Rants 'n Raves

(Excerpted and edited by Bud Meyers from "Charlie Rangel’s Draft Obsession", the original article by Jim Kouri

Also read: "Charlie Rangel - From Slavery to the Present"

Charlie Rangel and members of the Congressional Black Caucus had once complained that Blacks were being used as "cannon fodder" in the Iraq war, until they were confronted with the fact that only five percent (5%) of the troops in Iraq were African-Americans, while 14% of the US population are black. Rangel backed off from making that allegation when speaking with whites, yet he continues to use the canard when speaking to black audiences.

Some things never change. Back in 1966 Charlie was the general counsel to the National Advisory Commission on Selective Service (The U.S. military draft board - when troops were being sent to Viet Nam.) He had argued then that a supposedly disproportionate amount of "Afro-Americans" were being drafted into the Viet Nam War.

"This is vintage Charlie Rangel. He’s adept at distortion and his proposed draft in 2003 wasn’t meant to improve the military, but to create a Vietnam era military of draftees. Anyone who knows anything about the military knows that conscription brings about negative results," says former Marine intelligence officer and NYPD detective Sid Francis, himself an African-American.

In addition, most men and women in today’s military come from middle- and upper-middle class families.

Republicans understood Rangel’s motive for calling for a renewed draft. He had been opposed to all military actions undertaken by the Bush Administration and was a vocal opponent of the Iraq war, but he saw an opportunity to undermine the military by infusing it with draftees who didn’t want to fight. He is also aware that conscription creates civil discord.

"Rangel’s draft was part and parcel of a "class warfare" strategy that the Democrat Party uses to divide the country," said a high-ranking military officer.

Rangel’s critics pointed out that he has a penchant for making outrageous statements and if he’s asked to reiterate them on television or radio, he backs off from those comments with tepid excuses. For instance, in a speech in Harlem in New York City, Rangel said that President Bush is "our Bull Connor" a reference to the southern sheriff who used attack dogs on civil-rights protesters. Rangel, however, failed to mention that Sheriff Connor was a Democrat.

Let’s take a look at the real Charlie Rangel as evidenced in a little known story of how a New York City detective knocked the robust politician on his keister following the utterance of a Rangelism in the 1960s:

Sidney was one of New York City’s first African-American detectives. In fact, he was so good at policing in the city’s toughest neighborhoods, that he was promoted to the coveted rank of 1st Grade Detective in the NYPD, the youngest in New York’s history. A former Marine - one of the first blacks to be accepted into the Marine Corps in 1945 - Sid was your consummate police officer. Tough, relentless and proud, Sid tempered his tough street persona with intelligence and a sense of fairness that won the respect of his superiors, his fellow cops and the citizens he served. Sid came from a black family of achievement with one brother becoming a police captain and another serving as a colonel in the US Army.

Sidney saw action in Korea at about the same time as Charlie Rangel took to the battlefield with the US Army. While Rangel brags about his military service and being awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he received, Sid believed a good marine does the wounding and killing not the other way around. He openly admired General George Patton and Sid repeatedly viewed the motion picture "Patton" in which, during the opening monologue by George C. Scott portraying General Patton, he says, "No one wins a war by dying for his country. You win a war by making the other poor son-of-a-bitch die for his country." Sid was a blood and guts Marine and a blood and guts cop. I know. I partnered with him during his later years.

While still a young detective, Sidney arrested a black man who was dealing drugs on streets and schoolyards of Harlem. The drug dealer sold heroin to black youngsters who were being told over and over again since they were knee high that their lives were hopeless in an America that at best cared little for them, at worst wanted them in prison or dead. They were indoctrinated with this rhetoric by the likes of Charlie Rangel, white liberals and their echo chamber, the mainstream news media. Detective Sid had little compassion for a man who sold drugs to black kids.

This was when Frank Lucas (featured on American Gangster), was a heroin dealer and organized crime boss in New York City - and had operated in Harlem during the late 1960s through the 1970s. Frank Lucas was the king of the Harlem drug trade, bringing in over a million dollars a day. So many heroin addicts were buying from him on 116th Street (Just 8 blocks away from Charlie Rangel's District Office) that he claimed the Transit Authority changed the bus routes to avoid them.

At the time, Charlie Rangel was an up-and-coming political hack in the local Democrat Club and a lawyer more adept at shooting off his mouth than arguing his position on jurisprudence. Rangel ended up representing a drug-pushing punk - whose parents, by the way, were financially very well off. The punk’s dad was a bigtime contributor to the local Democrat Party and a supporter of Rangel for congressman which led to Rangel acting on behalf of an unrepentant drug pusher. Ironically, Rangel later would become chairman of Congress’ Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control.
(A fox in the henhouse?)

Charlie's current bio says, "Over the past forty years, he has led the fight in Congress against drug abuse and trafficking." (That would be from 1970 to the present.)

So Charles Rangel, attorney-at-law, visited my partner Sid in order to get him to back off and perhaps change some of the testimony should the case go to trial. The young detective told Rangel, "No way. That skell sells poison to kids." At that point Charlie Rangel, a known bully in Harlem and northern Manhattan, called Sid an Uncle Tom and got in his face. The six-foot tall detective hauled off and bopped him right in his face and Rangel went down.

After getting up from the floor and brushing himself off, the opulent then-future congressman made some empty threats of retaliation, however Rangel never filed departmental charges of police brutality. Sid believed Charlie Rangel knew if he did he would find himself in a jackpot over witness tampering and he may have had to kiss his political career goodbye.

From a review of "American Gangster"

Frank Lucas lived a glamorous life, hobnobbing with athletes, musicians, and politicians, but Lucas was a ruthless gangster. He was notorious for using the coffins of dead GIs to smuggle heroin into the United States and, before being sentenced to seventy years in prison, he played a major role in the near death of New York City.

In American Gangster, Mark Jacobson's captivating account of the life of Frank Lucas (the basis for a major motion picture) joined other tales of New York City from the past thirty years. The collection features a number of Jacobson's most famous essays, as well as previous unpublished work and recent articles on 9/11 conspiracy theorists, America's #1 escort, and Harlem's own Charles Rangel, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. American Gangster is a vibrant, many-layered portrait of the most fascinating city in the world, by one of the most acclaimed journalists of our time.

"And you couldn't go to Charlie Rangel because he was also working with the Federal Gov't...The only thing he would do was do something unproductive and which he knew was bullspit like bring in more corrupt cops to make the community feel like they were even more in a war zone...It was a Conspiracy starting at the Federal level." Source

Frank Lucas has been quoted as saying that his worth was "something like $52 million", most of it in Cayman Islands banks.

The Cayman Islands? But didn't Charlie...

- - - -Charlie Rangel's Career- - - -
(During the time Frank Lucas was the Drug King Pin New York City)

In 1961 Charlie Rangel was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York by the U.S. Attorney Robert Morgenthau (by way of the U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy). Charlie stayed in that position for one year.

His interest in politics grew during the Democratic factional dispute in Harlem in 1963. (As a young man, Charlie first got involved in politics and met Carmine DeSapio and was involved with the New Era Democratic Club.)

In 1965 Charlie participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches.

In 1966 Charlie was selected by the Harlem Democrats to run for the New York State Assembly where he served two 2-year terms. He was also general counsel to the National Advisory Commission on Selective Service (The U.S. military draft board - when troops were being sent to Viet Nam. It had been argued that a supposedly disproportionate amount of "Afro-Americans" were being drafted into the war.)

In 1966 Charlie Rangel emerged as a leader among the black legislators in the state, and became politically friendly with Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller, who arranged for Rangel to run on the Republican AND the Democratic ballot line during his 1968 re-election. Rangel supported the legalization of the "numbers game", saying "For the average Harlemite, playing numbers is moral and a way of life." He also opposed harsher penalties on prostitutes, believing it ineffective.

In 1969 Rangel ran for the Democratic nomination for New York City Council President, finishing last. Rangel co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus (where he has also served as chairman, and of which he continues to be a member)

In 1970 Rangel ran for election to the U.S. House of Representatives, winning with 88% of the vote.

Since 1971 Charles B. Rangel has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the neighborhoods as Harlem, Spanish Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, Morningside Heights, and part of the Upper West Side, as well as a small portion of Queens in the neighborhood of Astoria (predominantly African-American neighborhoods).

Rangel's Congressional Annual Salary during this time in 1971 - $42,400 minimum per year

Rangel had won re-election every two years since then. (His district was numbered the Eighteenth District from 1971 to 1973; the Nineteenth District from 1973 to 1983; and the Sixteenth District from 1983 to 1993; Districts from 1993 to 2006 is unknown to this blogger. Currently 15th District in 2010.)

One of Rangel's first committee assignments was on the House Judiciary Committee where he participated in the impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.

Rangel's Congressional Annual Salary in 1975 - $44,600 minimum per year

In January 1975, Frank Lucas' house (across the river from NYC in New Jersey) was raided by a DEA task force and 10 New York Police Department detectives where they found $584,683 cash. He was tried, convicted, and sent to prison for 70 years.

Rangel's Congressional Annual Salary in 1977 - $57,500 minimum per year

Rangel's Congressional Annual Salary in 1979 - $60,660 minimum per year

1981 - Charlie Rangel's Congressional office (near MLK Blvd and 125th) was only a few blocks away from where Barack Obama, Bill Ayers, and Bernardine Dohrn were living. Most of the suspects that were arrested in the October 20, 1981 Brink's robbery were Black Panther Party or Black Liberation Party members, and arrested in Charlie Rangel's district.

Also in 1981, after a little over 5 years in custody, Frank Lucas' 40-year Federal term and 30-year state term were reduced to time served plus lifetime parole. (Political connections?)

In 1984 Frank Lucas' was caught and convicted of trying to exchange one ounce of heroin and $13,000 for one kilogram of cocaine. He was defended by his former prosecutor Richie Roberts and received a sentence of seven years. He was released from prison in 1991.

Charlie Rangel, Frank Lucas, and Bill Ayers - Just six degrees of separation?

* Charlie Rangel's Bio says, "He has resided in a total of two places the whole of his life - the 132nd Street Harlem home in which he was born and raised, and his current apartment down the street on Lenox Avenue." But in his book, he describes it a little differently.

By law, the Securities and Exchange commission expects these companies to report their write downs.

So what's the problem?

I can understand if Congress demands corporate executives to appear before them for hearings if they're receiving taxpayer funding (such as GM or the banks), but shouldn't it be illegal to do so otherwise? And just because they disagree with a political decision or question a law? Don't American companies also have a right to free speech, as recently affirmed by the Supreme Court? A decision that Obama publicly and vehemently ridiculed in his last State of the Union Address?

Mr. Waxman sent AT&T, Caterpillar and Deere a sharp letter saying he wanted top officials from those companies to testify at an April 21 hearing that he has scheduled.

Does he have a legally binding subpoena to compel this guys to Congress? Does he have a search warrant to see their internal e-mail correspondence? Does he have the same authority as a dictator?

(If not, I'd tell him to take a damn hike!)

Where was Waxman when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was going down the tubes because banks were forced to make loans to low-income people for houses they couldn't afford?

Where was Waxman when AIG was writing credit-default-swaps, because he and Chris Dodd let the banks, insurance companies, and the hedge funds run amuck...bringing down the housing market and thus, the economy?

I believe that it should be the other way around, and that members of Congress should be held accountable in hearings.

Did everybody forget how all this first started?

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/30subsidy.html

--------------Other News-----------------

* Franciso Rios, the director of the U of W Social Justice Research Center (a privately endowed center that studies problems of oppression and inequalities among different social groups in society) made the decision to cancel Bill Ayers.

* Expect a U.S. Labor Department report to show 190,000 new jobs were created in March; but he number will be inflated because the government hired temporary workers to conduct the 2010 census. So basicly, unemployment will remain unchanged.

* GOP backlash coming after unemployment benefits blocked

* The Bloomberg news service writes:
"Tea Party Advocates Who Scorn Socialism Want a Government Job". There's just one problem... the headline is glaringly false. what the story actually reports.

* Nothing annoys Norman Podhoretz more when his fellow conservative intellectuals say the same derogatory things about Sarah Palin that are uncannily similar to what many of their forebears once said about Ronald Reagan.

* Obama Steps Up Confrontation - He challenged Republicans who planned to campaign on repealing his health-care bill with, "Go for it." Two days later, he made 15 senior appointments without Senate consent, including a union lawyer whose nomination had been blocked by a filibuster.

Regarding Obama-Care and the Sixteenth Amendment

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Cogito ergo sum

"I think, therefore I am."

Unalienable rights (natural rights or moral rights) are rights that were bestowed upon me by God, not by any government...and most certainly not by Barack Obama.

I neither have to choose nor not choose to pay taxes. If the government imprisons me for NOT paying taxes, then they do so because I did nothing (I took no action, I did nothing, I just existed - I did not make a conscience decision.)

However, if I exist (by being born), then the only thing that IS certain is death. Whether I choose TO live, or choose NOT to live, no action or decision I make affects the eventual outcome. I may CHOOSE to commit suicide to end my life early, or I may CHOOSE to take a life-saving drug to extend my life...but either way, I would be making a choice. But ALWAYS the outcome is death.

Dying is the ONLY thing one must do - paying taxes is not.

Ben was wrong. The only thing certain is death.

Click on the links below to see Ronald Reagan currency.

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"I wouldn't mind paying taxes - if I knew they were going to a friendly country." ~ Dick Gregory

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." ~ Albert Einstein

"If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see how bad it is WITH representation." ~ Farmer's Almanac

"It used to be that death and taxes alone were inevitable. Now there's shipping and handling." ~ Bert Murray

"Death and taxes may be certain, but we don't have to die every year." ~ Unknown

March 25, 2010 - Iowa City, Iowa

While Obama was preaching to his loyal followers about the merits of his sleazy health care bill, he took some time during the historic moment to challenged the GOP:

[paraphrased] "I've been hearing a lot about how the Republicans are going to run on a platform in November on repealing healthcare. I say...Go for it!"

Then he shifted into campaign-mode, and as the Great Orator, started railing:

"Leaders of the Republican Party called the passage of this bill Armageddon. Armageddon! End of freedom as we know it...

Then, he quipped like an immature child:

"After I signed the bill, I looked around to see if there were any asteroids falling."

He had a smug and defiant smirk on his face, and didn't look very Presidential. Rather, his expression reminded me more of a spoiled brat that seemed selfishly satisfied with himself...because he just got his own way.

It was very embarrassing to see our "leader" behaving in such an amateurish and unprofessional manner on the world stage.

(He was probably remembering the time when he first moved to New York City and had to sleep in an alley because his room-mate had locked him out.)

You've come a long way since that night in 1981, haven't you Barry? From being nearly homeless to spending 1 trillion dollars with a simple stroke of the pen. All that way in a short 29 years. That really is a historical achievement!

But Mister President, you have no class. Rather than being gracious in your victory and conquest, instead you taunted and insulted the vanquished - (the 75% of your "subjects" who didn't want the forced intrusion of Obama-Care© into their lives.

Now turn around and look meathead...because Armageddon is coming!

UPDATE: Jason Mattera Confronts Hoyer

Also see: "Generation Zero" by Stephen K. Bannon
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/generation-zero-by-stephen-k-bannon-sean

Jason Mattera's new book:
"Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation" A stark, refreshing contrast to Obama’s worship troops of the twenty-something's.

"Jason has a terrific take on how Hollywood and the left have really attracted youth. and in effect, lobotomized a generation."

Click here to buy the book at Amazon.Com

Jason Mattera represents Young America's Foundation and is committed to freedom, conservative ideas, the Republican platform and traditional values.

www.JasonMattera.com

Young America's Foundation - http://www.yaf.org/

About the book

Obama Zombies uncovers the true, behind-the-scenes story of the methods and tactics the Obama campaign unleashed on youth culture. Through personal interviews and meticulous original research, Mattera explains why conservatism’s future rests upon jolting the young masses from their slumber, yanking out their earphones, and sparking a countercultural conservative battle against the rise of the ignorant Left.

The lesson from 2008 is crystal clear: When true conservatives run away, Obama Zombies come out to play.

Editorial Reviews

“A heat-seeking missile aimed straight at the Cult of Obama. Explosive, devastating, and rib-crackingly hilarious. Obama Zombies is a must-read for every citizen who cares about protecting freedom for future generations of America. If you know an Obama Zombie who needs awakening, buy this book now!" — Michelle Malkin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies

“Jason Mattera is a national treasure. You've seen him ambush interview and demolish some of liberalism's biggest names. Now he's served our nation yet again by exposing the liberal lunatics who gave us President Obama. Piercing, eye-opening, and deliciously witty, Obama Zombies is required reading for an entire generation who have been sold liberal lies.” — Ann Coulter, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America

“Jason Mattera is an incisive, tenacious champion of the right. His continuing work to expose liberal bias on campus always makes for a blockbuster interview!” —Mark Larson, radio personality, 1170 AM KCBQ (San Diego)

"Jason Mattera is sharp, confident, and articulate. He is a solid example of the next generation of conservative leadership. . . . America will be in good hands in the future.” — Kirby Wilbur, radio personality, AM 570 KVI (Seattle)

Related Links:

Obama's Supporters will Pay the Most in Taxes!
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2009/11/12/obama-s-supporters-will-pay-the-most-in

How Obama Won the Presidency in 2008 - and Why
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2009/09/18/how-obama-won-the-presidency-in-2008-and

The generation of educators and professors who taught their philosophies to the young people.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/11/20/glenn-beck-obama-really-is-a-marxist

Generation "Y" AKA "The Millennial Generation" AKA "The Millennials" AKA "The Echo Boomers" (born between 1979 to 1990)

It's common sense. Sometimes when you push, someone pushes back...

It's also a law in physics. "To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction."

UPDATE: Truth on Carnahan and Stupak
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_032510/content/01125115.guest.html

UPDATE: Andrew Breitbart Offers $10,000 to United Negro College Fund
http://michellemalkin.com/2010/03/26/andrew-breitbart-offers-10000-to-united-negro-college-fund/

UPDATE: Democrats Create False Storyline to Distract from What They've Done
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/content/home/daily/site_032510/content/01125106.guest.html

UPDATE: Barney Frank Claims Bullying
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_032510/content/01125113.guest.html

UPDATE: Some claims of anti-ObamaCare violence and threats turn out to be exaggerated
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704100604575145760388087340.html

A nasty voice mail wishing them "ill will" does not even begin to equate to the "nastiness" that's being practiced in Congress. Will Congress now pass new litigation making themselves a "protected group" in order to prosecute these people for hate crimes? They are pompous enough to do so. (Although, it would probably be more appropriate to put the Progressives on the Endangered Species list.)

With all the corruption and abuse in Congress, it's no wonder we haven't heard more about this before.

After all, it's only human nature. After years of abuse, it's not uncommon for a bully to eventually end up with a bloody nose, fat lip, and a black eye. The Progressives in Congress might call it "social justice."

(Eric Cantor, a Republican, was shot at and most likely has the only legitimate complaint about actual threats.)

It was Bart Stupak's votes that passed Obama-Care.

Their in-your-face dismissive and disrespectful disregard towards the average folks has been outright repulsive. Why do members of Congress expect to ride on their high horses and continue to behave like out-of-control dictators and not have to worry about any form of retaliation?

Congress has been wallowing in an orgy of corruption and greed for far too long, while normal people have been cutting back, saving, and doing without.

Rather than focusing on THE PEOPLE, they are more concerned about making history!

Immigration Reform, Cap-and-Trade, Green Jobs, and health care reform are the most important things on their agenda - and to "fundamentally transform America"...rather than representing the majority of American people.

Today while Obama was on another "campaign trail" reveling in his sleasy victory, in "street-talk" he challenged the GOP: [paraphrased] "I've been hearing that the Republicans are going to run on a platform in November of repealing healthcare. And I say to them...Go for it!"

(Oh, we will Mister President.)

People are sick of Congress and their disgusting self-gratification - spending tax money as thought it were their very own personal Obama-Stash. The citizens are sick and tired of all the lying, cheating, bribes, backroom deals, and stealing in government. Members in Congress have been doling out money like common thieves and have been ignoring the will of the people.

HOW CAN THEY KEEP BEHAVING IN THIS WAY AND NOT EXPECT A FEW PEOPLE TO BE A LITTLE PISSED?

Wouldn't that be kinda of stupid? No, it's not "ignorance", it's "arrogance". They don't give a damn how angry you are. It is WE who are the ignorant ones...for paying them $174,000 a year to steal from us!
THEY GOT THEIRS!

When WE behave like those scumbags in Congress, WE aren't pampered with the luxury of "special protection". When WE lie, cheat, and steal, WE have to pay consequences. But Congress believes they are above the law...the law of man and the law of God.

Irony or hypocrisy?

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol April 13, 2005 in Washington, DC. - - - Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelos called on the GOP to end the abuse of congressional power!

So while I myself, don't personally condone violence (or the threat of violence) towards certain members of Congress...nor do I sympathize or feel empathy for them...as a human being, I feel little to no moral outrage. I can understand why some people might feel the way they do. The outrageous atrocities Congress has been perpetuating on the American people is unforgivable.

Although, many members of Congress and in the Obama administration may have condoned violence and revolution to overthrow our government...and not very long ago.

What I WOULD condone though, would be for their immediate arrest and imprisonment for being subversive to our government - for voting for this socialistic "health care reform" plan.

But since Eric Holder is also a traitor to this country, I don't expect the FBI to arrest those other traitorous people in government any time soon.

A pity, because if "The People" saw more justice being served upon members in government (i.e. tax cheats like Charlie Rangel), there would be far less threats against them.

I'm just saying...for a better understanding of the radical Progressive Democrats in Congress, and why the American people may be so angry with them,
see this post.

"To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction."

The pendulum swings both ways.

See: "That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom: Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party"

Links below for some of the news articles on the threats

Democratic lawmakers facing death threats after health bill signed
http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/posted/archive/2010/03/24/democratic-lawmakers-facing-death-threats-after-health-bill-signed.aspx

FBI Investigates Possible Threats Directed at House Democrats
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/24/fbi-investigates-possible-threats-directed-house-democrats/

After Threats and Vandalism, Democrats Meet with Capitol Police
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/03/after-threats-and-vandalism-democrats-meet-with-capitol-police/37981/

Thousands expected at Tea Party rally in Harry Reid's hometown of Searchlight, Nevada

The Tea Party Express rally is coming Saturday, March 27, 2010 - - - a sort of conservative mini-Woodstock in the desert that organizers expect to draw between 5,000 to 10,000 people -- maybe more -- from across the country, most of whom want to end the career of Nevada's most powerful politician.

Besides Sarah Palin, advertised speakers include a bevy of conservative TV and radio talk show stars and columnists, including Jerry Doyle, Roger Hedgecock, Andrea Shea King and Andrew Breitbart; "Joe the Plumber," or Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who confronted Obama during his presidential campaign; 2008 Libertarian vice presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root; Victoria Jackson, a former "Saturday Night Live" comedian; as well as ACORN video sting journalist Hannah Giles.

Full Story

http://www.lvrj.com/news/thousands-expected-at-tea-party-rally-in-reid-s-hometown-of-searchlight-88803187.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/02/sarah-palin-will-rally-for-tea.html?hpid=topnews

http://www.americanconservativedaily.com/2010/03/news-joe-the-plumber-to-join-sarah-palin-in-searchlight/

The final votes in Congress on the government takeover of health care took place and passed. Despite overwhelming public opposition, the Democrats (The Progressive Party) worked hard to ram this government takeover down the throats of the America people to fundamentally transform America

From Gov. Mike Huckabee's web site:
Congress Didn't Listen To Us This Time

Will amnesty for illegals be next, or will unemployed Americans be the Democrats next great cause? SEIU is now moving on to the next issue on their agenda, immigration.

First it was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac we had to sink billions of dollars into. Then there was the government takeover of General Motors, Chrysler and A.I.G. (all massive money pits as well). Then there were the banks. Now we own Obama-Care (a system of socialized medicine, much like they have in Canada).

This healthcare bill will also take over the student loan industry, which grants billions of dollars to the Pell Grant Program for low-income undergraduate students. How long will it be before, under Obama, most of the hospitals and universities are under government control as they are in Canada? Will this madness ever end?

And whatever happened to JOBS?

Let's just hope that Congress doesn't make their next priority giving themselves pay raises again. As it is now, they already think they're above the law.

Final Tally:
Yea - 219
Nay - 212

Just 4 people (just 4 Progressive Democrats) changed our system of government to Socialism!

Bart Stupak's votes made the difference.

Not ONE Republican voted "Yea". - So much for another broken Obama promise, when while campaigning in 2008, he had promised bipartisanship - "There are no blue states; there are no red states; there's just the United States..."

Somebody let me know if you see any tailgate parties breaking out across America...or if you see crowds of people cheering in the streets or popping champagne corks. Send me a picture and I'll post it!

But it's hasn't REALLY been about healthcare at all, has it? It's been about an ideology. And ideology that, like a theology, is about ones belief - - - such as a religious creed. You can't force an ideology or a religious faith on someone in America...that is, at least not until today.

Remember what Obama said in his interview with Bret Baier when he was asked about the "deem and pass" tactic?

For the last several years, and especially over the last year of Obama's administration, the ideology of Progressivism has be neatly wrapped up in nice words such as "diversity", "progress", "green", "tolerant", "healthcare reform", and SOCIAL JUSTICE". But what Obama and the Progressives in Congress has sold to the people of America is really a massive dose of fraud and corruption; a Socialist ideology.

Accusations were made that people FOR Obama-Care were planted among the Tea Partiers to shout racial slurs and shed them in a bad light. See "Video Debunks Lib Accusations That Slurs were Shouted"

Sunday, March 21st, 2010 - At 1:07 PM as the Tea Party protesters voiced their concerns outside of Congress, Senator Stupak faced the cameras. Obama-Care was pushed yet even closer into law with a promise made by Obama to Stupak - - - that Obama would use a ANOTHER Presidential Executive Order to "tweak" the bill to address Senator Stupak's concerns regarding abortion funding. (An order, that can be easily rescinded at any time by a variety of ways).

Or as the Republicans said, "It's not worth the piece of paper it's written on."

So, like the others before him (who had sold their souls in a bargain to the devil ), Senator Stupak sold out.

With a "promise" from Obama (a guy who's Progressive ideology believes that "the end justifies the means", and who has lied more times to the American people than I can count), Senator Stupak claimed to have stood his ground on his "principals"; but yet he still caved in to Obama's radical left-wing agenda by voting for socialized healthcare. Stupak and his followers allowed this bill to go forward.

I'm not as polite as Greta Van Susteren. I would label Senator Stupak as a traitor to this country for further advancing The Obama Plan to "fundamentally transform" this nation.

Another Bribe? - "STUPAK ANNOUNCES $726,409 FOR AIRPORTS IN ALPENA, DELTA AND CHIPPEWA COUNTIES

A Short Bart Stupak Bio:

* Stupak has voted with Democrats 96% of the time.
* His largest political contributers were unions (think of the SEIU) and energy companies (think of cap-and-trade).
* While in Washington, D.C., Stupak rented a room at a facility known as "The Fellowship" AKA "The Family", an organization which operates the property as a tax-exempt church and subsidized residence for several congressmen and senators. Recently Stupak moved out after a lawsuit challenged the tax favored status of the facility as a "church"; and also on the grounds that many "ordinary" church activities did not actually occur there - and due to the secretiveness of the organization.
(Like everyone in Congress, he denies this.)

And something else that wasn't mentioned: Evan Bayh

Fence-sitters, squeamish about voting YES for the healthcare bill, may have changed their minds with the sudden and unexpected 40% increase for insurance premiums in California by Anthem Blue Cross, whose parent company is WellPoint, of who's board sits Evan Bayh's wife, Susan, who has personal holdings in the stock. A U.S. House of Representatives committee questioned executives from Anthem's parent company, WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis, about its rate hikes. What happened here? Could this "plot" have been orchestrated? I'd like to see the FBI get involved on this matter. "Do you hear me Eric Holder?"

Look for a repeal of the law in 2012-13. Obama and the Democrats would have wasted all this time (15 months) on Obama-Care (and making "history") instead of concentrating on creating a government environment for businesses to expand the job market - while millions of Americans, who were left behind, still remain unemployed.

Let the lawsuits begin - - - now we'll NEVER see an improvement in the economy so long as the Democrats remain in office.

A look at Obama's health care bill:

(My own version of a healthcare bill:"Simple Healthcare Reform for Dummies")

President Obama (the great orator) made a compelling speech yesterday for a reason to pass his healthcare bill. He raised many heart-felt (and mostly believeable) reasons. But as usual, he and his Obama-Care advocates had been playing the "sympathy card" and screaming the mantra, "45,000 people die every year in America because they lacked affordable healthcare!" (The numbers they throw around range from 18,000 to 48,000 - as though it were a real scientific consensus.)

But the truth is quite different than they proclaim, and they had just been playing on the heartstrings and conscience of the American people, to promote an agenda of government-run healthcare. But Obama's reasons may be much more personal (as for his mother), especially when it comes to brow beating the insurance companies...

"...she wasn’t sure whether insurance was going to cover the medical expenses because they might consider this a preexisting condition." See the politial ad here

Under Obama-Care his mom would most likely have received far worse care than she actually did. Reader comments

It's almost a joke that the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (the bill that was co-introduced by then-Senator Barack Obama) was bypassed when the healthcare bill was written by Democrats behind closed doors.

The healthcare bill that was just passed is only the beginning...expect the government to control every single aspect of your life if you live in the United States of America...using the absolute power of the IRS to enforce these Socialistic intrusions into your life - by madating that you MUST buy healthcare insurance, and they will begin illegally fining you through a tax that is unconstitutional. (See "Bailey vs. Drexel Furniture")

While it's agreed by everyone that "reform" was needed, this was not the way. It's a national disgrace.

Obama's and Peolos's egotistic version of "making history" might have been achieved, but not as you may have thought...and at what cost to Americans?

Obama's Progressive movement in the United States has infiltrated, not only the Congress, but many of the lower levels of government as well...Progressive underlings are waiting in the wings to fill higher positions in government as their more senior Progressive "brothers and sisters" either move up the ladder, or fall off. Think of a Hydra: Every time you cut off a head, two more grow back (Or the futility of engaging in a war of attrition with China).

The Democratic Party has been especially vulnerable to the Progressive's infiltration (some say "hijacked") as can be witnessed by the current political events, and the corrupted processes being used to pass questionable legislation (i.e. H.R. 3200, etc.)

Congressional Progressive Caucus

"Organized around the principles of social and economic justice."

The "Progressives" Divided America

The Progressives within the Democratic Party need to keep replacing their fallen "comrades" (as they will, in the coming *November congressional elections) and like ACORN, they will use the U.S. Census as but one tool in 2010 for accomplishing their goals and promoting their Socialist agenda.

*That's why it's become necessary to eradicate ALL Democrats from ANY power in government (the good, the bad, and the ugly), because the Democratic Party has become far too infested with this twisted Progressive ideology. Conservatives (Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans alike) need to clean house and promote others down the ranks to extract the Progressive cancer from deep within, and replace them with people who hold the basic core values of American exceptionalism and better cohesion to the U.S. Constitution...respecting the rights of "the people" and of the states. And after the 2012 presidential election (when a Conservative wins), all of Obama's politically appointed officials (cabinet members, czars, administrative heads, and diplomats) and almost all new hires in the White House's more senior positions, should be fired as well.

Believer in American Exceptionalism?

The U.S. Census and Illegal Immigration May Also have Allowed Obama-Care to Pass

A census is required by the U.S. Constitution to take place every 10 years in The United States and Puerto Rico. The data is used for both legitimate and some very controversial reasons. The U.S. Census Bureau is now hiring (Bilingual speakers are encouraged to apply).

The census counts every single resident (man, woman, child - both legal and illegal residents alike - as "equals"). That's why households in areas with high concentrations of Spanish-speaking residents will receive a bilingual census form (No comprende English?).

Sarcasm: Maybe, at the same time, the Census people could also mail them a Spanish version of the U.S. Constitution - The Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. This would be very beneficial to them also because:

1) After filling out their immigration forms and obtaining a Green Card, when they EVENTUALLY fill out their application to become a "legal" U.S. citizen, they will be better prepared.

2) They would learn that by being counted as Spanish-speaking immigrants (whether legal of not) the census data collected from them will be used to help them, by apportioning "fair" electoral representation to their districts...thus giving them more political power in the U.S. political system.

Some argue that immigrants (both legal and illegal) should FIRST learn English - before filling out their immigration forms and obtaining a Green Card, and then becoming a legal U.S. citizen before being able to be counted in a United States' Constitutionally required census (in that exact order).

As I write this right now, Hispanics are taking to the streets in large numbers, protesting and demanding "IMMIGRATIOM REFORM" (to give legal status to millions of illegal immigrants) and pushing for the Democrats to take up this issue next...NOT JOBS!

Obama's Immigration Policy: Not "Reform" - Just More Amnesty

In the last presidential election Obama won with help from the Hispanics (73% of legally registered Hispanic voters voted for him). Most Hispanic have been strong supporters of the Democratic Party because they commonly favor their liberal views on immigration policies (both illegal and legal), increasing their demographics and political power...winning yet more, legislation that is more favorable to them (i.e. amnesty, etc).

(See: How Obama Won the Presidency in 2008 - and Why)

Both sides of this issue (DEMS and GOP alike) are in contention regarding immigration reform. Because of the financial drain on America - illegal immigrants have been a monkey on the backs of hard-working U.S. taxpayers for many years. The new healthcare bill will insure millions of illegal immigrants at an even greater expense to the already burdened American people.

It was the Progressives, who now control the Democratic party, who made Obama-Care possible...and with the help of Spanish-speaking people, who have been continually immigrating to this country (and dividing and multiplying and growing in numbers by the day).

The Progressives have already infiltrated corporate America by using "Diversity Policies" as a tool for hiring practices that promotes reverse discrimination against the majority of the demographics in the work-force, hiring a disproportionate amount of "ethnic minorities" of the actual population base. (See my other post on the "Green Agenda" of Obama, using Cap-and-Trade to "fundamentally transform America".)

By the year 2050, it is estimated that Euro-Americans will only be 49% of the population in the United States - and be a minority for the first time ever in American history. (Part of the Obama Plan?) Spanish-speaking electoral representatives in America would then be a majority, and control the votes. (Mexico reclaiming their lost territories?)

and the Progressives would love it!

And "Cinco de Mayo" will become a "National Pan-Amerikan Holiday".

Unless...

New York Times - November 3, 2010

It's not over for the GREAT HEALTHCARE DEBATE...expect years of litigation and Constitutional challenges...and maybe more lost jobs in the meanwhile. Only the lawyers will benefit, especially the trial layers, as there's no TORT reform either...and as usual, only WE will suffer.

I hope Nancy Pelosi's freaky little psychedelic "itsy-bitsy" spider bites her in her fat lying ass!
"We have to pass the bill first, before you can see what's in it."

Disclaimer: I'm not a racist right-wing member of the KKK or the Aryan Nation. I just hate progressivism. My brother is married to a woman of Mexican descent who gave birth to my nephew. My great-grandfather was an immigrant - he immigrated from Germany to America in 1865. He was Roman Catholic and a simple farmer in the Deep South. My dad (God bless him) was a Democrat!

The healthcare bill will control every aspect of your life...and the IRS will be the ENFORCER!

The federal bureaucracy responsible for implementing and enforcing Obama-Care will be the Internal Revenue Service. Under the Democrats' health care proposals, the IRS would wield even more power and extend its reach even farther into the lives of ordinary Americans, and the presidentially-appointed head of the new health care bureaucracy would have access to confidential IRS information about millions of individual taxpayers.

* The IRS would become the main agency for determining who has an "acceptable" health insurance plan -

* for finding and punishing those who don't have such a plan -

* for subsidizing individual health insurance costs through the issuance of a tax credits -

* and for enforcing the rules on those who attempt to opt out, abuse, or game the system -

The Democrats' plan would require all Americans to have "acceptable" insurance coverage. The legislation includes long and complex definitions of "acceptable" and would designate the IRS as the agency charged with enforcing that requirement.

On your yearly 1040 tax return, you would be required to attest that you have "acceptable" coverage.

If you don't have "acceptable" coverage, you will be subject to substantial fines administered by the IRS.

Everyone would be required to buy coverage.

Personal tax information of millions of Americans would enter the system whether they want it to or not.

Millions of people who can't buy it without a subsidy, will have no choice but to accept the subsidy in order to buy insurance, and then the Health Choices Commissioner will have access to their tax records.

This increases the risk of misusing this information.

Some versions of the bill even permit the release of confidential taxpayer information for decidedly less pressing reasons.

Before Congress makes any decision on national health care, voters should know just what it will involve.

FULL STORY - Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Health-care-reform-means-more-power-for-the-IRS-56781377.html#ixzz0ihPl4ww9

Obama-Care advocates have been screaming the mantra:

"45,000 people die every year in America because they lacked affordable healthcare!"

That's 45,000 out of 309,000,000 Americans.

Does Cass Sunstein object?

But there were another 1.7 million health-related deaths in America for people who HAD healthcare.

And add to that, another 125,000 people who died from accidental causes.

It's a dangerous world.

The most common conventional causes of death are cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's Disease and by accidents...in that order. (Alzheimer's victims usually die of pneumonia, a lung condition or a cerebrovascular condition - so Alzheimer's victims are often declared to die of other causes.)

The leading causes of death in the U.S.A. - Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Heart disease: 631,636
Cancer: 559,888
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599 (*non-health related)
Diabetes: 72,449
Alzheimer's disease: 72,432
Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
Septicemia: 34,234

1,734,011 Total Health related deaths every year in U.S.A.
- 45,000 Deaths claimed because they lacked healthcare insurance
= 1,689,011 Deaths for people WITH healthcare insurance

Obama-Care advocates claim 45,000 Americans die every year due to their inability to pay for decent, timely medical care.

But these links claims HALF that amount

22,000 Americans die every year from lack of access to health care.

and

20,000 Americans die every year because they do not have access to routine but efficacious care because they lack health insurance.

And this link claims even LESS

18,000 Americans die every year because they do not have health insurance.

- - - - - - - Causes of death in America - - - - - - -

600,000 Americans die every year when their hearts suddenly stop.

400,000 Americans die every year from smoking cigarettes.

300,000 Americans die every year from obesity related illnesses.

100,000 Americans die every year from toxins and other workplace hazards.

100,000 Americans die every year from cirrhosis due to alcohol.

100,000 Americans die every year from medical malpractice.

65,000 Americans die every year from air pollution.

100,000 Americans die every year from the effects of prescription medications.

5,000 Americans die every year from food poisoning.

75,000 Americans die every year as a result of alcohol.

190,000 Americans are killed each year because doctors or hospitals gave them the wrong care.

6,000 Americans die every year from stomach ulcer related complications.

30,000 Americans die every year through firearms; these results include homicides, suicides and accidental shootings.

44,000 to 98,000 thousand Americans die every year as a result of avoidable medical errors. - The Institute of Medicine

50,000 Americans die every year in road accidents, equal to the total number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War.

36,000 Americans die every year from the flu.

10,000 Americans die every year from pollution related to coal.

8,000 to 15,000 Americans died because Misoprostol was not available.

4,000 Americans die every year in residential fires.

19,000 Americans die every year from MRSA, and most contract the disease in hospitals.

1,000 americans die every year from overdosing on aspirin?

7,000 Americans die every year from oral cancer.

7,000 Americans die every year because a CPR device used in emergency rooms is not available in the United States.

10,000 Americans die every year from hepatitis C.

6,000 Americans die every year in residential fires.

30,000 Americans die every year from air pollution.

4,000 Americans die every year waiting for organ transplants.

5,000 Americans die every year from food-borne illnesses. - Centers for Disease Control.

30,000 Americans die every year as a result of gun violence.

50,000 Americans die every year in traffic collisions.

44,000 Americans die every year because the right wing chooses corporate-profits over American lives.

29,000 thousand Americans die every year from typhoid.

365,000 Americans die every year due to obesity, and 100,000 from obesity related cancer.

4,703 Americans died in Iraq since 2003

1,692 Americans died in Afghanistan since 2001

Yes, Americans die every year. And Americans are also born. The U.S. population could total 438 million by 2050.

The Obama-Care advocates say this healthcare bill will insurance 32 million more Americans. Does this include the 17 million who lost their jobs during the recession, and the millions more of illegal immigrants who continue to cross the border (and divide and multiply while using the emergency rooms)?

And I might die soon too, but in the meantime...

Tea Party Patriots will be back in DC on Capitol Hill Saturday, March 20 at 10:00 am

Click here for e-mail addresses and fax numbers by State

Links below to "Talking Points", data, and facts on why we oppose this bill.

www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/03/What-House-Passage-of-the-Senate-Health-Bill-Means-for-America

www.heritage.org/Research/Factsheets/Obamacare-It-s-Not-Getting-Better

Defeating legal due process using "The Slaughter Rule"
(How appropriately named)

The Constitution of the United States
Article I - The Legislative Branch
Section 9 - Limits on Congress
"No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed." (ex post facto - adj. Formulated, enacted, or operating retroactively.) [Med Lat., from what is done afterwards]

Also, see Section 7 - Revenue Bills, Legislative Process, Presidential Veto

The House of Representatives must vote up or down, and the healthcare bill can not be "deemed" passed and sent to the President to be signed into law.

In other words, because HE thinks "it's the right thing to do", Obama can not condone whatever legislative process is necessary to pass the bill, no matter what the majority of Americans might think...but Obama doesn't care how sleazy the process may be, or how it may appear to be to ordinary citizens.

If Barry Soetoro (aka President Obama) tries to tell you that I am not concerned with the "process" in which these bills are passed in Congress, then that would be untrue. He does not have the right to speak for me on this matter, I speak for myself...while the Constitution of the United States still allows me.

Obama's Fox News interview marked by interruptions, focus on 'special deals'

Washington Post: By Michael D. Shear

President Obama's interview Wednesday on Fox News Channel was a testy affair in which Obama repeatedly appeared exasperated at being interrupted and frustrated with the focus on legislative process rather than the substance of his health care proposals.

Prodded repeatedly by interviewer Bret Baier to discuss the parliamentary procedures that House Democrats are using to pass his legislation, Obama scolded Baier at several points, telling him, "Bret, let me finish."

At one point near the end of the interview, Obama shook his head and turned away when Baier cut in.

Later, Baier apologized for interrupting him, getting a smile and a firm handshake in response.

At another point, Baier accused Obama of fillibustering through the interview, to which Obama said: "Well, I'm trying to answer your question and you keep on interrupting."

Baier had blogged before the rare interview with FNC that the White House had put no restrictions on the topics that could be asked, but had said that Obama wanted to discuss health care. The interview took place in the Blue Room, and later the two walked through Cross Hall in the residence.

Obama refused to give ground to criticism of his health-care efforts, calling the legislation "the right thing to do."

And he predicted that he and his allies will be vindicated once the bill is passed and it begins having an impact on people's lives.

"The reason that it needs to be done is not its effect on the presidency. It has to do with how it's going to affect ordinary people who right now are desperately in need of help," he said.

Baier focused several of his questions on what he called "special deals" in the legislation, and he quizzed Obama about whether he knew if any remained in the legislation that lawmakers will vote on.

Obama discussed several, including defending a provision that would provide extra money to Louisiana because of challenges caused by Hurricane Katrina. The president also responded to Baier's questions by insisting that the bill would soon be posted online for all to see.

But the president appeared uncertain when Baier asked him about special deals for Connecticut and Montana.

"Connecticut -- what are you specifically referring to?" Obama asked.

Obama also said that procedural maneuvers involving his health-care bill will not shield Democrats from those who want to criticize their stance on the issue.

"If people vote yes, whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for health-care reform," the president told Baier. "And I don't think we should pretend otherwise. And if they don't, if they vote against it, then they're going to be voting against health-care reform and they're going to be voting in favor of the status quo."

Obama criticized Washington for getting "very concerned" with procedures in Congress, and said he tries to ignore all of that.

"I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or Senate," he said. "What I can tell you is that the vote that's taken in the House will be a vote for health-care reform."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been criticized this week for saying that she favored a parliamentary maneuver that would allow House members to make a final decision on broad health-care changes without voting directly on a health-care bill.

The tactic, known as a "self-executing rule" or as a "deem and pass," has been used with increasing frequency in recent years by Democrats and Republicans alike, usually earlier in the legislative process.

After the sit-down portion of the interview, Baier asked Obama about Israel and Iran. Obama said that the recent spat with Israel over the construction of settlements was a disagreement "among friends." And he said keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Iranians was one of his highest priorities.

Baier also asked the president about Tiger Woods. Obama said that the golfer had "acknowledged that he betrayed his family and that's a personal issue that he's got to work out." Obama said he expected Woods to be as good a golfer as ever.

Fox, which has been highly critical of Obama, provided Arizona Sen. John McCain (R), the president's former rival, an opportunity to offer his criticisms before Obama's interview was broadcast.

Speaking to Fox News' Neil Cavuto, McCain said Obama was underestimating the extent to which Americans dislike the process by which Democrats have moved the legislation through Congress.

"The sleazy deals, the Louisiana Purchase, Cornhusker kickback. the PhRMA deal," McCain said. "The sleaze that Chicago-style sausage-making going on in the formation of this bill."

What's Obama and Pelosi up to? Will Congressional votes on healthcare be traded for U.S. Ambassadorships? Opps! I hope I didn't give away their plan!

BRIBERY

TITLE 18--CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I--CRIMES
CHAPTER 11--BRIBERY, GRAFT, AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+18USC203

PENAL CODE
TITLE 8. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER 36. BRIBERY AND CORRUPT INFLUENCE
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.36.htm

See "Is the President and Members of Congress Above the Law?"
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/17/are-members-of-congress-above-the-law

RELATED News Articles:

The president's health plan won't solve a problem. It will be the start of bitter fights over funding and policy that will consume the nation for decades to come.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704743404575127540906168462.html

Dems pushing ObamaCare look increasingly desperate and creepy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704743404575127690939847922.html

'Nobody Wants to Vote for the Senate bill'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703734504575125693906113572.html

ObamaCare's Worst Tax Hike
For the first time, payroll levies will hit investment income.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704131404575117623860083574.html

The Failure of RomneyCare
The former Massachusetts governor enacted something very similar to the Obama health plan. It isn't working well.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703625304575115691871093652.html

Will the 17.5 million people who lost jobs ALSO get healthcare?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/03/obama-fox-news-interview.html?wprss=44

There's no law that says I HAVE to buy a car and drive on public highways (and obtain auto insurance) - so how can forcing someone to buy healthcare insurance (just because they EXIST) be lawful?

When a citizen takes the time and effort write their elected officials with their concerns (and asks legitimate questions), they usually don't bother answering you. Or if they do, it's with a form letter by an auto-generated response in relation to the "Subject Line" they have you choose.

Recently I wrote Nevada Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce (Democrat Clark County Assembly District No. 3 - - - Affiliations: Sierra Club, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International)

I asked her, "Did you pass a State law banning Federally mandated healthcare insurance? The Federal government has been usurping all your (and our State's) powers."

Two days latter I received her reply: "No"

I was surprised and happy she wrote me back, but I found it a little unsettling that her reply was so short and concise...almost rude.

So I wrote her back:

A very well articulated, intelligent, and respectful answer from an elected official to a legitimate question from a concerned citizen.

No wonder our country is in decline.

Let me ask you this: Will you EVER pass a State law banning mandated healthcare insurance?

UPDATE

She wrote me back:
Gee, I thought you'd appreciate my efficiency. Are you similarly oppose to laws mandating the purchase of car insurance?

I replied:
I appreciate your "efficiency", but not your sarcasm. Just because we disagree, it's no reason to be personally insulting.

Car insurance and health insurance - (an old argument) - comparing apples and oranges.

Driving a car on public streets in the U.S. is a privilege, and a driver's license is required to legally drive. Accessing the streets and sidewalks (the "by-ways" of our land) is a Constitutional Right. Car insurance is "State mandated" only if you possess and register a vehicle for the purpose of driving a vehicle on those public streets (paid for with public tax dollars) - and I can also purchase auto insurance across state lines. I don't legally have to buy insurance to drive a plow on a farm (private land) in Arkansas. I'm not mandated by law to drive on public highways, but I CHOOSE to do so.

Merely "existing" is an inalienable right granted by God (as stated and guaranteed to us by the U.S. Constitution), and forcing someone by law to purchase something (healthcare insurance) just because they EXIST, is unconstitutional - I didn't choose to exist, I just do because my mother
didn't abort me.

(No one in Congress has yet responded.)

Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce
Legislative Building
401 S. Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89701
Ph: (775) 684-8599
Fax: (775) 684-8533

E-Mail: PPierce@asm.state.nv.us

Web Site: http://www.peggypierce.net

Is the crown jewel of Obama's presidency D.O.A.?

Ruling Kills an Option for Moving Health Bill

March 11, 2010, 2:30 P.M.
By David M. Drucker
Roll Call Staff

The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress’ original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday.

The Senate Parliamentarian’s Office was responding to questions posed by the Republican leadership. The answers were provided verbally, sources said.

House Democratic leaders have been searching for a way to ensure that any move they make to approve the Senate-passed $871 billion health care reform bill is followed by Senate action on a reconciliation package of adjustments to the original bill. One idea is to have the House and Senate act on reconciliation prior to House action on the Senate’s original health care bill.

Information Republicans say they have received from the Senate Parliamentarian’s Office eliminates that option. House Democratic leaders last week began looking at crafting a legislative rule that would allow the House to approve the Senate health care bill, but not forward it to Obama for his signature until the Senate clears the reconciliation package.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moved Thursday to put Senate Republicans on the defensive over health care, sending a letter to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in which he dared the GOP to vote against reform.

Reid also defended the Democrats’ use of reconciliation to get a final health care reform bill to the president’s desk, noting that the bulk of health care reform was approved under regular order via the package that cleared the Senate on Christmas Eve. Reid also emphasized that Republicans have used the procedure several times over the years.

However, Reid also promised in the letter that Republicans would have ample opportunity to amend the reconciliation package.

"Reconciliation is designed to deal with budget-related matters, and some have expressed doubt that it could be used for comprehensive health care reform that includes many policies with no budget implications. But the reconciliation bill now under consideration would not be the vehicle for comprehensive reform - that bill already passed outside of reconciliation with 60 votes," Reid wrote to McConnell.

"Reconciliation will not exclude Republicans from the legislative process. You will continue to have an opportunity to offer amendments and change the shape of the legislation. In addition, at the end of the process, the bill can pass only if it wins a democratic, up-or-down majority vote. If Republicans want to vote against a bill that reduces health care costs, fills the prescription drug ‘donut hole’ for seniors and reduces the deficit, you will have every right to do so," he said.

If the bill doesn't pass the House As Is, maybe then Obama and Team can get on with the business of jobs.

I predict that the queen has no clothes.

Now, let's hope Cap-and-Trade doesn't waste another year of Obama's administration.

Origianl source:
http://cdn.rollcall.com/media/44110-1.html

After they were elected into the majority in November of 2006, the 110th Congress was sworn in on January 4, 2007 - This is the date where they took control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Several months later, the current recession started and unemployment began to climb.

After Obama (a Progressive Democrat) was elected in 2008, the Democrats now had full control of the U.S. government and began appointing judges in 2009 favoring their ideologies.

I suppose it could be argued that the unemployment rate "stabilized" in 1934 as well, while FDR (also a Progressive Democrat) was President, who was elected 2 years earlier in 1932.

The United States House of Representatives elections of 1934 occurred in the middle of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term. The Democratic Party continued its progress, gaining another 9 net seats from the opposition Republican Party, who also lost seats to the Progressive Party. The Republicans were reduced below one-fourth of the chamber for the first time since the creation of the party.

The 1934 elections can be seen as a referendum on New Deal policies. Conservatives and people among the middle class saw New Deal programs as radical, but the ordinary people overwhelmingly voted in this election cycle to continue implementation of Roosevelt's agenda.

Anytown, U.S.A. in 2010 - Because of the 8.4 million lost jobs thusfar, the rate of foreclosures is still going up and tax revenues are continuing to go down.

What will happen when state and local governments finally start doing REAL budget cuts, and we begin seeing massive layoffs in the government sector as well? (The "Stimulus Fund" won't last forever). We will see less fireman, less police, and less teachers...and other non-essential support personnel. But how deep will the cuts have to go before government can actually sustain itself?

Will the unions strike and protest like they're now doing in Greece? How violent and destructive can it get? Will this only be the beginning of things to come?

Will the remaining 80% of the workforce (who are still working) take up the slack by paying increased taxes? Or will they also go on strike and protest the higher taxes with the newly unemployed government workers?

Government may need to re-hire the police they earlier laid off just to control the increasing riots!

A vicious cycle, a continuing spiral...What will it be like by December 2012 at the end of the Mayan calendar?

Will we oust all the Democratic Left-Wing Progressives in office and elect a Conservative president to lead us out of the Second Great Depression?

Or will it really be the end of the world as we know it?

Tune in later to find out.

The Employment Situation for March 2010 is scheduled to be released on Friday, April 2, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT)
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Related posts on the current unemployment situation:

Unemployment - Foreclosures, Might See Rise in Suicides
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/10/unemployment-foreclosures-might-see-rise

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

NY Times - Joblessness Likely to Remain for Years
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/05/ny-times-joblessness-likely-to-remain-fo

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Extended Unemployment Benefits in 2010 - Fully Explained
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010

As far back as 2008, ABC Predicted suicide rates would go up, just like during the last Great Depression.

"Desperation Economy"
by Jocelyn Hanamirian (Excerpted)

(ALSO READ: How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America)

As the nation's unemployment rate climbs, some mental-health experts worry that we may see a corresponding rise in suicides.

Anecdotal evidence of the problem has been around for months.

Empirically, it's too early to tell, because national statistics for 2008 won't be available for another three years. But given the preliminary data and historical trends, health experts do fear that the recession's toxic mix of stressors (unemployment and home foreclosure) will be reflected in the nation's suicide rate.

Historically, the suicide rate has been linked more to the unemployment rate rather than the stock market, investment frauds, or other financial phenomenon, says Dr. Lenny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology.

During the Great Depression, for example, the peak unemployment rate, 25 percent, coincided with an increase in the suicide rate.

"Any time there is a significant life stress that threatens the every day functioning of an individual and their ability to cope there is always an increase in the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior," said Dr. Berman.

"In general," he added, "we will expect to see an increased rate of suicide if the recession is prolonged. The Great Depression had a great affect on unemployment and suicide. Subsequent recessions were not as lengthy and did not have the same observable affect on suicide. This current recess threatens to be longer than any recession we've had since the Great Depression."

Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in 2008 rose 36 percent from 2007, and employee assistance providers, which offer counseling as part of an employee's health plan, have reported a dramatic increase in calls related to depression and financial concerns.

The loss of a job or a home may be enough to push some people into despair. When the crisis hits, they feel hopeless, humiliated, and in despair. They don't have the resiliency that is required to get them through a particularly stressful situation.

At the top of the list of callers' concerns to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline were worries about homelessness or home foreclosure. In 2008, more than 2.3 million Americans faced home foreclosure proceedings, an 81 percent increase from 2007.

And it's been growing ever since.

Oregon's suicide prevention line, Oregon Partnership, recorded a 55 percent increase in calls over the past year. Director Leslie Storm said callers have also been mentioning job and money concerns increasingly in the past few months.

Mary Tavarozzi, a principal at Towers Perrin, a healthcare consulting group, said that employers are responding to the recession by actively advertising the counseling services available under certain healthcare plans. Some have even asked healthcare providers place a counselor on a job site a few times a week, or have made outside experts on financial planning available to their workers.

Over the next few months, the Samaritans of New York, a suicide prevention group and crisis line for New York City and the New York State Office of Mental Health will be strategizing how corporations can play a more active role in suicide prevention, said Samaritans director Alan Ross.

If you can, reaching out to friends and family can ease the sense that one is isolated in a problem and reduce an individual's suicide risk, says Dr. Yeates Conwell, co-director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide at the University of Rochester Medical Center in upstate New York. Helping people gain perspective of their situation, he said, is integral to suicide prevention.

My related posts:
Here are a few of my blog posts just regarding the unemployment situation:

JEC Hearing on Long-term Unemployment in Washington DC
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog5.php/2010/04/28/jec-hearing-on-long-term-unemployment-in

How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog5.php/2010/04/17/how-a-new-jobless-era-will-transform-ame

America in Crisis - Congress Must Choose: Unemployment Benefits or Homelessness
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/13/america-in-crisis-congress-must-choose-u

Tom Coburn and the Republicans on H.R. 4213 - "NOT!"
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/11/tom-coburn-and-the-republicans-on-h-r-42

Latest Unemployment Numbers and Links from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/09/latest-unemployment-numbers-links-from-t

50 Years Old and Unemployed? You're a Dead Man Walking
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/19/50-years-old-and-unemployed-you-re-a-dea

Critics of the Jobless - Why Benefits Should Be Extended
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/09/critics-of-the-jobless-why-benefits-shou

Extended Federal Unemployment Benefits - Tier V - UPDATES
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010
Fox News: "Are U.S. Veterans also Lazy?"
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/27/fox-news-are-u-s-veterans-also-lazy

A Tribute to Another Unemployed 99er
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/24/a-tribute-to-another-unemployed-99er

99ers Tossed to the Curb like Old Beer Cans
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/24/99ers-tossed-to-the-curb-like-old-beer-c

Unemployment: Bottom of the List for Obama (UPDATES)
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/05/unemployment-bottom-of-the-list-for-obam

Senator Kyl (R) Wisely backtracks - Calls for Extending Benefits
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/04/senator-kyl-wisely-backtracks-calls-for

They're not Lazy! They Can't Find A Job You Idiot!
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/28/they-re-not-lazy-they-can-t-find-a-job-y

Senator John Ensign and the GOP - "Let the Jobless Eat Cake"
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/27/john-ensign-and-gop-let-the-jobless-eat

The Jobless Have Been Lost in Debate Over Healthcare
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/27/the-jobless-lost-in-debate-over-healthca

Like the last Great Depression, Unemployment and Foreclosures, Might See Rise in Suicides
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/10/unemployment-foreclosures-might-see-rise

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Tea Party, Fox News, and Conservatives Attack the Unemployed
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/04/tea-party-gets-in-wrong-on-unemployment

Obama-Care © Verses Unemployment and Suicide in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

27 Million of 154 Million in Workforce w/o Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/15/27-million-of-154-million-in-workforce-w

Fox News Continues to Insult Unemployed
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/13/fox-news-continues-bashing-the-jobless

"Diversity" and Illegal Hiring Practices
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog2.php/2010/03/12/mgm-mirage-illegal-hiring-practices

No, Unemployment Benefits is not an Inalienable Right
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/15/no-unemployment-benefits-is-not-inaliena

Too Old for the Workforce in 2010 - Unemployed Because of Age
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/06/too-old-for-the-workforce-in-2010-unempl

What they're NOT Saying about Jobless Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/08/what-nobody-s-saying-about-jobless-numbe

When Strip Bars in Las Vegas are Going Broke, You Know it's Bad!
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog5.php/2010/04/14/when-strip-bars-are-going-broke-you-know

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

Unemployed 99ers - Running on Empty
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/17/unemployed-99ers-running-on-empty-do-not

As of today, more than five million more families (another 5% of all U.S. households) are now behind on their mortgages. And like the ones before them, risk foreclosure. This year and going forward, economists are predicting many more.

The government’s "Mortgage Modification Plan" from last year (a $75 billion taxpayer-financed effort) has been another Obama failure.

For the Obama administration, there is also the concern that millions of more foreclosures could delay or even reverse the economy’s supposed "tentative recovery" - the last thing it wants in an election year. Obama's had enough bad publicity already from all his other blunders.

Obama's latest "new-and-improved" program will allow owners to sell their homes for less than they owe, and will give them a little pocket change to help speed things up. ($1,500 for a "relocation allowance".)

This will be brokered with the banks, but the banks don't like this. Maybe they'd rather evict the families and allow the property to go into disrepair (further eroding the housing market) and collect the full amount through the government's guaranteed FHA insurance...funded by taxpayers just like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and TARP.

Taxpayer money will now be used to help soften the blow of people facing eviction from their homes by the banks. I would guess that many of these mortgages are A.R.M. loans, the kind that the banks have resisted renegotiating into regular 30-year conventional loans (and at a fair interest rate that the family could have better been able to afford.)

Taking effect on April 5, the program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers (who have not been rescued by Obama's failed "loan modification program") to give up their homes through a process known as a "short sale".

(Contact the White House for details...)

Related posts:

Will we see homeless shantytowns in 2010?

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

Will we see homeless shantytowns in 2010?

...and if so, why does Obama insist on giving us "healthcare reform" instead of jobs?

The widespread prosperity of the "Roaring Twenties" ended abruptly with the stock market crash in October of 1929 and the Great Depression followed. At one point in the depth of the depression, 25% of the American workforce was out of work. For many Americans, these were very hard times.

"Hooverville" became a common term for shacktowns and homeless encampments during the Great Depression. There were hundreds of Hoovervilles throughout the country, each testifying to the housing crisis that accompanied the employment crisis of the early 1930s.

"Hooverville" was a deliberately politicized label, coined and used to emphasize that President Herbert Hoover and the Republican Party were held to be responsible for the economic crisis and its miseries. (No, they didn't inherit it from Bush.)

Homeless man sitting in a "Hooverville" shantytown in Seattle, Washington 1931

Homelessness followed quickly from joblessness once the economy began to crumble during the early 1930s. Homeowners lost their property when they could not pay mortgages or pay taxes. Renters fell behind and were evicted. By 1932 millions of Americans were living outside the normal rent-paying housing market.

Many squeezed in with relatives. Unit densities soared in the early 1930s. Some squatted, either defying eviction and staying where they were, or finding shelter in one of the increasing number of vacant buildings.

And hundreds of thousands took to the streets, finding what shelter they could, under bridges, in culverts, or on vacant public land where they built crude shacks..."Hovervilles". Some cities allowed squatter encampments for a time, others did not.

Some of the men who were forced to live in these conditions possessed construction skills and were able to build their houses out of stone. Most people, however, resorted to building their residences out of wood from crates, cardboard, scraps of metal, or whatever materials were available to them.

Homeless shantytown known as a "Hooverville" in California - 1933

The economic troubles of the 1930s were worldwide in scope and effect. Economic instability led to political instability in many parts of the world. Political chaos, in turn, gave rise to dictatorial regimes such as Adolf Hitler's in Germany and the military's in Japan.

At the end of 1931, infrequent rallies, and even riots, began to occur throughout the nation. Frustration and fear permeated the country.

In John Steinbeck's famous novel "The Grapes of Wrath", the Joad family settles into a Hooverville in California. (See my post about the Dust Bowl)

Bonus Expeditionary Force

In May of 1932, 300 World War I Veterans set out from Oregon to Washington DC to lobby for a bill for their wartime bonus pay. Many more joined them as they traveled. They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force.

When they reached Washington DC, they were organized into tent-camps. Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur was concerned that the group was a communist attempt to undermine the government, but they were merely hungry veterans, many of them accompanied by their families.

In 1932 the bill was defeated in the Senate, but the Veterans did not riot; they simply sang "America the Beautiful" on the Capitol steps and returned to their encampments.

Herbert Hoover was uncomfortable with the attention the World War I heros were drawing to his administration, and city officials worried about riots. Thus, the President ordered General Douglas MacArthur to clear the area, immediately.

MacArthur gathered cavalry, infantry, a machine gun squadron, and tanks and proceeded up Pennsylvania Avenue. MacArthur was joined by Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton Jr. The cavalry advanced with swords drawn. The militia destroyed the make shift homes of the veterans, often with fire. The veterans were driven across the bridge to the opposite side of the Anacostia River, where another encampment was destroyed by fire. No one was certain how that fire started.

The veteran's bill was finally passed in 1936, but the bill required an override of a Presidential veto. This time the President was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Progressive Democrat who had been elected and in office since 1932.

After 12 Years of Misery

In 1941 World War II finally kick started the economy again. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and an even larger number went back to work in well-paying defense jobs.

And onced again, America prospered...until now, 80 years later, in 2010.

Hundreds of "Hoovervilles" sprang up all across America during the 1930's - A sign of things to come in 2010 and beyond?

...and if so, why does Obama insist on giving us "healthcare reform" instead of jobs? Maybe in 2010 we'll have Obama-villes.

Watch the documentary, "The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America"

Related posts on the current unemployment situation:

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Extended Unemployment Benefits in 2010 - Fully Explained
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010

Above the Law?

Corruption in government isn't new...it's been going on for years. Only these days, it's so in-your-face blatant!

Supposedly, our elected officials (both locally and in Washington) were to be held to a higher standard when it came to abiding by the law...because, after all, it is they who impose these laws on the common people who elected them to office.

Just like that young and impressionable rookie cop, fresh out of the police academy, full of enthusiasm to join the force so he/she can fight evil and corruption - but only to be corrupted by the institution itself.

My guess is that some went to Washington with that same ambition as well, but only ended up being a part of the corrupted machine. And just like that rookie cop, the authority and power also went to their head. There is a human temptation that, for most it seems, can't be resisted.

It once was an honor to represent the people, but now, working for government has only become a vehicle that enables them to rape the country and to enrich themselves.

Many in Congress aren't honorable people, but leeches and scavengers...dining on the dead carcass of what was once a proud and great country, the leader of the free world.

I would like to see ALL new blood in Washington after having them sign an oath first...to immediately resign if they ever violated that oath...but not an oath to God (because they don't respect that oath), but a legally binding oath in which no government provision (or the likes of Nancy Pelosi) could save their @ss. It would have worked well with the likes of Charlie Rangel.

But if it takes an Act of Congress to get rid of all the rift raft in government, then we're seriously screwed!

In one post I wrote, "Charlie Rangel - From Slavery to the Present" it becomes pretty clear that good ole Charlie, as "Harlem's Godfather" (and many other members of Congress), are only in it for the money...and has not been truly representing their district's needs.

Rangel should have stepped down and been prosecuted over a year ago...then served some jail time, just like anyone else would have. He puts his pants on just like you and me. The only difference being, he's a crook.

If Federal employees are guilty of tax evasion, they should lose all their benefits too, including their massive taxpayer-paid pensions.

When was the last time you remember paying someone to steal from you?

I'm sick and tired of corruption in government. Every damn day we're seeing this. Democrats and Republicans alike. From the lowest to the highest levels of position. It's like a cancer that has seeped in and ate away at the fabric of decency, honesty and the moral character of this once great country.

Now we just have contemptible and greedy and egotistical pompous @sses governing us.

And it won't change until the people demand more. If they steal a pencil, it leads to billions of dollars. Corruption starts out small and keeps growing. If they cheat on their spouse, you can bet that they will cheat on you too.

The definition of what "is" is, is whether they get caught or not.

My dad once explained a particular philosophy that thieves lived by, and that stealing wasn't wrong, but getting caught was.

These are the people that rule (not govern) the people in America today.

'Draining the swamp' should be the mantra of any newly elected member of Congress, and not just a cheap Nancy Pelosi sound-bite.

"Guilty as hell. Free as a bird. America is a great country," Bill Ayers declared when interviewed by David Horowitz.

I'm sure Charlie Rangel agrees with Bill Ayers.

Did I tell you about the time when Charlie Rangel, Bill Ayers, and Barack Obama were all on the upper westside of Manhatten at the same time in the early 80's?

Think of "A Christmas Carol", the novella by English author Charles Dickens which was first released in 1843.

Now Imagine Barack Obama as the sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge, and his ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visitations of Jacob Marley and the "Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come".

What if Obama had a similar dream, where he transforms himself from a Progressive left-wing radical into a conservative iconic hero like Ronald Reagan.

Obama wakes up one morning, without any consultations with his staff (not even a private mention to his own wife) and calls an emergency White House press conference with all the major networks, including Fox News.

He somberly approaches the presidential podium and begins to speak (without a tele-prompter).

"Ladies and gentleman, members of the press, my wife, and my fellow Americans. I've called this press conference to inform you that I have had a drastic change of heart concerning my administrative policies. But first, I want to apologize for my first 14 months in office - it's been a miserable failure. But starting this moment, there really is going to be 'change you can believe in'."

"First and foremost, I'd like to announce that by the end of today, I will expect the resignations of my Chief-of-staff and most of my top aides, whose names I will give to you at the end of my pronouncement."

"Ahhh...that would be a 'YES' Helen."

"Also, effectively immediately, I am totally withdrawing all my ambitions with regards to the present healthcare bill, the cap-and trade bill, and all my other proposed reforms - and to start over again - from scratch - with the Republican's support."

"But jobs and the economy will be the first thing on my agenda from this point forward. If the Democrats try to bypass me, I will use my veto powers."

"Let me also say, that starting today, I renounce all my past Progressive convictions, and I will move solidly to the middle as a genuine bi-partisan President."

"And no more Andy Stern or SEIU! No more Bill Ayers or SDS! No more back-room deals and Socialist programs! No more child indoctrination! No more insane government spending, waste, fraud, and abuse! And most of all, NO MORE LIES!"

(Applause...)

"And in closing, let me address my detractors at Fox News. Mister Glenn Beck...Mister Sean Hannity...I've finally seen the light. We've already wasted a lot of time guys, so now let's come together and get to work."

And then, remembering his own grave in his dream from the night before...

"...because I've changed my ways in hopes of changing these shadows of what might have been."

Obama went on to win a second election, then retired to pursue his true passion...writing. He wrote his memoirs, then proceeded to write 7 bestselling novels. The last one was titled "Proud to be an American".

Shorty before he died at the age of 89, the mega-super carrier, the U.S.S. Obama, was christened.

Barack Obama really did make for a glorious history.

25 years later President Barack Obama was recognized as one of the most aspiring Presidents in U.S. history, and he eventually replaced Reagon (which was previously Grant) on the $50 dollar bill.

And then I woke up, and I realized that in my dream, Obama never had this dream. There never was any "change", and Obama was still the same.

And America was still in a slide towards obsoletion.

Every day, more bad news for the unemployed...

The recession has given way to a weak and uncertain expansion, one that is unlikely to provide the robust growth in hiring needed to cut significantly into the teeming ranks of the jobless.

Labor specialists assume the economy needs to generate more than 100,000 jobs a month simply to keep pace with new entrants to the work force... joblessness and economic anxiety are likely to remain a stubborn affliction for years to come.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/business/economy/06jobs.html

The jobs market had shown signs of weakening in recent weeks, with claims reaching unexpectedly high levels...some saw it as evidence that the labor market was deteriorating in the face of a feeble recovery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/business/economy/05econ.html

A recent batch of subpar data on housing and consumer confidence has stirred speculation of a double-dip recession...some analysts say they believe the market has lost touch with economic reality and is due for another decline.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/business/06markets.html

A lot of worry about the economy remains, and some economists are forecasting a double-dip recession, as occurred in the early 1980s, or a very slow recovery, as happened after the 1990-91 and 2001 recessions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/business/economy/06charts.html

Meanwhile, the big banks continue to prosper...but what about Citigroup, that still owes TARP funds?

The chief executive of Citigroup told a government panel on yesterday that no financial institution should be "too big to fail" and that he was aggressively moving to break up the bank and rein in excessive risk-taking.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/business/05tarp.html

Related posts on the current unemployment situation:

Unemployment - Foreclosures, Might See Rise in Suicides
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/10/unemployment-foreclosures-might-see-rise

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Extended Unemployment Benefits in 2010 - Fully Explained
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010

Even after "Climate-gate" and the head of the IPCC said that the climate data was a farce and that the globe has actually been COOLING, Obama still thinks we need to battle global warming.

And he's calling all the shots...

Today it was reported that 50 ships were iced in and couldn't move off of the coast of Sweden - the most in the last 20 years - but Obama still plows ahead.

We experienced record snow storms this year, and for the first time in recorded history, there was snow in all of the lower 48 States on the same day...yet Obama (like Al Gore) still thinks the end is near. (Or at least, they SAY it is.)

But all this time it REALLY hasn't been about the weather at all, has it? Hmmmmmmmm?

Cap and Trade is not dead. It may be in Congress, but not in the White House. Obama's radical agenda continues unabated with the use of government agencies such as the EPA, and now the SEC...bypassing the will of Congress and the American people. Sound familiar?

The Progressives don't care what the American people want, they will push ahead with their ideology at any cost to the Democratic Party (which has been hijacked)...and at any pearl to the country or the American people.

Obama, using the Security and Exchange Commission, has been pressing corporations on "Climate Change".

NOTE: The SEC allowed the big banks to use the "mark-to-market" rule to remove toxic assets (credit default swaps aka CDS) off their books; and SEC, as a government agency who's job is to protect investors, loaned this "mark-to-market" concept to Obama to try and lower the actual cost of his healthcare plan...taxing 10 years for 6 years of benefits.

SEC and "Climate Change"

SEC Issues Interpretive Guidance on Disclosure Related to Climate Change
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-15.htm

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, whose office oversees the state’s $129.4 billion pension fund. "The New York State Common Retirement Fund wants the companies it invests in, to more clearly assess and better manage, the far-reaching risks of climate change."
http://www.greenbang.com/more-investors-are-putting-companies-in-climate-change-hot-seat_13781.html

A record 95 climate change-related resolutions have been filed so far with U.S. and Canadian companies as part of the 2010 proxy season. The resolutions, seeking greater disclosure from companies on their financial exposure and response strategies to climate-related business trends, were filed by some of the nation’s largest public pension funds, as well as labor, foundation, religious and other institutional shareholders. The shareholder filings are coordinated by Ceres and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a group of faith-based investors.
http://www.incr.com/resolutions

Leading U.S. investors today announced that they have filed a record 95 climate change shareholder resolutions with 82 U.S. and Canadian companies that face far-reaching business challenges from climate change.
http://www.ceres.org/Page.aspx?pid=1221

Fox agrees with the GOP - "Let them eat cake."

Officially, almost 15 million people in America are jobless - Unofficially, about 27 million people.

Unemployed people should NOT be used as an example of Democratic spending and their hypocrisy regarding PAYGO. Why stop at the unemployed? Why not go after old people too - cut off Social Security and Medicare as well. Pay-as-you-go! Cut off the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Pay-as-you-go! There's plenty to cut.

On Fox News' web site, according to CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEWS SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: This is a $15 trillion economy. The bill you mentioned, the jobs bill, is $15 billion. That's one tenth of one percent of the gross domestic product. It's not going to have any serious effect on the economy."

But Neil Cavuto and most others at Fox are still praising Senator Bunning.

I have a post on Extended Unemployment Benefits, and I get more hits on that post than any other (5 to 1). People are genuinely scared, and seeing their only source of income being held to a candle-standard for government spending is plain wrong.

All the talking heads on Fox don't seem to realize this, and continue praising Bunning as some kind of a martyr / hero...that's plain ridiculous!

If any of Senator's Bunning's 40 grand-children were not from privileged families and needed unemployment benefits, how would THEY feel about grandpa's "bold" and "brave" stand?

Does the owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, personally push this agenda? Does he really feel that unemployment benefits is a waste of money, and a drag on the economy and this country? Is this the ideology the permeates the Fox newsrooms these days? Might Fox News have taken the issue with "fiscal responsibility" just a tad too far by insulting the jobless?

Where's Bill O'Reilly? Who's looking out for us?

Are not the two out of ten people in America who are unemployed not worthy of fair representation? Are the unemployed (and the homeless families) the new enemy of Fox News? Couldn't they have picked a fairer fight?

Especially now, when the jobless rate (and failed mortgages) is nearly as bad as is was during the Great Depression when millions of people were living in shantytowns called "Hoovervilles".

I find it ironic that Fox News has been saying that Obama dropped the ball when he focused on Healthcare reform for the past year instead of concentrating on JOBS (which I agreed). Yet, at the same time, FOX News is waging a war against the unemployed! What is Fox thinking?

The liberals LOVE IT! Here's what the Huffington Post was thinking...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/bunning-blocks-jobless-be_n_482291.html

Was FOX News anchor Martha MacCallum trying to convince the public that it is the unemployed who are the ones responsible for the government budget woes?

Does FOX News want the unemployed to be homeless?

Why is Fox News taking the position that it's just lazy people that don't want to work and who are collecting unemployment benefits - - - why does Fox News praise Senator Bunning as a HERO for taking a stand by voting against extended unemployment benefits?

Yesterday Martha MacCallum deliberately misconstrued a letter from one of Senator Bunning's constituents. In the letter he did not say, "I will give up my extended unemployment benefits to lower the deficit."

What he said was is that he hasn't worked a full 40-hour week in several months and that the sheet metal shop he works for laid off most of his co-workers. He himself is still working and only probably qualifies for partial benefits because he's still employed.

FOX News anchor Martha MacCallum outright lied. Martha's slant is going to make a lot of unemployed people VERY ANGRY.

"Cut off their benefits, maybe they'll find a job."

And this morning on Fox and Friends, Fox News commentator Stuart Varney said (paraphrased) "cut off their unemployment benefits and maybe they'll go find a job." That's ridiculous! I'm sure many of the people he insulted were also elitist professors with PHDs and worked hard all their lives! They all weren't just lazy laid-off good-for-nothing factory workers that were beneath Stuart Varney's status in society!

FOX is waging a war against the unemployed!

It's a shame about Stuart Varney - I really liked him and his view points until now. Especially since he's from England and claims to know all about "class warfare".

If 10 friends went on a hike into the mountains, and 2 succumbed to injuries, would the remaining 8 leave them behind? Fox News would. Stuart Varney would say,"They're too lazy to walk, leave them behind and maybe they'll find a way out."

See my post "What Bozo will Fox News hire next?"
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/05/fox-news-commentator-stuart-varney-briti

I watch Fox News every day, as I'm sure many of the unemployed people do too; but many of those same people probably feel totally betrayed by Fox's war on the unemployed.

Does Fox News also think the unemployed is responsible for Moody's lowering of the USA's credit rating - which is getting continuely worse every year.?

Senator Bunning's actions was not to DENY unemployed people extended benefits, but to make a point in the way Democrats have been expanding government spending. But Fox News is waging a campaign against the unemployed, making them look as though they are just lazy, and it is THEY who are to blame for the budget woes.

Senator Bunning wants the Democrats to be fiscally more responsible (using PAYGO), but he has been making his point on the backs of desperate Americans, who today are struggling just to survive.

Most Republicans (and unemployed Republicans and Tea Party members) want the Democrats to be fiscally more responsible as well, and they want to stop the Democrat's insane spending too. But why punish the down-trodden to achieve this?

The majority of the Republicans ought not to circle their wagons around him - unemployed people can still vote in November.

Who's really to blame?

Both the Republicans and the Democrats voted to bail out AIG to the tune of $185 billion, who was hemorrhaging because of huge wagers in the form of credit default swaps (leveraged 35 to 1) made by banks like Goldman Sachs, who got paid 100% on the dollar, as did many foreign banks...but the taxpayers got stuck like a pig with the bill. And now, AIG wants another $10 billion!

But let the unemployed go homeless?

And the banks, through TARP, with influence through the Federal Reserve (many of who are ex-Goldman Sachs executives) got $780 billion in loans to make their banks "more stable". Yet the banks foreclosed on homes and raised interest rates.

And what about the billions of dollars of taxpayer money going down that Black Hole called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who need billions more (think Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Rahm Emanuel)? The banks get THEIR government guaranteed money!

But let the unemployed go homeless?

Meanwhile, these fat-cats on Wall Street have continued to get million-dollar bonuses and "golden parachutes"...and members of congress are being paid $174,000 a year with AAA healthcare.

But let the unemployed go homeless?

And let's not forget the United Auto Workers Union, who were put ahead of bondholders and shareholders to gain control of GM and Chrysler by using billions of dollars more of taxpayer funds. And then the government decided which dealerships should remain open for business.

But let the unemployed go homeless?

But all this did was cause massive layoffs for all the other working people who only want to pay their rent these days. Yet, we see the politicians in Washington bicker over a lousy $15 billion for a jobs bill that can save American families from soon becoming homeless.

Especially at this time when billions of dollars of taxpayer Stimulus Funds (money that was meant to create real, legitimate, and sustainable jobs) is being fraudulently spent and wasted. This fund is now allocated up to $821 billion on the national debt!

But let the unemployed go homeless?

Americans send billions of dollars to foreign entities like the IMF and give billions more in foreign relief aide all over the world. Shouldn't the taxpayers (American citizens who foot the bill) be helping their own neighbors instead, in the form of a little relief with unemployment benefits while this country has been going through the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression?

Yet Charlie Rangel and Tim Geithner won't pay their income taxes, as do thousands of other of Federal employees who can't be fired...including many more in Congress...but let the unemployed go homeless?

And what about all the earmarks, of which there were nearly 10,000 in the FY2010 spending bills, that will not be uprooted by this Congress.

The Republicans and the Democrats need to stop grand-standing and start helping the people they represent...us.

Healthcare reform, "green jobs", and cap-and-trade are political agendas for an ideology that America can't afford right now; but passing simple legislation for unemployed Americans should be as critical as creating jobs at this time in our depressed economy.

Hey Fox News!

Instead of attacking the people who were victimized by bad government policy, poor regulation of the banks, brokerage houses and the SEC (and all Democratic spending) - here's something to consider...

As of today the DOW stocks are at the 2005 level but, the unemployment rate has DOUBLED the 2005 level.

(Click chart to enlarge)

March 13 Update: Fox News Continues to Insult Unemployed
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/13/fox-news-continues-bashing-the-jobless

In closing...

To the politicians >>> Help American citizens survive first, then worry about everything else.

Do NOT think like FOX News and let the unemployed go homeless.

I'm against "big" government, but if you're going to have laws, have proper regulations to protect us against the greedy and irresponsible behavior of financial institutions, and the major multi-national corporations that out-source jobs...corporations that give political donations equally to both the Republicans AND the Democrats. (Don't buy anything made in China, only MADE IN THE USA)

The federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington’s efforts to discourage investment there.

But let the unemployed go homeless?

Government regulation, multi-national corporations, and big banks have been at the root of the problem that has put the unemployed people in America where they are today. Why not help the unemployed?

Tell the politicians (and FOX News) to help American citizens first, then they can go play in the sand box later.

To Martha MacCallum and Stuart Varney > > > Thank God you have your jobs at Fox News. The U.S. taxpayers are very thankful that they don't have to pay you unemployment benefits as well (which is barely enough to sustain a meager exisitance below the poverty level.)

Meanwhile, those unemployed people will watch the world pass them by while the more fortunate go shopping, go on vacations, and eat steak and lobster at the better restaurants...the very things that the unemployed were once able to do. Now many of them eat mayonnaise sandwiches and canned tuna. And bite their nails, lose sleep, and worry every night about how they will pay for a roof over their head next month.

Contact FOX News

I e-mailed FOX several times but I never got a response - and I also called Fox, but as usual, all I got was an answering machine. I left my message and number, but as usual, they never returned my call again either. Fox News expects my congressman to return my call but they think themselves exempt? Maybe FOX should hire more people to help the jobless...I will work for them FOR FREE to help answer their incoming e-mails.

(By the way, Senator Harry Reid anwsered my e-mails...3 times! And I didn't even vote for him!)

Of the 25 e-mail addresses I attempted to write at FOX News (10 am EST this morning), the following 5 messages were undeliverable and could not be sent:

glennbeck@foxnews.com
happeningnow@foxnews.com
foxhannity@FOXNEWS.COM
bullsandbears@foxbusiness.com
americasnewsroom@foxnews.com

The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now.

FOX News phone number is 1-888-369-4762

CONTACT: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html

Related Posts:

Goldman Sachs Fueled AIG Gambles
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2009/12/13/goldman-sachs-started-the-2nd-great-depr

More on Timothy Geithner, Joe Cassano, AIG, Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs, and Ben Bernanke
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/11/timothy-geithner-and-aig-why

Related posts on the current unemployment situation:

Unemployment - Foreclosures, Might See Rise in Suicides
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/10/unemployment-foreclosures-might-see-rise

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Extended Unemployment Benefits in 2010 - Fully Explained
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010

Once again, Obama is pushing his "Cash for Caulkers" program, advancing his true agenda.

This morning at a oddly receptive crowd at Georgia Technical College in Savannah Georgia, Obama promised on-the-spot rebates of up to $3,000 for homeowners (and landlords?) who installed energy efficient windows and insulation on their houses...and with no paperwork or forms to fill out. (Couldn't this invite more waste and fraud?)

The program is expected to cost taxpayers $6 billion dollars more in debt (further burdening most people who don't even own their own homes).

Like healthcare and cap-and-trade, Obama remains stubborn on promoting a "green economy" by producing "green jobs". I suppose if you are a glass manufacturer, this is good news.

(I wonder what kind of carbon foot print the glass manufacturers leave. Or for the foam and caulk for that matter.)

And it is GREAT news if you are a personal friend of Obama, who just happens to own a company that installs windows. (What was that woman's name again, the one in the White House who's married to that guy that owns that window business?)

Didn't Obama say, "He makes the best windows in the country!"

How many homeowners can afford a capital investment like that now when many still fear losing their job, and/or are behind in their mortgage, or (like 25% of all homeowners) are upside-down on their mortgage already (owing more on a house than it's worth)?

This program will mostly just benefit one particular industry, and people who are still secure in their jobs and can already afford to make these improvements on their property without taxpayer help.

Building windmills, sand castles, and shoving foam into a few walls is not going to bring jobs back for most of the unemployed in this country, it will take MUCH more than a silly Home Star program like the one Obama proposed today (at taxpayer expense).

Let the free market naturally bring more efficient and cost-saving ways to reduce energy consumption.

Like everything else Obama, this is just another Obama scam...and another back-door way of pushing his agenda...and favoring his choice friends and political backers.

March 1, 2010: U.S. Economic Update (in a nutshell)

Jobs data will start getting a boost from the government, as the Census Bureau has said it expects to hire 181,000 workers from January to March and 971,000 in the following three months, peaking in May, where they are anticipating adding 500,000 workers (all temporary jobs).

We have a 105 million households in the U.S with a current population of 308,785,659 Source: http://www.census.gov

Of those 971,000 census workers, how many will be hired from ACORN and their affiliates (think of election campaigns); how much will they be paid by the American taxpayers?

"These short-term jobs offer good pay, flexible hours, paid training, and reimbursement for authorized work-related expenses."
Source: http://2010.census.gov/2010censusjobs/

Personally, I believe this is politically motivated and will be manipulated by the Democrats to redraw demographics for Democratic representation in voting districts.

The unemployment rate is estimated to increase to 9.8%, from 9.7% last month (Though I argue the REAL unemployment figure is closer to 17%).

Initial jobless claims have leveled off somewhat but are still at a troubling high level, indicating continued slack in the labor market and restrained wage inflation.

Housing remains a concern, as building permits were down 4.9% in January, and new home sales fell a surprising 11.2%, their lowest level on record.

The Federal Reserve is set to end its support of the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market at the end of the first quarter, which could push mortgage rates higher.

Billions of dollars of so-called "option ARMs" come due this year, which could put renewed pressure on foreclosures.

The FED has ended its purchases of US Treasuries, and on February 18, it raised the discount rate (the rate banks pay to borrow from the Fed directly) from 0.50% to 0.75%...may indicate more tightening of credit.

The federal government stares at massive deficits and tries to figure out how to deal with the growing debt problem; debt and deficit spending is accelerating.

How the U.S. deficit is reduced will likely be even more difficult than the Fed’s job of balancing monetary policy. There are three main options for potential deficit reduction - raising taxes, cutting spending, and growing the economy.

Raising taxes too much could stifle the economic recovery, while cutting spending is [not what the current administration and Democrats are prone to do.] Uncertainty regarding government action is a major factor restraining business investment and hiring.

Economic recovery in the United States might look stronger than either the eurozone or Japan because gross domestic product (GDP) readings for the fourth quarter showed growth of 5.9% in the United States [I say it's only because of band-aid fixes like the government's stimulus pork projects, cash-for-clunkers, etc]. GDP was only up 0.4% in the eurozone and 4.6% in Japan (but Japan is facing deflation). While growth in the eurozone and Japan most likely will grow at a slower pace, China is expected to remain strong throughout 2010 - their GDP was 10.7%

The U.S. dollar strength effectively raises the value of the Chinese yuan due to the dollar peg. (Some economists suggest China allow a higher inflation rate relative to the United States, making goods more expensive in dollar terms and partially acting as an exchange rate increase.)

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/research_strategies/market_insight

See all my well-researched posts on the current unemployment situation:

Unemployment - Foreclosures, Might See Rise in Suicides
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/10/unemployment-foreclosures-might-see-rise

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Tea Party, Fox News, and Conservatives Attack the Unemployed
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/04/tea-party-gets-in-wrong-on-unemployment

Extended Unemployment Benefits in 2010 - Fully Explained
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010