I'll upload more pics when I get home (writing this on the Macomb Community College lawn). About 50 protesters from the former General Motors showed up to protest the bankruptcy too. Lots of police presence. In cars. On bikes. On horses. On foot.Michigan has been hit particularly hard not only by the recession (we were already in one for the last 6 1/2 years), but by the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler (didn't they get bailed out specifically to avoid bankruptcy? Couldn't they just have done that last fall without government intervention?). Michigan remains #1 among the 50 states in unemployment, currently at 14.1%. The Detroit Free Press had this laughable editorial this morning: Above all, Mr. President, Michigan needs promise of jobs. Hasn't Obama done nothing but promised jobs? Is that all the freep wants - more promises? How's Obama's track record been with promises, by the way? Is there any campaign promise he hasn't yet broken? From the article:
So President Barack Obama makes his first return to Michigan since the 2008 election and plans to put on a big push for community colleges and the kind of training they offer.
Not a bad idea on its face. But Michigan has emphasized job retraining for months, if not years now -- and yet people keep losing their jobs, even in supposedly hot fields such as health care.
The freep also wants specifics on how porkulus will 'create' jobs. What a bunch of maroons! The stimulus package won't 'create' any jobs, nor was it meant to. It was a reward to his minions that helped get him elected. Funny thing is, most stimulus $$$ aren't slated to be spent until 2010 - an election year. In any case, the freep could have written a far more meaningful editorial slamming Granholm for the unfriendly business environment she has created in this state, and calling on her to lower taxes to spur more business investment. As for Obama's promise for creating jobs, here's how that has been going so far:
And the Detroit Free Press now wants specifics on how porkulus will 'create' jobs? Really? Remember when Obama warned that if the stimulus plan didn't pass a crisis would become a catastrophe? Remember Obama's promise that the unemployment rate would not exceed 8% if the stimulus passed? Let's see how that's worked out:January US jobs lost: 598,000 jobs
February US jobs lost: 706,000 jobs
March US jobs lost: 742,000 jobs
April US jobs lost: 545,000 jobs
May US jobs lost: 345,000 jobs
June US jobs lost: 467,000 jobsTotal US jobs lost under Obama: 3,403,000 jobs
Note that the blue lines are the numbers that Obama's team came up with. So the actual unemployment rate is not only worse that what would happen with porkulus, but even worse than was predicted without it. Proof in the numbers that porkulus was and is an utter failure!UPDATE: Here's a telling snippet from another Free Press article from today (Obama to unveil $12B schools plan in Warren):
In Warren this afternoon, President Barack Obama will unveil a $12-billion program to improve America’s community colleges over the next decade, dedicating funds to expansion and modernization and rewarding successful programs that link employers with locally offered courses. The goal is to graduate 5 million more community college students by 2020.Because all of the spending up to this point of money that is many years away from even being created has done so well so far! More spending! Woohoo!
Obama signaled broadly in the days leading up to today’s speech at Macomb Community College that he would be talking about new programs.
UPDATE #2: From the AP via The Macomb Daily, some job statistics that The Detroit Free Press simply omitted:
Since Obama was last in Michigan Oct. 2, its financial picture has only worsened. The state's jobless rate has jumped 5 percentage points to 14.1 percent as it shed 245,000 jobs, including nearly 50,000 in auto manufacturing. General Motors and Chrysler have gone through Chapter 11, even though many in Michigan thought bankruptcy was a dubious strategy.Hope and change!
UPDATE #3: Here's a short video from early in the protest:
UPDATE #4: Welcome readers from Instapundit! Thanks Glenn!!!
UPDATE #5: More pics: (click on any of the pics in this post for higher-resolution)
UPDATE #6: A picture from the protesters that are members of the General Motors Retirement Association, or GMRA:
If you click on the pic, you will notice the sign in the middle says "You got our vote - Now we need your help." These people are having their Inspector Renault moment. They are shocked - SHOCKED - that Obama lied to them. Duh!UPDATE #7: Welcome readers from Gateway Pundit! Thanks Jim!
UPDATE #8: Hey! My first memorandum headliner! Woohoo!
UPDATE #9: A tv news report of the event:
UPDATE #10: Welcome readers from American Power! Looks like the tea party movement is having a positive effect in California. Even more at memorandum now.
Posts
69 comments:
When you hear about "stimulus", look for the connection to labor unions.
$12 Billion for community colleges? You mean $12 Billion for unionized employees of community colleges.
Although less than 1 out of 4 American employees are unionized, almost all "stimulus" has gone to "stimulate" the unionized workforce.
Of course, they then pay union dues which then goes on to fund Democratic campaigns and causes.
When you hear stimulus, look for the labor union connections.
200 people waving loopy signs aren't going to have any sort of impact. Apparently that obvious fact is lost on the "partiers". But, at least it's better than holding up bunny ears behind someone's back.
If you have an argument for your position, how about trying to make it to a politician's face (not behind their back)? Go engage a politician in an impromptu debate - not a rant - about your issue, and then upload it to Youtube. Wouldn't that be more grown-up and effective than waving loopy signs (or tea bags or bunny ears)?
And, while you're waving loopy signs, something that will have a far greater impact on your lives is rolling right along. Here's how to at least get a concession before being crushed.
If we lost 245,000 jobs and 50,000 were in the auto industry, what were the other 200,000 in?
Hey, Wacko,
Did you ever stop to think that following Instapundit links and harrassing people in comments sections is about the most effective way possible to sour people on your cause?
Why not practice what you preach, make a video, and post a link to it on YouTube? If your approach is truly as effective as you claim, the proof will be in the pudding, and you'll have loads of people flocking to imitate your success.
Otherwise, how about just shutting the hell up?
Promises, promises. If anyone can buy the necessities of life (nevermind the luxuries) with promises, I want to hear about it.
Good post. You're doing good when you bring out the moonbats. I can't believe there are actual people with actual brains still defending this uber con artist in the WH.
Peg C: if you think I'm defending BHO, can I suggest that you consider doing the tiniest bit of research first? I've been opposing BHO since before most people had heard of him. I just want him to be opposed in an effective and intelligent way, i.e., a non-tea party way.
Mendicant Optimist: I'm not harrassing people, I'm pointing out how they're being stupid and ineffective in the hopes that they might wise up. If I do that caustically, that's because being nice hasn't worked.
For instance, over a month before the election, I sent an open letter to several major r/w bloggers (Instapundit, LGF, Ace, JustOneMinute, ProteinWisdom, RiehlWorldView, and SayAnything) in which I asked them to promote my plan of going out and engaging BHO or one of his affiliates in debate. The only thing that happened is that one ace.mu.nu guest poster promoted a comment I left about the plan into the post.
Other than that, those supposed BHO opponents did nothing. Instead of doing something effective, they more or less simply provided distracting entertainment for people. They didn't go all out to try to prevent BHO from being elected. In fact, by doing little or by doing things that were ineffective, they helped him win.
And, as I've pointed out to someone else whose patter is similar to yours (Jesse Walker), it's a logical fallacy to confuse what I do with what others should do. Even if I do the exact opposite of what I suggest, that doesn't mean that my proposal is wrong. (Leaving aside the fact that I have done similar things, of course).
And, of course, it's absurd that in a country of over 300 million people, I would need to be the solitary person who'd do something effective. The much better question is why has no one else so far been willing and able to do something seemingly so simple as engage a politician in an intense debate about their policies? Why would I have to jump in and do it when others should be able to help themselves?
And, of course, why are you (Kylos is that you?) wasting my time instead of helping out? I'm trying to block a La Raza member from ascending to the highest court in the land. Why are you not just wasting my time but also trying to dissuade others from doing something effective?
Wackco,
How do you propose "debating" Obama and his henchmen, when all debate has been shut off, including in Congress. "WE WON" is their only answer to any challenger. Planted softballs from rabid supporters are the only allowed questions in public forums. The press corp is in his pocket. And anybody who does dare to get a challenging question or debate point through the media and thugocratic gauntlet is set upon by the bureaucratic juggernaut that supports the fascist tactics of the Administration (see Joe the Plumber).
These Tea Parties are a natural way of expressing outrage over the continuing dismantling of our economy and our civil rights, and only one of many avenues of showing people that despite what they may see around them and in the media, the people do NOT support what is going on in Obamaland.
If you want to pursue other tactics, that's dandy, but please don't put all our eggs in your single basket.
Protesting is certainly a valid way of expressing disagreement. At least, that's what we've heard for the past 40 years from the lefties, protesting phantom menaces.
Certainly it would be better to 'get in the face' of the President, but - guess what - his person is guarded at all times. He only appears at 'town meetings' where attendance is screened and questions are pre-submitted for approval. His only unguarded moment, answering a question from Joe "The Plumber" resulted not in his own destruction, but in all of his minions seeking to destroy the person who got him to honestly admit his plans.
If nothing else these protests show that we, the people, are NOT behind Obama. He polls well through the AP because their readership tends to be liberal - and he's even falling there.
So keep screaming and being 'loopy'. It is having an effect.
Before the BHO appearance in O.C. I posted to a forum asking those in the area to go get in line. I'm not aware of anyone doing it; instead all I got were comments like the above. The issue of plants at such events is in some ways a self-fulfilling prophecy: all of them will be plants or supporters unless people decide to, you know, actually do something for a change. And, if enough people tried, eventually someone would ask him an adversarial question. As for JTP, he doesn't seem to have made out too bad, but if that's a concern find a local lawyer, politician, or the like who doesn't mind the spotlight.
And, plenty of lower-level Dems are constantly available. See, for instance, this disreputable picture brought to us by Instapundit: link.
The guy with the "bunny ears" is a U.S. Representative; he's a proud former member of a racial separatist group and he frequently supports illegal activity. Instead of asking him questions about that, all the tea partiers can do is engage in playground-style activity.
Does nobody remember the presidential debate where McCain told the people of Michigan that all of these auto industry jobs were gone, and he proposed extending their unemployment benefits as long as they attended training, provided by the government, which would allow them to learn a new skill which would allow them to provide for themselves and their families into the future? He was met with such mockery because Obama was going to "rebuild" Detroit, that he quit campaigning in Michigan.
I wonder how the people of Michigan feel about the proposal McCain made and the promises Obama made now.
Looks to me like a staged right-wing Republican event. Those people must be watched- they all look very dangerous, from the grandmother to the little baby. Your tea party crowd are a bunch of radicals, promoting crazy ideas like freedom and liberty. They should all go back to America and leave Canada to the good old liberal Democrats.
Great post - keep up the excellent work!!
COMMON CENTS
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
ps. Link Exchange??
judging from the photos, and having counted people at protests, i would have to disagree with your head count. there are wayyyyyy more then 200 people at this protest. i'd say the numbers are closer to about 700.
STFU, Lonewhacko.
sorry, but there is no debating Obama, he doesn't debate, he dictates from the teleprompter!
As for Detroit...TAKE IT BACK DETROIT! Dump the unions and start doing what American's do best! Lose the union thugs and you will compete again and WIN! B/C NO ONE can build a better car than AMERICANS!
Hey Blogprof, it's great to find another conservative Christian teacher from around here! Instapundit introduced me to your great blog. I'll be a regular follower!
As to the events of the day, I really wonder how many Michiganians will continue to vote straight-ticket Democratic from now on. Look where the policies of more handouts with less accountability have landed us. I think, finally, our state may be waking to that reality.
I think Michigan needs an Obama Voter Amnesty Day. A day where sad, poor Michiganians come out to say, "I voted Democrat, and I'm sorry." I know a lot of people who would take advantage--I sense much voter remorse out there.
Interesting note--apparently Obambi changed a townhall scheduled for today to a speech. Afraid to take questions huh? Especially with only a right side functioning TOTUS?
At what was originally billed as a town hall meeting in metro Detroit, President Barack Obama now is expected to travel to Michigan on Tuesday to deliver a speech at Macomb County Community College in Warren
He’s going to be talking about spending more of our money, a $12 billion program to improve America’s community colleges over the next decade.)Comment from Hot Air bogger)
This townhall event had been planned and annouced on June 23rd, and confirmed on July 8th. He must have been afraid that he would have to answer remarks about Palin's article, since, unfortunately for him, it came out too late for him to have his plants give him pre-planned questions...I googled this--funny no imput from the MSM...
lovemyUSA
As soon as the loons stop blaming their utter and continuing failures on George Bush and stop whining "We want the govt. to take care of me" crap they might actually find time to get the United States of America away from the apologizing to the terrorists (Oops did I use that term Ms. Neapolitan))mode and get into the business of strengthening of the United States of America mode. You flaming liberals that whine "Save me Bama,Save me Bama" Make me a dependent Socialist like you Bama" make me wanna PUKE!
You right-wing nutjobs sound more and more desperate by the day. The stimulus only accounts for 3% of the nation's total debt. And that's what you b!tch and whine about? Keep crying to each other, you're a dwindling group that'll eventually fade into non-existence.
lonewackjobdotcom
i do not think there is anything ineffective about getting hundreds of thousands of people who have never before been politically active out there protesting this CRAP.
i went to a tea party event on july 4. i counted the people personally (850), then interviewed a sample of about 100. turned out that in the sample of 100, only ONE person had ever protested prior to the advent of the tea party protests.
that my friend is significant, and it will only grow in numbers as obama wrecks the country further.
I can't help but wonder about the average level of education for blogger and those who have commented on this blog site. It was okay to have silver-spooned GWB in the white house with his connection-derived mediocre stay at Yale, but "BHO" as you refer to him, or President Obama, as I prefer to call him, a scholar, a bootstrapper, an intellectual with stellar abilities is not good enuf to inhabit the WH? We all stood by for 8 years while the last administration allowed us to swirl mightily down the plumbing; our current pres was handed a plateful of unprecedented mess, and all you can do is stand back and criticize. It is okay for the corps to rob us blind and for us to waste billions in an illegal war, but when we are using tax money to better the lives of Americans and to clean up 8 years of back patting driven greed, that's a problem...get a grip! GOP lost the election bc the American public finally got a clue.
Everywhere that BHO goes, he just tells more lies, and makes more false promises! He is spending money like water in a rain storm, and the sad truth is that the United States does not have any more money to spend on stupid stimlus packages! We need tax reform, and fiscal responsibility before we too fall into bankruptcy! I believe the people of Michigan are finally seeing this imposter and fraud as what he truly is! Go Protesters Everywhere!
Get him thrown out (impeached) and get a responsible person in the White House-one who is for the PEOPLE!
Obama will win 4 more years. Read Anonymous comments above- everything bad that happens will be blamed on Bush, and people will buy it. They will say that even though every single measurable statistic was better during Bush's 8 years that things are somehow now better that Obama has socialized medicine, nationalized industries, invalidated bankruptcy laws using political pressure, skyrocketed the debt, and increased corruption at every level. The leftwingers BELIEVE in Obama, and worship him- he is a God and can do no wrong to them. They chant mantra's (war is illegal, etc) and BELIEVE. Good luck arguing with them.
how much did the FOX News Pay you
You praised Oakland spending a bazillion dollars on a new medical building, and you bitch about Obama giving money to community colleges (where you don't work).
Hmm...lol.
...and the first poster here: wow. I hope you can still get Rush's radio signals down there in your lead-lined bomb shelter you built in your backyard. In the interim, put tinfoil on your windows. That will help keep the government from reading your thoughts.
Looks Like Sour Republicans rubbing each others backs blogsite.. Go George!! There you go..
yeah, they complain when obama doesn't come to michigan; they complain when obama does come to michigan.
whine, whine, bitch, moan, the sky-is-falling, i hate my toys. wah.
To all the people, we are lost already. You can laugh all you want, or rant and rave all you want, but you BETTER have a lead lined shelter to dissapear into with plenty of food and water. It's coming people, BELIEVE IT OR NOT! I can't stress enough how some of you better OPEN YOUR EYES!
yeah, life here is terrible. build your bomb shelter. at least my kids are doing the duck, tuck, and roll drills under their school desks like i did as a kid.
every generation thinks they have it the worst of all time. wah. how utterly whiny and narcissistic.
They thought Noah was crazy before the flood, too. How they laughed! Oh, never mind, that was just a myth.
I can see your life is just perfect, without a care in the world. But sad to say, the people who bury their heads in the sand, want to wear blinders, believe BHO is the answer and will 'save us' will be the first to realize their mistakes after it's too late, after you have to be on camera 24-7 and get microchipped or lo-jacked to keep track of your every move, keep laughing and we'll see who's whineing in the end.
How in the hell could your column claim that Obama is responsible for the high uneemployment numbers that was caused by your buddy GW Bush? I guess he who gets caught with the rotten egg is it, huh?
So many are afraid to stand behind their words, so post under an anon tag.. Pathetic.
Awesome post Chris. Good to see the 150-200? or so folks meet up FAST.
In a way I would like to agree with the wacko guy on the face to face debate, but sadly debate is cut a little short with this administration, and its not like the press is falling all over itself to ask any important questions like why we are running up the debt on things that have no "measurable" positive result? Spending money we don't have was not good with the Bush admin, and is not good now, so why increase it??
The folks who still believe Obama has a decent plan with energy policy that strangles manufacturing, or health care mandates which remove liberty might not have only wool pulled over their eyes, as I suspect they carry the entire sheep on their heads, which are inserted right to their shoulders.
Oh, and by the way, no political party is doing what's right for the people, and I don't care what side you're on. The puppets will get the blame for the mess, they say anything to get in office, but it's all propaganda. Can we trust our government? Sure, just ask a Native American! They always get a fair shake, just read some history, as recently as the 70's, heard of Leonard Peltier, or how about Ruby Ridge? WAKE UP! The American people have no rights!
All this doesn't matter. The world will end on Dec 21, 2012 as everybody knows do to the alignment of the sun in the center of the Milky Way on that day. You should be getting ready now so forget that Obama foolishness.
except noah didn't own a nice house in the suburbs, own 2.5 cars, a big-screen tv--and wasn't a whore to corporate interests. he wasn't out to protect his toys and his money.
kinda hard to take such people seriously when they want to self-righteously take on the the noah nameplate, know what i mean? lol...
...but i forgot: baby jesus was a social darwinist. he as definitely republican. then again, the kkk wraps itself in the bible, too. i guess anyone can hijack it for their own purposes--including greedy corporate types and their apologists.
Conservative Teacher: "Every single measurable statistic was better during Bush's 8 years"?
Really? Every single one? Care to back that up, because I'm pretty sure one of the first things I learned in elementary school was to carefully consider anyone's claims when preceded by words like "every" or "all."
Any of you remember when Bush was having trouble ramping up support for the Iraq war?
Remember when the pentagon created a program to influence public opinion by using ex-military to act as "independent analysts" when really they were being fed talking points and told what to say? That seems like a real compromise of the media's objectivity doesn't it? That's not really reporting news, but molding opinions and some would call it propaganda.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html
Remember the false claims?
http://projects.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/Images/Charts/WarCardChart.jpg
While Bush was in office, anything that went wrong "you can't blame Bush for everything."
Bush is now out of office[ and recommended the initial bailout (supported by both McCain and Obama)], but now it's "you can't blame Bush for anything."
I'm curious. What, if anything, can be attributed to Bush?
yeah, pretty lame statement. maybe his students can use it as an example when learning about logical fallacies.
First I'd like to thank everyone for these interesting blogs and points of view. Second I do think that if you have the guts to post a comment, then have the same guts to clearly state who you are. I for one am a 20 year retired military man. Third, I wish I could afford to move back to my home state, but that's not possible.. Lastly, I'd like to ask the state some questions, one, how have the unions bettered your life? Two, does it bother you that states like Alabama and Georgia can lure car comapanies like KIA and Hyundai where Michigan looses it's? Three, does any of this remind you of the late 70's, where we blame America first? And last, did you get off you butt and vote during this last election?? If you didn't then just hold on, pray shut the hell up, and don't allow for this to happen again... I'm Darrell VanHaitsma, from Pentwater Michigan...
Obambi is victorious. The worst president in US history.
Beat even the peanut farmer creep!
Nobama, No Damn More, wherE's your BIRTH CERTIFICATE, no not the phony one, the real one, what oh, you just have the FAKE one, like YOU..
ah, i see the requesite testosterone has made it's way into a far-right blog conversation. whoda thunk.
It is amazing to me the level of ignorance, not only in this blog, but in a number of the responses. The stimulus is obviously meant to affect jobs, but it won't happen overnight. So far, only 10% of the stimulus is in the economy and already it is helping to slow down the loss of jobs. Did the Obama administration misjudge the depth of the recession? Obviously, but not by much. The stimulus is meant to affect job growth and growing the economy over the next two years and was never meant to change things overnight. You are supposedly a professional scientist. Shame on you! Not only are your comments ignorant of economic reality, but it helps to build hate, especially when you have idiots commenting on Obama's lack of a birth certificate, which is just a plain lie. Maybe it is time you became a *real* Christian and followed Christ's words of love and tolerance.
What I don't understand is why only 50 showed up? Probably because the FBI are taking notes and pictures. Welcome to the "land of the free?".
nah, panetta killed the program of cheney and his cronies spying on americans. be glad you can freely make fools of yourselves in public now without dickie keeping a secret file on you.
...but i forgot: all the crap cheney did and bush's "patriot act" was all good and patriotic when the "enemy" was being spied on...of course the far right are the true americans--who have used as their rallying cry a very act cradled in violence.
i guess the old saying is correct: fascism will come knocking at our door wrapped up in the american flag.
This is superb and the 17th is going to be even bigger.
Why not just blame him for Iraq and WWII while you are at it? Seriously, the job loss problem was systemic. There is not a magic switch that would stop the losses over night. As for the stimulus, it actually takes time to spend money if one is to do it with the slightest amount of due dilligence. For facilities and infrastructure, there are several steps that take 12-18 months to complete prior to putting shovels in the ground. For other initiatives, there is a significant amount of pre-work to be done.
As for the spending itself, that is another debate. There are those of the Keynisian school that believe, on a macroeconomic level, this is the best way forward. Those from the Friedman/Chicago school would eliminate the vast majority of public functions much less fund a stimulus. For context, The Marshall Plan was a more Keynisian approach. What happened in Chile, Poland, Russia and Iraq (until more recently) followed the Friedman Free Market theories. I leave people to cast their own judgements about which has turned out best and for whom.
I have plenty of critiques of the President but they are grounded in his policies and what they have affected or may affect. The complaints cited in this blog are largely inherited problems. The real effect of a Presidency takes 2 years to manifest. All this jibber jabber is just upset people (that didn't like him to begin with) blaming him for anything that has gone wrong, which he had very little hand in. Now, his approaches may be critiqued but only in so much as anyone understands economics. There aren't any results yet to pass a formal judgement (despite what talking heads on both sides may claim).
Here is what I suggest for people concerned about the economic direction of the country. Pick up Milton Friedman's books "Capitalism and Freedom" and "The Case For Free Trade." Then read John Maynard Keynes book " The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money." From there, one should research the application of each idea. The rebuilding of Germany and Japan post WWII offer a more Keynesian application while Chile, Argentina, Brazil of the 70's and, more recently, the Russia, Poland, China and Iraq cases offer the application of Friedman's position.
If you want to read a more critical history of free market introduction into troubled economies, I would suggest Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine."
Perhaps, upon reading these texts, folks might be better prepared to make arguments for or against a particular position?
Actualy the wiretaps didnt stop, they have picked up in number, Before they where calls comng into the USA now they r out bound too
As a Professor of Mechanical Engineering (no matter what specialization) with expertise in technology, nature, and Bible, you are supposed to understand and know that "clocking on any of the pics in this post" would not give readers higher resolution (it would simply enlarge pics). With your affinity to science, you shall know the difference between phenomena and phenomenon. Go and study grammar at your Oakland University.
Also, the crowd of protestors does not get bigger if the pics are taken from different directions. BTW, the protestors should had carried loopy "No czars in America" through 8 years of W. in the WH.
I agree with the Anonymous post at 12:44. This blog just has me shaking my head. The comments made about the economy are wrong, since the "jury is still out"!
The article lead is so Limbaugh it is sad. The ditto machine is working I can see. There are numbers for "jobs lost under Obama"...GET REAL! If a Captain becomes brain dead while at the helm of one of the largest ships in the world going out of control at 300 knots in the wrong direction and veering towards a large iceberg, a new Captain would take over the helm to turn it away and save the great ship. Would it stop on a dime? Hell no! It would take s great deal of time to steer away and correct positioning.
Obama took the helm, thankfully, from one of the most Catastrophic administrations in the history of this country. We lost our rights and freedoms, the military lost pay, VA benefits, lives (unnecessarily)and support in many ways. For the first time in our Nations history, we struck pre-emptively and unprovoked...exactly what happened to us on 9/11. We sent our brave kids into an unreasonable and irresponsible war, only to feed the Cheney war machine and no-bd contracts to his Halliburton that hew awarded contracts to as Defense Secretary and then became CEO less than a year later and after becoming VP gave $2.5 billion in contracts to Hallinurtons KBR, but had spent considerably less to construct and run military bases. This contract was a cost plus 13% contract and BRS employees were trained on how to pass GAO audits to ensure maximum profits were attained. It was also grounds for termination in the Balkans if any BRS employee spoke of Dick Cheney being CEO.
So we moved past that...or at least Obama wanted to. I feel we should, despite all of the smoking pistols left around, move forward and take care of the business at hand.
To dis Obama so early in the game, for all of the things he has on his plate is ridiculous.
The argument of socialism is weak, because it is usually the military that bring this up, who do not want to have to pay taxes for an insurance plan for others, because THEY are living on socialized medicine with the Military Health Service System (MHSS). The plan, what many do not realize, is that you can keep your same doctors and current plan or go for a more socialized one. It will save you money and endure everyone is covered. I cannot buy a house because of previous medical emergencies without health insurance. When you are unemployed with absolutely no income, including not taking unemployment, it hits hard and quick.
In any case, we should stand behind our President. I, myself believes he is doing a great job and he gives me hope for this country and already has made substantial progress in closing the wounds from a previous administration and open up dialogue with those we held our hand to face before.
You ask me, the boss man Obamma's mule train is thinning.
Think back...During the 8 years of President Clinton in the White House the economy "improved". At the end of that came President Bush who was happy to earmark all of the "surplus" money for all kinds of projects including health, environment, etc. The problem was that the money came from false .com schemes. I was furious at Clinton and Congress for not jumping in and stopping Wal-Street from trading stocks in companies that had no real assets. Anyone could start a .com and start trading stocks based on nothing more that what the next guy would pay for them.
It was exactly what happened before the Great Depression. Wal-Street just traded paper stocks. People were getting rich on nothing.
Republicans and Democrats did nothing during the Clinton reign and the Bush Administration thought they could ride that wave.
Then it hit the fan. All of the corporate greed, (think Enron) that had been going on for the entire run of the Clinton's was exposed shortly after Bush took office. The graft was everywhere, in the headlines were Republican and Democrat lobbies. The average person who had finally been able to scrape a few dollars from the stock market were busted.
Then came 9-11 and the space shuttle. Going to war with Afghanastan gave people jobs. War is sick and twisted and I was dissapointed that in the end when the UN told Iraq to cooperate "OR ELSE" they left it up to the Bush to provide the 'or else'. But They did, Bush did, Congress caved in and We did.
The truth is that Wal-Street runs the country's economy. Not the Republican's, or the Democrats. As long as there are no laws to prevent people from trading stocks in companies without any vested interests we will continue to spiral down. Look at the company you work for. Investors demand more profit each quarter. Not more production, or more stability, just more profit. So to get that, CEO's demand stupid things like one person doing the job of two, and higher quotas, and working with less supplies and less perks. However, to keep upper management from standing up to these stupid demands they keep supplying more and more to upper management. This trend continues until the company is bankrupt and workers loose their jobs. The major investors, however just invest in something else and the highest management persons get huge settlement checks then they move on to "make high profits" at the next company.
So that this is not just complaining, my brother suggested that if stock traiders had to hold stocks for a specific amount of time, it would be in their best interest for the company to be dealing in practices that would help the company stay in business, not just make a quick profit. Also, if you want to add a tax to something, try adding it to each stock trade. That way, big investors would really be invested in their holdings.
The government had to bale out the housing problem, (Why not, they started it after the Depression) but they should not Bale Out companies who suck at what they do. Look, without the auto bale outs everyone would have suffered, but now, most of the upper management is OK and only the hourly worker is laid off. There is an auto maker who did business well and didn't take a bale out. They would have had a larger market if the other companies had to sell out to them. That good company would have had a larger market and would have had to run more auto making plants to keep up with the demand. "The Union Heads probably would have lost their places though".
Oh well, as I am sure the next blog will point out. I have no idea what I am talking about.
Thanks for reading this far,
Wendelyn Green, TX
THANKS TO REAGANOMICS AND BUSH SWEETHEART DEALS WITH ALL HIS/YOUR OILBUDS
Jermey, you threw down the guantlet, so you answer it- what has gotten better since Obama has been President? Stock market? Unemployment? GDP growth? Revenue to government? Homelessness? Drug use? You questioned my claim, so you refute it, don't ask me to do your legwork you lazy liberal.
Remember how Bush spent two years talking to people, having his people make the rounds, going on television, answering questions, and explaining his policies and views, all before making a controversial decision? How does that compare to ramming stimulus packages, cap and trade, and healthcare through the system in a day or two? Which one strikes you liberals as more inappropriate?
And quit throwing out conspiracy theories and names- if you want to stick up for your lord Obama, do it with logic and reasoning, or else you will look like the fools that you are.
I am so glad that there was a protest when Obama came to Michigan. Socialism is not for America and it is important that the grass roots people begin to really tell our Congressmen that we do not want any more taxes and NO GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE!!!!!!!.We have the best health care in the world and we ARE PAYING FOR THE POOR IN HEALTH CARE!!!!! Noone is turned away from the Emergency Rooms, the hospitals ER's. OBABMA IS RUINING OUT COUNTRY.
Hey Conservative Teacher,
My name was even included in my post and you still managed to get it wrong... but anyway, normally when people make claims, they provide evidence, as I did for what you allege to be "conspiracy theories." The use of military analysts is a well documented fact(http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/milanalysts/), but if you want to ignore it out of hand because you presume a liberal is presenting the evidence, that's your prerogative.
You made the claim, you support it. It's like someone saying god X exists and when someone asks for evidence you tell them to prove he doesn't instead of supplying your evidence that he does.
You made a claim, and because I pointed out that you did not provide evidence, you jump to the conclusion that I'm a lazy, liberal that loves Obama? I hope your students do not have this prejudice that you display impressed upon them. I don't care for Obama myself, but I'm not going to make claims like "every measurable statistic" without at least including one measurable statistic to substantiate my claim.
yeah, i'm sure some of these same neo cons were skewering ronnie TWO YEARS INTO HIS FIRST TERM when "HIS" ecomony was in the crapper and near double-digit unemployment.
yeah, right. you neo cons were still blaming jimmy TWO YEARS INTO ronnie's first term.
you're all pathetic hypocrites.
Jeremy, my point was that as 'bad as Bush was', he is a lot better than Obama. And that isn't Fox News or a conspiracy theory or some government report talking, that is by looking at dozens of measureable statistics. Hopefully data means something to you, since you seem to be a reasonable fellow, and you'll shout out "I am wrong, Obama is wrong, I'll vote Republican" now that I have shown you the light. Probably though you'll just sputter on about trivial issues and far-fetched stuff, vote Obama, and then wonder why things are bad.
you must do your cooking of stats in the same vat of logical fallacies the mackinac center routinely uses.
wow.
thank you very much for this sharing information.van leasing
Wacko: "And, if enough people tried, eventually someone would ask him an adversarial question."
+++++++++++++
You're faulting the Tea Parties, who are getting masses of people involved in local, state and national races and precinct meetings, flashpoint protests, making their voices heard far and wide, yet you think that this is going to change anything...wow.
Now your Sotomayor link was good...thanks.
Wacko's Sotomayor link
noah wasn't a myth u moron read up on ur history. damn near everything in the bible can be proven in geography and history. AND BUSH AND OBAMA ARE BOTH CROOKED BASTARDS. ITS NOT ABOUT THEM NE MORE ITS TIME 4 ALL AMERICANS TO TAKE BACK THIS COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT 4 THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE
BOH SAYS NO VOWS EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL GAY AND LESBIAN MARRIAGES... I WILL GET IT DONE HE SAYS!! WELL WE DONT WANT THAT U SELF CENTERED PRICK IF WE DID WE WOULD HAVE VOTED 4 IT!!!!! HES TRYING TO TAKE OUR RIGHTS FROM US SO WE CANT EVEN SHIT WITH OUT HIS OK. AND U BEST BE GETTING STRAPPED UP AND COMING UP WITH A GAMEPLAN TO PROTECT UR FAMILY,MINE AND THE NEIGHBOR NEXT DOOR AND ANY OTHER REDBLOODED AMERICAN WHO IS WILLING TO DIE W/ U TO PROTECT OUR RIGHTS FROM THESE OPPRESSORS!!!AKA THE NEW WORLD ORDER!
nice post..
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Britney
The best place for the best ENTERTAINMENT
Name calling or quoting other liberal biased writers is that the best you guys/gals can come up with? I love a good honest debate but that is usually impossible with a progressive, liberal, socialist or communist. If your ideas weren’t so bad you would not have to reinvent yourselves every few years. Proud to be conservative (no need to repackage my ideas as they are timeless like Reagan was). Embrace the conservative core values of low taxes, smaller government, freedom to practice religion or not if you desire, right to bear arms, a strong military and the right to an alternative education verses the failed public education. The liberal answer let’s throw more money and regulations at the problem. Conservatives will demote their failures. Liberals promote their failures. This is why 50% of the people will support a conservative politician.
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