January 27, 2012
Obama Can Dish It Out But He Can't Take It
Despite that in this photo Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is pointing her finger at the President, it is Obama who tried to lecture her when he landed in Phoenix earlier this week:
Thou Shalt Not Write Bad Things About Obama
The Weekly Standard
by Jonathan V. Last
Jan 25, 2012
Drudge has a story about Obama getting off of Air Force One in Arizona, greeting Republican governor Jan Brewer, and immediately giving her a piece of his mind. Evidently our president did not appreciate something Brewer wrote about him. According to the pool report, they had a testy exchange from which the president walked away as Brewer was still speaking.
Sound familiar? Bobby Jindal got the same treatment when Obama came to visit Louisiana and the governor met him on the tarmac. Jindal would later recount in his book:
I was expecting words of concern about the oil spill, worry about the pending ecological disaster, and words of confidence about how the federal government was here to help. Or perhaps he was going to vent about BP's slow response. But no, the president was upset about something else. And he wanted to talk about, well, food stamps. Actually, he wanted to talk about a letter that my administration had sent to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack a day earlier.
Continue reading "Obama Can Dish It Out But He Can't Take It"
Posted by Tom at 6:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 26, 2012
Obama was for Subsidies to Corporations Before He was Against Them
Jonah Goldberg at National Review points out an obvious contradiction in Obama's State of the Union speech:
This is from the same speech:On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world's number one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.
And:
It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.
For all his fancy talk in the first paragraph, Obama is admitting to giving big business a bug fat bailout. And we know why he did it; all those Democrat voting UAW members. Got to keep the unions happy.
Posted by Tom at 7:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
State of the Union 2012: What is Tax Fairness?
Consider this from Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night:
We don't begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it's not because they envy the rich. It's because they understand that when I get a tax break I don't need and the country can't afford, it either adds to the deficit or somebody else has to make up the difference, like a senior on a fixed income, or a student trying to get through school, or a family trying to make ends meet.That's not right. Americans know that's not right. They know that this generation's success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to the future of their country, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility. That's how we'll reduce our deficit. That's an America built to last.
What is "fair share?" What does that even mean? Obama seems to assume that we all share his vision of a steeply "progressive" tax whereby those who have money over a certain amount are obligated to pay whatever amount he deems necessary to fund the government programs that he thinks necessary.
Continue reading "State of the Union 2012: What is Tax Fairness?"
Posted by Tom at 7:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 25, 2012
William Jefferson Gingrich
R. Emmett Tyrell nails Newt perfectly.
William Jefferson Gingrich
By R. Emmett Tyrrrell, Jr.,
Special to the Sun
January 25, 2012
How long have I been saying it? At least for 15 years, but in private I have been aware of it longer. Newt Gingrich is conservatism's Bill Clinton, but without the charm. He has acquired wit but he has all the charm of barbed wire.
Newt and Bill are 1960s generation narcissists, and they share the same problems: waywardness and deviancy. Newt, like Bill, has a proclivity for girl hopping. It is not as egregious as Bill's, but then Newt is not as drop-dead beautiful. His public record is already besmeared with tawdry divorces, and there are private encounters with the fair sex that doubtless will come out.
Continue reading "William Jefferson Gingrich"
Posted by Tom at 8:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 24, 2012
Newt Gingrich and the Question of Morality in Candidates
Sadly, the stalwarts in my party seem intent on nominating candidates of dubious moral character. First the favorite was Herman Cain, now it's Newt Gingrich. They supported Cain, and are supporting Gingrich, because they are the more conservative candidates and because they are somewhat exciting. Rick Santorum is equally conservative but is not exciting. But Santorum is not polling well enough to be a serious threat for the nomination, so we'll leave him out of this.
Mitt Romney is derided as the "Massachusetts moderate," and for good reason. Yet compared to Cain and Gingrich he's a model of moral character. He's a good family man, has only had one wife with no allegations of fooling around or even a wandering eye, and no scandal to his name(other than whatever nonsense the leftists will invent).
At this point I should mention that I do think that at least some of the charges against Cain were true, and my guess is that given Newt's tawdry past, Marianne Gingrich was telling the truth about that "open marriage" proposal as well. Which brings us to today's editorial from conservative stalwart Wesley Pruden.
Newt Gingrich and the 'moral thing'
By Wesley Pruden
The Washington Times
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Politicians can't any longer talk about "moral character" without sounding like a stuffy Baptist deacon or a stiff Presbyterian elder. "Moral character" is no longer important in a presidential campaign, even to many conservatives and evangelicals. If it is important anymore, it is only as a talking point.
Continue reading "Newt Gingrich and the Question of Morality in Candidates"
Posted by Tom at 9:30 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
January 23, 2012
At the March for Life 2012
I went to the 39th annual March for Life today with the good people of St John's church of Leesburg VA. I went three years ago and have been looking forward to returning since. The date marks 39 years since the Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade which legalized abortion in the United States. From the website of March for Life:
On January 22, 1974, the first March for Life was held on the West Steps of the Capitol. An estimated 20,000 committed prolife Americans rallied that day on behalf of our preborn brothers and sisters.In 1974, the March for Life was incorporated as a non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian organization.
News reports have only mentioned figures of "tens of thousands," understandably reluctant to try and nail down a precise figure. The March for Life site says approximately have 200,000 attended each march since 2002. Whatever the figure, I can tell you that an awful lot of people were there today. From my vantage it was impossible to really get a picture that conveyed the size of the crowd.
Continue reading "At the March for Life 2012"
Posted by Tom at 8:30 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
January 21, 2012
Newt's Negatives: "America does not love Romney, but boy do they hate Newt"
Via the Washington Examiner, this is a chart showing the combined Favorable/Unfavorable ratings of President Obama with the two major Republican contenders, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. The chart shows the favorable number minus the unfavorable number. If the result is a positive number, the bar goes upward. If negative, downward.
Here are the three surveys that went into the composite figures in the chart:
Fox News, 1/12-1/14:
Obama, fav/unfav, 51%/46%, +5
Romney, fav/unfav, 45%/38%, +7
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 27%/56%, -29
CBS/NYT, 1/12-1/17:
Obama, fav/unfav, 38%/45%, -7
Romney, fav/unfav, 21%/35%, -14
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 17%/49%, -32PPP, 1/13-1/17:
Obama, app/dis, 47%/50%, -3
Romney, fav/unfav, 35%/53%, -18
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 26%/60%, -34
As the author comments, "America does not love Romney, but boy do they hate Newt."
No kidding.
Continue reading "Newt's Negatives: "America does not love Romney, but boy do they hate Newt""
Posted by Tom at 8:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 20, 2012
Book Review - In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir
Few people have been involved in as many administrations and important world events as Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1941, he came to Washington in 1969 as an intern for a congressman, and from there was hired by Donald Rumsfeld, who was then Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. When Ford became president Cheney went to the White House, eventually becoming Chief of Staff. In 1978 he was elected to the House of Representatives from Wisconsin, where he served for 12 years, eventually became House Minority Whip. President George H.W. Bush appointed him Secretary of Defense, an office held throughout Bush's term. During President Clinton's time in office Cheney worked at the American Enterprise Institute and Council on Foreign Relations (1993 to 1995). In 1995 he was made Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton. He was chosen to be George W Bush's running mate in 2000, and served as Vice President from 2001 - 2009.
All this is told in his memoir, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir. His oldest daughter, Liz Cheney, is listed as a contributor.
Continue reading "Book Review - In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir"
Posted by Tom at 8:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Obama Kills the Keystone Pipeline
Panders to the EnviroCrazy Left
When the Washington Post tells Obama he blew it, you know he's really gone off the deep end.
Obama's Keystone pipeline rejection is hard to accept
By Editorial Board
Published: January 18
ON TUESDAY, President Obama's Jobs Council reminded the nation that it is still hooked on fossil fuels, and will be for a long time. "Continuing to deliver inexpensive and reliable energy," the council reported, "is going to require the United States to optimize all of its natural resources and construct pathways (pipelines, transmission and distribution) to deliver electricity and fuel."
It added that regulatory "and permitting obstacles that could threaten the development of some energy projects, negatively impact jobs and weaken our energy infrastructure need to be addressed."
Mr. Obama's Jobs Council could start by calling out . . . the Obama administration.
Continue reading "Obama Kills the Keystone Pipeline
Panders to the EnviroCrazy Left"
Posted by Tom at 7:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 16, 2012
Obama and Gates Sink Our Own Navy
In three posts over the past week I discussed Obama's defense cuts: Obama Cuts the Military Budget, More on Obama's Defense Cuts, and The Obama Administration's "Defense Strategic Guidance" Document. We were pretty much assured that the cuts would come at the expense of the Army and Marine Corps, but the Navy and Air Force would be spared.
Turns out they lied. It was all a campaign of deception.
Most administrations at least put a decent amount of time inbetween their lies and the exposing of them. It didn't take a week with Obama. The Washington Times has the story:
New Navy budgets may sink plans for aircraft carriers
Fight is on to save flattop fleet
By Rowan Scarborough
The Washington Times
Sunday, January 15, 2012
...As Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta prepares to introduce the strategy's first budget next month, the Navy has been in a furious fight behind the scenes to protect only 10 carriers, sources familiar with the issue told The Washington Times.
The sources say that, while the fiscal 2013 budget may well continue 11 carriers, the Navy will be down to 10 or even nine carriers within in the next five years.
Continue reading "Obama and Gates Sink Our Own Navy"
Posted by Tom at 9:00 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
