Have you been watching former Clintonite, Solicitor General Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearing? It's infuriating that these hearings have become nothing more than an exercise in saying nothing. Kagan herself has described the process as "vacuity and farce." Truer words have never been spake-- although, this cartoon captures this particular confirmation best:
I was incredulous to discover a recent poll which found that 42% of Americans had no opinion regarding Kagan's possible confirmation. This is shameful. Elena Kagan is a politician at best. She's got ZERO experience as a judge on the bench. The only thing that she should be asked during these hearings is to leave. The only reasons that the Obama Administration chose her are because:
1.) She's a woman and it makes them look progressive.
2) She supports the liberal agenda (anti-gun rights, pro-abortion, etc.) and has proclaimed that being an activist judge is "not necessarily wrong or invalid."
3) She's got no record of court decisions, which will make it harder for Republicans (or Dems with sense) to question her about her history.
But the biggest reason is that she supports extending Big Government. In a paper she wrote for the Harvard Law Review in 2001 titled "Presidential Administration" she argued the merits of supreme Executive Branch control over regulatory bodies and agencies in order for a President to achieve his or her aims. In Nobama's case that would be disastrous for America.What a nightmare this wolf in judge's clothing is!
The Constitution of the United States is not a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book! It laid down the laws for our country and the Supreme Court must be its enforcers. If we wanted them to make revisionist interpretations we'd ask them to sit down with some Sharpies and have at it. That's not the job, and only a few of them get it. I guess we could never have expected Nobama to replace the most liberal judge in history, Judge Stevens with a moderate, but we really can only speculate as to the leanings of Kagan based on her sparse record. But I suppose, despite what her softball pic indicates, that she bats Lefty.
He claimed it was about Cleanup, Restoration and Prevention.
But not so.
Opportunism. Deception. Lack of vision.
Each of those words characterizes the President's Gulf Oil Crisis address to the nation last night. Before moving on, I want to be clear about one thing: I am not interested in making this post into a partisan POTUS slam. In fact, I was rooting for Obama last night because I was rooting for Americans. Against all of my rational understanding of what he was likely to deliver, I prayed that he could inspire the nation to rally behind our fellows in the Gulf, and to finally be a leader for all Americans distressed about the worst environmental disaster in American history.
He failed.
Instead he used the filthy Rahm Emmanuel tactic of turning crisis into political opportunity-- and last night the Oval Office was little more than a platform for Cap and Tax, anti-business Energy Policy.
Instead he was dishonest with the American people.
Instead he exposed his lack of vision for the American future-- the most appalling, and alarming reality of all.
I am certain that there will be a plethora of bloggers attacking sundry particulars of Nobama's speech (e.g., his disingenuous invocation of the military and terrorism, misuse of God and prayer, not suspending the Jones Act, lack of specificity in what we are doing to solve the crisis, and his lies about the reality of the disaster and his administration's late, inadequate response to it).
I will address these issues in future posts, because what I want to focus on today is his lack of vision. Here is an excerpt that should have all Americans outraged, up in arms, and fiercely determined to overthrow this man:
...what has defined us as a nation since our founding is the capacity to shape our destiny – our determination to fight for the America we want for our children. Even if we’re unsure exactly what that looks like. Even if we don’t yet know precisely how we’re going to get there. We know we’ll get there.
Let me ask you a question: Do YOU know what you want the future to look like? Good God Yes! You're an American! Do YOU know how to get there? Of course you do! It was laid out in our founding documents and upheld by great American leaders, the likes of Ronald Reagan. If we don't know what we want America to look like, or how we want to get there, then how can we get there?
I'm going to start calling this guy Captain Crook, because he's like a blind pirate with two eye patches.
He's got no vision.
Now listen. I'm not interested in just bashing the man, because it is in the best interest of America to proffer solutions, not complaints. As Frank Luntz said last night:
....we’ve now reached the point where we’ve become so divided that we’re not even listening to what our leaders are saying if we disagree with them.
--and that's un-American. We need reasoned debate, solid conclusions and action. That said, there is a serious, fundamental question that we must ask ourselves and our government:
How can the American President have the audacity to broadcast himself on live television to millions of citizens and profess that he doesn't have the time to contemplate where the nation is headed or how to achieve our national goals of freedom and prosperity?
We need a man of Vision to sit behind his desk and guide our nation like Washington did his boat across the Potomac. Last night Nobama showed precisely the type of criminally lackadaisical leadership that he showed in his response to the oil spill-- and we, like the Louisiana coast, are caught in the sludge while he spews his slick, toxic, rhetoric.
Now don't get me wrong, I believe that the actions of local officials like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindall exemplify the Federalist approach to small government, which says that we don't need a bloated bureaucracy to bungle matters that States are apt to handle themselves. However, the President of the United States should be there for support immediately. He should inspire confidence. He should have the compass when the ship is buffeted by storm.
But it is we conservatives who truly have the correct vision for the future, and we must sail into 2012 with a capable leader that can work for us to deliver it.
We know what we want out of our future: a return to the values that made us the greatest nation the world has ever seen.
We know what we want to bequeath to our children: a nation rich with opportunity, liberty, and pride.
It was Ronald Reagan who said the we conservatives are not trying to return America to the past, but simply trying to refocus our vision with "a past way of viewing our future." That is an integral ingredient we are in need of today. And if we don't have all hands on deck to steer our nation out of troubled waters, we'll run aground, capsize, or be lost in a sea of post-American disaster.
Watch Nobama's speech here if you haven't already, and give your own feedback. Let's ignite this important discussion.
How many new and ingenious ways can this guy find to kill America everyday??
He seems to have taken the rivalry of today's World Cup game with Britain way to far--- at the expense of Americans.
His attacking of BP's dividend , stupid "ass kick" remarks, thoughtless anglo-phobic and angry rhetoric against "British Petroleum" (not the company's formal name), and allowance of the Justice Department to have a knee jerk reaction with the public witch trial of BP, have driven the stock wayyyyyy down. That's awesome right? We should make those British bastards pay right? No.
Here's why:
1) If BP goes under and is able to file for bankruptcy, then guess who's gonna be paying for the clean up at the Gulf. Yeah, you guessed it, us, the American taxpayer-- the quiet slave of the Obama administration. WHY THE &%^# SHOULD AMERICANS BAIL OUT BP?? That's right, WE SHOULDN'T. Hell no.
2) Do you know how many Americans hold stock in BP? We are waist deep. We own 39% of the damn stock! That's half the friggin' company! That's the same amount as the British own! If Obama drives BP into the ground then all those Americans will lose out big time. Think of all those American BP employees, sleeping in trailers, cleaning our Gulf Coast everyday, who will lose their stock and pensions, and have their lives destroyed. How anti-American. It's not like Obama can give them another job. Remember the most recent jobs report? This guy just doesn't understand simple economics.
3) The British are our allies in the War on Terror. There's no need to mess up our relationship with an entire country. It's just short sighted. Let's hold the right people accountable and take the right action in a way that won't be detrimental to Americans, and our allies that help us police the world.
Obama is a World Crock.I'd rather he suit up on the field today and be the athlete that he was born to be, because he's clearly a horrible president.
I'll be waiting for game 5 of the NBA finals. An American sport.
Socrates, Plato, the Parthenon-- all examples of what has made Greece a historical paragon of philosophy, art, and culture. Who wouldn't want to emulate their legacy, right? Not so fast. Let's fast forward about oh, say 2 and a half millennia later..
Greek riot officer engulfed in flames. A metaphor for the American Obama economy.
No matter what is said in your high school history textbook Greece is not country to copy. Today their economy and society have been destroyed. Years of lunatic spending, cheap lending and failure to implement common sense financial reforms (sound familiar?) left Greece naked and flailing when the worldwide economic downturn hit. In February, the Greek government, on the verge of bankruptcy, announced "austerity measures" to combat its sky-high debt. Its people, broke and angry, didn't take kindly to its government taking away their rights when it was rampant government corruption and irresponsibility (ring a bell?) that flushed their economy down the drain in the first place. Surprise, surprise, three months later, completely bankrupted, Greece erupted into a conflagration of chaos and murder in the streets. About 100,000 pissed off pythagoreans struck nationwide, and they weren't throwing the discus, or hurling olives-- these folks were armed to the teeth, launching molotov cocktails at banks, riot officers, and any target they could see through the eye-holes in their gas masks.
Goodbye Aristotle. Hello anarchy.
How the hell did this happen? It was the Double D: Deficit and Debt. And, alarmingly, America is hurtling down the same path!! Today the Foundry broke it down:
In April 2010, Greece’s FY 2009 deficit was estimated at 13.6% of the GDP. The United States FY 2009 deficit reached a record high of $1.4 trillion, or 9.9% of the GDP. If we continue to follow the President’s proposed budget, over the next ten years our average deficit will surpass the number that brought Greece to its knees. Then there is the lingering issue of the debt. Greece’s debt reached 115% of the GDP and could reach 150% of the GDP before too long. Interestingly enough, the CBO reports that the US debt will jump dramatically from 53% to 63% between FY 2009 and FY 2010. And, just yesterday the Treasury Department estimated that by 2015 the ratio of US debt to GDP would rise 102% to nearly $20 trillion.
I don't know about you, but if you're like me and 79% of other Americans polled, this is an absolute economic Armageddon of horrific proportions. Why then are we American taxpayers, against our will funding yet another$6,800,000,000 dollar bailout of Greece through the IMF? The only thing Americans should consider paying that much money for is to build a time machine to bring James Madison back to bitch slap Big Government back into its rightful place!
Our out of control spending has to stop now. This Administration's ridiculous Keynesian reductionist policy that assumes every dollar it spends will stimulate the economy is bullshit, and we know it. Do we want to get to the point that there are government imposed, socialist policies, shackling Americans and small businesses? Do we want murderous, riotous mobs in our boulevards? No. It's simply time to tighten the purse strings, reign in teenage-with-a-credit-card government spending, stop inflating entitlement programs, stuffing the pork barrel, and passing on a fourteen figure debt to our kids.
Why don't we try tattooing this solution offered by the economists at American-election.com on Obama's forehead:
*Freeze government hiring for the next 3 years.
*Eliminate bonuses and raises for the foreseeable future.
*Institute layoffs and across the board wage cuts. Why should government employees enjoy “privileged status” that no employee in the private sector enjoys?
*Change pensions from ‘defined benefit’ to ‘defined contribution’ pension plans, meaning retirees receive only what has been built up in their 401K type retirement accounts.
*Raise the retirement age. In Greece it is going from age 53 to 67. Gold-plated pension plans are the single biggest factor that bankrupted Greece. The same problem bankrupted U.S. automakers GM and Chrysler.
*Require government employees to pay more of their healthcare (through co-pays and deductibles).
*Change the way pensions are calculated by eliminating overtime and raises in the last years of employment to “game the system”.
Sounds pretty damn reasonable to me. Especially since we areGreece on steroids. Its times like these that we need to heed the wise words of our Founders. James Madison said:
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
Arm yourself. Hit the streets and take the polls. Take back your money. Take back America.
I'll admit that I grew up a liberal. Coming where I come from it was natural to always vote democrat and to believe in a prescribed ideology. Even as a child something didn't feel right but I rolled with the hypocrisy wagon... for as long as I could. Ignorant of history and of socio-political reality, I lambasted Reagan out of habit with stock school yard quips, and even poked fun at Bush for his misstatements and poor optics during Katrina. But it was all halfhearted, and I didn't know why. Today I do.
As a child I believed in the promise of America. I knew that no matter who I wanted to be or what I wanted to do, my goals were attainable because of the flag that I flew and the anthem that I sang. Some people tried to tell me that, as a black boy from Harlem, I would need a handout (read: affirmative action) or social welfare to achieve a sustainable life. That's not what I'd learned from our founders or from my parents who worked at prestigious private schools so that I would be able to receive a world class private education. Although I held the ideals of a free America in my heart, I noticed that things began to change. Although our country was under attack, we stood divided on protecting our nation. Despite the fact that we grew further and further in debt to foreign powers, we continued to borrow beyond our means and become beholden to alien interests. Notwithstanding that our founders believed in limited government and personal freedom, our liberties have been eroded, and stolen, to feed a bloated, pork laden federal government that scoffs at States' Rights!
I believe in the constitution, and I don't need a disclaimer to tell me that I have the right to free speech, and to make sure that our government works for us!
In these times it will take strong leadership from the people to remake America into the land in which free men and women have the rights to personal and State Liberty, to choose their health care, to arm and defend themselves, to expect their government to keep its hands out of their pockets, and trust that it won't relinquish their childrens' future to a penurious, socialist existence, dominated by the Chinese.
That is why it is only conservatives who can take back America! And we have to do it by going to the polls, taking the fight to the streets,
and forming networks of like minded patriots who will truly "kick ass" (and not like Obama's weak rhetoric about BP)!
I am a conservative because our forefathers were. And even though they are liberal, my parents taught me to treasure the American dream. So I say to you now, the country is reflected in the state of our beloved gulf coast: mired in thick, heavy ooze that weighs us down, pollutes our ideals, and tries to obscure our natural beauty.
But unlike the government we have the tools to wrest ourselves from the sludge and purify our own waters or freedom and liberty, with our god-given bravery and courage!
Never give up the fight. I am with you. God bless you all. RISE UP!
As you must know the jobs report that just came out last Friday was abysmal and sent the Market into a tailspin. I ask you this: How can taxpayers have spent $862,000,000,000 in Obama "stimulus" and the Department of Labor reports that unemployment is still a staggering 9.7 percent? Then I ask you a follow up question: Why won't the government fess up and reveal real unemployment which is actually closer to 17 percent?
I'll tell you why. Its because they don't want to admit that the socialist agenda has been an abject failure. Joe Biden is even parading around on television professing that the stimulus has been an "absolute success". America, you know that's not the truth. You see it in your communities. You see it on the news. You know it in your mind and in your heart, because you have common sense. You won't be taken in. You know that, in an America that relies on government workers to inflate the jobs report--- often in corrupt ways--- something is horrifyingly wrong.
It is time to take the country back from the gaping jaws of socialism because its counter to our founding. It was Thomas Jefferson who said that we need a: "a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities."
This can't be done by robbing loyal taxpaying citizens of their hard earned tax dollars, redistributing wealth, and giving everyone a government job! We need to let the market do its work. We need to let business flourish. And we need to keep the hand of Big Government out of our bank accounts, and leave the decision making to mothers and fathers around the kitchen table. Let the States rule or let the Big Barack Bureaucrats drive our country into the ground!
Helen Thomas finally resigned with your support. Let's force Barry out too. Maybe he'll take her advice and go live in Germany or Poland!!
Have you heard about this?There is a plan to build a 15 story mega mosque at Ground Zero! What a slap in the face to the three thousand fallen heroes, the brave police officers and intrepid firefighters who hurled themselves into a collapsing inferno to save their brethren. I am incensed that such a plan was even hatched, let alone given the 'OK'!
The Mosque's chief proponent is a man named Feisal Abdul Rauf, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who slickly denies the clearly sinister implications of the Mosque's construction. Although he claims that the "prayer space" is meant to heal the wounds of 9/11, any rational American knows that he is only throwing salt into the painful sores that we still feel as New Yorkers and countrymen. His mendacious tactics are proof that he is an adept practitioner of what is called taqiyya — deceptive speech and action to promote the will and dominance of Islam.
The chief pro-mosque argument is "religious freedom". What an insult to the victims of 9/11! To use our constitution as a defense for an ideology that clearly hates America, and to allow for a symbol of hate and extremist-islamist-jihadi supremacy to be erected, would be a crime against our forefathers who prayed to god that they would never see a day when we relinquished our sovereignty to a foreign power.
Well, patriots, we know that our freedom comes at a price, and if there was any time to make a sacrifice in the name of freedom it is now. We don't need the government to intrude in our affairs and regulate who can and cannot build a structure in our city. But it is OUR responsibility-- it is WE THE PEOPLE that have to take a stand against terror! Patriots, come to the rally at Ground Zero tomorrow on 6/6 to honor the memory of 9/11's bravest fallen victims and Stop the Islamization of America! I don't care if you have to drive from Maine or Montana, and if you only have to pass through the Holland Tunnel then you had better be there!
Do you want to support an international symbol for Islamic conquest or the rule of Sharia law (a system that denies free speech and the legal equality of all people)? No? Good. Then I'll see you there. Unless you'd rather be at home commemorating the 13 terrorists that tried to destroy your liberty.
Stand Tall Patriots,
SP
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Paine
The Constitution of the United States is not a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book! It laid down the laws for our country and the Supreme Court must be its enforcers. If we wanted them to make revisionist interpretations we'd ask them to sit down with some Sharpies and have at it. That's not the job, and only a few of them get it. I guess we could never have expected Nobama to replace the most liberal judge in history, Judge Stevens with a moderate, but we really can only speculate as to the leanings of Kagan based on her sparse record. But I suppose, despite what her softball pic indicates, that she bats Lefty.
