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Grading on a Curve

by Bill O'Connell on December 15, 2009

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Yesterday in an interview with Oprah Winfrey for her Christmas special, President Obama magnanimously gave himself a grade of a “solid B+” on his first eleven months in office. Now that’s grading on a curve! I once had a very good professor who opened the first class with his philosophy of grading. He said:

“I don’t believe in grading on a curve. I don’t subscribe to the theory that if everyone learns nothing, you all get A’s”

Amen, brother. Now if you revisit President Obama’s statement, he must have really, really done badly, because grading his class of one student, he couldn’t even pull that “A”. Let’s look at his achievements:

A stimulus plan promised to hold the unemployment rate to 8%, and if not passed the unemployment rate would rise to 9%. His team must have really screwed up that project because it caused the unemployment rate to rise 1.2% above the “do nothing” scenario, and we are $787 billion poorer to boot.
Cap and Trade — the Climategate scandal gives credence to the hypothesis that pro cap and trade scientists were cooking the books to manufacture conclusions that supported their political agenda. Rather than backing away from it as it if were a skunk at a garden party. President Obama is embracing it and pushing forward.
Health Care — President Obama is trying to have the federal government take over 1/6 of the U.S. economy, because in doing so they will lower costs and make sure everyone is covered. Sensible market based ideas such as: tort reform, patient control over how patients money is spent, insurance available across state lines, etc., need not apply. How likely is this to work? (see bullet #1 above). Because this hasn’t passed yet was one of the only reasons Obama didn’t give himself an “A”.
Continuing to blame President Bush for his shortcomings sounds a lot like “my dog ate my homework,”
Agreeing to try the 9/11 suspects in civilian court rather than in a military tribunal. Although President Obama says they are guilty and will be executed (can you say mistrial?) how many of us are looking forward to a replay of the O.J. Simpson trial with the acquittal included?
Meanwhile, Black Panther’s who stood outside a Philadelphia polling place brandishing clubs have their case dropped by the Obama administration, even though there was a default judgment against the men for not showing up in court to face the charges. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!
Yes, they’re Fat Cats but their MY Fat Cats: After blasting bankers for being Fat Cats, why does Obama have so many Goldman Sachs alumni in his administration? Mark Patterson, former Goldman lobbyist, Treasury Secretary Geithner’s chief of staff; Reuben Jeffrey III, undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs; Neel Kaskari, assistant secretary of the treasury for financial stability, administering the TARP funds; Dianna Farrell, deputy director of National Economic Council.
In the midst of all this mayhem, he finds time to go pitch Chicago for the 2016 Olympics.
He is piling so much debt upon our children and grandchildren that they will probably have to work 3/4 of the year, just to pay their taxes.

How Bad is Bad?

What kind of calamity would we have to be in for Obama to give himself a “C” let alone an “F”? So we know where Obama’s ego is, and it is doing well, thank you very much. But the American people have their own report card and it shows that support for Obama has been on a downward straight line since his inauguration with his approval rating now in the mid to upper 40s, the lowest level in history for a president at the same point in his tenure.

Such a disconnect between Obama’s opinion of himself and the American people’s opinion is a serious problem. It drives him to continue to pursue policies that Americans adamantly oppose (e.g., 61% oppose the Senate health care bill). Most reasonable people would take such feedback and reassess their actions. But if an employee is blind to his shortcomings, the only thing to do is show them the door. The sooner, the better, folks because it’s not going to get any better.

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Does Obama Make Decisions About Anything?

by Bill O'Connell on November 16, 2009

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Reading one of the liberal pundit’s pan of Sarah Palin’s new book and how the reviewer harps on her inexperience, anyone with a room temperature IQ cannot help but ask, what about the guy who won? You can say she had little executive experience, only two years as governor of Alaska and two terms as mayor of 7,000 resident Wasilla. But while one may argue she had little executive experience, he had none. For that matter, neither did McCain or Biden. Legislative experience? Sure. Executive experience? No, and it shows.

Decisions, Decisions

What has he actually made a decision on? The economy? The porkulus package that is “saving” so many jobs, was put together by Pelosi. It was as if she brought it to him and said, “Here, sign,” and he did. Health care? He talked a great deal about it, but five or more proposals sprouted from different committees and like a demolition derby, banged around until there was one left, dented, but still moving.

Guantanamo? Iraq? Afghanistan? A decision, no, no, no, we need to ponder and confer more. Despite putting the commander, McChrystal, in place, Obama can’t seem to agree or disagree with his recommendation. And now, the granddaddy of them all, trying the 9/11 terrorists in New York.

Who’s the Boss?

This is what Barack Obama said:

“‘This is a prosecutorial decision as well as a national security decision.”

Er, no. This is a decision for the Commander in Chief. Don’t slough it off on some underling, no matter how lofty his title, so that at some future date you can put the blame on him. As Harry Truman (D) said, “The buck stops here.” It’s time, Mr. President, to step in, assert your constitutional authority and put a stop to this. The military tribunals were set up and authorized by Congress for just this purpose. It’s time to do the right thing. You took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to bow to your left wing base.

After 9/11, President Bush kept us safe for seven and half years. Less than a year into your presidency, we have had the worst terrorist attack on our soil since then. This was preventable. But we are already starting down the slippery slope of liberal happy talk and putting all Americans in harm’s way. Consider this, if the jihadists had their way and actually defeated us and took over, the first place they would go to slaughter the devils would be Hollywood. If you don’t want to protect America because it’s what you took an oath to do, then do it to save your Hollywood friends from themselves.

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Honduras: Does Obama Stand for Democracy?

by Bill O'Connell on July 13, 2009

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It now appears that both sides in the Honduran standoff are waiting on the United States to weigh in. Despite those on the left (Chavez, Castro) continuing to push for less involvement by the U.S. in Central and South America so they can step into the void, they are now calling on the United States to take a stand, on their respective sides, of course. Chavez had this to say:

“Do something,” Mr. Chávez had said to reporters. “Obama, do something.” – NY Times, July 12, 2009

Hillary Clinton has joined with Castro and Chavez in calling for the return to power of Manuel Zalaya. But as Mary Anastasia O’Grady reports in today’s Wall Street Journal:

“If there is anything debatable about the crisis it is the question of whether the government can defend the expulsion of the president. In fact it had good reasons for that move and they are worth Mrs. Clinton’s attention if she is interested in defending democracy.”

There’s the rub, if she’s interested. It seems that the Obama administration has an aversion to democracy, once they get in office. When polls in the U.S. show that 68% of the people believe a second stimulus is coming while 60% oppose a second stimulus, that tells you something about their feelings about democracy. Their silence on Iran and their speaking out on Zalaya’s behalf, reinforces that belief. The Obama administration’s goal is to get power, and do whatever they can as quickly as they can to consolidate it. It seems like a page out of any tin pot dictator’s playbook. Chavez could have written it himself.

Now the Obama administration has gone silent on the situation in Honduras. Will they find their voice? Will it be the voice of our Founding Fathers, or Che, Hugo, and Fidel?

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Congressional Arrogance

by Bill O'Connell on July 11, 2009

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A Rasmussen poll 68% Say 2nd Stimulus is Likely, makes stark just how committed the statist majority of Congress is to reshaping America in their image and derisively dismissing the will of the people. 68% of those polled say a second stimulus is likely while at the same time 60% of the American people are opposed to a second stimulus while only 27% are in favor. Let that sink in for a moment before I play it again, 68% of the American people believe that Congress will ram down their throats what only 27% are in favor of. Is this a government for the people? By the people? It sounds more like Iran and their recent presidential “elections”.

In Iran, hundreds of thousands took to the street while their government responded by beating and shooting them. In America, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in Tea Parties, and thankfully the government hasn’t responded by beating and shooting us, but ignoring the will of the people just the same.

Promises, Promises

President Obama promised open- ness and transparency in his administration. During the campaign his website had the following statement:

“Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them,” the campaign website states. “As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.”

Well, true to Obama’s form, there is always an escape clause, in this case, “non-emergency.” So just declare every bill an emergency and the promise remains unbroken. But what is an emergency?

The stimulus was pitched as an emergency and it was rushed through Congress getting passed on a Friday. However despite all the urgency, President Obama did not sign it on Friday night, nor Saturday, nor Sunday, nor Monday as it was a holiday, but on Tuesday when a true media event surrounding the signing ceremony could be orchestrated. So despite the conflict surrounding “hurry up and wait” why couldn’t the American people get a look at the bill during those five days?

So what’s the track record? The Sunlight Foundation had this to say back in April:

“Of the eleven bills, only one (The DTV Delay Act) could be somewhat considered to have fulfilled the five day pledge. This could only be somewhat considered because it was posted just prior to being presented to the President, which is a slightly minor point.”

Did You Read It?

These massive spending bills (Stimulus, Cap and Trade, Health Care, TARP) are getting passed by Congress and if you ask Democrats or members of the administration if they actually read the bill they either laugh or bristle with indignation. Carol Browner Thinks It’s Unfair to Say She Hasn’t Read the Energy Bill

So it seems like this Congress and this Administration is resolute in urgently slamming through every government enlarging and power consolidating program that they can in the least amount of time before the next election cycle. What the American people want is immaterial if the political class can strengthen their grip on the government such that future Congresses and administrations will find it hard to undue.

Furthermore if they can get enough illegals, dead people, homeless, criminals who have lost the right to vote, registered or counted in the census so that they can enlarge their favorite Congressional districts, or fix elections then they can stay in office. When they lose a close election they know how to immediately dispatch teams of lawyers to invalidate ballots of their opponents and count more of their own that were “missed”. They perfected this technique in Washington state, and repeated it in Minnesota, where Republicans won both closely contested elections, but Democrats repeatedly demanded recounts until their candidate was ahead and then, with a straight face said, “enough recounts the people deserve to have this resolved.”

Pay Attention People

If more people don’t start paying attention, the greatest country in the history of the world, the United States of America, will become a nostalgic footnote. Already Communist China is building a more capitalistic economy than we have, while we try to move toward the old, failed socialist model. If we are not more careful, we will wake up some day and wonder how we became more like Venezuela, and feel a little bit………foolish?

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Can We Recover Our Money?

by Bill O'Connell on July 9, 2009

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$18 Million for This?

$18 million folks, that’s how much the federal government is going to spend to improve the web site that tells us how they are spending the stimulus money. $18 million. They will be spending $9.5 through January, and another $8.5 million through 2014. I don’t need a calendar nor a calculator to figure out that’s five years from now. Are they trying to tell us now that this recession is going to last five years?

Stagnant Stimulus

If we remember President Obama and Vice President Biden telling us how urgently we needed the stimulus package and that there was no time to waste to avert a catastrophe. Right now the unemployment rate with the stimulus is higher than they told us it would be if they did NOTHING.

Less than 10% of the stimulus money has been spent with most of it being transfers to state and local government. The economy is showing signs of turning around on its own, and I say that because with such a small percentage of the stimulus having been spent it contributed little to the improving conditions. So naturally, the political class is starting to talk about another stimulus package. You would almost think that they wanted to drag this out.

Reminiscent of Roosevelt

Through the Great Depression, the steps that Roosevelt took didn’t turn the economy around. Unemployment remained high until World War II absorbed every able bodied man into the armed forces. Yet Roosevelt was elected to four terms in office. Why? The first three terms were through the Depression. Although Roosevelt’s policies didn’t work, he knew how to communicate on a personal level. He held “fireside chats.” He, through the radio, came into people’s living rooms and soothingly assured them that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Trust Roosevelt, he will take care of us, he will see us through.

President Obama’s personal approval ratings continue to fly high, even as the wreckage of almost every campaign promise is strewn around the countryside. He is certainly likable and his election is historic, but will that be enough to carry him as his inexperience is laid bare at every turn. But, as the former governor of New York and Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt had executive experience. Obama brought no executive experience with him.

Czars Aplenty

So who is running the government? Obama had 16-18 Czars, depending on who is counting, who are not vetted by the Senate like Cabinet Secretaries and a host of other appointees are. So where are the checks and balances? Even Robert Byrd is concerned that the may be violating the Constitution. If this weren’t so serious, you would think it was a pilot for a sitcom. What aspect of this administration is not out of control? Let’s hope we can all survive long enough to make it back to the voting booth.

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New Economic Data In – $787 Billion Wasted

by Bill O'Connell on June 26, 2009

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Money for Nothing

The Commerce Department released the second revision to first quarter GDP and it is the second time it was revised upward. Originally it was reported that GDP fell by 6.1%, not much different that the fourth quarter’s 6.3%. Subsequently it was first revised to 5.7% and the last report pegs it at 5.5%. So what does this mean?

The Economy Bottomed in 4Q08

These figures point to the economy hitting bottom in the fourth quarter of 2008, which means the economy was already on the mend before President Obama took office. Since President Obama didn’t take the oath of office until 2/3 of the way through January, and rushing through the stimulus package that nobody read took until the mid-point of the first quarter, the economy improved without any help from the new president.

Medicine or Poison?

With the massive government spending that the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress is heaping on us, the other economic data bears watching. The inflation rate nearly doubled to 1.6% in the first quarter from 0.9% in the fourth quarter. The unprecedented borrowing that the government is undertaking will drive up interest rates and inflation and may likely kill the recovery. Again, since the Obama effect has not yet kicked in, we haven’t seen anything yet.

Today, the House of Representatives is poised to pass the most massive tax increase in history with Cap and Trade. Energy costs will skyrocket so that global temperatures will be curtailed by 0.2 degrees Celsius over the next 100 years. I’m feeling better already.

Money Down the Drain

$787 billion is being spent to stimulate an economy that is recovering on its own, spread pork across the land, and saddle us with unnecessary debt. That works out to $2,300 for every man, woman, and child in America. Add in health care at $1 trillion to $1.6 trillion ($4,700 per man, woman, and child), Cap and Trade that will double the cost of gasoline, heating your home, cooking your food, etc. When will this stop? If you still believe that no couples making under $250,000 will see any increases in their taxes, snap out of it! We do not have enough rich people in this country to cover the bill even if we tax them at 100%.

At the state level we are already seeing the mobility of the wealthy. Maryland slapped a new tax on the rich and then discovered that 1/3 of the rich moved out of the state of Maryland. So you say, “What are the rich going to do? Move out of America?” While you giggle over that one, ask yourself this. Why did the Beatles all move to America? If you don’t know the answer to that one go read the lyrics to their song, The Taxman. It was to avoid the crushing tax burden in the U.K. Don’t think that trend can’t reverse itself.

I’ll see you at the next Tea Party.

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Another Day, Another Campaign Promise Broken

by Bill O'Connell on June 22, 2009

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On the campaign trail, Barack Obama promised that his administration would usher in a new era of open government. One of those pledges included posting legislative bills on the Internet for five days before he would sign them so that the public could read them and comment. Like so many of his other promises he is finding that putting it into action is

“…a tacit acknowledgment that the campaign pledge was easier to make than to fulfill…”

He also pledged to have no lobbyists in his administration until he found he would have no one in his administration. He pledged to have open and honest government and then he fires an Inspector General who was looking too closely at a friend and campaign contributor. It seems like half of his cabinet appointees had problems paying their taxes.

Is there a campaign pledge that he has actually kept, unmodified?

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Obama Irony

by Bill O'Connell on May 22, 2009

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“I stand here today as someone whose life was made possible by these documents.” — Barack Obama

Barack Obama said those words at the National Archives, as he stood before the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He was there to defend his position on the War on Terrorism, or should I say, the Overseas Contingency Operation.

The irony is that as the child of a single mother, he probably owes his life to the fact that he was born before a slim 5-4 majority of Supreme Court justices found a non-existent Constitutional right to abortion in those documents behind him, in the Roe v. Wade decision.

“This child’s future is a broken home. He will be abandoned by his father. His single mother will struggle to raise him. Despite the hardships he will endure this child will become the 1st African-American President.” — pro-life commercial profiling Barack Obama

The most pro-abortion President in history probably most owes his life to the fact that he wasn’t born after 1973.

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Budget Buffoonery

by Bill O'Connell on May 16, 2009

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It seems like a bad dream. The man who is spending like there is no tomorrow, lecturing us on how we are spending too much money.

President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

Is this a joke? I keep waiting for President Obama to burst out laughing and say, “April Fool’s” but it’s well past April.

Two weeks ago Obama announced his budget and proposed $17 billion in spending cuts. Let’s be generous and say he can deliver on that. Big deal! Twenty-five years ago, in 1984 President Reagan received a report from the Grace Commission, whom he charged with the task of finding areas of the federal government to cut costs. The Grace Commission, led by Peter Grace, came up with $424 billion in savings in three years and $1.9 trillion in savings by 2000. Let those numbers sink in for a moment. In 1984, with a far smaller federal government, the Grace Commission was able find twenty-five TIMES as much savings as President Obama can find in his behemoth budget. Unfortunately, the Democrats controlled Congress and therefore the purse strings, and scoffed at most of what the Grace Commission proposed. Why? Less government means less power, and the statists are all about power.

Let me make a modest suggestion. President Obama, dust off the Grace Commission Report and give it a read. You might find some gems in there that are worth more than a paltry $17 billion in savings.

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The Drumbeat of Inexperience Continues

by Bill O'Connell on May 16, 2009

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Paying the Bill

Elected by the drumbeat of bashing Bush, President Obama now faces reality, and the American people see example after example of Obama’s lack of experience. He campaigned on how he was going to change the Bush Policies, and where are we?

One of his first acts in office was an Executive Order to close Guantanamo. Now, he doesn’t have a plan to make it happen and is saying exactly what Bush said, that there is not clear alternative. Going further, he is turning Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan into his own version of Guantanamo
He was going exit Iraq within 16 months. Now, not so fast. It’s not that easy, when you actually have responsibility, to follow through on shooting from the hip or lip.
Military Tribunals were the wrong way to go. Now, the military tribunals will continue
The release of pictures demanded by the ACLU. Obama was in favor. Now? Not so much.
Obama now supports covert action in Pakistan

Bush’s Legacy

If Obama’s not careful he’s going to make Bush look like a genius. But with every flip-flop, he puts America at risk. Our allies such as Australia, wonder if we are the same strong world leader that we were before.

“President Barack Obama’s administration has continued this trend {against fighting a conventional war}, and risks unsettling America’s longstanding democratic allies in Asia by skimping on defense” — Australia Bulks Up, WSJ, May 6, 2009

Our enemies see this as signs of weakness and look for ways to exploit it. Think Jimmy Carter and the Soviets in Afghanistan, Khomeini in Iran, Sandinistas in Nicaragua…

Joe Biden said we would have a crisis withing six months. I don’t know about the timing, but the pieces seem to be falling into place.

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Luo people

Grading on a Curve

Does Obama Make Decisions About Anything?

Honduras: Does Obama Stand for Democracy?

Congressional Arrogance

Can We Recover Our Money?

New Economic Data In – $787 Billion Wasted

Another Day, Another Campaign Promise Broken

Budget Buffoonery

The Drumbeat of Inexperience Continues

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