things that are very tough and partisan. He has questioned the motives several times of the Lynn nomination and now is questioning George Mitchell going to the Middle East stating he has some nefarious ties to a lobbying firm.

George Mitchell has never registered as a lobbyist, has never been a lobbyist and yet he still insists there is a violation of the ethics law President Obama signed last week.

In this video, you will see Ed and Lou Dobbs talking about the stimulus and on the January 23 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, White House correspondent Ed Henry referred to a "study" from the Congressional Budget Office that Henry claimed "showed" that President Obama's economic stimulus package "may not really stimulate the economy." Henry later asserted that the study "was suggesting that a lot of the spending proposals in the original plan would not really take effect for a couple of years, so it wouldn't clearly help create jobs in the first two years of the president's administration," a claim Republicans have promoted recently in opposing the plan. However, Henry provided no response from the CBO or the Democratic leadership. The rebuttal after the video.


In a January 22 letter, Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag -- who formerly headed the CBO -- refuted the Republican claim based on the purported study that most of the money would not be spent until after 2010. Orszag stated that the CBO "analysis, however, did not assess the overall package." He added: "Our analysis indicates that at least 75 percent of the overall package (including its tax component and the other spending provisions that were not analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office) will be spent over the next year and a half."

I stated before, I think Ed Henry has an agenda of his own and I think it is to lean far right and be a road block for the administration. This just seems to me like further proof of it. Maybe he should leave CNN and go to work for FOX...

Craig Crawford's take on the first 7 days.

Here is CQ Politics' Craig Crawford and his analysis of the first 7 days of President Barack Obama.

I love Craig's unique perspective on things. He always has quite a way to put things in simple ways...maybe it's that down home accent from Southern Virginia...The real Virginia we heard about.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Laugh of the Day...compliments of the NRCC

This is your laugh of the day...

UPDATE: THIS PAGE HAS CHANGED NOW. YESTERDAY IT WAS SHOWING A PAGE THAT STATED THEIR TAX POLICY AND HOW GREAT IT WAS FOR THE ECONOMY AND THAT IT HAD CREATED JOBS AND BEEN WONDERFUL FOR THE COUNTRY OVER THE LAST 8 YEARS. THAT THE ECONOMY WAS STRONG AND PEOPLE WERE PROSPERING UNDER REPUBLICAN RULE AND THINGS COULDN'T BE BETTER.

NOW IT IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. I GUESS THEY REALIZED THEY NEEDED TO CHANGE IT FINALLY....LOL


Check out this web page... NRCC Issues....Economy

They wonder why they lose elections and are faced with questions about relevancy.

I know this is short but just had to post this link so you all could look at this web site...lol

Pres. Obama and the Lobbying Problem

While much has been made about the so called violation of Pres. Obama's rules on lobbying, one thing that has not been given much of a write up in all that was the entire mess was the role Robert Gates played in the selection of William J. Lynn, as his second in command.

The truth of the matter is that Gates himself asked Pres. Obama to put Lynn in as his 2nd in the Defense Department and to get the waiver for the ethics in the lobbying rules. However, everyone is blaming Pres. Obama not Sec. Gates, and no one is telling the entire story.

According to a story in Inside GNSS dated January 24, 2009 they stated the following:
President Barack Obama's nomination of William J. Lynn III, a senior vice-president at Raytheon Corporation, for deputy secretary of defense and his granting Lynn a waiver from the new administration's own rules on former lobbyists has provoked considerable criticism from some quarters.

As the number two official in the Department of Defense (DoD), Lynn would report directly to Robert Gates, the current secretary of defense who has continued in that position in the new administration, the only holdover from ex-President Bush's cabinet. Gates has come out strongly in support of Lynn, saying that he requested the waiver from the president.


It further states that his duties as second in command among other duties he would also serve as the co-chair of the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Executive Committee (ExCom).

Sec. Gates made the decision to try to hire Lynn and his statement includes the following:

"People in the transition certainly recognized that it [Lynn’s Raytheon role] was an issue. And I interviewed Bill Lynn. I was very impressed with his credentials. He came with the highest recommendations of a number of people that I respect a lot. And I asked that an exception be made because I felt that he could play the role of a deputy — of the deputy — in a better manner than anybody else that I saw."

Gates has been “intimately involved” in the process of identifying and interviewing appropriate candidates for various vacancies throughout the department, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell.

Morrell added that, before Obama made his announcement, Gates has been busy working with the president-elect’s transition team to identify appropriate candidates for various vacancies throughout the department and interview them personally.

“I think he feels as though . . . we’ve made some good progress toward identifying some very capable candidates to fill some very big jobs within the department,” Morrell said.


Lynn is no stranger to government work...he has worked in the DoD before. Here is what the article said about his past history in the service of the country.

Lynn returns to the capital as no stranger to either DoD or Congress. From 1997 to 2001, Lynn served as one of five under secretaries of defense, acting as the department’s comptroller and principal advisor to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for all budgetary and fiscal matters.

Another significant DoD position held by Lynn was that of OSD director of program analysis and evaluation (PA&E) from 1993 to 1997, where he oversaw all aspects of the DoD’s strategic planning process.


Before entering the DoD in 1993, Lynn served for six years on the staff of Senator Edward Kennedy as liaison to the Senate Armed Services Committee. He has also been a Senior Fellow at the National Defense University, on the professional staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses and served as the executive director of the Defense Organization Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


It looks to me that the man is highly qualified for the position. I think it is just another example of everyone jumping on the band wagon of the screw up machine.

It is only one. If it is something that happens over and over, that's different. Yes, it is unfortunate that it happened right away, but again, this was NOT the President's choice, it was Robert Gates' choice for his second in command. Yet, the President is the one that is taking the heat for it, and no one is defending him.

It just seems like once again, the media is holding him to a far different standard than they ever held shrub and his staff. But, we expected that didn't we??

President Obama signs New Emissions Standards Executive Order

Pres. Obama addresses the economy and energy this morning in an effort to make us more energy efficient and help stop more job losses. We find today that another 35,000 jobs are going away in the next few months.

With the Repubs hollering tax cuts, which we have seen didn't work, and wanting the Dems to give in to them, the President says we have to get the stimulus passed soon. They just keep fussing about every little thing that is in the plan, saying it is just spending not creating jobs.

Well, laying sod on the Mall is spending yes, but someone has to lay that sod so isn't that creating jobs?? By adding to the COBRA benefits yes it is spending but it is also putting money in people's pockets, so in effect isn't that a form of tax cut?? That's how I look at it anyway. Maybe I am simple but, that's my opinion.

Anyway, that's what I see, and here is what else the president has to say on the energy plan he signed by E.O. this morning. He enacted the newer emissions standards, which will force China to improve their standards to ours on all the cars they send over here.

Listen to what he has to say. I could just listen to him talk all day...he always makes soooo much sense and talks so good...lol

One Word about the Inauguration by Emily Troutman

I found this at Crooks & Liars and had to share it. The artists name is Emily Troutman and she has a web site also. She also has a blog where you can find this video and her other writings. She choose 26 words and let people decide which they wanted.

The 26 words were: "Alive, Angry, Anxious, Awed, Believe, Curious, Dancer, Excited, Grateful, Happy, Hopeful, Human, Humble, Jealous, Joyful, Love, Obama, Patient, Proud, Ready, Scared, Skeptical, Tired, Together, Wonder, Worried."

There were people who chose every word there. Some children took the easy words, Obama, Love, Happy, and there were some who took Worried, Skeptical, and Scared. It is neat to see and watch the differences in the faces of the people and how they react to the inauguration of our President.


Sunday, January 25, 2009

United Nations Backs President Obama

President Obama has some pretty good support in getting Guantanamo closed. Not only does he have 16 former military officers behind him. Here is the statement from Human Rights First and a list of their names. He also has the support of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

The statement from them reads as follows:


United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has welcomed Thursday's decision by the new United States administration to close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, as well as the decision to ban methods of interrogation that contravene international law. Ms. Pillay also called for a review of the United States approach to detaining individuals abroad, in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the practice of ‘rendition,’ in order to ensure conformity with international law.

“I warmly welcome this decision,” Ms. Pillay said on 22 January. “The fact that President Obama has placed such a high priority on closing Guantanamo and set in motion a system to safeguard the fundamental rights of the detainees there is extremely encouraging. The United States has in the past been a staunch supporter of international human rights law, and this is one of the reasons that the regime that was established in Guantanamo has been viewed as so damaging.”

“Water-boarding and other forms of interrogation that may amount to torture, detention for prolonged periods without trial or proper judicial review, and what became known as ‘extraordinary rendition’ – these are all aberrations that should never have happened,” Ms. Pillay added.


The High Commissioner also welcomed the fact that President Obama’s Executive Order issued on Thursday sets a framework for regularizing the situation of the remaining detainees in Guantanamo.

“Those suspected of crimes are entitled to an expeditious and fair trial before the regular courts,” Ms. Pillay said. “Those who are considered innocent are entitled to their freedom without delay.”

The High Commissioner also raised the issue of compensation for those judged to be innocent. “It is hard to imagine what a devastating psychological effect their years in Guantanamo will have had on them and their families. For those who were innocent, or arbitrarily detained, there should be adequate recompense for the six or seven years of their lives that have been lost.”

Ms. Pillay called for a thorough investigation into allegations of torture at the Guantanamo centre. “Under international law, there is an absolute prohibition against torture, and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” she said. “There is no let-out clause. There must be accountability for those who have ordered such practices or carried them out, and victims should receive recompense.”

She also raised concerns about detention in locations outside the United States such as Afghanistan and Iraq. “There have been many disturbing questions about the legality of overseas centres such as the Bagram base in Afghanistan,” Ms. Pillay said. “These too need to be resolved quickly and satisfactorily, in order to re-establish full respect for human rights across the board. That said, I would like to salute President Obama for the extremely important step he has taken, and for doing it so swiftly upon taking up office. This is a good day for the rule of law.”


This is just another example of the rightness of his moves this week. The UN of Geneva has also offered their assistance in helping to sort out the prisoners who are in Guantanamo, and stand ready to lend their full support in resolving the legal and practical issues in getting the base closed.

This could go a long way to getting something done in finding places for the prisoners after all the sorting is done. Manfred Nowark, Special Rapporteur of Torture for the UN has spoken out several times against the US and in particular the Bush Administration for the treatment of the prisoners in the past and has applauded Pres. Obama for his actions this week and has vowed to help in any way he can.

There is quite a history between the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and Mr. Nowark and the United States. Since early 2002, a number of special procedures mandate holders have been engaged in a dialogue with the United States Government regarding the situation of detainees held in Guantanamo Bay. In June 2004, several groups within the UN joined together to put pressure on Bush & Co. to allow them to visit with the prisoners and to visit Guantanamo. They were denied.

Accordingly, on 25 June 2004, we sent a letter requesting to visit “those persons arrested, detained or tried on grounds of alleged terrorism or other violations, in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo Bay military base and elsewhere”. Subsequent reminders focusing on a visit to Guantanamo Bay were sent on 22 November 2004, 21 April 2005 and 31 May 2005 respectively.

By letters dated 9 November 2004 and 20 May 2005 and in a briefing with the US delegation to the Commission on Human Rights, held on 4 April 2005 in Geneva, the United States of America responded by saying that the request “continued to be the subject of intense review and consideration” and that it “has received serious attention and is being discussed at the highest levels of the U.S. Government”.

Finally, achieving no satisfaction they went public on June 23, 2005. It took until October to get some kind of answer from Bush & Co. However, the UN had the answers they needed. They had already spoken to prisoners who had been released who had been held with no charges ever being filed, people who should never have been picked up in the first place, young men and boys who were snatched off the streets for no reason other than they were in the wrong place.

On 26 and 28 October 2005, we had further meetings in New York City with US officials from the Defense and State Departments. At the second meeting, we were provided with the three letters of invitation and assurances that the US Government will continue its cooperation with the five independent experts involved in the joint study.

Even though they were promised a visit it was not without conditions and was only in certain areas. It was controlled, confined and they were only allowed to speak to the prisoners with the guards standing over them. They had requested to be allowed to speak to them without guards so they might find out what treatment they were receiving.

The experts – the Chairman Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Leila Zerrougui; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir; and the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt – have repeatedly requested, without success, that the Government of the United States allow them to interview Guantanamo detainees in private, according to the terms of reference applicable to all special procedures for their country visits.

After the visit to the base by these UN officials there had been an incident, which was released as a suicide. Three of the detainees (as they are called) managed to kill themselves while under guard, with the meager belongings they are given. Makes ones mind wonder. Here is a partial statement they released:

“The simultaneous suicide of three detainees in the Guantanamo military base on 10 June 2006 was to a certain extent foreseeable in light of the harsh and prolonged conditions of their detention, and reinforces the need for the urgent closure of the detention center”,
the five human rights experts of the United Nations in charge of following the situation of Guantánamo detainees said today.

On Countdown the other night, Keith Olbermann wondered in a segment he presented about one of the released detainees if by keeping these people in Guantanamo as Bush & Co. have if they are creating terrorists.



It does make you think. We (the royal we, as a Country) have been snatching some of these people off the streets, off the hillsides, out of their homes or just anywhere they happen to be, with no proof of any crimes or proof of any wrong doing at all in some cases and locking them up for years at a time. There is no trial, no hearing, nothing sometimes except pain, torture, psychological torture if no other by separating them from family, from everything they know and love, and locking them in a small cell open to the weather, allowing them only the bare essentials to live, and expecting them to like it.

All the while we are told, it is a wonderful place. It is clean, they have more than some of them have in their own country. Well, gee, let me put you there then. Take you away from your family, from everything you hold dear, even if it is more than you have, and see if you like it. I have heard this standard line from so many..about how wonderful Guantanamo is, but it is not their home.. what part of that do they not get.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

President Obama Weekly Address

Here is our new President's Weekly Address... He's got some good things to say. We all need to listen to it. We have the best team leading us I think. But it will take all of us to get there.



I think this last paragraph is the one that really touched me the most out of it. It is a challenge and a reach out to everyone. We must really start working together, with each other not against each other. I think that was for the members of Congress who this week seemed to want to pull up their pants and take their marbles and go home.

See what you think:
No one policy or program will solve the challenges we face right now, nor will this crisis recede in a short period of time. But if we act now and act boldly; if we start rewarding hard work and responsibility once more; if we act as citizens and not partisans and begin again the work of remaking America, then I have faith that we will emerge from this trying time even stronger and more prosperous than we were before. Thanks for listening.


So...what do you think?? Shall we keep him??

Friday, January 23, 2009

Politico Calls Foul on Pres. Obama, I call Foul on Them

I have said if Pres. Obama did something wrong I would be after him. So reading the headline on Politico.com and others about Pres. Obama being upset and angry about being asked questions I thought..hmm now we can't have that..

He said he would be open and transparent and if he is already starting to fuss with the media about questions then we are going to have a real problem. Here is the headline in question:
Obama flashes irritation in press room
So, I went to find the video. Well, the video on Politico is only like 48 seconds long and it really doesn't show anything, but from what I could see it didn't look like he was angry. or miffed or irritated.

So, I did a search to find another look. And I found one at MSNBC that is 5 minutes long. He comes into the press area of the White House, meets with the reporters, talks with them about Gibbs, his press secretary and the 1st presser and is just having a general chit chat.. Then Jonathon Martin asks him a question and the Pres. tells him no, I just came to say hi...not to answer questions...if we do this I won't come down to visit...this is informal...let's wait.. But Martin wants to push.. everyone else is telling him to stop..The Pres. pats him on the arm...is nice about it I think...and they go on their way..

So, why the headline?? Just to garner attention is my opinion. To try to make Pres. Obama look bad, maybe. I have thought several times that Jonathon Martin has done this. He is like David Gregory, Ed Henry and a few others in the media, I think he leans a little to the right. That's fine, I don't have a problem with you being that way, but do you have to let your bias show when you are trying to tell the world you are a member of the Main Stream Media?? If you are going to report fairly, you should at least be impartial.

At least that is my opinion. Maybe I am letting my favoritism show, but then I have never claimed to be impartial. So, I think I can do that. But if you claim to be an independent or impartial reporter you shouldn't let your bias show.

Watch the video, see what you think....

There's a New Sheriff In Town!!!!

I keep hearing and reading two things regarding Pres. Obama closing Guantanamo Prison Camp. Number 1, that we need somewhere off the mainland of the US that we can keep these really terrible people so we can use the "enhanced" interrogation techniques so we can get all the information we need from them and can stop any future attacks. To which I call, bull... we don't need torture to make these guys talk. Besides torture doesn't always work, and the information you get is not reliable.

Then you get the ones who say well what about the smoking gun type scenario. I say, watch this video. Because this guy can explain it much better than I ever can. I have posted on him before. This is his appearance from December on Keith Olbermann. But you can tell Matthew Alexander, (not his real name) knows his stuff. My other posts can be accessed by looking back in the list to the left. He has written a book about it and has written an Op-Ed in the Washington Post. So, watch this and see what you think. Then we will talk about the Number 2 reason.



There is also this part of it..where there is parts of the media now saying that there is an opening for the CIA to still use harsh techniques...well I say no there isn't and not so fast. Here is David Shuster from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with his take on it and his guest to talk about it.



Now, Number 2 reason mostly the right is giving for NOT closing Guantanamo is there is no where to put the people who are there, because you can't just let them go. If you just let them go they are just going to come back and fight and kill you all over again. Well again I say Bull...but lets look at it with an expert in these things. I sure am no expert...This also looks at the issue of torture again. This mans name is Professor Mark Denbeaux, of Seton Hall Law School Center for Policy and Research, and he is representing 2 of the prisoners at Guantanamo. But he has done his research about the prisoners.



To just simply say to release them would be to allow them to return to the "battlefield" and allow them to start killing all over again is to assume they were killing in the first place. So many of these people were innocent and should never have been picked up. Some of these people were children when they were grabbed off the streets, off the pastures tending sheep, out of their homes and some just disappeared from where ever they were found.

Their families have no idea if they are dead or alive.


Their story may be the strangest one you'll hear out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Even after being cleared of any wrongdoing, five innocent men were kept captive at the detention center at Guantanamo. Today, these men who started out in China and ended up in Cuba are now free and in the Eastern European country of Albania, the only country that would take them. They spoke to the ABC News Law & Justice Unit in their first American interview.


'In The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time'
Many of Guantanamo's prisoners proclaim they're innocent. What's different about these men, Muslims from China's Uighur minority, is that even American authorities said they were innocent, referring to them as "no longer enemy combatants" or "NLEC." Nevertheless, they remained imprisoned more than a year after their names were cleared -- after the U.S. government determined they did nothing wrong and posed no terrorist threat to America or Americans.

Why were they kept at Guantanamo so long after they were deemed innocent? Simply put, no country -- including the United States -- would accept them. They couldn't go back to China because they believed, as did the American government, that as Uighur Muslims they faced persecution by the Chinese government. With nowhere else to turn, they were taken in by Albania, a country with a Muslim majority.

Even as they struggle to find a place to call home, they are working to move past the ordeal of incarceration.

"We were isolated from the rest of the world," said Abu Bakkir Qassim, speaking through a translator.

Speaking for the group, he told ABC News: "We spent a pointless four-and-a-half years in Guantanamo."

In December 2005, a U.S. federal judge said of the men's detainment, "This indefinite imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay is unlawful."

Michael Sternell, a lawyer who represents three of the men on behalf of law firm Kramer, Levin, Naftalis and Frankel told ABC News, "These men have suffered more than anyone should ever have to in a lifetime in just the last four-and-a-half years. They were detained simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."


This is just one story of many.

The prisoners come from more than 40 countries, and include more than 50 Pakistanis, about 150 Saudis and three teenagers under 16, a majority of them captured in Afghanistan,


That alone should be a crime. How can anyone hold a child in conditions like they describe in Guantanamo.

After everything we have heard so far from the wiretaps, torture, to the other things that just keep being exposed, now the Pentagon comes out and says they don't agree with this, well I say sorry, you have NO credibility with me. You are really part of the problem here. Your side lost, that is why you are being replaced with new people, so sit down, shut up and let the big boys take over.

There's a new sheriff in town...and he is cleaning house.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Change of pace for this post...update on Katrina

Yesterday while I was out, I bought a USAToday paper. Mostly I bought it because of the picture on the front and the headline:

Dawn of 'a new era'


Well worth the dollar with a picture of our new president and first lady walking down Pennsylvania Avenue waving at the people lined up in the cold to see them. How exciting for everyone to actually see them walking.

But, I want to talk about something else. I turned inside to read the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey always says and on page 3A just above the fold there was a story that caught my eye.

43 Katrina victims still a mystery


You can also find it online. But in seeing that headline I was struck by the fact that here we are over 3 years from Katrina, and the man who just vacated 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. was so adament about how the federal government handled Katrina.

Remember his statement the other day... how forceful he was..how we all were just in shock that he could be so deluded about the real facts.

Well, here is some of the proof.
Here, in these mausoleums, are 43 bodies of unidentified victims — people whose fingerprints, dental records and DNA were not enough to shed light on who they were. Three-and-a-half years after the torrential floods killed 1,500 people across the Gulf Coast and put 80% of New Orleans under water, workers in the city's forensic center are still trying to close the book on Katrina's final chapter.


Chilling isn't it? To think there are still these victims waiting on someone to claim them, still people working trying to find out who they were, that they care enough to give the time and the effort even though this:

By summer 2006, however, the federal teams had pulled out of the effort, funding had dried up and the DNA analysts were going home. The bells and air horns had slowed from a few each day to one every other week, McGill said. It was getting harder to identify victims, even as more were being discovered around the city.


So, tell me again former occupent of 1600, how well was the federal response to Katrina?? How did that "Heck of a job, Brownie" work for you?? Because I sure don't think it has worked for me. And I don't believe it has worked for a lot of others either.

I was struck by this item in here...by the scope and magnitude of this and by the dedication of these people. I commend them for doing their job, for sticking with it through it all. They truly are the unsung heroes here.

"We haven't given up," says Julia Powers, a forensic investigator leading the effort. "That's the goal: to have everyone identified."

Hurricane Katrina sparked one of the largest and most complicated forensic efforts in U.S. history. Unlike the terrorist attacks of 9/11, where victims generally died at work, Katrina wiped out hospitals, homes, dental offices — and their records. That's made it hard to match DNA samples, said Dr. Louis Cataldie, who was appointed lead medical examiner after the storm.

"I was a coroner for 10 years, and I'd never seen anything like that," Cataldie said. "Nothing prepared you for what we saw during Katrina."

Shortly after Katrina barreled ashore on Aug. 29, 2005, state officials in Baton Rouge created a team to process the torrent of bodies being brought in from across the state, mostly from New Orleans. All together, more than 900 bodies were discovered in and around New Orleans, said Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard, who helped with the effort.

Headed by Cataldie, the team also included members of the FBI, dentists, DNA experts and members of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT), a federally-funded group that identifies disaster victims.


Counselors were brought in to help the forensic teams. "That was a life-changing event for me," Minyard, 72, said. "I lost a lot of joy in my heart."

The team made progress. By December 2005, only 220 bodies remained anonymous. A team of DNA analysts set up shop in another Baton Rouge warehouse, sifting through the DNA samples and comparing them to a growing database of reported missing persons, said Kelly McGill, a forensic scientist from Kansas who worked with the team.

Each time a missing person was found alive, a bell would ring in the warehouse, she said. An air horn signaled each time a body was identified. Either sound drew an eruption of applause and cheers from the scientists, she said.

"I felt grateful," she said. "I know I was doing what I could to help."


These people really need to be respected for doing a great job, and a terrible job. To have to deal with the horrific remains they had to, some of the remains were in water for days and weeks. Some were unable to be identified by any normal means. Yet, they have worked tirelessly for over 3 years to try to identify everyone of these people.

How dedicated and loyal are these people to their fellow citizens of New Orleans and of Louisana.

Julia Powers, gave up her job in New Mexico to stay with it because she just couldn't walk away.
Powers, a volunteer member of DMORT, asked her boss at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque for more time to keep identifying bodies. When she was refused, Powers, 47, quit her job as a researcher and moved to New Orleans. Now employed by the Orleans Parish coroner's office, she helped whittle the number of unidentified victims from 200 to 80 to 43, mostly by talking with families, running down leads and gumshoe investigating.


As I said, this is another part of the legacy of the former occupent of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I am sure as time goes on we will be seeing more and more of these kinds of things.

I am so thankful that we now have someone in the White House who can help set these things right. Here is the statement from the White House web site pretaining to Katrina:
Katrina
President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.

President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina. Citing the Bush Administration's "unconscionable ineptitude" in responding to Hurricane Katrina, then-Senator Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims. Obama visited thousands of Hurricane survivors in the Houston Convention Center and later took three more trips to the region. He worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to introduce legislation to address the immediate income, employment, business, and housing needs of Gulf Coast communities.

President Barack Obama will partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever.


It looks like they will finally have the help they need to rebuild and get back to where they were.

Thank goodness, we finally have a grown up in the White House. Isn't it wonderful!!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Promise # 2 Kept

UPDATE HE IS NOT ONLY CLOSING GITMO, HE IS CLOSING ALL CIA SECRET PRISONS AROUND THE WORLD.
AWESOME


AGAIN I SAY WELL DONE MR PRESIDENT, WELL DONE


Promise # 2 Kept.... GitMo will be closed within a year....AP says in a breaking news alert this evening.

"In view of the significant concerns raised by these detentions, both within the United States and internationally, prompt and appropriate disposition of the individuals currently detained at Guantanamo and closure of the facility would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice," the draft order said.


This was something Pres. Obama had stated he would do and there was a lot of naysayers recently thinking he was now backing out on his promise. Here is what Glenn Greenwald had to say on Jan. 11, 2009 in his blog on Salon.com about Pres. Obama signing an Executive Order to close GitMo right away.

I've been saying since the election that it makes little sense to try to guess what Obama is going to do until he actually does it. That's especially true now, since we'll all have the actual evidence very shortly, and trying to speculate by divining the predictive meaning of his appointments or prior statements seems fruitless. Moreover, anonymous reports about what Obama is "likely" to do are particularly unreliable. I still believe that, but Obama's interview today with George Stephanopoulos provides the most compelling -- and most alarming -- evidence yet that all of the "centrist" and "post-partisan" chatter from Obama's supporters will mean what it typically means: devotion, first and foremost, to perpetuating rather than challenging how the Washington establishment functions.

As Talk Left's Jeralyn Merritt documents, Obama today rather clearly stated that he will not close Guantanamo in the first 100 days of his presidency.


He never stated he would close the doors in the first 100 days...he just stated he would close it. Well the order will be signed tomorrow. That's his 2nd full day in office. Not too shabby if you ask me. But I don't guess Mr. Greenwald would ask anyone like me. He is too important I am sure.

Some of these people just like to complain. Even after this has been done, there are still people complaining about this. Instead of celebrating that he is keeping his promise to close this mistake from the Bush error, they are now complaining it is going to take too long and it should be done in no more than a week.

I just say...Well done Mr. President, Well Done...

Mission Accomplished


Another picture I found...but I didn't want to add it to the others.. This one is special. But it is a very good one. No other words needed.

Simply Amazing....

2,000,000 plus people, 6 hours waiting in line, freezing temperatures. Unable to get to the areas they were assigned to. Stuck with no way to drive due to the bridges closed.

NOT ONE ARREST!!!!

SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!

Our Commander In Chief, with the Vice President & their wives.




There are so many pictures and videos of yesterday that I could post, but anything to do with the military or the veterans is very close to my heart. So I am posting these pictures because of my dad. Also for my uncle who is still with me. We were talking about this today and I was telling him about it and he was so proud of OUR president for this. I know my dad is looking down and is nodding his head and saying well done Mr, President, Well done.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

See the Rides of Pres. Obama

Here is Pres. Obama's other new ride, Air Force One...It will be featured on the National Geographic Channel this Sunday Night. Right after it will be a special on Marine One, the helicopter presidents use.



The link featured here is a video of then Pres. Elect Obama's trip from Chicago to Washington D.C. and is his first trip on Air Force One and meeting his pilot. When a new president is elected the pilot steps down and a new one is moved up.

Be sure to check National Geographic to see when it is on Sunday and watch and learn all about the other rides besides the "Beast" limo that Pres. Obama is riding in. Some of the trivia concerning Air Force One.

Fifty years after its debut, Air Force One is still flying high.

Air Force One’s inaugural flight took place on January 11, 1959, and the first model was a Boeing 707-320B airliner.
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy selected the color scheme for Air Force One’s signature paint job.
Lyndon Johnson took the the presidential oath of office aboard Air Force One on the tarmac in Dallas following John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963.
First Lady Nancy Reagan designed the interior of the current Air Force One, styling it in a Desert Southwest motif.
The current Air Force One flew its first presidential mission on September 6, 1990, flying President George H.W. Bush first to Kansas, then to Florida, and finally back to Washington, D.C.
The Air Force operates two identical planes that are used to carry the President. Neither aircraft can be called “Air Force One” until the President steps aboard. The second plane, which carries the Vice President, is referred to as “Air Force Two.”
During presidential tours, the Air Force One is accompanied by at least two C-5 Galaxy aircrafts carrying cargo that includes a bulletproof limousine; a top-of-the-line ambulance; at least one backup limo, often with many more for use as decoys; and occasionally even the President’s personal helicopter, Marine One.
Many of the more outlandish gizmos featured in Hollywood films owe more to artistic license than to airborne fact. For example, unlike in the film Air Force One, the real thing has no super-secret escape pod. It isn’t equipped with parachutes, either -- the massive slipstream created by an aircraft of its size makes them impossible to use.
When he left office, President Ronald Reagan stated that he hoped one day to be able to share Air Force One with the American people. In 2005, his wish was granted. Visitors to the Reagan Library are able to board the Air Force One that served as the “Flying White House” for President Reagan and six other U.S. presidents from 1973-2001.


So there you have a little trivia...some useless information about Air Force One. Much more to be learned at the web site... you can see the air plane...explore it a little and look at different places on it and learn a little more about it.

There is much more to be learned. Yet there is much that is still secret about it too. But that's ok. We don't need to know everything, some things need to be kept secret for safety's sake.

A NEW DAY

I have to post this once again...even though will.i.am did this for the election, I don't think he would mind my doing it again. It just feels right somehow to have it again now.

It does feel right...because as so many have said...after 8 long years it just feels like a NEW DAY!!!

Promise Kept

One of the things President Obama promised he would do as soon as he took office was review the Executive Orders and Rules that Former (that sounds so good) pres. Bush signed before he left office. If he didn't think they were sound practices or in good stead he would overturn them.

Well, PROMISE KEPT. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel did not attend the parade today so that he could issue the executive memo to all staff of the former and current administration to subject all pending legislation that Bush had signed for review.

Anything that is signed by President Obama after January 20, 2009 12:01pm is fine.

Like I said...PROMISE KEPT!!!

President Obama's Speech

Here is the text of President Obama's speech. I love typing that, saying that, seeing that. How cool...President Obama...President Obama....WOW!!!!




My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.


This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.


As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence— the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.


From: MSNBC