Can Anyone Help Make Sense of the Era of Obama?

Can somebody please help me make sense of all this.

In the 10 months that Barack Obama has been president, we have been treated to some of the most outrageous policy moves and politics in the history of this country.

In his very first act as president -- on his way home from the inauguration -- Obama swore that he would close Guantanamo Bay; even though he had no plans for what to do with the terrorists there.

He told us that we could not use the word "terror" any more. No more terrorism. No more War on Terror. Instead, we have "man caused disasters" and "overseas contingency operations.

We had an $800 billion dollar "stimulus" package that stimulated nothing but some pet Liberal projects. We pledged to borrow nearly a trillion dollars to fund programs that are 90% Liberal special interest projects. Where are the "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects? He told us that under this plan, unemployment would not go higher than 8%; if we did nothing it would climb to 9%. Well, unemployment is at least 10.2% and rising. Where are the jobs he promised?

In March, we got a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan, which was shown to be not working a few months later. It is now November, and we still have no new plan. Americans are being killed in Afghanistan and Obama has met with the general there once.

Then, we had the "Cash for Clunkers" program -- which was poorly run. This program took cars off the streets that had nothing wrong with them and "gave" people money to buy new cars they likely would have bought anyway. Cars that are no better for the environment than what folks had before. The minor economic blip from the program was more than offset by a huge drop-off in car sales in September. And just wait until you see what happens to used car prices when the supply is reduced because of this debacle.

We have thousands of people turning out for free handouts from the government, described by one in the crowd as "Obama Money," whose source no one knew nor seemed to care about.

We have working people being asked to return hundreds of dollars in "stimulus" funds that were given to them in error, all because of an IRS error. Forcing them to pay back the bailout while the major corporations getting billions in bail outs do not.

We have politicians in Washington killing themselves to pass a health care takeover that poll after poll indicate the American people do not want and know we cannot afford. Thousand of pages of proposals with no details of what the plan would do. Other than raise taxes and put people in jail if they don't buy health insurance.

We had an avowed Muslim extremist shoot up an Army base killing 13 or 14 people and wounding dozens of others; all the while he screamed the Muslim praise "Allah Akbar." But, our president assures us, it had nothing to do with Muslim extremism or terrorism.

We now have the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks being brought to New York City, blocks from the World Trade Center for a civilian trial. Despite the fact that almost everyone knows that American covert secrets will be revealed or requested to be revealed. We will see demands for our intelligence, how we got that intelligence, and who got it.

We have an administration that pledged to prosecute CIA agents for "torturing" known terrorists, even though they were just following orders. Obama wants to persecute the very people who pledged their lives to protect ours.

And today, the agency that sets guidelines and recommendations for our medical professionals tell women that they need not bother with breast self-exams for cancer, and that they should wait 10 more years before being checked, despite the fact that we know countless women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their 40s, 30s, and 20s.

We have self-avowed Communists and fans of Chinese Communist revolutionary Mao Tse Tung in the White House, direct advisers to the president. We have health care advisers who openly advocate for limiting or restricting medical care for the young and elderly, saving "scarce resources" for those 15 to 40. The same adviser believes that the death of a three-year-old is not nearly as bad as the death of a twenty-something because society has not invested in the child.

We have a president who has taken every opportunity to speak ill of the United States and insult her people while in other countries. He has openly mocked and demeaned any voices of opposition, calling tax protesters by a homo-phobic slur and dismissing the #1 cable TV news network as tabloid.

This country is spinning out of control and we are all so busy with our daily lives, trying to earn enough money to get by, trying to get the kids to soccer practice or worrying about who is being voted off Dancing with the Stars to notice.

Does any one of these items make sense? How about all of them in totality. And, I know I didn't get them all.

We have got to wake up, people, and pay attention. We need to face the reality that the President of the United States is not doing what is in the best interests of the country. He is trying to dismantle our way of life, change the way this country is run, and ceding authority over this country to world governing bodies.

This is real and it is happening. Wake up before Obama's "transformation" of this country has gone too far. If you don't want to wake up for yourself, do it for your children. Make sure there is something left of this country to pass onto them.

If not, you might open your eyes one day soon and have no idea where you are anymore.

Lawrence Summers: "We Created 30,000 New Jobs with Stimulus" Whoopie!

National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers told CNBC Television that Barack Obama's $787 billion "stimulus" package has created 30,000 jobs so far.

President Barack Obama signed a US$787 billion stimulus package into law earlier this year, and Mr Summers said the first US$16 billion spent created more than 30,000 jobs.

Sixteen billion dollars spent results in ONLY 30,000 jobs, and the administration is bragging about it! This spending works out to more than a half-a-million dollars per job created! And it took more than six months to do it!

At that rate, the full $787 billion will gin up a whopping 1.5 million jobs! Who says that massive government spending won't pull a country out of recession.

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed
persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment
rate has doubled to 9.8 percent.

Well, thank goodness Obama spent that $16 billion we don't have. Otherwise, we would have had 15.1 million and 30,000 people unemployed.

How is Hope and Change working for you?

Obama's Stimulus Package Funds Pork -- Literally!!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is doing its part to help "stimulate" the economy:

(The USDA) purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191 million, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound. In terms of the dairy purchase referenced, USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) purchased 837,936 pounds of mozzarella cheese and 4,039,200 pounds of processed cheese. The canned pork purchase was 8,424,000 pounds at a cost of $16,784,000, or approximately $1.99 per pound.

According to the Recovery.gov website (rounded up nicely by Matt Drudge), these purchases amounted to nearly $30 million of food stuffs.

The USDA reports that the food will be used for distribution to local organizations that assist the needy – including food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens. A noble goal to be sure.

But, isn't the "stimulus" money supposed to be going to help kick-start the economy? How does provid(ing) food to those hardest hit by these tough times help the economy?

Oh it does, assures the USDA:

...the purchases also provide a modest economic benefit of benefiting Americans working at food retailers, manufacturers and transportation companies as well as the farmers and ranchers who produce our food supply.

Thirty million dollars for a modest benefit to the economy? I hate to see what the Obama administration would want to evince a significant benefit. Oh yeah, $800 billion!

And you wonder why it's not working....

Do You Really Trust These People to Spend YOUR Money??

One of the major premises of the Obama "stimulus" plan is that the government can spend your money more wisely than you.

One of the arguments behind massive government spending vs. across-the-board tax cuts to pull out of a recession is that our elected leaders will do a better job spending the money than the regular citizens of the country.

But, can you really trust these people to spend tax dollars wisely?

Here are two cases that show you cannot. One story involves a governor spending precious tax dollars to hire friends and supporters into high-paying hack jobs; the second involves a mayor who won't spend money to protect an event that will draw a million tourists into his city.

(Massachusetts) Gov. Deval Patrick has stashed four staffers in big-bucks jobs at several of the quasi-public agencies he is now vowing to reform - including one post worth a jaw-dropping $190,000 a year, the Herald has learned.

These appointments come just days after the uber-Liberal Patrick tried to stuff a long-time supporter into a $175,000-a-year job that had been vacant for 12 years.

Outrage is sweeping Beacon Hill after Gov. Deval Patrick quietly slipped a $175,000 plum job to a political pal while squeezing taxpayers to pay more for less from the debt-ridden state government.

...(the state) while bracing for cuts of cops and teachers, Patrick awarded supporter Marian Walsh the pricey plum as assistant executive director of the state’s Health and Educational Facilities Authority.

MHEFA is an organization that 99.5% of Mass residents had never heard of until last week.

While we are talking Massachusetts hack-o-rama, consider the following:

Robert Rooney, a former $123,000-a-year deputy secretary of public works in the transportation office, is still working at the (Massachusetts Turnpike Authority) as a $122,000-a-year assistant chief engineer, Flagg confirmed last night. Rooney’s job was to help bring down the tolls on the Western Turnpike, a job that is no longer part of Gov. Deval Patrick’s transportation reform plans.

From this article, we can assume that Rooney is getting paid big bucks to engineer a project that won't happen?

On the other side of the tax coin is "esteemed" Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who is apparently refusing to pay for any city services to support the visit by the Tall Ships, an event destined to attract more than a million visitors to his city.

Menino is the guy in the middle in this photo, in case you don't know him.

Sail Boston officials said Wednesday the event that attracts millions of visitors to see the windjammers parade through the harbor will go ahead, even though they missed a deadline to give the city $2 million.

That angered Mayor Tom Menino, who told The Boston Globe that holding the event without city services could cause a "public safety crisis." He says he may ask the Coast Guard to bar the 50 ships from the harbor.

The notion that the mayor would actively consider preventing an event that will attract tourist into his city in July is mind-boggling.

(Menino) said he would withhold all city services for the nautical extravaganza - no police officers, no cleanup crews - even though nearly 1 million people are projected to descend on the city...

This (PDF) report indicates that Sail Boston 2000 would have a massive positive impact on revenues in Boston:

The results .... show that total economic activity in the Greater Boston region of the Sail Boston event will be $88.96 million (in year 2000 dollars). The majority of that activity - $64.66 million or 73% - will be in the city of Boston where the event takes place.

This report indicates that the city might lose money, as the expenses outstrip the tax revenues. But, in 2000, the small investment by the city was worth the significant business in Boston and surrounding communities received.

Why not this year? This is a year when businesses need the help, and most experts believe that fewer people will be going away for vacation, leaving a huge pool of people looking for something to do on a July weekend.

The one question that remains is whether Menino will try to get Ol' Ironsides to protect Boston Harbor once again from an incursion by an enemy fleet.

These are the people who Barack Obama considers better guardians of YOUR money than YOU, and know better how to spend YOUR money to repair this economy.

Forgive me, Deval, if I am a skeptic.