President Obama Weekly Address 013109

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE NATION
January 31, 2009

President Obama "This morning I'd like to talk about some good news and some bad news as we confront our economic crisis.

The bad news is well known to Americans across our country as we continue to struggle through unprecedented economic turmoil. Yesterday we learned that our economy shrank by nearly 4 percent from October through December. That decline was the largest in over a quarter century, and it underscores the seriousness of the economic crisis that my administration found when we took office.

Already the slowdown has cost us tens of thousands of jobs in January alone. And the picture is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Make no mistake, these are not just numbers. Behind every statistic there's a story. Many Americans have seen their lives turned upside down. Families have been forced to make painful choices. Parents are struggling to pay the bills. Patients can't afford care. Students can't keep pace with tuition. And workers don't know whether their retirement will be dignified and secure.

The good news is that we are moving forward with a sense of urgency equal to the challenge. This week the House passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, which will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next few years. It puts a tax cut into the pockets of working families, and places a down payment on America's future by investing in energy independence and education, affordable health care, and American infrastructure.

Now this recovery plan moves to the Senate. I will continue working with both parties so that the strongest possible bill gets to my desk. With the stakes so high we simply cannot afford the same old gridlock and partisan posturing in Washington. It's time to move in a new direction.

Americans know that our economic recovery will take years -- not months. But they will have little patience if we allow politics to get in the way of action, and our economy continues to slide. That's why I am calling on the Senate to pass this plan, so that we can put people back to work and begin the long, hard work of lifting our economy out of this crisis. No one bill, no matter how comprehensive, can cure what ails our economy. So just as we jumpstart job creation, we must also ensure that markets are stable, credit is flowing, and families can stay in their homes.

Last year Congress passed a plan to rescue the financial system. While the package helped avoid a financial collapse, many are frustrated by the results -- and rightfully so. Too often taxpayer dollars have been spent without transparency or accountability. Banks have been extended a hand, but homeowners, students, and small businesses that need loans have been left to fend on their own.

And adding to this outrage, we learned this week that even as they petitioned for taxpayer assistance, Wall Street firms shamefully paid out nearly $20 billion in bonuses for 2008. While I'm committed to doing what it takes to maintain the flow of credit, the American people will not excuse or tolerate such arrogance and greed. The road to recovery demands that we all act responsibly, from Main Street to Washington to Wall Street.

Soon my Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, will announce a new strategy for reviving our financial system that gets credit flowing to businesses and families. We'll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs. We'll ensure that CEOs are not draining funds that should be advancing our recovery. And we will insist on unprecedented transparency, rigorous oversight, and clear accountability -- so taxpayers know how their money is being spent and whether it is achieving results.

Rarely in history has our country faced economic problems as devastating as this crisis. But the strength of the American people compels us to come together. The road ahead will be long, but I promise you that every day that I go to work in the Oval Office I carry with me your stories, and my administration is dedicated to alleviating your struggles and advancing your dreams. You are calling for action. Now is the time for those of us in Washington to live up to our responsibilities."

Facts About The GWBS Scam

From The Emails 013009

Hey folks,

Happy Friday to you. Finally Friday is here. Time to go to the Emails. I love this one. BG sent this in and it is by one of the Leading Experts in Climate, John Coleman.

John Coleman received his Journalism Degree in 1957, and worked as a Weather Man for various TV Outlets. He then founded The Weather Channel, serving as its CEO and President during the start-up and its first year of operation. But then the Kooks started taking over and forced him out. One of the reasons, He would not go along with the Global Warming SCAM. As a matter of fact, Mr. Coleman described the current concern over global warming "a fictional, manufactured crisis, and a total Scam."

In 2008 MR. Coleman gave a speech about GWBS, before the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, blaming the "Global Warming Scam" and Environmentalist Lobby, for rising gas and food prices. He also declared the GWBS Scam "a threat to our economy and our civilization." He is right. Well, here is the piece he just did for KUSI News out of San Diego. KUSI - The Amazing Story Behind the Global Warming by John Coleman

The key players are now all in place in Washington and in state governments across America to officially label carbon dioxide as a pollutant and enact laws that tax we citizens for our carbon footprints.

Only two details stand in the way, the faltering economic times and a dramatic turn toward a colder climate. The last two bitter winters have led tthe public to be skeptical that any runaway global warning. There is now awareness that there may be reason to question whether CO2 is a pollutant and a significant greenhouse gas.

How did we ever get to this point where bad science is driving big government? And how will we ever stop it?

The story begins with an Oceanographer named Roger Revelle. He served with the Navy in World War II. After the war he became the Director of the Scripps Oceanographic Institute in La Jolla in San Diego, California. Revelle saw the opportunity to obtain major funding from the Navy for doing measurements and research on the ocean around the Pacific Atolls where the US military was conducting atomic bomb tests. He greatly expanded the Institute's areas of interest and among others hired Hans Suess, a noted Chemist from the University of Chicago, who was very interested in the traces of carbon in the environment from the burning of fossil fuels. Revelle tagged on to Suess studies and co-authored a paper with him in 1957. The paper raises the possibility that the carbon dioxide might be creating a greenhouse effect and causing atmospheric warming. It seems to be a plea for funding for more studies. Funding, frankly, is where Revelle's mind was most of the time.

Next Revelle hired a Geochemist named David Keeling to devise a way to measure the atmospheric content of Carbon dioxide. In 1960 Keeling published his first paper showing the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and linking the increase to the burning of fossil fuels.

These two research papers became the bedrock of the science of global warming, even though they offered no proof that carbon dioxide was in fact a greenhouse gas. In addition they failed to explain how this trace gas, only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, could have any significant impact on temperatures.

Now let me take you back to the 1950s when this was going on. Our cities were entrapped in a pall of pollution from the crude internal combustion engines that powered cars and trucks back then and from the uncontrolled emissions from power plants and factories. Cars and factories and power plants were filling the air with all sorts of pollutants. There was a valid and serious concern about the health consequences of this pollution and a strong environmental movement was developing to demand action. Government accepted this challenge and new environmental standards were set. Scientists and engineers came to the rescue. New reformulated fuels were developed for cars, as were new high tech, computer controlled engines and catalytic converters. By the mid seventies cars were no longer big time polluters, emitting only some carbon dioxide and water vapor from their tail pipes. Likewise, new fuel processing and smoke stack scrubbers were added to industrial and power plants and their emissions were greatly reduced, as well.

But an environmental movement had been established and its funding and very existence depended on having a continuing crisis issue. So the research papers from Scripps came at just the right moment. And, with them came the birth of an issue; man-made global warming from the carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.

Revelle and Keeling used this new alarmism to keep their funding growing. Other researchers with environmental motivations and a hunger for funding saw this developing and climbed aboard as well. The research grants began to flow and alarming hypothesis began to show up everywhere.

The Keeling curve showed a steady rise in CO2 in atmosphere during the period since oil and coal were discovered and used by man. As of today, carbon dioxide has increased from 215 to 385 parts per million. But, despite the increases, it is still only a trace gas in the atmosphere. While the increase is real, the percentage of the atmosphere that is CO2 remains tiny, about 41 hundredths of one percent.

Several hypothesis emerged in the 70s and 80s about how this tiny atmospheric component of CO2 might cause a significant warming. But they remained unproven. Years have passed and the scientists kept reaching out for evidence of the warming and proof of their theories. And, the money and environmental claims kept on building up.

Back in the 1960s, this global warming research came to the attention of a Canadian born United Nation's bureaucrat named Maurice Strong. He was looking for issues he could use to fulfill his dream of one-world government. Strong organized a World Earth Day event in Stockholm, Sweden in 1970. From this he developed a committee of scientists, environmentalists and political operatives from the UN to continue a series of meeting.

Strong developed the concept that the UN could demand payments from the advanced nations for the climatic damage from their burning of fossil fuels to benefit the underdeveloped nations, a sort of CO2 tax that would be the funding for his one-world government. But, he needed more scientific evidence to support his primary thesis. So Strong championed the establishment of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This was not a pure climate study scientific organization, as we have been led to believe. It was an organization of one-world government UN bureaucrats, environmental activists and environmentalist scientists who craved the UN funding so they could produce the science they needed to stop the burning of fossil fuels. Over the last 25 years they have been very effective. Hundreds of scientific papers, four major international meetings and reams of news stories about climatic Armageddon later, the UN IPCC has made its points to the satisfaction of most and even shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

At the same time, that Maurice Strong was busy at the UN, things were getting a bit out of hand for the man who is now called the grandfather of global warming, Roger Revelle. He had been very politically active in the late 1950's as he worked to have the University of California locate a San Diego campus adjacent to Scripps Institute in La Jolla. He won that major war, but lost an all important battle afterward when he was passed over in the selection of the first Chancellor of the new campus.

He left Scripps finally in 1963 and moved to Harvard University to establish a Center for Population Studies. It was there that Revelle inspired one of his students to become a major global warming activist. This student would say later, "It felt like such a privilege to be able to hear about the readouts from some of those measurements in a group of no more than a dozen undergraduates. Here was this teacher presenting something not years old but fresh out of the lab, with profound implications for our future!" The student described him as "a wonderful, visionary professor" who was "one of the first people in the academic community to sound the alarm on global warming," That student was Al Gore. He thought of Dr. Revelle as his mentor and referred to him frequently, relaying his experiences as a student in his book Earth in the Balance, published in 1992.

So there it is, Roger Revelle was indeed the grandfather of global warming. His work had laid the foundation for the UN IPCC, provided the anti-fossil fuel ammunition to the environmental movement and sent Al Gore on his road to his books, his move, his Nobel Peace Prize and a hundred million dollars from the carbon credits business.

What happened next is amazing. The global warming frenzy was becoming the cause celeb of the media. After all the media is mostly liberal, loves Al Gore, loves to warn us of impending disasters and tell us "the sky is falling, the sky is falling". The politicians and the environmentalist loved it, too.

But the tide was turning with Roger Revelle. He was forced out at Harvard at 65 and returned to California and a semi retirement position at UCSD. There he had time to rethink Carbon Dioxide and the greenhouse effect. The man who had inspired Al Gore and given the UN the basic research it needed to launch its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was having second thoughts. In 1988 he wrote two cautionary letters to members of Congress. He wrote, "My own personal belief is that we should wait another 10 or 20 years to really be convinced that the greenhouse effect is going to be important for human beings, in both positive and negative ways." He added, "…we should be careful not to arouse too much alarm until the rate and amount of warming becomes clearer."

And in 1991 Revelle teamed up with Chauncey Starr, founding director of the Electric Power Research Institute and Fred Singer, the first director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service, to write an article for Cosmos magazine. They urged more research and begged scientists and governments not to move too fast to curb greenhouse CO2 emissions because the true impact of carbon dioxide was not at all certain and curbing the use of fossil fuels could have a huge negative impact on the economy and jobs and our standard of living. I have discussed this collaboration with Dr. Singer. He assures me that Revelle was considerably more certain than he was at the time that carbon dioxide was not a problem.

Did Roger Revelle attend the Summer enclave at the Bohemian Grove in Northern California in the Summer of 1990 while working on that article? Did he deliver a lakeside speech there to the assembled movers and shakers from Washington and Wall Street in which he apologized for sending the UN IPCC and Al Gore onto this wild goose chase about global warming? Did he say that the key scientific conjecture of his lifetime had turned out wrong? The answer to those questions is, "I think so, but I do not know it for certain". I have not managed to get it confirmed as of this moment. It's a little like Las Vegas; what is said at the Bohemian Grove stays at the Bohemian Grove. There are no transcripts or recordings and people who attend are encouraged not to talk. Yet, the topic is so important, that some people have shared with me on an informal basis.

Roger Revelle died of a heart attack three months after the Cosmos story was printed. Oh, how I wish he were still alive today. He might be able to stop this scientific silliness and end the global warming scam.

Al Gore has dismissed Roger Revelle's Mea culpa as the actions of senile old man. And, the next year, while running for Vice President, he said the science behind global warming is settled and there will be no more debate, From 1992 until today, he and his cohorts have refused to debate global warming and when they are asked about we skeptics, they insult us and call us names.

So today we have the acceptance of carbon dioxide as the culprit of global warming. It is concluded that when we burn fossil fuels we are leaving a dastardly carbon footprint which we must pay Al Gore or the environmentalists to offset. Our governments on all levels are considering taxing the use of fossil fuels. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of naming CO2 as a pollutant and strictly regulating its use to protect our climate. The new President and the US congress are on board. Many state governments are moving on the same course.

We are already suffering from this CO2 silliness in many ways. Our energy policy has been strictly hobbled by no drilling and no new refineries for decades. We pay for the shortage this has created every time we buy gas. On top of that the whole thing about corn based ethanol costs us millions of tax dollars in subsidies. That also has driven up food prices. And, all of this is a long way from over.

And, I am totally convinced there is no scientific basis for any of it.

Global Warming. It is the hoax. It is bad science. It is a high jacking of public policy. It is no joke. It is the greatest scam in history.

John Coleman
1-28-2009

I WILL be getting more into this Sunday. He could not be more right. Remember folks, there is NO consensus that Global Warming is anything OTHER than a Scam and Bad Science. Mr. Coleman is far from alone in this belief. Remember those 197 Scientists and others, who issued a document at their 2008 conference known as the Manhattan Declaration stating that GWBS is not a global crisis? We talked about that. There is no REAL Science involved in Global Warming. A bunch of computers spitting out doom and gloom because that is what some have put IN THEM. Garbage in, garbage out.

Thank you BG for sending that in. Thank you VERY MUCH! I applaud Mr. Coleman for standing up for truth and what is right. For BOLDLY coming out and calling Global Warming for what it is, nothing more than a SCAM! One that I have been warning you about for years, that will be a tool to attempt to bring about Tyranny. It is happening, on a Global Scale. It is nothing more than all about power and control over personal and private lives, and of course, money.
Peter

Sources:
KUSI - The Amazing Story Behind the Global Warming

Note: "From The Emails" is a weekly segment in the Friday edition of the OPNtalk Blog. If you care to send in News Articles, Comments, Stories, or anything else you may wish to share, please feel free to send it to opntalk@aim.com As always, you never know what you are going to see here.

The Stimulus Plan?

There is no stimulus in the Plan

Hey folks,

Some of you are wondering what I think of Obama and the Democrat's Stimulus Plan. I do not have much time today, nor will I be here on Monday and possibly Tuesday, I have a VERY busy week coming up, so I do not have as much time as I would like to talk about all the things I want to discuss. However, I just saw this last night that pretty much tells you all you really need to know about this Pork Bill.

THAT is all this is. As the Wall Street Journal puts it, A 40-Year Wish List. Something like twelve cents on every dollar, MAY be argued to be somewhat stimulus. They rest of it is PORK! Here is the Wall Street Journal - A 40-Year Wish List

You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill.

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart. The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic "stimulus," but now that Democrats have finally released the details we understand Rahm's point much better. This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years.

APWe've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There's another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities.

Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus. And even many of these projects aren't likely to help the economy immediately. As Peter Orszag, the President's new budget director, told Congress a year ago, "even those [public works] that are 'on the shelf' generally cannot be undertaken quickly enough to provide timely stimulus to the economy."

Most of the rest of this project spending will go to such things as renewable energy funding ($8 billion) or mass transit ($6 billion) that have a low or negative return on investment. Most urban transit systems are so badly managed that their fares cover less than half of their costs. However, the people who operate these systems belong to public-employee unions that are campaign contributors to . . . guess which party?

Here's another lu-lu: Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles. Congress also wants to spend $7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities. The Smithsonian is targeted to receive $150 million; we love the Smithsonian, too, but this is a job creator?

Another "stimulus" secret is that some $252 billion is for income-transfer payments -- that is, not investments that arguably help everyone, but cash or benefits to individuals for doing nothing at all. There's $81 billion for Medicaid, $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits, $20 billion for food stamps, and $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax. While some of that may be justified to help poorer Americans ride out the recession, they aren't job creators.

As for the promise of accountability, some $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits. These include the Economic Development Administration, the Small Business Administration, the 10 federal job training programs, and many more.

Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that "No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers.

The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future. Democrats insist that it will not. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- to believe that Congress will cut spending next year on any of these programs from their new, higher levels. The likelihood is that this allegedly emergency spending will become a permanent addition to federal outlays -- increasing pressure for tax increases in the bargain. Any Blue Dog Democrat who votes for this ought to turn in his "deficit hawk" credentials.

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.

Not really to much to add here. It's all in the numbers folks. I may have a little more time coming up this Sunday to dive into a little more. But really, there is NO Stimulus in this Bill WHATSOEVER.
Peter

Sources:
Wall Street Journal - A 40-Year Wish List

President Obama Report Card

First week in office grades by Our Country Deserves Better PAC

Hey folks,

I know it's not Friday yet, but I got this in the Emails and found it pretty enlightening. They back what they are saying with links and facts. This is what I mean about the Dream of Obama, and the reality of President Obama and his new Administration. Here it is.

Barack Obama promised "change we can believe in," a new "hope" and "transparency in government" in the days leading up to his inauguration. However, his first week in office has been mired by a series of missteps and failures. The following report card by the Our Country PAC highlights a week in office that reveals Obama hasn't changed at all from the liberal he was in the U.S. Senate and Illinois State Senate.

We've included citation links to support each of the claims made here.

At a time of staggering deficits that require fiscal responsibility from the President and Congress, Obama and the Democratic leadership in the House & Senate are trying to outdo one another in spending more of your tax dollars.

Obama's currently pushing for a $1 TRILLION spending plan that is heavy on big government programs with very little tax relief.

Before he even took office, Obama pressed then-President Bush to request the second $350 billion in federal bailout money. This is despite the fact that the first installment of bailout funds failed to loosen up credit markets as anticipated. Instead, many banks kept the money to pad their own balance sheets, and proceeded to cut credit limits on their customer's bank credit cards.

Obama has placed a desire to "be liked" and to appease America's enemies ahead of our national security concerns. He has emboldened America's enemies and showed a dangerous weakness that some will be sure to challenge or exploit with Obama as Commander in Chief.

First Obama suspended the trials of terrorists being held at GITMO (Guantamo Bay Cuba Terrorist Detention Facility). Then Obama announced that GITMO would be closed altogether within one year - despite not having a plan in place on what to do with the terrorists being held there. Shortly after his announcement a video surfaced featuring two al-Qaida terrorists who had been held at GITMO - but then released. A Pentagon report indicates at least 61 GITMO detainees went on to commit or attempt to commit terrorist attacks after they were released from GITMO. And Obama now foolishly wants ALL detainees released from GITMO.

Obama similarly signed an executive order limiting the interrogation techniques U.S. intelligence officers can use in trying to obtain critical information from terrorists that could save American lives.

Obama also undermined the U.S. War on Terror by appeasing those who have been most critical of the missions of U.S. troops. His first call to a foreign head of state was not to a key U.S. ally (such as Britain or Israel) but instead to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Similarly, Obama's first official interview since becoming president was with a Middle Eastern television network known for broadcasting anti-American tirades, al-Arabiya television.



Barack Obama angered pro-life advocates across the globe when he signed an executive order allowing taxpayer funding of abortions at U.S. facilities around the globe.

While people may differ on abortion policies here in America, it is an affront to pro-life Americans to take their tax dollars and use them to end human life.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week pushed for $200 million in funding for birth control saying, " we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy." Astonishingly, the Democratic leadership was arguing that children are too costly for the nation at this time.

To his credit, Obama did ask House leaders to scrap the funding proposal, but he did not denounce Speaker Pelosi's comments, but instead said it was not the right time for such a proposal- concerned about the backlash from some Republicans on Capitol Hill over the issue,



For all the talk of "change" that Obama pledged to bring to Washington, he has instead surrounded himself with the same Washington establishment figures he had said were part of the nation's problems.

But what's been worse is seeing the controversies surrounding Obama's appointments.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been called a "tax cheat" for having evaded his taxes.

His pick for Commerce Secretary was forced to withdraw his name from consideration after it was announced that he was the target of a federal corruption probe.

Obama's nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder, advocated clemency for 16 FALN terrorists during the Clinton administration and his law firm represents numerous individuals held at the GITMO terrorist detention facility.

And after Obama pledged not to have lobbyists serving in key posts in his administration he nominated an ex-lobbyist to serve as Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Now a lot of this stuff I have been pointing out to you as it takes place. I will continue to attempt to be true to my words and give President Obama a chance to prove me and his other skeptics wrong as time ticks by. As you can see though, just in his first week, he is showing that he IS either going to attempt to swing this country to the Hard Left, or he is showing signs that he really is as ignorant as people say.

Please do not misunderstand me here. I am willing to give him a chance. I DO want him to succeed IF him succeeding makes this country better. I will stand up against his, or anyone else's insanity of attempting to put this country at risk, or change the very foundation on which this country was founded on, for a radical agenda.

So far, just in the first week, as you have just seen, he has DECREASED our country's security, sent mixed signals to our enemies, appointed criminals and radicals to places of power within our Government, and has set in motion a policy that has a VERY strong potential to BANKRUPT this country.

I understand that the Obamaid drinkers will blindly follow whatever they are told and praise him no matter if he is changing this country into a Socialistic Society. I understand that the Mainstreme Media will simple report to you what they are told to. I understand that many in this country will simply remain asleep and attempt to live the Dream that is Obama. But I will continue to watch, inform, and attempt to educate those masses too blind to see what is right in front of them.
Peter

Sources:
Our Country Deserves Better PAC- Website

Energy Independence Equals Bankrupting Auto Industry

Campaign rhetoric and false promises.

Hey folks,

As you all know by now, we have friends over at API and Energy tomorrow. I have been keeping a close eye on the new President and the Obama Administration when it comes to energy and energy independence.

From all the talk that Obama as President would reinstate the Drilling Ban to then him saying he wasn't going to. To some in Congress still pushing him to do so. Then He said he was looking at it, then he wasn't. So on and so forth.

So when I saw this headline from AOL Money & Finance - Obama Pushes for Energy Independence By BEN FELLER, AP, it got my attention. Energy independence is EASY. Drill Here Drill Now. Increase in our refinery capacity and use our own resources. Right?

Well, not according to President Obama. His answer? Bankrupt the Auto industry and attempt to force them to use something that does not exist.

WASHINGTON (Jan. 26) - President Barack Obama took aim Monday at the lofty but long-elusive goal of making the nation more energy independent, ordering reviews that could lead to tougher auto emission standards in states and higher pressure on automakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Believe me, the Automakers ARE working on more fuel-efficient vehicles. The Market wants it. If I can buy a car that gets 40 miles to the gallon, just for pure financial reasons I will buy it. So would most Americans. No need for Government intrusion there.

Attacking a Bush administration policy, Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to re-examine whether California and other states should be allowed to have tougher auto emission standards to combat a build up of greenhouse gases.

Which is completely Bogus.

Obama also directed his administration to get moving on new fuel-efficiency guidelines for the auto industry in time to cover 2011 model-year cars.

"For the sake of our security, our economy and our planet, we must have the courage and commitment to change," Obama said in his first formal event in the ornate East Room of the White House.

Change, change, change, CHANGE IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD.

"It will be the policy of my administration," he said, "to reverse our dependence on foreign oil while building a new energy economy that will create millions of jobs."

WITH WHAT!!!! This is the type of thing that drives me nuts. We HAVE NO ALTERNITIVE ENERGY. We are YEARS away from anything practical that will see reality. YEARS. Most "experts" say ten to twenty years. They do not even know WHAT that is yet, let alone know how to harness it, and make it affordable for all.

California and at least a dozen other states have tried to come up with tougher emission standards than those imposed by the federal government, but Obama said that "Washington stood in their way." The president wants the EPA to take a second look at a decision denying California -- and the other states that want to follow its model -- permission to set tougher tailpipe emission standards.

Folks, all this is, is a way for States to MILK the Auto Industry even more than they do now. Unfair and unproven regulations, taxes, and control. Based on a SCAM. Watch some of these companies shut down and move out.

More broadly, Obama sought to show he was not waiting to put his stamp on energy policy, which has both near-term implications on the sagging economy and long-range effects on pollution, climate change and national security.

"Year after year, decade after decade, we've chosen delay over decisive action," Obama said. "Rigid ideology has overruled sound science. Special interests have overshadowed common sense. Rhetoric has not led to the hard work needed to achieve results -- and our leaders raise their voices each time there's a spike on gas prices, only to grow quiet when the price falls at the pump."

THAT is one hundred percent true. For years we have not allowed drilling, building new refineries, nor seeking Nuclear power, because "Rigid ideology has overruled sound science. Special interests have overshadowed common sense. Rhetoric has not led to the hard work needed to achieve results -- and our leaders raise their voices each time there's a spike on gas prices, only to grow quiet when the price falls at the pump." EXACTLY Mr. President. EXACTLY.

The Clean Air Act gives California special authority to regulate vehicle pollution because the state began regulating such pollution before the federal government got into the act. But a federal waiver is still required; if the waiver is granted, other states can choose to adopt California's standards or the federal ones.

And look at the state California is in based on these Liberal Nut policies. They are asking for a bail out themselves.

In 2007 the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency denied California's waiver request, gaining praise from the auto industry but touching off a storm of investigations and lawsuits from Democrats and environmental groups who contended the denial was based on political instead of scientific reasons.

THERE IS NO SCIENCE in GWBS. Let me rephrase that GW IS Bad Science. There is no REAL science involved.

Obama on Monday directed the EPA to re-examine the decision. That does not yet overturn anything. But still, the states wanting their own power considered it a victory.

"The federal government must work with, not against, states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Obama said. He added: "The days of Washington dragging its heels are over. My administration will not deny facts; we will be guided by them."

Then you will be guided by fools.

California's proposed restrictions would force automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and light trucks by 2016.

At least 13 other states -- Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- have already adopted California's standards, and they have been under consideration elsewhere, too.

Under California's approach, car makers would need to boost fuel efficiency in new vehicles to about 36.8 miles per gallon in the states that chose to adopt the California standards.

Automakers, which sued to block the state regulations, argued that it could require dealerships in some states to limit sales of large trucks in order to meet the standards. They have pushed for a single national standard.

Requiring automakers to build cars that get more miles to the gallon will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the tailpipes of vehicles.

PROOF! They state this as fact. PROOF?

A law passed by Congress in 2007 requires that by 2020, new cars and trucks meet a standard of 35 miles per gallon, a 40 percent increase over the status quo. But the Bush administration did not set regulations in support of that law.

Maybe because it is not feasible, or perhaps even possible.

On Monday, Obama ordered new guidelines in place to start affecting cars sold in 2011.

He also promised a broader, bipartisan review with the auto industry.

Industry officials have also said they would face billions of dollars in new costs to meet the rules at a time when General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have received billions in federal loans to stay afloat.

The Bush administration estimated the federal fuel economy rules would cost the industry more than $100 billion to implement the changes by 2020.

This next line really ticks me off. this is getting to be a habit with Obama. Perhaps he feels that this let's him off the hook, or that it makes someone feel good that they are about to get royally screwed by the Government. Remember what he said to Joe the Plumber?

Joe said:

"I've worked hard . . . I work 10 to 12 hours a day and I'm buying this company and I'm going to continue working that way. I'm getting taxed more and more while fulfilling the American Dream."

Obama said this.

"It's not that I want to punish your success," Obama told him. "I want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too."

But that is EXACTLY what Obama's Tax Plan would do. It will punish those that worked hard and made it. But that is not his intent, so it's OK. Well, he just said this.

"Let me be clear: Our goal is not to further burden an already struggling industry," Obama said. "It is to help America's automakers prepare for the future."

But it WILL burden the Auto industry. More than $100 billion. So this is helpful for the economy? This will solve our IMMEDIATE and REAL Problem? The Economy? Nope.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday will appoint a special envoy for climate change as the Obama administration moves to restore America's credentials in environmental policy, said U.S. officials familiar with her decision.

{Sigh} Either President Obama doesn't get it, or, more than likely, DOES get it, but does not care, because this will be a means to an end. The end being the Government taking over the Auto industry, adding it to the other industries being taken over. But while this is all happening, you will also see Americans paying the price. Loss of jobs, benefits. You will see Auto Prices SKY ROCKET because those who are still in business will have to come up with the money some how to adhere to this stupidity. Is this a sound policy? I think not.
Peter

Sources:
AOL Money & Finance - Obama Pushes for Energy Independence

Why Closing Guantanamo Bay Is Ignorant

Why I also really do not see President Obama Closing it.

Hey folks,

Yeah I know, President Obama signed an Executive Order to close Guantanamo Bay in one year. Yet, he has come right out and said that there are some really bad people there, and he has no plan on what to do with them.

We have heard that something like 60 percent of those released are caught again trying to blow us up. Here is such a case. According to the AP - Released detainee now Yemen al-Qaida commander, by PAMELA HESS

WASHINGTON – A released Guantanamo Bay terror detainee's re-emergence as an al-Qaida commander in Yemen highlights the difficulty President Barack Obama faces in his efforts to close the detention facility and decide the fates of U.S. captives.

A U.S. counterterror official confirmed Friday that Said Ali al-Shihri, who was jailed at Guantanamo for six years after his capture in Pakistan, has resurfaced as a leader of a Yemeni branch of al-Qaida.

"By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for," al-Shihri said in a video posted on a militant-leaning Web site Friday. It was the second time this week a reference to al-Shihri has shown up on the Web site. He was mentioned in an online magazine on Jan. 19 with a reference to his prisoner number at Guantanamo, 372.

Al-Shihri was released by the U.S. in 2007 to the Saudi government for rehabilitation. But this week a publication posted on the site said he is now the top deputy in "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula," a Yemeni offshoot of the terror group headed by Osama bin Laden. The group has been implicated in several attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen's capital Sana.

Do you really want these animals on US soil? Tried in US Courts? Do you really think that our US prisons can deal with them? What do we do with them once we close Club Gitmo?

The second announcement from the site came the day after President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing the closure of the prison at the U.S. naval base in Cuba within a year.

For the Kooks out there. He did it because those that helped get him elected are calling for these "poor innocent people" to be treated like US citizens. The "poor innocent people" that after six years of "torture and their 'Rights' being violated" goes out and becomes a top deputy in "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula,"

That announcement, which carried the video post of al-Shihri, also included a second video of a second militant who identified himself as Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi and claimed he had also been a Guantanamo captive, later released. Both videos were partially translated by SITE Intel Group, an organization that monitors extremist Web sites.

Al-Shihri is one of a small number of deputies in the Yemeni group, the U.S. counterterror official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence. U.S. officials were not available to verify the claims of the second militant who appeared on video.

A key question facing Obama's new administration is what to do with the 245 prisoners still confined at Guantanamo. That means finding new detention facilities for hard-core prisoners while trying to determine which detainees are harmless enough to release.

According to the Pentagon, at least 18 former Guantanamo detainees have "returned to the fight" and 43 others are suspected of resuming terrorist activities. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell declined to provide the identity of the former detainees or say what their terrorist activities were.

It is unclear whether al-Shihri's name would be a new addition to that list of 61.

The militant Web site referred to al-Shihri under his terror nom de guerre, "Abu Sayyaf al-Shihri." The video refers to him as "Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri."

An online magazine posted to the Internet site said al-Shihri is the group's second-in-command in Yemen. "He managed to leave the land of the two shrines (Saudi Arabia) and join his brothers in al-Qaida," the statement said.

Included in the site's material was a message to Yemen's populace from al-Qaida figure Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's top deputy.

According to Pentagon documents, al-Shihri was stopped at a Pakistani border crossing in December 2001 with injuries from an airstrike and recuperated at a hospital in Quetta for a month and a half. Within days of leaving the hospital, he became one of the first detainees sent to Guantanamo.

Al-Shihri allegedly traveled to Afghanistan two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, provided money to other fighters and trained in urban warfare at a camp north of Kabul, Afghanistan, according to a summary of the evidence against him from U.S. military review panels at Guantanamo Bay.

An alleged travel coordinator for al-Qaida, he was also accused of meeting extremists in Mashad, Iran, and briefing them on how to enter Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department documents.

Al-Shihri, however, said he traveled to Iran to buy carpets for his store in Riyadh. He said he felt bin Laden had no business representing Islam, denied any links to terrorism and expressed interest in rejoining his family in Saudi Arabia.

Yemen is rapidly re-emerging as a terrorist battleground and potential base of operations for al-Qaida and is a main concern for U.S. counterterrorism officials. Al-Qaida in Yemen conducted an "unprecedented number of attacks" in 2008 and is likely to be a launching pad for attacks against Saudi Arabia, outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden said in November.

The most recent attack, in September, killed 16 people. It followed a March mortar attack and two attacks against Yemen's presidential compound in late April.

The impoverished country on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula has a weak central government and a powerful tribal system. That leaves large lawless areas open for terrorist training and operations.

Yemen was also the site of the 2000 USS Cole bombing that killed 17 American sailors. Seventeen suspects in the attack were arrested; 10 of them escaped Yemen's jails in 2003. One of the primary suspects in the attack, Jamal al-Badawi, escaped jail in 2004. He was taken back into custody last fall under pressure from the U.S. government.

How many escapes from Club Gitmo? 0. So why was this guy released anyway? You see folks, the DREAM of Obama, coming in and closing that "Torture chamber of Bush" and given these "poor innocent people" US Rights and trying them in US Courts, is just complete and utter Ignorance. They are animals that only exist to kill and destroy. They can not be rehabbed. They cannot be given to those that hate us and want us dead also. They can not be moved to other Prisons because other Prisons can not hold them.

So the REALITY that President Obama must face, is that Guantanamo Bay is VITAL to American safety and security. What he must face is the REALITY of the situation. What does he do with these "people?" How does he judge who will and will not go back to blowing us up and killing Americans? They Lie? Really? You mean they can not be trusted? {Sigh}

To President Obama, I hope you are up to this. I hope you are ready to take FULL responsibility for those that are killed by those that we already HAVE in custody. Because NOW the blood will be on YOUR hands. Now YOU will be responsible for whatever those we have in custody, preventing them from further attacks, do after YOU release them. I hope, President Obama, you are ready for this.
Peter

Sources:
AP - Released detainee now Yemen al-Qaida commander

The Hope Of the Inauguration Speech Is Fading.

Is America starting to wake up?

Hey folks,

YES!!! I saw it. Thank you for pointing it out though. It's not new. For those of you who did NOT let me know about this, President Barack Obama signed an executive order ending the ban on using federal taxpayer money, YOUR money, to fund international groups that perform Abortions or provide information on the option.

Here is an example of what I am talking about.

Dear Peter,

Sadly, what I have been warning you about has come to pass.

Today, in a quiet, low-key ceremony, President Obama, has overturned the pro-life Mexico City Policy.

The Mexico City Policy, which President Bush enacted on his first day in office, was originally established by President Reagan to keep your money from overseas abortion providers.

President Obama campaigned on finding ‘common ground’ on abortion policy, but his first presidential decision to roll back the commonsense Mexico City Policy signals to American taxpayers that the abortion bailout has begun.

It’s unfortunate that President Obama has made subsidizing international abortion groups one of his first priorities, even as abortion numbers here at home are on the decline. America should respond to women's needs in developing countries with real assistance that also upholds their dignity, not by promoting or paying for abortions.

I am disappointed by President Obama’s decision to bypass the will of American taxpayers and promote the radical agenda of Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby.

President Obama tried to pull a fast one on the country by holding a quiet ceremony on a Friday evening when the mainstream media wasn't paying attention. President Obama must know how unpopular the funding of international abortions is, if he is trying so hard to hide it.

Thanks to your support we are able to make sure that the American people know what President Obama is up to! With your continued support we will be able to stop him from giving more money to abortion providers.

For Life,
Marjorie Dannenfelser
Susan B. Anthony List President

The truth of the matter is this, this policy has been instated and reversed by Republican and Democratic Presidents since 1984. Until Abortion is seen for what it is, the Murder of an innocent life, and is outlawed except for the life of the Mother, we will still have it. With a Democrat in office, YOU will pay for it.

Anyway, coming right up today:

This Is Reagan
Obama Is The Anti-Reagan
Black Pastors Are Angry With The Messiah
Hope is Not a Strategy
Political Correctness Stupidity
Health and Science 012509
IWA For Sunday 012509

You see, "Right to Lifers" are not the only ones that are stating to question the "Dream" that is Obama. Black Preachers are ticked off as well. Not only about the Abortion issue, since many see Planned Parenthood as a Racist Organization that is committing genocide on the Blacks, but what he said about us being a nation of NON-Believers.

I'm even starting to hear some people getting angry that some are comparing Obama to Reagan. The fact that some feel this "Historic Speech" equal to the "I have a Dream Speech" of course, proves that he is wise and able to carry this nation into a new tomorrow, just like Reagan did. {Sigh} I'll be discussing all this coming right up.

Obama IS a Dream. A Dream of Hope and Change. The problem with dreams though, is that eventually you wake up. Reality comes in through the window and doors and hits you right between the eyes. Then, even if you try, try as hard as you may, it is nearly impossible to go back to sleep and relive that dream you just had.

It appears that off in the distance, in the mere of the dream-scape, there is this little annoying beeping sound. It is faint. It does not belong in the experience you are having. It is getting louder. Time to wake up?

Be right back.
Peter

This Is Reagan

Transcript of Ronald Reagan's First Inauguration Speech

This speech was delivered to the nation when President Reagan was inaugurated to his first term of office.

Ronald Reagan : Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens.

To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.

Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our republic. The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.

Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.

The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we've had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

We hear much of special interest groups. Well, our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we're sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truck drivers. They are, in short, "we the people," this breed called Americans.

Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this "new beginning," and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America, at peace with itself and the world.

So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government--not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the federal government and those reserved to the states or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work--work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay the price.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.

We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter, and they're on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our national life.

Now, I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your," because I'm addressing the heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.

We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen; and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they're sick, and provide opportunity to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?

Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic "yes." To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I've just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.

In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be slow, measured in inches and feet, not miles, but we will progress. It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.

On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of . . . On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves." Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children, and our children's children. And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.

To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale. As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever.

Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength. Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors. I'm told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I'm deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inaugural Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.

This is the first time in our history that this ceremony has been held, as you've been told, on the West Front of the Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on the city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man, George Washington, father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led Americans out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence. And then, beyond the Reflecting Pool, the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery, with its row upon row of simple white markers bearing crosses of Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom. Each one of those markers is a monument to the kind of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, the Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno, and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.

Under one such marker lies a young man, Martin Treptow, who left his job in a small town barbershop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.

We're told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."

The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.

And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.

God bless you, and thank you.

Obama Is The Anti-Reagan

Reagan: Government is the problem. Obama Government is the answer.

Hey folks,

I just posted the entire Reagan Inaugural Speech. Through the whole Speech, Ronald Reagan spoke on the fact that the PEOPLE were the answer. I encourage you to read the whole thing. Twice if you need to. As a matter of fact he came right out and said this.

"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

We hear much of special interest groups. Well, our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we're sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truck drivers. They are, in short, "we the people," this breed called Americans.

Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this "new beginning," and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America, at peace with itself and the world."

Obama said that Government is the ONLY answer. He said this.

"It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long-term growth. But at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the cycle that is crippling our economy, where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs, which leads to even less spending, where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit."

He Re-enforced this in HIS Inaugural Speech. All he really did was talk about what GOVERNMENT will do. Then he said this.

"Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified."

Reagan all about the people. He said this.

"It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the federal government and those reserved to the states or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work--work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay the price.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.

We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter, and they're on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our national life.

Now, I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your," because I'm addressing the heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God."

Obama? We the Government

"The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.

We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality...... and lower its costs.

We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.

All this we can do. All this we will do."

He continues:

"And those of us who manage the public's knowledge will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.

But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good."

We will work together for the common good. Socialism. A centralized controlling Government, deciding when success is achieve and what is fair for all. We will control every aspect of your lives to ensure that all are equal in all ways. We the Government is the answer for all your woes.

No folks, Obama is no Reagan. He is the polar opposite of Reagan. The Anti-Reagan if you will. The only thing that these two men have in common is that they are both Likable. They can both deliver speeches and rev up a crowd. The comparisons stop at how they say things. What they say is FAR more important.
Peter

Black Pastors Are Angry With The Messiah

Not one of the Problems I had with President Obama's Inauguration Speech, but,,

Hey folks,

OK. So it seems that more and more people are starting to stop and think about President Obama's Inauguration Speech. From some that say it will upset China, and other Dictators, to it was too lofty and no resemblance to reality. Some say that he really said nothing, then some say he was just like Reagan. I even hear the same reporter, in the same breath, compare Obama to Reagan and Carter. That is Patently Absurd.

So how does President Obama relate to Reagan? I'll talk about that is a minute. But I will admit, this is something that just flew right by me. I did not even give it much thought. According to AOL News- Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some by MELINDA HENNENBERGER, AOL

(Jan. 23) - Not everyone was happy with President Barack Obama's nod to nonbelievers and non-Christians in his inaugural address. And some of the stiff criticism about Obama’s religious inclusiveness is coming from African-American Christians who maintain that no, all faiths were actually not created equal.

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness," the new president said. "We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth," he also said. Nothing too controversial, proclaiming that America's strength lies in its diversity.

Which is true.

But between those two statements, the new president got specific: "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers."

Which is also true. So what is the problem?

By mentioning, for the first time in an inaugural address, the 16.1 percent of Americans who check "no"’ when asked about religion, Obama turned it into the most controversial line in his speech -- praised by The New York Times editorial board and cited by some Christians as evidence that he is a heretic, and in his well-spoken way, a serious threat.

With that one line, the president "seems to be trying to redefine American culture, which is distinctively Christian," said’ Bishop E.W. Jackson of the Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va. "The overwhelming majority of Americans identify as Christians, and what disturbs me is that he seems to be trying to redefine who we are.’"

He is. Remember folks, to the Left, ALL Christians are Close minded, War Mongering, Racist, Chauvinistic, Homophobes, that "Cling to their guns and Bibles" Christians are nothing more than Hicks that believe in a book written by man and there is nothing you can do to educate them as to what reality is. That there is NO God, and blind faith in some invisible man in the sky is one of the problems that hinders them from seeking "true" assistance in whatever they need. Government.

Earlier this week, Jackson was a guest on the popular conservative Christian radio show 'Janet Parshall's America,' where a succession of callers, many of whom identified themselves as African-American, said they shared the concern, and were perplexed and put off by the president’s shout-out to nonbelievers.

Parshall noted that atheists were celebrating the unexpected mention, and indeed they were: "In his inaugural address … President Barack Obama did what many before him should have done, rightly citing the great diversity of America as part of the nation's great strength, and including 'nonbelievers'’ in that mix,’" said Ed Buckner of American Atheists.

{Laughing} So this reporter had to go out and CONTACT a Group, to get a comment from Non-Believers. I guess it was hard to find one in the general public. Only 16 percent say they do not believe.

"His mother would have been proud,"’ Buckner said, referring to the fact that Obama’s mother was not a church-goer. "And so are we."

I will not attack family members of Politicians. That is an important self imposed rule that I have. But if you care to find out, it is easy to do, who his Mother really is, then look it up. He was raised by his GRANDMOTHER for a reason.

Jackson said he and others have no problem acknowledging that "this country is one in which everybody has the freedom to think what they want.’" Yet Obama crossed the line, in his view, in suggesting that all faiths (and none) were different roads to the same destination: "He made similar remarks in the campaign, and said, 'We are no longer a Christian nation, if we ever were. We are a Jewish, Hindu and non-believing nation.'"

Yeah I remember that one.

Not so, Jackson says: "Obviously, Jewish heritage is very much a part of Christianity; the Jewish Bible is part of our Bible. But Hindu, Muslim, and nonbelievers? I don't think so. We are not a Muslim nation or a nonbelieving nation."’

Nope. We were, like it or not, accept it or not, founded on Judeo / Christian beliefs. We always have been a "Christian Nation." The First Amendment to our Constitution is all about Freedom of Religion. It is there to PROTECT Christians from being prohibited from practicing our faith, and to prevent the Government from establishing a National Religion. All other Faiths are beneficiaries to that.

With all the focus on Obama as the first African-American president, the succession of black callers to Janet Parshall's show was a reminder that the "community"’ is not a monolith, and that many socially conservative black Americans are at odds with Obama's views, particularly on abortion and gay rights. Nor do they all define civil rights in the same way.

The Rev. Cecil Blye, pastor of More Grace Ministries Church in Louisville, Ky., said the president's reference to nonbelievers also set off major alarm bells for him. "It's important to understand the heritage of our country, and it's a Judeo-Christian tradition,"’ period.

So I understand why they are upset. But then this LAST paragraph took me back a bit. Remember back on May 5, 2008, I Posted this? Plan Parenthood Racist?

I was talking about how some Black Preachers were coming right out and saying Planned Parenthood was conducting Genocide. I said this.

So not only is Planned Parenthood using your money to fund Murders, interfere with parental rights, and the family itself, they are using your money to conduct Genocide. Not only are they anti-family, now we have learned they are racists. Interesting. But do you think that anything will come of this? Nope. Why? Because they ARE a Liberal Group, therefore, no hearings, no investigations. It really is a shame.

Yeah, and now we have a Liberal President who just signed an Executive Order saying that YOUR money WILL pay for it. Here is the last sentence in this AOL Article.

But his even bigger beef with the president, he said, is that a disproportionate number of "black kids are dying each day through abortion. President Obama is supportive of abortion, and that's a genocide on black folks. Nobody wants to talk about that as a civil rights issue."

Nope. Just like Black people cannot be Racist, hell, Liberals can't be Racists, in their own mind of course. That is reserved for White Male Christians. Like I said, Non-Believers, that sorry, are nearly all Liberals, and PPH, are LIBERALS, so their views are right, and the only ones that matter.

Be right back.
Peter

Sources:
AOL News- Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some
OPNTalk - Plan Parenthood Racist?