"Freedom is not created by government nor is it a gift from those in political power. It is, in fact, secured more than anything else by the limitations placed on those in government." -Ronald Regan- That is what we have to do now....we must place limitations on those in political power and say we will not become slaves and wards of the state but we will have our freedom.
July 22, 2009
June 11, 2009
$1 Trillion Later, What Does Obama Have to Show? Nothing
$1 Trillion Later, What Does Obama Have to Show? Nothing
| Wednesday, June 10, 2009 11:27 AM By: Dan Magru |
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The bailout. The stimulus. Porkulus. Three different words to say the same thing: the Obama plan to take your money.
Back in January when President Obama first took office, we heard that the economy would collapse if we didn't give Obama almost $1 trillion immediately.
While the United States has not fallen into utter oblivion, we must take a look at the type of logic Obama is using.
He is injecting himself into the U.S. economy and creating a causal relationship, meaning that he is the cause for things happening. The economy is safe because we gave Obama money.
Well, what if I said that unless taxpayers give me a $1 trillion, the sun will not rise tomorrow. If the U.S. government handed me a check for a $1 trillion and the sun came up the next day, I could say that the sun came up because I was given $1 trillion.
Doesn't make sense? Well, it's not supposed to, and neither does Obama's logic. So far, the U.S. economy has avoided utter collapse. That very well may have been the case if U.S. taxpayers didn't fork over almost $1 trillion to Obama in his first month as president.
The truth is, we'll never know. Obama is convincing people left and right that he is driving the economy instead of American ingenuity. Obama wants to tell you that he is saving the housing market, when it is American ingenuity that is finding ways to sell homes and restart the housing market.
Some people think Americans can't solve their own problems. Those folks say America needs an all-powerful, expansive government to do all of the heavy lifting for them. Remember, because of Obama's stimulus, he has put Americans back to work.
Hold it right there. When Obama came into office, unemployment was 7.1 percent. Last week, the national unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent, a 32 percent increase from January and a new 25-year high.
To be fair, the economy has been in recession and that problem was not created by Obama. But Obama was supposed to stop the bleeding, not let us bleed 32 percent more. If Obama wanted the money to save the economy, then it's his responsibility to perform.
The next question you might ask is, if Obama had almost $1 trillion to spend to put people back to work, what happened.
According to the government's Web site — recovery.gov — only $37 billion had been spent by May 22, a good portion of which went to Social Security recipients, selective tax relief, and social programs.
When the stimulus package was launched, I remember Obama and Vice President Biden made the public relations rounds with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, all touting the creation of 200 jobs here, 100 jobs there, selling the American people that the stimulus was the right thing to do.
The fact is that those early jobs created by the PR tour were just that, jobs created for the Obama-Biden PR tour. When you ask about all of those shovel-ready projects that the stimulus was supposed to fund, the only answer that you will find is, we're working on it.
Most of the almost $300 billion going directly to the states that was supposed to be used for creating jobs is on its way to existing government programs in healthcare, unemployment benefits, food stamps, and other social services. Apparently government bureaucracy knows what is best for the American people, and that's why they are getting the money.
So how much of that $300 billion is going for Obama's shovel-ready infrastructure projects in transportation, airports, highways, and rail projects? A paltry 15 percent, according to the Federal Funds Information for States, a service of the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Of that 15 percent, much of that is back-loaded towards the end of Obama's administration in 2011, according to a recent report by the president's Council of Economic Advisers.
There was no hesitation on behalf of the Obama administration to divert billions of taxpayer money towards social programs. Those were shovel-ready from the get-go. But the jobs that would go to hardworking middle-class Americans, the infrastructure projects that would put construction workers, engineers, architects, craftsmen, manufacturers, and American men and women back to work, those jobs aren't around. The administration is still working on it.
In fact, so little jobs have been created that the administration has launched a new initiative to find someone who has a job created by the stimulus. They want to find those people so that they can tell their story. But what America must remember is that the story of one job doesn't put food on the table for the millions who are out of work. Taking someone out on the PR tour doesn't put honest American men and women back to work.
What will put Americans back on track is repairing what's hurting in America. If the government wants to spend money, then why not spend it on the automotive industry that affects every single American. Why not retail? Why not housing?
If Obama wants to spend money to repair America then at least he should spend it in the right place. Instead of closing down and abandoning auto factories, why don't we provide tax incentives for companies that want to refit and use them for another industry? Why don't we give a $5,000 tax credit for every new car purchased in America regardless of price?
If saving the economy was the top priority, then why doesn't Obama give an instant 10 percent tax credit on every single home purchased in the United States?
These are more effective ways for the government to jump-start the economy and put people back to work.
A company that buys an old Chrysler factory to refit the equipment for their industry puts U.S. manufacturers, equipment makers, laborers, craftsmen, all back to work.
Jump-starting the auto sector with a $5,000 tax credit for every new car purchased puts salespeople, dealers, managers, manufacturers, suppliers, all back to work. A 10 percent housing credit puts realtors, mortgage brokers, construction workers, engineers, architects all back to work.
Obama promised that he will increase spending in his stimulus and will create 600,000 new jobs. If I had a nickel for every promise from a politician I would probably have more money than our almost $1 trillion stimulus.
We learned that the only thing that was shovel-ready for the American people was rhetoric. We were fed a load of it, and ate it all up. We listened to the rhetoric, we listened to the PR tour, and in the end what we got was change, not change we can believe in, but change we had to swallow.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Obama Breeds Climate of Hate Against Jews
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And if his views are not vigorously opposed they will help create a danger as great as that posed by the Nazis to the Jewish people.
Just last week, Obama told his worldwide audience — more than 100 million people — that the killing of six million Jews during the Holocaust was the equivalent of Israel’s actions in dealing with the Palestinians.
This remark is incredible on its face, an insult to the six million Jews who died as a result of Hitler’s genocide — and it is a form of revisionism that will bode evil for Jews for years to come.
While Obama acknowledged that “six million Jews were killed — more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today” — his discussion about the Holocaust was followed by this statement: “On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland.”
“On the other hand . . . ”?
Obama’s clever construct comparing the mass genocide of six million Jews to the Palestinian struggle will not be lost on the estimated 100 million Muslims who tuned into to hear him.
Perhaps it was not lost on James W. von Brunn, the 88-year-old white supremacist identified as the alleged attacker Wednesday at the Holocaust Museum. He apparently felt that he could easily take retribution against the Jews for the atrocities Obama implies they are guilty of.
At first blush Mr. Obama’s speech seemed rosy, optimistic — one that espoused tolerance and understanding.
If you scratch the surface it is a dangerous document that history will view as a turning point for America and Israel — one that will lead to dangerous times ahead for both Jews and believing Christians.
The immediate danger posed by Obama’s speech is in its incredible re-writing of the history of Jews, Christians and Muslims from Medieval times to the present.
Obama, continually throughout his speech, talks of Islam’s peaceful intent. And while there are certainly Koranic verses that support this interpretation, Islam has a long and bloody history of violence against fellow Muslims, Jews and Christians.
Has Obama not heard about the Muslim’s violent conquest of the Middle East, Spain and half of Western Europe? Was he never taught that the Crusades sought to turn back this Muslim onslaught that demanded subjugated populations convert or die?
In his almost hour-long speech, there is not a single word about Islam’s well known and checkered past.
Ironically, the American president offered plenty of references to what he sees are America’s evils, such as its “colonialism” and history of slavery.
“For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation,” Obama told his audience, citing a litany of American shortcomings. He failed to mention that Arab Muslims were the greatest slave traders in the history of humanity.
According to Obama, Israelis, too, are guilty of wrongdoing, especially when it comes to their supposed maltreatment of the Palestinians.
Isn’t it odd an American president would go to a foreign country and slander his own country and its long-time ally?
At the same time he praises — unconditionally — a religion and culture that has a long history of being antithetical to the very values that have made America a great nation?
Mr. Obama even has the unbelievable gall, when talking about the treatment of Muslim women, to condemn Western countries for attempting to stop Muslim women from using the full facial cover, or hijab. This is a symbol of Muslim subjugation of women.
Listen to what Obama said: “Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit - for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear.”
And Obama not only ignores the gross subjugation of women in many Arab societies — he does not mention even once the almost total religious intolerance throughout the Muslim world against Christians and Jews.
In his speech, Obama’s only plea for Muslim women living in Muslim countries is that they should be afforded an education.
How about a discussion of the beheading of Arab women for “crimes” such as adultery? How about the malicious treatment of women in Muslim countries who choose not to wear the hijab?
Obama insists that Islam has promoted tolerance and that in Islamic societies such ideals have flourished.
Obama claimed that “as a student of history” he understands more than most the truth about “civilization's debt to Islam.”
He added, “And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.”
Does he not know that a Jew or Christian would be beheaded in Saudi Arabia for practicing their religion today, now, this minute?
Of course, Obama offers not one example of where religious freedom is truly tolerated in the Muslim world. Yet, he proudly told his audience that in every state of the union and throughout the U.S. there exist more than 1,200 mosques.
But why, Mr. President, is there no Christian Church or Jewish synagogue operating within the borders of Saudi Arabia? Not even one.
Why in many countries, including your host Egypt, Christian churches have suffered vicious and continual persecution? Why is a once vibrant Cairo Jewish community — a home for the likes of Maimonides — today practically extinct?
Why, dear president, has the ancient Christian community in the West Bank and places like Bethlehem been almost completely wiped out by the modern Muslim onslaught?
“On the other hand,” to quote you Mr. President, you avoided mentioning some other truths.
Let’s start with the Israeli Arabs who can claim one of the highest standards of living in the Arab world. Indeed, they have more rights than Arabs in any Muslim country, their religious freedom is completely protected, and they even vote in free elections.
Tell me what Muslim country matches Israel’s record in protecting its minorities?
Even Arabs in the West Bank, during the time of Israeli control, saw their standard of living rise dramatically. Today, Arabs there are among the best educated in the world, thanks to Israel.
In your revisionist view, Israel has acted to harm these people. But it was not Israel that could not abide by United Nations resolutions clearly setting borders for both the state of Israel and an entity that had never existed before named Palestine.
You cleverly omitted any discussion of these facts, or the continual attacks against the state of Israel over six decades by its Muslim neighbors. Nor is it the Israelis who persecute from time to time the Coptic Christians of Egypt.
No, Mr. President, I do not accept your assertion that you are seeking religious tolerance or that you are seeking to protect Jews. I do not accept it because you are inventing a false history to fit your own agenda.
Mr. President, I am deeply disturbed that you would offer such a distortion of truth in the hopes of creating a lasting peace. A lasting peace cannot be created out of lies, distortions and half truths.
You profess to be a Christian. But you seem more intent on protecting Muslims. In your speech you talked openly of your Muslim heritage, your admiration of their way of life, and so forth. You said in your speech that you have made one of your chief aims of your presidency repairing the image of Islam.
Why did you hide these views from the American public during the recent presidential campaign?
Why, as president, did you fully bow to the Saudi king, who refuses to allow any religious freedom for any Christian or Jew?
You have made clear, by your words and assertions, that you are re-positioning the United States away from Israel, America’s lone democratic ally in the Mid-East.
You have made clear through your statements and those of your minions that Israel should, under no circumstances, prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
And yes, you have promised to retaliate against Iran if it ever attacks Israel with nuclear weapons.
But you know full well that if Iran succeeds in its admitted goal of “wiping the Jewish state off the map” — and hits this tiny nation with nuclear warheads — there will be no Israel for the U.S. to retaliate on behalf of.
Some Jews may be naïve, but we are not stupid.
Rabbi Dr. Morton H. Pomerantz is a member of the Reform movement of Judaism and serves as a chaplain for the State of New York. A former Navy and Marine Corps officer and chaplain, he has also served as deputy national chaplain for the Jewish War Veterans of the United States.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Bernanke to Congress: Stop the Spending.
Bernanke to Congress: Stop the Spending
| Wednesday, June 3, 2009 11:14 AM |
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WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sounded a cautiously upbeat note on the U.S. economy on Wednesday but warned that corralling government debt was vital to ensuring the nation's long-term health.
In testimony to Congress, Bernanke sounded more confident that the U.S. recession would end this year than he had just one month ago, and he said the risk of a dangerous downward spiral in prices had receded.
Delivering a message that appeared aimed at soothing jittery financial markets and reassuring foreign investors that the United States would get a grip on its budget once the economic crisis has passed, Bernanke said rising deficits posed a significant long-term threat.
"Maintaining the confidence of the financial markets requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance," Bernanke told the House of Representatives' Budget Committee.
"Unless we demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth."
He said rising debt was contributing to a jump in longer-term interest rates. However, he gave no clue as to whether the U.S. central bank would step up its purchases of government and mortgage-related debt to keep rates low, something investors have been watching for.
Financial markets largely shrugged off Bernanke's testimony, with weaker-than-expected economic data driving prices for U.S. stocks down and Treasury debt up.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said big deficits are a necessary evil while the economy is suffering from the credit and housing market busts, and that once the crisis has passed, the focus will shift to shoring up the fiscal position.
That is a critical issue for countries such as China that hold hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. government debt. If the United States is unable to control its long-term deficits, it could weaken the dollar and drive up inflation, hurting the value of those dollar-denominated assets.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, on his first visit to China as Treasury chief this week, sought to reassure Beijing that the United States was committed to living within its means.
Sources in China, Japan, India and South Korea told Reuters central banks in those countries, which together control about half of the world's foreign exchange reserves, would keep buying U.S. government debt even if the United States' sovereign credit rating were cut.
'FAINT WARNING BELLS'
While offering a rosier assessment of the economy, Bernanke acknowledged that even after a recovery gets under way, growth would likely remain below its potential for a while.
"We now are on a process of slow and gradual repair, both in the financial system and the economy," he said. "We averted, I think, a very, very serious calamity."
He said financial markets had improved, thanks in part to the Fed's efforts to restore lending, but he also took note of the recent spike in yields on longer-term Treasury debt and fixed-rate mortgages, which some analysts worry could choke off an economic recovery.
"These increases appear to reflect concerns about large federal deficits but also other causes, including greater optimism about the economic outlook, a reversal of flight-to-quality flows, and technical factors related to the hedging of mortgage holdings," Bernanke said.
The Fed has committed to buy up to $300 billion in Treasury debt and $1.45 trillion in mortgage-related debt, but some economists have called for even more purchases to counteract the rise in interest rates.
Representative Paul Ryan, the top Republican on the panel, said the rising bond yields were "telling us that there is no free lunch," and cautioned that the combination of huge debt issuance and central bank buying could be dangerous.
"The Treasury is issuing debt and the central bank is buying it," Ryan told Bernanke. "It gives the alarming impression that the U.S. one day might begin to meet its financial obligations by simply printing money."
That could trigger inflation, and Ryan said there were already "faint warning bells" of inflation going off as evidenced by a weaker dollar and rise in gold prices.
Bernanke said he didn't think inflation was currently a concern, even as he said deflation risks had lessened. He said even with a recent jump in the price of oil and other commodities, cost pressures "generally remain subdued."
"As a consequence, inflation is likely to move down some over the next year relative to its pace in 2008. That said, improving economic conditions and stable inflation expectations should limit further declines in inflation," he said.
© 2009 Reuters. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
June 05, 2009
June 04, 2009
CNN Poll: Bush, Cheney Popularity Grows
CNN Poll: Bush, Cheney Popularity Grows
| Wednesday, June 3, 2009 1:48 PM By: Jim Meyers |
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George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are more popular now than they were soon after they left office, a new poll of Republicans reveals.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey found that 41 percent of respondents have a favorable impression of former President Bush, up from 35 percent in January.
Former Vice President Cheney's approval rating is 37 percent in the new poll, up 8 percent since February.
Cheney "seems to have burnished his image with his recent media appearances," The Hill newspaper observed.
The poll also disclosed that there is no clear front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee led other potential GOP candidates with 22 percent of the votes from registered Republicans polled, but both Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were right behind with 21 percent.
"The Republicans have three very well known candidates," said CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider.
"No one is a clear favorite among the three. The race appears to be wide open at this very early date."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich got 13 percent of the votes in the survey, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush got 6 percent, and 10 percent said they would most likely back someone else.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Obama Quietly Proclaims June 'Gay Pride Month'
Obama Quietly Proclaims June 'Gay Pride Month'
| Wednesday, June 3, 2009 9:03 PM |
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Seeking to boost himself with the Democrats gay voting base, President Barack Obama is proclaiming June to be "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month."
"I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans," Obama says in the proclamation.
"As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected," he adds, calling on Congress and the American people to "work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The administration is also making gay rights a pillar of its foreign policy. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged Monday to fight for gay rights and called on the world to stop discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, according to CNN.
"As secretary of state, I will advance a comprehensive human rights agenda that includes the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity," Clinton said in a written statement.
But though the proclamation can be found through a search on the White House Web site, it does not appear in the usual press or release area of the site, the Christian Post pointed out.
“This is just one more example of Obama's apparent desire to distance himself from the gay community,” wrote one poster on the gay-oriented “Tips-Q” blog site. “This follows the White House's substantial dilution of gay civil rights objectives on the same website.”
What exacerbates this situation and foments frustration is President Obama's failure to adequately address any of these issues. The administration feels that it is necessary to reflect reduced objectives for GLBT rights. Yet they have failed to explain why they have done so.
Christian Web sites nevertheless were quick to pounce on the proclamation and spread it around the Internet.
In the proclamation, Obama mentions the legislative priorities, including overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman and allows states not to recognize gay marriages performed in other states, and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bars gays from serving openly in the military.”
But he doesn’t make any promises on when he’ll do this, nor does he refer to the fact that he has publicly opposed the institution of marriage being used for gay couples.
June was picked to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall protest in New York City that in many ways launched the gay pride movement.
Thanks to that movement, Obama says "more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly than ever before."
Christian leaders are slamming the proclamation. Bob Stith of the Southern Baptist Convention told Baptist Press that the proclamation encourages “pride in what God clearly says is sin.”
“The bottom line," said Stith, who is SBC’s representative for the Task Force on Ministry to Homosexuals, "is that if God defines something as sin, we do no one any favors by attempting to blur those lines. Nor will we be doing future generations any favors by obliterating barriers God has put up for our protection.”
