Vice President Biden Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom

This is just so well deserved for Joe Biden to receive this.

Such an amazing person let alone a public service.

He has spent his life trying to make life better for average Americans.

The ceremony is incredible. It is obvious Biden had no idea this was going to happen. It is also equally obvious the heartfelt sentiment that comes from President Obama awarding this to his "brother."

Both of these incredible, intelligent, amazing, wonderful, thoughtful, kind and compassionate men will be missed.

I strongly recommend you watch the entire video. It's well worth it.

Still the Party of No

Yes, the Republicans are still the party of no. Still the party that criticizes everything President Obama does. You need look no further than an op-ed piece by Senator Rubio in the Post today:

It is shameful that even as Russia attempts to carve up Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s request for weapons, intelligence sharing and other assistance has been turned down by the Obama administration. We also need to deploy additional military assets and even U.S. personnel to our allies, including Poland and the Baltic states.

What happened to rally around the president in an international crisis. The constant carping the Obama is weak because he “allowed” Russia to take over the Crimea. Because the US is viewed as weak in the world (according to Republicans) Putin was embolden to invade Crimea. This of course would never happen under a Republican president. Because a Republican president would put the fear of God in Putin. And Putin would never take invade another state. Because we all know how that “strong” Republican president George Bush stopped Putin from . . . Oh yes that’s right under Bush, Putin invaded Georgia and well he invaded Georgia.

So the perceived strength or weakness of a particular president had little to do with influencing Putin’s course of action. What now has to happen to influence Putin is strong sanctions against Russia. That will influence his next move.

Continuing the party on the party of no. Once again and again and again the refrain that Obamacare must be repealed. Now and only now is there talk among Republicans about coming up with some sort of alternative health care plan. It sounds like the Republican “plan” would keep all the parts of the Obamacare people like: keeping children on a parent’s policy until 26, no denial of insurance for preexisting conditions etc. As for how this would be paid for and implemented well gee there seems to be little if anything on that except for turning more things over to the states.

Turning to immigration reform well that’s dead in the water. Maybe after the election but probably not. You know that’s because any reform is amnesty. Or the other excuse is the border must be secured before anything can proceed. That’s a great excuse to never reform immigration because Republicans can always say the border isn’t secure.

In a push by the Republicans to show they care more for just the rich (yeah I know that’s a stretch), they are suddenly concerned about income inequality. We got some ideas from the resident Republican “genius” Paul Ryan (these come from an interview on Bill Bennett’s radio talk show) which essentially said people are poor because they are lazy. There’s a culture in the inner-city (I guess that’s the only place where poor people are these days not say in the rural south) that promotes a culture of not working. Then the great brain Ryan brought in the book the Bell Curve (which essentially says blacks are genetically inferior to whites). For some strange reason people accused Ryan of his comments having racial overtones. He said no to this that this comments were inarticulate. No Mr. Ryan there weren’t they showed just what type of a person you are.

As always all the Republicans ever seem to do is criticize but ideas are few very few. (And those that are like the concern on poverty are same old things Republicans have been advocating for years just dressed up as new)

Unfortunately because of the disastrous roll out of Obamacare and the weak economy, the Republicans have a change of gaining control of the Senate. It’s time for the Democrats to shine a bright light on Republicans and start asking what they are for and what they propose to solve the problems in the country. I think if this done people will see that there isn’t much in the Republican brain trust at all.

What We Learned from the Republican Shutdown — Obama Stood His Ground

I have to say I found this one a little hard to believe at first. That Obama would stand his ground and not give in on the Affordable Care Act. But the more I read the more it seemed obvious that he would not bend this time. He learned that being accommodating with Republicans only meant they dig their heels in and demand even more.

I'm reminded of something a co-worker used to say: What is it about no did you not understand.

After awhile why didn't the Republicans get that. I guess they thought Obama would cave like he'd done in the past. But at some point they must have realized he was series. Like I don't know the first day of the shut down.

Then the terms on what the Republicans wanted change on the Affordable Care Act. Suddenly there was all this concern from the Republicans about the burden the individual mandate would have on people. (Also the fact the website was having major problems). So the new line was it was "reasonable" to postpone the individual mandate by a year even though enrollment had started. Then suddenly from the mouth of these Tea Partiers was they never wanted the Affordable Care Act repealed but just postponed for a year.

Did Republicans really think people would not see through this for what it was?

I glad Obama did not give ground on the Affordable Care Act. Maybe now negotiations between the Republicans and Obama will exist in the real world as opposed to the fantasy land that most Tea Partiers are in.

To the Very Brink — What We Learned from the Republican Shutdown

I've been thinking about what's happened this past week. I put off doing a post because of all I had to say. Then I thought it might be easier to do a bunch a smaller posts about what happened.

So here goes.

The Tea Party said over and over they didn't want to shut down the government. Well to put it mildly this was a falsehood if not an out and out right lie. On several of the news shows Tea Parties were shown speaking in front of supporters or in interviews saying their goal was to shut down the government. Essentially saying if they didn't get their way that's what they would do. I also remember video of a meeting of Tea Parties chanting like they were at some frat beer chugging contest shut it down shut it down.

The notion that they did not want a shut down simply doesn't stand up to what Tea Partiers themselves said.

Another thing that I thought was very interesting was the Tea Partiers reaction to when the government shut down. They seemed genuinely surprised at some of the things that were shut down. National Parks. Who knew? NIH. Who knew? Kids loosing Head Start money. Who knew?

Gee Congressperson Tea Partier you should have know. Slogans are great. Shut it down. That's great red meat for the people who support you and for raising money. But when reality comes along, it is a little different. Real people were actually impacted. Who knew?

That was the incredibly cynical approach the Republicans took to open parts of the government. As you went through the list of what Republicans wanted to reopen, it was those parts of the government that would cause the Republicans the most embarrassment. People being turned away from memorials, the World War II one being the epicenter of this one. Clinical trials at NIH for people with cancer. The Veterans Administration. All of this to show that Republicans weren't heartless bastards. The fact that they went to these lengths just show how heartless they were. Some people were worth calling back to work everyone else well they could just suffer.

More thoughts a little later.

The Republican Shut Down — No End in Sight

There was a flicker of good news toward the end of the week. Talks were started between the Republicans and the White House. The stock market went up 300 points in one day. There was movement. There was a possibility of a deal. That's what the news reported.

A few days later we are no closer to a deal on the Republican shut down but we are much closer to the fiscal cliff. Much much closer.

We've seen a great deal in the past week. There were the baby and the bully from the Republican Party. The baby is Rep. Marlin Stutzman who said:

Just ask Rep. Marlin Stutzman (Ind.). “We’re not going to be disrespected,” Stutzman told David Drucker of the Washington Examiner. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

You've been disrespected!? What are you 12?

Then there is U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer who confronted a park ranger at the World War II memorial and said she and the Park Service should be ashamed for blocking the vets from the memorial. She should be ashamed over something you caused. Wow just unbelievable.

Then over last weekend we had the Tea Party members of congress fanning out to the talk shows saying that default wouldn't really be all that bad. There were even people who said that by defaulting it would reassure world markets we were taking our debt seriously. Seriously!!!!

Several Tea Partiers were pressed on this view on the news shows. They essentially said they are right and everyone else including most if not all economists were wrong. Once again the denial of reality is stunning.

Speaking of denying reality, Ted Cruz. He said that the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, showing that Republicans were blamed for the shut down by the American people and an overwhelming majority in the poll think Republicans are playing politics on this issue, was in fact wrong. Why is it wrong because they went out and asked a bunch of Obama supporters what they thought not real people. These are the same polls that were "wrong" about Obama being re-elected.

To me what was most interesting this week was when the main stream supporters of the Tea Party finally realized that the Tea Party really could take the country over the fiscal cliff. The sudden movement by the Republican leadership (dropping the main cause of the shut down getting rid or a delaying Obama care went away) was because of this pressure.

I believe the phrase is reap the whirlwind. The Republican establishment saw in the Tea Party a way to go after Obama. As a way to win the House of Representatives and maybe the Senate and maybe even the presidency. They were right on the first one but completely wrong on the other two. The establishment also thought they could control the Tea Party. That the Tea Party rhetoric was just that rhetoric. They were shocked and stun when they couldn't control the Tea Party and that the Tea Party did indeed believe in their rhetoric (and existed in an alternate reality their reaction to Obama winning a second term being a prime example).

Now this Republican establishment is scrambling to blunt the Tea Party. The Post shows how much things have changed:

Trade groups such as the U.S. Chamber are also discussing an unprecedented step: supporting more moderate candidates in primaries. In the past, the groups have gone to enormous lengths to support mostly Republican campaigns — but only to beat Democrats, not other Republicans.

Until this week, many in the business community have been standing on the sidelines, trusting that the GOP, to which it has been allied for decades, would work out its internal squabbling. But with some companies already seeing a drag on their businesses from the shutdown, executives are getting involved far beyond the usual menu of interests such as taxes and regulations.

The article goes on and shows this very ironic (to me) comment:

Dirk Van Dongen, head of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors said he and others are considering ways to counter the impact of “far right groups” that threaten Republican members and their leaders in the House and Senate.

These groups, he said, “severely handicap leadership’s ability to be an intelligent firewall against Obama liberalism.”

Van Dongen is an avowed conservative who backs Republicans. But like other business leaders, he is upset about the brinksmanship strategy of tea party Republicans.

“Leadership and rank-and-file Republicans are scared to death of far-right groups who threaten to challenge them in primaries because they are not 100 percent pure,” he said.

How they did they not realize how dangerous these people were? They didn't care as long as the Tea Party allowed the Republicans to win. As long as the Tea Party could be used as a weapon against Obama. That's all that mattered to the Republican establishment getting back in power and defeating Obama everything and everyone else be damned. 

The moral of the story is: play with fire you sometimes get burned. Only in this case they are not only getting burned they are allowing the fire to burn down the entire country. 

The Hypocrisy of the Republican Shutdown

It would be funny the hypocrisy the Republicans are showing about the Republican shutdown. Trying to blame everyone but themselves for the Republican shutdown. Funny except for the fact of the impact that it is having on real people (as opposed to the Republican member of Congress whose mantra was that no one would notice the government being shut down. Sort of like the way they believed all the polls in the last election were wrong and Romney would win in a landslide).

First off we have to set the scene for the first round of hypocrisy by the Republicans about the shutdown.

The Republican shutdown starts on Tuesday. Every major TV media outlet set up a camera and reporter in front of a monument, National Park or museum that is closed. What better way to show the impact of the Republican shutdown on the country. And every report had a close up of the sign saying this park, monument or museum was closed due to the Republican shutdown.

There were also reports about slow downs at the VA.

In jump the Republicans to fund the National Park Service and the VA but no other parts of the government. As one of the Republicans said who could be against opening the parks. And who could possibly be against helping out our veterans. Wow suddenly Republicans are concerned about ordinary Americans. No not all. What they are concerned about is the bad publicity this brings to them for the Republican shutdown. The pictures of closed parks, museums and monuments show just how stupid it was to shut down the government.

Move on to day two of the Republican shutdown. There are news reports that the NIH has had to cancel enrolling people in clinical trials. Some of these trials involve people with cancer and some of them involve children. I think kids with cancer too. From the Republicans certainly we can fund NIH so these people aren't denied being enrolled in these studies. Yet where was the concern when the sequester caused hundreds of clinical trials to be cancelled. And I assume some of them involved kids with caner. No concern at all then. But when the Republican shutdown closes NIH all of sudden Republican are concerned. Not about the people denied the studies but because once again it shows the impact closing the government has on ordinary Americans. Once again bad publicity for the Republican shutdown.

Finally the most incredibly bit of hypocrisy by the Republicans. They went over to the World War II Memorial and took afront that it was closed. How dare the park service deny these veterans access to their memorial. Well the park service "denied access" because of the Republican shutdown that's why you morons. Your actions caused this to happen.

Of course one of the Tea Partiers blamed the Obama Administration for it. Saying they specifically targeted the World War II Memorial for shutdown. No Congressman you caused this to happen by having the Republican shutdown take place.

Finally the single more hypocritical politican of all Michele Bachmann stands in front of a mic and says they are not going to let these veterans be used as political pawns. Unless of course the Republicans can use them to divert attention from the Republican shutdown.

No matter how hard they try. No matter how hard they try to divert attention to what they've done. There is no way to avoid the fact this is the Republican shutdown period.

Shutdown!!!

Thank you to the Tea Party Republicans for shutting down the government. Thank you to Senator Cruz (who seems to be doubling as the Speaker of the House too) for shutting down the government.

And now that you've done that what is the plan to get the government back up and running. Oh that's right there is no plan to get it back up and running. Just another series of riders attached to the continuing resolution to defund Obamacare or to delay Obamcare or something along those lines that have no change of passing the Senate at all. But as long as we play to the base that's all that matters. To hell with everyone else in the country.

I thought it incredibly amusing last night listening to the Republicans. After the Senate refused to pass a continuing resolution that defunded Obamacare, they came up with the "reasonable" idea of postponing the individual mandate by a year. The only problem with that is the Republicans have no concerns for ordinary people and how Obamacare will impact them. They are trying every which way to kill Obamacare. Why should Democrats go along with this "reasonable" proposal when they know the only goal by the Republicans is to kill the bill.

So the question is where do we go from here. And what's next in the Republican play book.

Oh yes I know on to the debt ceiling debate. And then the Republicans can throw the country over the fiscal cliff. What a grand old party!

To Bomb or Not to Bomb

Yes, that is the question (and here my homage to Mr. Shakespeare ends).

Would a strike do any good? Would it send a message to Assad never to use chemical weapons again? How big of a strike will this be? How come the US is the only country willing to do this? Why do we always play world policeman? Why should we?

Those are the questions that come most immediately to mind when I try and figure out if what Obama is proposing is a good idea or not. And I have trouble because I can answer most of the above questions either way.

Will the strike do any good? I guess it depends on how you defend good in this questions. Will it stop the killing? I think that's an easy one. No. It won't stop the killing. But maybe Assad won't use chemical weapons again.

Then again if there are so many restrictions put on what Obama can do militarily the smart thing for Assad to do is just wait it out. Then go back and do exactly what he did in the past.

Many people are tired of the U.S. being the world's policeman. And we will be very much alone in conducting this strike. If chemical weapons are so terrible where is the rest of the world in helping prepare a strike on Syria for what they did.

Then again the rather round about way Obama is going about this operation might not scare anyone. It seems less and less likely that he will get Congress to pass the resolution. Once again Republicans who were for Obama doing something about Syria last year, have changed their minds now that Obama is actually going to do something about Syria. Good to see the Republicans continue to put party first over country.

The speech on Tuesday might be the make or break on this issue. Will it change enough minds in the House is hard to tell. A preview of it was seen on the weekend political shows:

The president’s arguments were previewed Sunday by his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, who used appearances on every major television network to make a case that appeared tailored to soothe skeptical liberals and foreign policy hawks alike — focusing on the human catastrophe of a mass chemical attack as well as the potential fallout for the United States and its allies if Assad goes unpunished.

McDonough referred repeatedly to graphic videos released Saturday showing what officials said was the aftermath of the Syrian poison gas attack in the Damascus suburbs. And he argued that the lack of a U.S. response would strengthen other American foes, including Iran.

This country is tired of war. It sees this strike as a possible way into another one. Obama's job is to convince people that this strike won't lead the United States into another one. He's got a big job ahead him.

It boils down to bomb or not to bomb. I don't think either option is a very good one.

They’re Listening In, Well Kinda Sort Of

I’ve been thinking about this since the story broke about the NSA collecting data on all of us. But then again there’s nothing to be concerned about. The administration has assured us this is all legal. They informed Congress after all and Congress will monitor the program to make sure it is all legal. I almost fell out of my chair laughing at that one.

Eric Cantor’s reaction shows how concerned everyone should be:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says Congress enacted legislation authorizing broader information-gathering powers in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and it “was done in a constitutional manner.”

But now, Cantor tells CBS “This Morning,” many lawmakers “don’t know what happened and we’ve got to find out.”

Yes, maybe instead of trying for the umpteenth time to repeal the Affordable Care Act you might actually try and do your job. This response is supposed to make me feel better about what the NSA is doing. Here’s the number two Republican in the House and he sounds completely clueless as to what’s going on. I might also add Cantor is a long time supporter of the Patriot Act who doesn’t seem to understand what the damn Act says or authorizes.

There’s an excellent article from the Post that answers some basic questions on what the NSA is doing.

An important point in the article:

The program appears to be based on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the government to obtain business records that are relevant to an ongoing terrorism investigation. That’s a pretty permissive standard, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that Congress intended to authorize information requests relevant to a specific terrorism investigation. Hoovering up the phone records of every person in the United States seems inconsistent with that requirement. We can’t all be terrorism suspects.

The major suppliers (Yahoo being the latest) of this data the phone companies and internet providers are now asking to be able to release more information on what the government asks be turned over:

Yahoo’s call for the United States to allow companies to disclose more information on FISA requests comes after similar calls from Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google in the wake of news reports outlining a National Security Agency surveillance program that uses data from these consumer tech companies. In recent days, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft have also released broad information on how many national-security related requests they’ve received from the U.S. government.

The president has said: also categorically denied that the NSA can listen to U.S. citizens’ telephone calls or target their e-mails without obtaining a court warrant.

The assurances from the government from the president on down don’t really reassure me all that much. This is a massive amount of information that the government will hold on for forever. Who knows what new technology down the road will come along and be able to extract even more information from this data.

If nothing else there needs to be a discussion on just what the NSA is doing. The exact details do not need to be discussed but the general outline needs to be described. This will allow the people to understand exactly what data the government is going after. The line of "trust us" is just not going to work. We’ve been down that road before and it lead to a huge disaster called Iraq. Let’s not repeat the same mistake.

Sequester = Epic Fail

That’s the best way to put what is about to happen. An epic fail on the part of our elected officials. In both parties. In Congress. In the White House.

As the Washington Post in an editorial put it yesterday:

... neither party has staked out anything like a serious negotiating position. Last year, the GOP-led House passed a bill to replace the defense sequester with cuts to funding for Obamacare insurance exchanges, nutrition aid, social service grants and other Democratic favorites. Since then, the Republicans have agreed to postpone the sequester for two months as part of the year-end “fiscal cliff” avoidance deal, but otherwise they seem to have concluded that allowing the sequester is in their political interest. Even ill-advised spending cuts are more base-pleasing than none, apparently.

A plague on all their houses. But probably more on the Republicans than anything else. They just continue to stand for blocking everything proposed by Obama or the Democrats and not coming up with any ideas. They say over and over and over again that the sequester is President Obama’s sequester. Except for one small problem the Republicans in Congress agreed to it. They voted for the provision in the law. So the sequester is just as much their’s as a Obama. But both parties seem to love to act like 10 year olds and play I’m rubber you’re glue.

The most annoying thing is that, as always, this will impact everyone but the politicians. Here’s an idea Congress has been doing less with more for years. It’s time that that is stopped. I think that Congress and its staff should take a 10% pay cut. Then there should be a 10% cut in Congressional staff. Maybe then Congress will get an idea of what the public as a whole has been going through.

But that’s not going to happen. Congress will do what it does best pontificate and “stand up” for their principles while everyone else suffers.

Yes indeed an EPIC FAIL!

Trying to Play Catch Up

It sucks not feeling well. I’ve been having problems since the week before Christmas. In fact everything seemed to start when I flew out to Springfield for Christmas on December 20. My strange pain in my gut or abdomen or wherever it exactly is is still causing me problems. I’m almost sorry it wasn’t an appendicitis. I would have had the operation and at least I would be on the mend. The pain went away for a little while and then I got the office cold/virus or whatever the hell it was. At one point in time everyone at work was coughing or sneezing or both. It was rather gross to be honest. I got over that just in time to go to New York. It was such a great trip and a great break from everything going on here.

Then I got home and the pain in my gut returned. What fun!

In other news on my health, there is an outside chance I might have a hernia. I have an appointment with the hernia guy in a couple of weeks. Hope nothing bad happens between now and then. I have to say I’m glad I changed my deductible on my health insurance for this year. I lowered the amount of the deductible I pay. It means my premium went up but it also means that the insurance kicks in early. After the emergency room visit which cost over $4,000, I’m glad I made the change. Also thankful my insurance “year” goes to the end of April.

Needless to say my plans in January went a little awry. Well actually more than a little. I had a whold bunch of things I was going to start doing when I get back from Christmas but well. I went to the gym a grand total of 3 times for the entire month. I’m hoping I can return to a more normal schedule shortly. I went on Tuesday and had a training session on Thursday of this week. I felt pretty good after training session. Because of that I plan to go to a class tomorrow. Next week I’m going to add in a spinning class on Wednesday. I think slowly gearing up is the best idea right now.

It also meant I fell way behind on posts to the blog. So now I’ll try and play catch up on some topics.

Obama’s Inauguration and Thoughts on the First Term

All I can say how thankful I am that he won re-election and was sworn in. I was impressed with the fact that every once in a while we can do things right in this country. This is one of them. The peaceful transition of power or in this the continuation of someone in office.

Here are a few thoughts on the first term:

• It was good the Affordable Care Act passed. Finally an attempt to rein in out of control health care costs and insure people. Having sat in an emergency room where people were there because they had no other place to go, creating a system where people can get insurance is a really good idea. And the alternative offered by the Republicans keep things the way they were. In other words using emergency rooms as the last resort. I also liked it because I got money back on the premiums I paid to my insurance company.
  
• The stimulus package and the bail out of the auto industry. The stimulus package probably could have been better targeted and should have been bigger but it prevented the economy from going into a deeper recession. And the auto bailout definitely prevented a complete economic collapse.
  
• The repeal of the silly don’t ask/don’t tell policy.
  
• The attempt at the grand bargain on the deficit. Even though it didn’t work. It exposed once and for all what the Republicans goals were. Party first country second.
  
• The reaction to Newtown. I’m not sure there will be any changes to the current gun policy but Obama is going to try his best to see something is done.

The Next Four Years

Well the Republicans have certainly shown that they will not be changing their tune anytime soon. Yes, they’ve made noises on immigration reform. But they are only doing this because of the shellacking they got among Latinos in the last election. The notion that Republicans have come to their senses and are actually doing something good for the country are just silly. This is a move to attempt to win future elections.

Just like all the move to change the way states award votes in the electoral college. It is not to make the results of the election more representative; it’s to allow Republicans to win presidential elections. If they were really interested in a more “representative” and “democratic” process, these “reforms” would be introduced in red states as well. But the only places Republicans are considering these “reforms” are in blue states. Their attempts at voter suppression through voter ID laws having failed, they are now trying this tactic to win elections. Once again party first, country last. (Arthur and I discuss this is the next episode of 2political.)

The sequestration will be the big event in the next month. It looks like the cuts will go into effect. What modest recovery the country is in will be stopped. It’s even possible we’ll go into another recession. On this issue a plague on both parties. Once again politicians play games while the livelihood of the vast majorities of Americans is held in the balance. An epic fail.

That's it for right now. I hope to get back to a normal posting schedule soon.

Sometimes We Do Things so Very Well

I just finished watching the inaugural.

Wow.

Yes, I'm very pleased that my candidate won.

But I'm very proud of the way every four years my country passes power. This show just how great and amazing the United States really is.


Sometimes we really do things so very well. And all of us should be very proud of it.

Staying in for the Inauguration

I decided last week that I wasn't going to go to the inauguration this year. Then I picked up the bug that everyone in the office was passing around and that more less decided for me.

It is also going to be another cold one. I just decided to stay in watch on my couch with Linus and Charlie. After all it will be there first inaugural and they might need someone to explain it to them. It also means I can sleep late, keep warm and eat when I want to. Also finding a bathroom won't be all that much of a problem either. Also next Sunday I'm going to New York so I want to be all well and rested up for that trip.

This time around there won't be as many people. This is line with most other second inaugurals. There are always fewer people. I was at a party last week and several of the people I talked to who'd gone last time were going to stay home this time. It still sounds like the crowds will be huge but most likely about half of what they were last time.

There is also fewer vendors out selling things. In fact I saw very few on the street this week selling buttons and t-shirts and other inaugural items. The picture below shows what four years ago was like.

There was an inaugural store not far from office. I went down to take a look at around lunch time on Friday. It was busy but I thought there would be a line out the door.

I guess the excitement and expectations are down from where they were four years ago. But then again it would be hard to match that level of optimism and hope. A great deal has happened in those four years. Obama has accomplished many things. And many things he tried to do have been blocked by the Republicans simply because they were things Obama proposed.

More on that in another post.

Romney Shows His True Colors Again

Here's what Romney said about why he lost the election:

“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mr. Romney said.

“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” he said. “Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”

“With regards to African American voters, Obamacare was a huge plus,” Mr. Romney said. “You can imagine for somebody making $25- or $30- or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free health care — particularly if you don’t have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 a family, in perpetuity, I mean, this is huge. Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus.”

Well good to see the 47% remark was not a fluke but actually how Romney sees America. Once again we get incredibly condescending remarks from Romney while talking to a bunch of rich people. The rich are the people who make all things happen and everyone else they’re moochers.

How out of touch is this guy?

How out of touch to what every day ordinary people go through in their lives?

Maybe, just maybe Mittens people voted against you for the attitude you just expressed.

Maybe the way the Obama campaign painted you on Bain Capital is exactly the way you are. People are cogs in a wheel and of little or no importance especially if they are the moochers. The only way Obama could get people to vote for him was to give them gifts.

Or here’s another idea maybe you didn’t make the case on why people should vote for you. Maybe you needed to come out of your cocoon surround by Fox News and the far right prattlers and take a look around at the real world. That’s the only reason I can think of that you were completely shocked when you lost.

You lost not because of "gifts" Obama gave voters. You lost because people rejected your idea of if every millionaire becomes a billionaire that's a good thing. You lost because of you and your party's attach on women and Hispanics and just about every other group that wasn't white and conservative. Most of all they you lost because Obama presented a better idea of what the future of this country should and will be.

Finally one more thing Mr. Romney just go away. We've heard enough!

The Downgrade and Beyond

The down slide. The double dip. The double . . .

Pick you term. We’re in trouble. The problems across the sea come home to roost here. The problems in this city come home to roost. S&P down grades. Markets slide.

Wow what a fun couple of days. I’m so glad I never really thought I’d retire. As I always say I’ll be working when I’m dead. And the way things are going that might not be too far from the truth.

What exactly did S&P say in their wonderful down grade message? Here’s a part of it:

The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.

Despite this year’s wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently. Republicans and Democrats have only been able to agree to relatively modest savings on discretionary spending while delegating to the Select Committee decisions on more comprehensive measures. It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options. In addition, the plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements, the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability.

In other words Congress kicked the can down the road and thought no one would notice. I wonder if the Tea Party people are still saying nothing will happen. Oh right that was on default nothing will happen if we default. Well we didn’t default and a whole hell of a lot happened. 635 points in one damn day. One can only wonder what will happen later today.

Who’s to blame for this?

Well I think a large part of it can go to the Tea Party. Holding the debt ceiling hostage. If it had just been raised we probably would not be facing this. But there are other people at fault too. The Democrats for underestimating the Tea Party. Obama for not getting involved in the talks earlier. And then I’d say politicians in general for playing games with the economy. Little if nothing will happen to the politicians.

Once again it’s the average citizen who’s going to get hit while cleaning up the mess.

Wonder if the Dow can loose another 600 points today?

Debt “Deal”

Wow what a mess. No wonder people thing government is unable to solve problems because it seems that it can’t. It kicked the can down the road. Cuts in discretionary spending. No cuts in the programs that really need to be looked at. The programs that will cause the deficit to continue to increase. No realistic look at increase in revenues even through closing tax loops holes.

No focus on jobs as the economy continues to sputter to a near if not complete halt:
Analysts blamed the U.S. markets’ declines on rising worries over the health of the economy, which has come into renewed focus now that Washington has resolved its months-old fight over the country’s borrowing limit.

“I think the market has been surprised by the economic data, and I think they are becoming more concerned about the economic outlook,” said Paul Dales, U.S. economist at the Toronto forecasting firm Capital Economics.

As one commentator said, Congress was able to solve a crisis completely of its own making the debt ceiling crisis. But they are completely clueless in solving the crisis that matters to the average citizens the lack of jobs.

And the way things are going, Congress won’t be looking at that anytime soon.

More on the Debt

There is a great editorial in USA Today this Friday.

The title is: Misinformation mars debt-ceiling battle. It details five myths going around about the debt ceiling. They are:

The debt limit is a blank check.
'Default' warnings are just a scare tactic.
Failing to raise the limit is not that big a deal.
Aug. 2 isn't a real deadline.
All we have to do is tax the rich.

Each topic is covered very well. Some great points are brought out.

I really like how the editorial ends:

As it is, none of the surviving plans on Capitol Hill calls for tax increases or for significant changes in the benefit programs that are driving future deficits. Both are necessary. This suggests one more myth — that debt-ceiling brinksmanship is a good way to bring about needed change or run a country.

I might add one more thing. No matter what happens there will be very limited impact on the politicians but there'll be a huge impact on the rest of us. Because of Congress' inability to act responsibly, the rest of us should not have to suffer because of it.

Even Closer to Default

Another day has passed. Another day closer to default. Another day with nothing done.

House Republican leaders delayed until at least Friday a white-knuckle vote on legislation designed to ease the nation’s debt crisis, after hours of scrambling in vain to lock down the last votes needed for passage.

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters shortly before 10:30 p.m. that there would be no vote Thursday night on the bill, which would increase the federal debt limit in two stages in exchange for major spending cuts.

The vote had been scheduled for around 6 p.m. Thursday, but as that hour neared, GOP leaders realized they didn’t have the 217 votes needed to send the measure on to the Senate.

Another day that we are told once again by the Tea Partiers that nothing will happen on August 2. Things will just go along as usual. This in the face of opinions from every possible political and economic spectrum of the disaster this will cause to our economy. Like all zealots, the Tea Parties dismiss any opinion other than their own as being wrong and lies.

It also shows how little control the Republican establishment especially Speaker Boehner has over them. Even after the get you ass in line comment.

Time is running out. And I don't see how there is enough time left on the clock to get this done.

What happens if/when we default

Everyone seems to think that before the last stroke of midnight on Aug. 2 there will be some sort of compromise and all will be well. The debt ceiling will be raised. Default and near economic collapse will be averted.

My question is what makes anyone think this is going to happen. Who’s going to get the ruby slippers and the wand to make this happen?

There is less than a week.

In fact CNN and the Post have a clock counting down how long we have for the debt ceiling deadline. Based on what has happened in the past, how does anyone believe some sort of compromise is going to be reached. More to the point is there even enough time for legislation to get passed.

Here we are six days out and there is still no bill from either house of Congress. The House bill now won’t be introduced until Thursday. I’m not sure when Reid will introduce his in the Senate. How is there enough time to get this done? Both sides say the other sides bill is dead on arrival.

So once again my question how does anyone think or expect Congress to make this deadline.

On the Road to Default

I thought the adults would take center stage. Well that does not appear to be the case.

I see very little hope that default is going to be avoided. In part because there is so very little time to get this accomplished.

But then again come August 2 nothing will happen anyway. That's what the Tea Partiers say. Anyway who says otherwise is lying because we can pay some things and not others and that will be perfectly fine. Even if rating agencies say they will down grade the status of US bonds. Oh they are lying too. Anyone who doesn't agree with the Tea Party position is wrong or is a liar.

Now returning to reality. In the House:

Boehner’s plan calls for linking increases in the debt ceiling in two stages to about $3 trillion in spending cuts.

The reaction:

Even after the White House expressed strong opposition to Boehner’s proposal Tuesday afternoon and threatened a veto, Boehner forged ahead with his plan for a Wednesday vote despite misgivings in his own party. About 10 House Republicans publicly declared opposition to his plan as too timid in its restraints on spending, and about nine more suggested they were leaning against the plan. Few, if any, Democrats were expected to support his plan, so the speaker could afford to lose only about two dozen of his 240 House Republicans.

You have to wonder how this is going to be passed when Republicans have questions about it.

Obama doesn't get off free in this either. He waited to long to join the debate. Reminds me a little of health care. Only this time the consequences are much higher.

I'm glad I refinanced when I did because interest rates will probably never be this low again on just about anything again. Even if some sort of compromise is cobbled together (at this point in time probably kept together by paper clips, rubber bands and chewing gum), it may not be enough for the markets and credit agencies. In all likelihood the economy and the faith in this country will be taking a hit (actually it already has). It means any sort of a recovery could very well be stopped in its tracks.

Oh but wait that's outside of what the Tea Party believes reality is so I must be lying.