Opinions, ideas and political affiliations aside. Shakemyhead blog will be a very honored participant in Project 2996 which honors all 2,996 victims of 9/11. Participating blogs will write a rememberance for one of the victims. I will be writing my rememberance the week of 9/11 starting on that Monday the 7th. Please read about this very important project and help keep the memory of the victims alive and fresh in our minds. As a native of the area and a military veteran, this project is very important to me and I am very honored to be a part of it.
There is something to be said about hypocrisy. It's evident throughout politics but maybe because it's so fresh in the collective mind of Americans, it stands out more regarding Democrats. They protested, disrupted, defied EVERYTHING the Bush Administration did. To the point of blocking reform to sub prime lending which ultimately caused the housing crisis. Now all of the sudden, protests and opposing tyrannical Government spending is "un-American."
"What the Democrats are missing here is the level of national unrest felt by people of all points of view and party affiliations over the accumulation of massive national debt in only six months of Democratic Party and Obama administration leadership. There is something unsettling to the national psyche, with overnight takeovers of car companies, banking interests and private health care, and an un-stimulating stimulus programs costing hundreds of billions being passed in a flash, all in the name of good government.
Citizens are particularly unhappy that these measures sometimes reach 1,000 pages and are admittedly unread by their elected representatives. Insult is added to injury when President Barack Obama dismisses legitimate grass-roots concerns about his health care plan as “Astroturf.” It’s certainly not helpful for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to call such questioning “un-American.” No wonder the most recent (July 24-27, 2009) NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Congress’s approval rating at 24 percent, with 63 percent of respondents disapproving. Don’t be surprised to see the approval number drop further this month."
Can Obama and the administration please respond with facts? They just keep spouting off the same rhetoric to silence the opposition. I agree, we need some form of health care reform but can we get real about the cost? What good is reform if it bankrupts the country? Everyone seems to think that since the Government doesn't make profits that they don't watch the bottom line. Either they ration health care or we pay enormous taxes, let's be honest about that.
The more they respond and lash out at the opposition the more I think they are trying to deflect the attention away from the huge costs of their plan. I am skimming through HR 3200 and will post some things that stand out. I have noticed a typo already though (SEC. 154). LOL.
Click here to read about Obama and his obsession with anyone who dares question his policies. G-d damn America (says his mentor) with a cumbersome and bureaucratic health care system that will bleed tax money like every other huge Government program.
Can Obama really blame the Bush administration for the economy? Never mind the fact that he promised change and all he seems to be capable of is spending our way out of debt (wait that won't work). He's taking advantage of the fact that most Americans don't understand the time frame of economics and who is really to blame. First, the economy is a slow moving beast. Many consequences are not realized for years and decades after the fact. With this in mind, any actual and organic economic recovery can be attributed to actions years prior. So when Obama talks out of both sides of his mouth and says he inherited this economy but it's slowly recovering because of his stimulus plan, he is wrong. How can the economy be recovering from the stimulus? He has stated they have used less than 3% of the stimulus money. Also, he didn't inherit this economy...Bush did. What was the catalyst for the economy downturn? The housing market. The housing market did a boom then a bust forcing a snowballing of recession. Who is to blame for the housing market? DEMOCRATS!!! In the late 90's democrats championed entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, allowing them to buy up sub prime mortgages to allow lenders to keep issuing loans to unqualified people. This is about the time that owning a house was considered a right and not a privilege. Republicans tried to stop this through Bush's administration but were shut down by the powerful democrats who had monetary interest in the ballooning profits of FM & FM. So this caused the housing market to crash and it's Bush's fault?? To ignorant people I guess it is. Keep blaming Bush, that will work out for you Obama. Here's something he can't assign to another president...THE TAXES WE WILL SEE STARTING 2011 BECAUSE OF HIS BIG GOVERNMENT AGENDA. Make no mistake about it folks. Anyone who can't see the desperation motive behind Obama's blame game is brainwashed.
Thursday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele responded to DNC smear tactics,
“We saw this sort of vitriolic rhetoric this past April when Democrats smugly dismissed grass-roots protests against their out-of-control spending,” Steele wrote of the DNC statement. “These tea parties were ruthlessly mocked by the liberal elites and the mainstream media.”
“Now as public support for the Obama Democrats' government-run health care plan unravels, they're using this fear-and-smear tactic to silence ANY American who disagrees with their risky scheme to nationalize one-fifth of our economy and limit your health care choices. It's a page out of their standard playbook of name calling and outright lies to stifle all debate,” Steele continued.
If you can't dispute them, mock them and they'll go away. Make them look like fringe lunatics and no one will take them seriously. Nice try DNC but we know better...fear and smear, FAIL.
Does anyone remember the democratic approach to politics from 2000-2008 (more so 2000-2006)? They were intent on defying ANYTHING that came out of G.W.'s mouth. One glaring double standard would be G.W's passing of the Patriot Act. Now, at the time...democrats questioned why it was needed so fast and claimed that republicans pushed it through quickly, using 9/11 as a means of avoiding scrutiny. Fast forward to 2009, Obama claims that Health Care must be pushed through quickly, now, it's imperative. Why? We should quickly pass through a cost that will equal a significant fraction of our economy without reading, debating or questioning? DOUBLE STANDARD.
Now, on to the attempts to marginalize republicans. Look at the latest from the Democratic National Committee:
"Statement from DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse on the Republican Party and Allied Groups’ Mob Rule:
The Republicans and their allied groups – desperate after losing two consecutive elections and every major policy fight on Capitol Hill – are inciting angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country.
However, much like we saw at the McCain-Palin rallies last year where crowds were baited with cries of 'socialist,' 'communist,' and where the birthers movement was born – these mobs of extremists are not interested in having a thoughtful discussion about the issues – but like some Republican leaders have said – they are interested in ‘breaking’ the President and destroying his Presidency.
These mobs are bussed in by well funded, highly organized groups run by Republican operatives and funded by the special interests who are desperately trying to stop the agenda for change the President was elected to bring to Washington. Despite the headline grabbing nature of these angry mobs and their disruptions of events, they are not reflective of where the American people are on the issues – or the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful discussions taking place around kitchen tables, water coolers and in homes.
The right wing extremists’ use of things like devil horns on pictures of our elected officials, hanging members of Congress in effigy, breathlessly questioning the President's citizenship and the use of Nazi SS symbols and the like just shows how outside of the mainstream the Republican Party and their allies are. This type of anger and discord did not serve Republicans well in 2008 – and it is bound to backfire again." Full story provided here
They use words like extremist, angry mob etc. to marginalize the will of conservative people. It's a way to discredit any opposition to health care reform. Why do they have to do this? Because Obamacare is failing and on the verge of ruin. The administration is having a hard time selling it not only to republicans but fiscally conservative democrats as well. Independent budget estimates and forecasts contradict everything the administration says. Also, make no mistake about it, the goal is to rid the system of private insurance. Obama has stated this, which is why the White House felt it was necessary to have Linda Douglass attempt to "debunk" video evidence of Obama stating his ultimate goal was to get rid of private insurance. SPIN IS IN FULL FORCE FOLKS. Don't fall into their traps and attempts to marginalize and discredit the opposition.
What? That was my initial reaction when I read former President Bill Clinton was in N. Korea. "Oh, he's negotiating the release of those two journalists." That was my second thought. He did a good thing. I'm glad the journalists were released but what about the bigger picture? What does this mean in the constant ebb and flow or fierce rhetoric between the U.S. and N. Korea? Will the White House turn this into a victory for the "diplomatic" democrats in contrast to any former axis of evil talk? Wasn't it just a few months ago, Obama was talking tough with N. Korea over missile testing and launching? Disappearing news stories baffle me. This story is only quasi-weird until you read about reports saying Clinton had a message from Obama and then Gibbs denied it. Hopefully it was just a private visit of mutual interest that won't affect our stance on N. Korea. But of course, our enemies are just a product of G.W. so forget it.
Both have criticized the President (Obama and G.W. respectively) in the same manner, so why does one receive villain treatement and the other received hero treatment? In 2005, Kanye West stated (unscripted) on-air during a Katrina relief benefit program that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Despite the fact that he blamed one person for a natural disaster, years of ignoring a problem city officials were aware of, and the local government's delay in requesting federal assistance...West was seen as a guy "telling it like it is" according the the media.
Glenn Beck on the other hand, is trashed by the liberal media and some have called for him to be fired. For what? Giving an opinion? Based on the context of the debate (Gates/Crowley incident) some might feel Obama favored one side (of a local issue mind you) without even understanding the other side. What president weighs in on local issues in that manner? None, hence why a perceived bias was mentioned. Now, is Obama racist? Who knows. It may be just as ridiculous as stating George Bush doesn't care about black people...but the media handles the statements completely different. The first step to recovery is admitting there is a double standard.
More on Glenn Beck later on but this is business as usual for leftist bloggers. If you can't dispute what the man says, well just poke fun at him to discredit him. His rant over Van Jones checks out. Of course, as Jones gained some political success he morphed into the mainstream, but does the person or better yet...the agenda ever really change?
The left just mocks Beck's fact spewing. That's the best defense "if we make them look like loonies, no one will believe them." Funny how for 8 years of the Bush Administration the left dug up conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory to paint a web of collusion. Now, pulling up facts that question the reasoning of the controlling party is considered politically juvenile and should be dismissed as being an obstruction to "progression."
Democrats are hoping for bi-partisan support to allocate billions more into the Government's "Cash for Clunkers" program. Is this program really helping the auto industry? Is it really green? Well, the answer to the first question is no. Temporarily it might help but this growth is not organic industry growth and is a back door stimulus. The answer to second question is no. Cars turned in for more "fuel efficient" ones are scrapped...what's green about scrapping thousands of cars?