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Obama To Address Congress

Published September 3, 2009 Congress , Healthcare , liberals , Obama Leave a Comment
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By Caomhin

Obama sure does live primetime addresses, doesn’t he?  I’ll be interested in watching at least the highlights in this one, however, as even though poll after poll shows the American people staunchly opposed to his plan (Republican, Independents, Libertarians, and Blue Dog Democrats alike), it sure does sound like he’s going to go into that speech in full blown scold mode:

“Congress is coming back from recess and over the last few days key Republicans have made it abundantly clear that they are not seriously interested in a bipartisan solution,” said Dan Pfeiffer, White House deputy communications director.

Republicans, sensing a possible Democratic soft spot ahead of next year’s mid-term elections, said a big new public speech was not the answer.

“Obviously, we want to hear what the President has to say, but the American people don’t want a new speech, they want a new plan,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Republican Leader John Boehner.

“We need to scrap the Democrats’ government takeover of healthcare and start over on a real, bipartisan plan for reform,” he said.

The White House either has no concept of mathematics (entirely possible given their putrid and completely off base economic predictions at every turn), ignores every single poll being released, or refuses to believe that town hall protestors are real people…or maybe even all of the above. This bill is a disaster and the American people know it.  As I mentioned before, it’s not the GOP who’s really driving this opposition, it’s the will of the American people, and the Administration and the Liberals in Congress have no regard for it.

Their propaganda is extremely transparent and baseless as well.  The American people, even the mainstream media, knows that the Democrats have all the votes they need to pass this bill without a single Republican vote, and they have the stones to go out and the say the GOP is blocking this abomination.  Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t, and the Democrats know this, believe me they know this, and yet, they try to use the Republicans as scapegoats?  I find that highly amusing.

Excluded in this bill are plans to let insurance companies compete across state lines, tort reforms, expansion of HSA plans, the ability to roll over FSA funds from year to year like HSAs allow, and many, many more provisions that could greatly assist the healthcare market.  Instead, Democrats have chosen to provide cover for some of their biggest donors (trial lawyers), turn the healthcare system over to the bureaucrats in Washington, allow for taxpayer funded abortions, pay for illegal immigrants’ health care, etc.  All this rolled up into a deficit expanding bill.  Here’s the large, PDF version of the bill if you need it.

Sen. Tom Coburn wrote a great piece for The Wall Street Journal that was published today. I’d highly urge everyone to read this, but particularly those who are undecided on the issue or our friends on the other side of the aisle.  It’s also a great read for anyone who is trying to gauge the political climate right now.

BP’s Giant Oil Discovery in the Gulf of Mexico

Published September 3, 2009 Economics , Energy 1 Comment
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By Caomhin

BP took the phrase “dig deep” to a new level and came up all 7’s.  Good for them, and hopefully, good for us:

The company said the Tiber find appears to be comparable to its largest fields in the Gulf, which hold as much as three billion barrels of oil each.

With the shallow waters of the Gulf well-explored, oil companies have been moving into deeper water, increasing the stakes for each multimillion-dollar well drilled.

The Tiber discovery was located in 1,259 metres of water, with a total well depth of 10,685 metres, which BP believes is the deepest ever drilled.

I can only imagine what kind of roadblocks environmentalists will try to throw in their path, but here’s hoping they, and every other oil producer, can over come each and every one of them.  There’s no question our energy policy is hurting and our national security as well due to politics interfering in our ability to be self sufficient in energy production.  More domestic sources of oil both on land and off-shore, development of oil shale, and nuclear energy are all things that can be done now (as well as developing more efficient technologies in utilizing these resources) in order to help ease our dependence on foreign sources while helping to lower the current trade deficit and strengthen the dollar.  In the long term, of course, we are looking for ever more efficient batteries to develop sources such as solar, increased biofuels (in particular the fuel from garbage concept sounds intriguing), etc, as they will be important for our nation as well.  The more resources we have at our disposal the better.  Here’s hoping we find more oil fields and that we’re allowed to develop them as we bring other technologies and resources into the fold.

More Jobs Shed in August Than Expected

Published September 3, 2009 Economics , Finance , Spending , Unemployment Leave a Comment
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By Caomhin

The economy may be stabilizing slowly but surely in some sectors due to free market forces in operation despite Obama’s best attempts to unleash Keynesian hell upon the nation.  The main effects of the government’s massive interference in the marketplace will be nothing more than larger than expected and prolonged unemployment even as Obama foolishly states that he saved the economy from “catastrophe.”  This of course is a complete and utter fallacy, as we will learn what a “jobless recovery” really is with the added pain of rapidly rising inflation rates coming from the Administration’s brutal “stimulus” plan.  We are again seeing troubling news for the American people, who seek nothing more than to make an honest living and provide for their families:

Companies in the U.S. private sector shed 298,000 jobs in August, according to the ADP employment report released Wednesday. The report comes two days before the Labor Department reports on nonfarm payroll growth for August. The decline in employment was more than the consensus forecast of Wall Street economists of a decline of 250,000 in nonfarm payroll in August, which also includes the government sector.

250,000 jobs lost is a horrendous number, but 298,000 is a full 19.2% worse than they expected.  We would have been much better off with a much more limited policy of targeted tax cuts for both individual wage earners and corporations which would have a a much more rapid and direct positive effect on the economy while saving us nearly $1 trillion dollars in debt when interest payments are factored into the equation.  The Stimulus Bill is exactly what we had billed it as, nothing more than a political kickback and Pork Barrel Sending which would help interest groups ahead of the American people.  Add to this the fact that our taxes will most assuredly be raised for a number of factors, including the passing of this legislation, and the net effect of the Stimulus Bill was and is by far, an immense net loss for the American people.

Obama’s Speech to School Kids Will Be Political

Published September 3, 2009 Education , Government , Obama Leave a Comment
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By Caomhin

All signs are heavily pointing to his address to the nation’s students being political in nature.  I would have no problem whatsoever with Obama simply giving a “welcome back to school” type of speech in which he encourages students to work hard, respect their teachers, etc.  However, this does not look like what Obama has in mind:

The White House announced Wednesday that the president plans to tape a presidential address to public schoolchildren around the country to air at noon Tuesday. Along with advanced word of the speech, the U.S. Department of Education last week distributed a “menu of classroom activities” to teachers that aims to turn the speech into one of Mr. Obama’s teachable moments.

Among the activities, the government suggests that students from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.” The material includes a suggestion that teachers then collect the letters and redistribute them at a later time “to make students accountable to their goals.”

Another task, recommended for younger students immediately after listening to the speech, is to engage in a discussion about what “the President wants us to do.”

“Does the speech make you want to do anything?” is one suggested question for the discussion. “Are we able to do what the President is asking of us?”

If the preliminary reports are accurate, this is completely unacceptable for a number of reasons.  First, students should not be required to write letters to themselves or anyone else “about what they can do to help the president,” or really, anyone else for that matter.  Students are responsible for their grades and their actions, they are not required to dedicate themselves toward helping any sitting President, Republican or Democrat, achieve their goals.  Furthermore, they are going to “make students accountable to their goals,” with the goal, presumable being “to help the president.”  How any can view this as acceptable is beyond me.  They will also be encouraged to discuss what they president wants from them and determine if they’re able to deliver to him?

Again, I’d like to reiterate that if the Obama simply goes up there and says things like, work hard, believe in yourself, work to fulfill your dreams, your responsible for getting good grades, etc, then that is quite alright. However, when official documents are being released encouraging teachers to make students pay homage and set up goals in order to help a president fulfill his agenda, you can pretty much assume where this is going and it’s not going to be apolitical in nature.

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