Monday, February 29, 2016

The Obama Era, Part 7 - Memories From The Worst Presidency Ever?

Late last year I thought it might be a good time to review everything that I remember about the Obama administration. He has been in office for seven years, seven long years that in my opinion have been horrific in so many ways. This was someone who entered office with approval ratings that were above 70% and who represented the so-called “hope and change” that many Americans were seeking.

This theme unexpectedly took four days to cover, that is how many failures, lies, threats, and narcissism examples we could list out from this President. The first post can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-obama-era-part-1-memories-from.html

Seven years later, hope has become very scarce and change has almost always been for the worst. Now, before someone says that I am just a sour grapes Republican, conservative, or neo-con, understand that I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life (I started voting in the 1970s). Up until 2010, I had never voted for Republican for national office in my life. I fully support gay rights and respect a woman’s legal right to an abortion. Thus, none of what you are about to read over the next few days comes from a Republican sour grapes perspective.

But unless you have had completely had your head in the sand or elsewhere, this has been the worst Presidency that I have experienced in my lifetime. From horrid legislation (e.g. Obama Care) to a failed foreign policy (e.g. Syria) to daily lawlessness on the part of this administration (e.g. use of unsecured email accounts by high ranking administration members), the ineptness and ineffectiveness of this administration is mind boggling.

Today, we will discuss more things that I remember from this Presidency, including the latest Pew Research results, in addition to the horror stories and disasters we already talked about, starting with the link listed above:

- I will remember that the American public rate “gun policy” and “climate change” as the 16th and 17th (out of 18 issues) most important issues in their lives while this President seems to focus only on these two issues most of the time, a bad misalignment with what Americans want him to do.

- I will remember that this President worked hard on a trans pacific trade agreement even though Americans rated that the least important (18th) issue in their lives.

- I will remember that Americans rated the “economy” as the most important issue in their lives even though this Presidential administration has been doing a horrible job at developing and implementing effective economic policy, given that 45 million Americans still receiving monthly Federal food assistance, 14 million Americans who are still unemployed or underemployed, national annual economic growth has never come close to attaining the long term annual average, and household income and wages have been completely stagnant during the life of this Presidency.

- I will remember that dealing with immigration has steadily jumped up over time to become the 11th most important issue to Americans, indicating that they are not happy with Obama’s immigration performance.

- I will remember that as Obama has weakened our military and meddled in military decisions that only experienced military veterans should deal with, Americans desire to “strengthen our military” has grown 8%.

- I will remember how the number of Americans view “protecting the environment” as a top issue has dropped 5% during the Obama Presidency despite the President’s obsession with the potential myth of manmade climate change.

- I will remember how this President promised “hope and change” but 51% of Americans now think that his failures will now outweigh his accomplishments with only 39% thinking his accomplishments will outweigh his failures.

- I will remember how independent voters have a massive 16 point difference between those thinking that his failures will outweigh his accomplishments.

Thus, the Pew results show that America also has a lot of bad memories of this Presidency, that I am not an outlier in my memories of how bad the shortcomings have been of this Presidency.

P.S. One last set of memories, based on the fact that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently passed away and the President of the United States did not attend the funeral. The funeral was held Washington DC, not an inconvenience for the President. It was held on a weekend, traditionally not a work day for anyone in Washington. Previous Presidents have attended funerals of Supreme Court justices so there is a precedent. It is not in the heat of an election season.


Thus, I will remember how this President refused to attend the funeral of a very important person in this country but did attend, and speak at, the funeral of others whose importance and contributions to the country was far less important:

  • Less than two months before the 2012 Presidential election, Obama took time out of his schedule to attend and speak at the the funeral service of Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye, which much like the Scalia funeral, is being held in D.C.
  • The President attended and spoke at the funeral of Democrat and former Ku Klux Klan member Senator Robert Byrd.
  • The President attended and spoke at the funeral of Reverend Clementa Pinckney who was one of the nine people killed in a mass shooting in South Carolina in 2015 even though he had never met the reverend.
  • Just six months after skipping the funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and in doing so insulted our British allies, Obama attended and spoke at the funeral of former Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley. 
  • Obama traveled to New York for the memorial service of Walter Cronkite, where he spoke, although he had never met Cronkite. 
  • Obama traveled to South Africa to attend the funeral of non-American Nelson Mandela.
But this President cannot travel across town to the funeral of a Supreme Court justice. And this is so typical of what I will remember of this Presidency: if any event, including an important funeral of an important American, did not support an Obama political situation or feed his ego, he reverts back to being the community organizer that he has always been, whether in Chicago or in Washington.



Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:


www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org

http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w





Sunday, February 28, 2016

The Obama Era, Part 6 - Memories From The Worst Presidency Ever?

Late last year I thought it might be a good time to review everything that I remember about the Obama administration. He has been in office for seven years, seven long years that in my opinion have been horrific in so many ways. This was someone who entered office with approval ratings that were above 70% and who represented the so-called“hope and change” that many Americans were seeking.

This theme unexpectedly took four days to cover, that is how many failures, lies, threats, and narcissism of this President. The first post can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-obama-era-part-1-memories-from.html

Seven years later hope has become very scarce and change has almost always been for the worst. Now, before someone says that I am just a sour grapes Republican, conservative, or neo-con, understand that I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life (I started voting in the 1970s). Up until 2010, I had never voted for Republican for national office in my life. I fully support gay rights and respect a woman’s legal right to an abortion. Thus, none of what you are about to read over the next few days comes from a Republican sour grapes perspective.

But unless you have had completely had your head in the sand or elsewhere, this has been the worst Presidency that I have experienced in my lifetime. From horrid legislation (e.g. Obama Care) to a failed foreign policy (e.g. Syria) to daily lawlessness on the part of this administration (e.g. use of unsecured email accounts by high ranking administration members), the ineptness and ineffectiveness of this administration is mind boggling.

So what else will I remember from this Presidency in addition to the horror stories and disasters we already talked about, starting with the link listed above:

- I will remember this President continually telling me that Islam is totally good even though 450 out of 452 suicide bomber incidents worldwide last year were executed by Muslim suicide bombers.

- I will remember this President continually telling me that Islam is totally good even though Islamic radicals were responsible for the USS Cole bombing, the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, the first World Trade Center attack, the second World Trade Center attack, the nightclub attacks in Bali, the recent attack in Paris, the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, the armed services recruitment center attacks in Tennessee, the Fort Hood terror attack, the enslavement of women and children across the Middle East, the kidnapping and enslavement of children in Nigeria, the killing of homosexuals across the Middle East for simply being gay, etc.

- I will remember this President attending an Islamic mosque in Baltimore but attending any Christian churches or Jewish synagogues.

- I will remember how this President continues to insist that Muslims have been woven into the fabric of this country from the beginning but never provides any examples of great/epic Muslim Americans, probably because there are not any.

- I will remember this President issuing a Tweet on the White House Twitter account that had a picture of him throwing a football on Super Bowl Sunday as if he has any football ability.

- I will remember an Israeli public opinion poll that showed how very little respect the Israeli citizens have for this Presidency vs. previous Presidencies.

- I will remember how this Presidency illegally and secretly purged DHS ISIS files to hide the truth of how dangerous the ISIS movement is to Americans’ safety.

- I will remember how despite the reality that this Presidency will double the national debt in just eight years, by incurring a whopping $10 TRILLION in debt, and how the Federal government under this President continues to lose at least $600 billion a year from fraud and incompetence, this President still wants to raise taxes in 2017 and NOT cut spending.

- I will remember how this President became the first President ever to be sued in order to find out how much the American taxpayer actually has paid for his lavish and frequent vacations.

- I will remember how this Presidency was so lame in managing and enforcing our immigration laws that 500,000 foreign visitors overstayed their visa requirements in 2015.

- I will remember how this President illegally and unilaterally exempted the White House Office of Administration from Freedom Of Information Act requests.

I will remember a lot about this Presidency, almost all of it very forgettable, regrettable and often disgusting. And unfortunately, I will still have more bad memories to review tomorrow.



Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org

http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w




Friday, February 26, 2016

The Obama Era, Part 5 - Memories From The Worst Presidency Ever?

Late last year I thought it might be a good time to review everything that I remember about the Obama administration. He has been in office for seven years, seven long years that in my opinion have been horrific in so many ways. This was someone who entered office with approval ratings that were above 70% and who represented the so-called “hope and change” that many Americans were seeking.

This theme unexpectedly took four days to cover, that is how many failures, lies, threats, and narcissism of this President. The first post can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-obama-era-part-1-memories-from.html

Seven years later hope has become very scarce and change has almost always been for the worst. Now, before someone says that I am just a sour grapes Republican, conservative, or neo-con, understand that I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life (I started voting in the 1970s). Up until 2010, I had never voted for Republican for national office in my life. I fully support gay rights and respect a woman’s legal right to an abortion. Thus, none of what you are about to read over the next few days comes from a Republican sour grapes perspective.

But unless you have had completely had your head in the sand or elsewhere, this has been the worst Presidency that I have experienced in my lifetime. From horrid legislation (e.g. Obama Care) to a failed foreign policy (e.g. Syria) to daily lawlessness on the part of this administration (e.g. use of unsecured email accounts by high ranking administration members), the ineptness and ineffectiveness of this administration is mind boggling.

Unfortunately, despite spending four days two months ago to cover the ineptness of this Presidency, we are going to need at least two more posts this week to cover another round of bad memories. Today we will start off with a list of 140 mostly broken promises that this President has presented to the country in his state of the union speeches in the first seven years of his Presidency. 

The comes from the website, www.grabien.com, and includes the video history of Obama actually stating these broken promises in his own words. While we have covered many of these lies and deceptions in previous posts, it is certainly convenient to see all of these bad memories in one spot (keep in mind that these broken promises came only from eight Obama state of the union speeches, many other broken promises were made direclty by this President in other situations):

February 24, 2009

OBAMA: “I am pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law. Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90 percent of these jobs will be in the private sector. (...)

We have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and re-finance their mortgages. (...)

We will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years. We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history – an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine, science, and technology. We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines that can carry new energy to cities and towns across this country. And we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills. (...)

We will launch a new effort to conquer a disease that has touched the life of nearly every American by seeking a cure for cancer in our time. And it makes the largest investment ever in preventive care, because that is one of the best ways to keep our people healthy and our costs under control. (...)

It’s a commitment that’s paid for in part by efficiencies in our system that are long overdue. (...)

I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. (...)

We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade. (...)

If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. (...)

We must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security. (...)

We must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans. (...)

I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.”

January 27, 2010

OBAMA: “Tomorrow, I’ll visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act. ... (...)

An investment that could lead to the world’s cheapest solar cells or treatment that kills cancer cells but leaves healthy ones untouched. (...)

And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. (...)

It means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America. (...)

Our approach would preserve the right of Americans who have insurance to keep their doctor and their plan. It would reduce costs and premiums for millions of families and businesses. (...)

Our approach would bring down the deficit by as much as $1 trillion over the next two decades. (...)

Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. (...)

Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t.And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will. (...)

We will continue to go through the budget, line by line, to eliminate programs that we can’t afford and don’t work. (...)

That’s why I’ve called for a bipartisan fiscal commission. (...)

This can’t be one of those Washington gimmicks that lets us pretend we solved a problem. (...)

[The Senate] should restore the pay-as-you-go law. (...)

Publish all earmark requests on a single Web site. (...)

I will not give up on trying to change the tone of our politics. (...)

We should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system -– to secure our borders and enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.”

January 25, 2011

OBAMA: “Some folks want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all. (...)

We should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration.And I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows. (...)

We’ll put more Americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges. We’ll make sure this is fully paid for, attract private investment, and pick projects based [on] what’s best for the economy, not politicians. Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail. (...)

Within the next five years, we’ll make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans. (...)

Get rid of the loopholes. Level the playing field. And use the savings to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years – (...)

To reduce barriers to growth and investment —“ (...)

When we find rules that put an unnecessary burden on businesses, we will fix them. (...)

I am proposing that starting this year, we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years. (...)

The health insurance law we passed last year will slow these rising costs. (...)

Still, I’m willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year — medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits. (...)

We should give them a government that’s more competent and more efficient. (...)

There are 12 different agencies that deal with exports. There are at least five different agencies that deal with housing policy. hen there’s my favorite example: The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they’re in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they’re in saltwater. (...)

Because you deserve to know exactly how and where your tax dollars are being spent, you’ll be able to go to a website and get that information for the very first time in history. (...)

If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it.” (...)
January 24, 2012

OBAMA: “Companies that choose to stay in America get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world ... So let’s change it. (...)

And I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs, so that from now on, people like Jackie have one program, one website, and one place to go for all the information and help that they need. It is time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work. (...)

I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. (...)

I am proposing that every state — every state — requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18. (...)

I’m directing my administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources. (...)

This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy. (...)

We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years. (Applause) And my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy. (...)

I’ve ordered every federal agency to eliminate rules that don’t make sense. (...)

We’ll also establish a Financial Crimes Unit of highly trained investigators to crack down on large-scale fraud and protect people’s investments. (...)

I’ve asked this Congress to grant me the authority to consolidate the federal bureaucracy — (...)

We need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign of mutual destruction. (...)

February 12, 2013

OBAMA: “On Medicare, I’m prepared to enact reforms that will achieve the same amount of health care savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms proposed by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission. (...)

We’ll reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. (...)

We’ll bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for Medicare. (...)

We should do what leaders in both parties have already suggested, and save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and the well-connected. (..)

Now is our best chance for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit. (...)

That’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. (...)

I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust. (...)

I propose a “Fix-It-First” program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs. (...)

I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America. (...)

I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid. (...)

The time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform — (...)

And raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. (...)

Let’s offer incentives to companies that hire Americans who’ve got what it takes to fill that job opening, but have been out of work so long that no one will give them a chance anymore. (...)

Let’s put people back to work rebuilding vacant homes in run-down neighborhoods. (...)

We’ll give new tax credits to businesses that hire and invest. And we’ll work to strengthen families by removing the financial deterrents to marriage for low-income couples, and do more to encourage fatherhood (...)

By the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over. (...)

Our government shouldn’t make promises we cannot keep — but we must keep the promises we’ve already made.”

January 28, 2014

OBAMA: “Let’s work together to close those loopholes, end those incentives to ship jobs overseas, and lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs. (...)

Take the money we save from this transition to tax reform to create jobs rebuilding our roads, upgrading our roads. (...)

I will act on my own to slash bureaucracy. (...)

My administration has launched two hubs for high-tech manufacturing. (...)

Tonight, I’m announcing we’ll launch six more this year. (...)

Let’s do more to help the entrepreneurs and small business owners who create most new jobs in America. (...)

We can unleash the next great American discovery – whether it’s vaccines that stay ahead of drug-resistant bacteria, or paper-thin material that’s stronger than steel. (...)

Let’s pass a patent reform. (...)

Businesses plan to invest almost $100 billion in new factories that use natural gas. I’ll cut red tape to help states get those factories built. (...)

Let’s continue that progress with a smarter tax policy that stops giving $4 billion a year to fossil fuel industries that don’t need it, so that we can invest more in fuels of the future that do. (...)

In the coming months, I’ll build on that success by setting new standards for our trucks. (...)

Let’s get immigration reform done this year. (...)

— an across-the-board reform of America’s training programs to make sure they have one mission: train Americans with the skills employers need, and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right now. (...)

We can help Americans return to the workforce faster by reforming unemployment insurance (...)

I’m going to pull together a coalition of elected officials, business leaders, and philanthropists willing to help more kids access the high-quality pre-K they need. (...)

This year, let’s all come together – Congress, the White House, and businesses from Wall Street to Main Street – to give every woman the opportunity she deserves. (...)

Fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10. (...)

... than the Earned Income Tax Credit. (...)

Let’s work together to strengthen the credit. (...)

— fix an upside-down tax code that gives big tax breaks to help the wealthy save, but does little to nothing for middle-class Americans. (...)

Offer every American access to an automatic IRA on the job. (...)

—and the bipartisan commission I appointed last year has offered reforms so that no one has to wait more than a half hour to vote. (...)

And I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook. (...)

With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security. (...)

Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year. (...)

This needs to be the year we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. (...)

American diplomacy is supporting Israelis and Palestinians as they engage in difficult but necessary talks to end the conflict there. (...)

Iran has begun to eliminate its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium. It is not installing advanced centrifuges.(...)

If Iran’s leaders do not seize this opportunity, then I will be the first to call for more sanctions. (...)

We’ll keep slashing that backlog so our veterans receive the benefits they’ve earned, and our wounded warriors receive the health care – including the mental health care – that they need.”

January 20, 2015

OBAMA: “My budget will address each of these issues, lowering the taxes of working families and putting thousands of dollars back into their pockets each year. (...)

My plan will make quality childcare more available and more affordable — by creating more slots and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child, per year. (...)

I’ll be taking new action to help states adopt paid leave laws of their own. (...)

Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man. (...)

Two years of college becomes as free and universal in America as high school is today. (...)

To make sure those already burdened with student loans can reduce their monthly payments so that student debt doesn’t derail anyone’s dreams. (...)

Pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan. (...)

I’m launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes, and to give all of us access to the personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier. (...)

I intend to protect a free and open Internet, extend its reach to every classroom, and every community and help folks build the fastest networks. (...)

I want Americans to win the race for the kinds of discoveries that unleash new jobs — converting sunlight into liquid fuel; creating revolutionary prosthetics, so that a veteran who gave his arms for his country can play catch with his kids again. (...)

Pushing out into the solar system not just to visit, but to stay. (...)

Let’s close loopholes so we stop rewarding companies that keep profits abroad, and reward those that invest here in America.

Let’s use those savings to rebuild our infrastructure and to make it more attractive for companies to bring jobs home.

Let’s simplify the system and let a small business owner file based on her actual bank statement, instead of the number of accountants she can afford. 

Let’s close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth. 

We can use that money to help more families pay for childcare and send their kids to college. (...)

We are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group. (...)

No foreign nation, no hacker, should be able to shut down our networks, steal our trade secrets, or invade the privacy of American families, especially our kids. (...)

Since I’ve been President, we’ve worked responsibly to cut the population of Gitmo in half. Now it is time to finish the job. (...)

It’s a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for Democrats and Republicans ... to reform America’s criminal justice system.”

I commit to every Republican here tonight that I will not only seek out your ideas, I will seek to work with you to make this country stronger.

Now, these 140 promises from the grabien.com website do have some inaccuracies. For example, there have been a number of nuclear power plant permits issued during his Presidency so that promise actually is true. But most of what he promised failed to come true. 

This is especially true during the first two years of his Presidency and the promises made in those first two state of the union speeches. During that timeframe, Obama did not need a single Republican vote to pass any promise he put forth in the state of the union speeches since the Democrats had firm control of both houses of Congress. And yet, he and his failed leadership failed to get anything accomplished.

He talked about immigration reform but it never happened.

He talked about tax reform but it never happened.

He talked about helping companies and workers be more effective but it never happened.

He talked about working with Republicans but it never happened.

He talked about getting wasteful government spending under control but it never happened.

He talked about making government functions more effective and efifcient but it never happened.

Which is kind of a major aspect of this Presidency. He talked a good show but it, whatever it was at the moment, never happened. More bad memories tomorrow. The original website link for the this list canbe accessed at:

https://grabien.com/file.php?id=72235&searchorder=date



Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org

http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w




Thursday, February 25, 2016

February, 2016, Part 3, Will The Center Hold: Welfare Reform, State Takeover of Federal Land and Suing Over Amnesty

We occasionally do a review of the theme, “will the center hold.” Given the ever growing reach and encroachment of the Federal government and Obama administration into state matters and citizens’ lives, we have often reported on the increasing pushback against that overreach. From everything from Obama Care to Common Core to gun control to NSA spying, Americans are reasserting their right to tell the Federal government and Washington politicians that citizens in this country hold the power, not them.

Which has led us more than once to contemplate what would happen if Washington enacted a law or the President executed an executive order and the rest of the country simply ignored it? Would the center hold or would we be looking at serious fissures within the country? 

For a few days we have been reviewing where the rest of the country is telling Obama and the Washington political class to stop their power grab and overreaching into our lives: 

1) As you or may not know, in many western states, the Federal government owns/controls more than half of the entire ground area of the state. This has ticked off state citizens and politicians for a long time since they feel that they should be in control of their local areas, forests, parks, etc. and not be forced to deal with dictates from far away Washington. Up until recently, this was not a front burner issue with anyone.

But as the Obama administration has continued its overreach into the lives and freedoms of every American, the states are starting to get feisty when it comes to controlling their own state’s territories. The one state actually being proactive in potentially taking its state’s lands back from the Federal government is Utah. Utah’s state government recently completed a study that shows that there is legal reasoning and precedent that would allow it to challenge the Federal government’s control of Utah’s lands and turn control of those lands over to the state of Utah. 

If successful, states and their citizens across much of the west will be able to take far more control over their lands, their homes, and their economic future and not live under the dictates of a Washington political class that does what is right for themselves and not what is right for states’ citizens.

2) One of the biggest push backs that citizens and states have had to do against an overreaching Federal government is in the area of gun control. The Obama administration has been especially persistent in stripping the Constitutional gun rights of ordinary American citizens with a stupid public stance of protecting Americans from themselves. He and others of his ilk are oblivious to the reality that gun control measures do nothing to take the guns out of the hands of criminals and only end up making it more difficult for law abiding citizens to protect themselves. 

According to an article written by Teresa Monroe-Hamilton for the I Have The Truth website on January 31, 2016, two Tennessee state government politicians are really sticking to Obama and the other gun grabbers. They are putting forth legislation that states if a location insists on being a gun free zone and someone who has a valid, licensed and legal concealed carry permit gets hurt at the location, they can sue that location for not allowing themselves to protect themselves. 

This of course assumes that you survived the violent crime that got you hurt in the gun free zone. But such a law, if passed, might give a gun free zone advocate second thoughts about that status if they knew they would be sued for denying Second Amendment rights to someone. 

The logic of the legislation as explained by one of the politicians, state representative Jeremy Faison, goes as follows: “I believe in the Second Amendment; I don’t believe a person should be held back from having a gun. However, I also believe in property rights. If you have a business, and you don’t want guns there, you certainly have a right to do that. That being said, if you’re going to deny me protecting myself, then you should protect me. If you haven’t protected me, and you don’t allow me to protect myself, then I’m going to say it’s your fault if something happens.” 

I am sure that Obama would fume if he heard this logical, cogent argument. Consider this pending legislation in light of a recent tragic shooting where two police officers actually died responding to a call at a Panera Bread location. Panera Bread locations are official gun free zones, as proclaimed by the Panera management. Despite Panera being a gun free zone, a Panera customer brought a gun into the restaurant and ended up killing two police officers. 

As we have said many times before, criminals do not follow rules and laws, that is why they are criminals. That did not stop this criminal from ignoring Panera’s policy and the results were tragic. Gun free zones make it that much easier for violent criminals. In Tennessee, a more coherent gun free zone could be in the offing, regardless of what Obama thinks.

3) According to recent reporting by The Hill, 25 states are now part of a lawsuit that challenges Obama’s amnesty plans, claiming that his administration overstepped its limits by issuing work permits to illegal immigrants and promising them they will not be deported. The states who filed their opposition are: Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. As you can see, many of the states that are part of the suit are in the southern part of the country where many of the illegal immigrants and the problems they bring are likely most intense.

What is interesting is that 12 states filed a legal brief to defend Obama's overreach and override of existing laws. Every one of those states are far away from most of the illegal immigrant problems with the exception of California, the land of fruits and nuts: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington state and the District of Columbia.

Whatever, this promises to be a major lawsuit and one that pits states against the Federal government and states against states. Will the center hold? 

4) Utah is not the only people interesting in wresting control of their state’s lands back from the Federal government. Some people in Congress are also getting interested in curbing Federal government overreach into states land management:

  • Oregon Congressman Greg Walden recently weighed in: “More than half of my [Congressional] district is under Federal management. They have come out with these proposals to close roads into the forests. The have ignored public input.”
  • In 2014, Senator Ted Cruz proposed legislation that would prohibit the Federal government from owning more than 50% of the land in any one state.
  • Nevada Congressman Cresent Hardy has introduced legislation that would prohibit the Federal government from buying any new land unless it could pass a balanced budget.
Unless something is done, there is a real chance that bloodshed is a potential outcome as the tensions over Federal use and dictatorship of western state lands become more intense. We had the Bundy/Fed standoff in Nevada a few years ago. We recently had the armed standoff in Oregon where there was a fatality. 

Last summer, citizens rallied around mine owners at the owners’ request to provide security at mines in Oregon and Montana after complaints about Federal land managers. In December, 2015, Phil Lyman, an elected official in Utah, got a 10 day jail sentence after he led a protest ride of all terrain vehicles through Federal land that had been closed to local access. Dangerous times.

The frustration of Federal bureaucracy encroaching on states’ lands is summed up by Erin and Jeff Maupin, cattle ranchers in Oregon that pay the Feds to allow their cattle to graze on Federal lands. They have tried to work with the Federal government representatives but come away frustrated by the overwhelming regulations on grazing and environmental issues: “We want somebody to make sure we’re doing it right. But it’s got to the point where there’s no common sense in it.”

Similar frustration come from Leland Pollock, a commissioner in Garfield County, Utah: “The land policies now are, basically, lock it up and throw away the key. It’s land with no use. The local economy’s really suffered as a result. Grazing has been reduced. We used to have a thriving timber industry — that’s all but gone.”

Will the center hold and more importantly, will someone else get killed as Americans push back on the meddling of the Federal government in their lives and homelands out west?

5) One last topic for this month’s edition on “will the center hold?” Starting in early 2016, all able bodied welfare recipients in 23 North Carolina counties will receive government checks only if they work. Specifically, in order to get food assistance, food stamps, under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, these people must work, volunteer, or train at least 20 hours per week in order to continue to get food assistance.

Welfare recipients have 90 days to find a job after the rules take effect. When the state of Maine did a similar program, it found that its welfare roles dropped by 80%, saving state taxpayers a bundle of money. I would assume the same effect will happen here with North Carolina taxpayers feeling the benefit. If only the Federal government would do the same types of common sense things would every American taxpayer get the benefit.

So today we learned that another state is showing the Federal government how to save on welfare costs, a number of states and their citizens and politicians are in the process of trying to figure out how to get the Federal government out of controlling their states’ lands, and half the states are suing the Federal government over amnesty to protect the interests and safety of their own citizens,

Never have so many pushed back so hard on Washington which raises the scenario: what happens when Washington issues an edict and the rest of the country ignores it and yawns in its face? Interesting, and increasingly dangerous times, we live in.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:


www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org

http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w




Wednesday, February 24, 2016

February, 2016, Part 2, Will The Center Hold: Praying In West Virginia and Common Sense Welrare Programs Clean-ups

We occasionally do a review of the theme, “will the center hold.” Given the ever growing reach and encroachment of the Federal government and Obama administration into state matters and citizens’ lives, we have often reported on the increasing push back against that overreach. From everything from Obama Care to Common Core to gun control to NSA spying, Americans are reasserting their right to tell the Federal government and Washington politicians that citizens in this country hold the power, not them.

Which has led us more than once to contemplate what would happen if Washington enacted a law or the President executed an executive order and the rest of the country simply ignored it? Would the center hold or would we be looking at serious fissures within the country?

For a few days let’s review where the rest of the country is telling Obama and the Washington political class to stop their power grab and overreaching into our lives: 

1) Most of the posts in this blog review the ineptness, the incompetence, and idiocy of the American political class. But that is not to mean that there are not a very small sample of politicians across the country that are trying to do the right thing for the country, its taxpayers, and the Constitution. They are actually using common sense and staying in integrity, traits that are in short supply with the overwhelming percentage of politicians.

But by using common sense, these good politicians are often fighting back against the overreaching and bad attitudes of the Federal government and the Obama administration. The first example of this behavior we will discuss today involves the state politicians in North Carolina who recently decided that if you are receiving taxpayer wealth via welfare payments, than you should have to pass a drug test to receive them. Because seriously, if most taxpayers have to take a drug test to get hired in many jobs, why shouldn’t those taking taxpayer wealth be subjected to the same requirement?

And if the taxpayers were no longer forced to support drug addicts, then eventually the hope would be that the tax burden on those taxpayers would eventually go down. Or those saved funds could be used to help the truly needy, our veterans, our homeless, our hungry.

The details of the North Carolina fraud crackdown include the following details:

  • The state has begun testing all individuals receiving welfare benefits.
  • While the initial results come from a small sample, 24% of the first batch of welfare recipients tested positive for illegal drugs, as reported by the Raleigh News and Observer.
  • 89 people were tested in the first batch and 21 were found to test positive for illegal drugs, and thus, 24%.
  • Some people who think that welfare users should not be drug tested will point to the small sample size and pooh pooh the results.
  • However, 70 welfare recipients never showed up for the test and thus, had their benefits cut. The obvious assumption is that a lot, if not all, of the 70 would have also tested positive for illegal drugs.
  • If all of the 70 welfare recipients were addicted to illegal drugs, than the total number of people that were supposed to be tested is 159 and 91 would have been drug addicts in the worst case, a percentage of 57%. Thus, the range of probable drug addicts that taxpayers were supporting ranges from 24% to a whopping 57%.
I am pretty sure that the Obama administration would be against this type of common sense approach to being compassionate and being worthy of safeguarding taxpayer wealth. In the past, the administration wanted there to be no restrictions, work or otherwise, on welfare recipients. North Carolina is telling the administration to back off when it comes to common sense approaches to welfare.

If the these early results hold true, than the state can reduce its welfare budget by upwards of 57%. Some of this money could be returned to taxpayers in the form of lower future taxes and some of it could be used to help those addicted to get treatment help. In either way, the North Carolina way certainly beats the Obama way.

2) A recent article by Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield, writing for the Heritage Foundation, described some actions Maine politicians have taken in the same vein as what they did in North Carolina. But before describing the incredible results these politicians attained in the area of saving taxpayer wealth, consider the following statistics:

  • Over one trillion dollars was spent on various forms of welfare last year including welfare payments for food, housing, medical care and social services.
  • This comes out to over $8,000 for every American household.
  • Federal food assistance is the country’s second biggest welfare program.
  • In the year 2000, 17.2 million Americans were receiving Federal food assistance.
  • In 2015, 45.8 million Americans were receiving Federal food assistance, two and a half times more in just 15 years.
  • The fastest category of people getting food assistance in recent years has been among able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), going from 2 million in 2008 to 5 million today. These are work-capable adult between the ages of 18 and 49 who do not have children or other dependents to support.
One reason for the incredible increase in ABAWDs getting food assistance is that the Obama administration did not require these types of people to actively look for work in order to get the welfare benefits. In light of this reality, Maine’s governor, Paul LePage, recently established work requirements on Maine welfare recipients who are without dependents and able-bodied. Alternatively, these people could also enroll in job training or do community service, a meager six hours per week.

Despite a major communications effort to ABAWDs in Maine, very few people enrolled in the training and community service programs. This resulted in those people losing access to their welfare benefits. And the drop in people receiving benefits was an amazing 80%. The number of people in the welfare program went from 13,332 to 2,678 in just four months. 80%.

Thus, now we have two states that are showing the Federal government how to stay compassionate for those less fortunate in our society but respecting taxpayer wealth by cracking down on the fraud within the welfare bureaucracy. And they are doing it in the face of a Presidential administration that would rather not clean up the mess they created in the welfare society of today. If this same effort and same results were done on the national level under Obama, the Heritage Foundation estimates that:

  • Annual taxpayer savings would be $8.4 billion a year.
  • Additional reforms of the food assistance bureaucracy would get another $9.7 billion in annual savings.
  • Combined, these savings would come out to over $150 for every U.S. household from just cleaning up a single Federal government program.
As we said before, a small percentage of American politicians are doing the right thing relative to common sense and taxpayer respect.

3) The American News website recently reported that Massachusetts also has gotten into the clean up welfare act. One driver of the effort is that the state found out that $2.39 million in welfare benefits went to people who had been dead between 6 and 27 months.

As a result, legislation is moving through the Massachusetts state legislature to require that fingerprinting be implemented in the welfare programs to ensure that those entitled to welfare, and only those entitled, receive those benefits. The legislation passed by a vote of 158-0 in the house and is waiting for approval in the state senate.

More common sense.

4) Let’s leave the world of cleaning up welfare programs that the Feds screwed up and talk about a state fighting back against the Federal government’s intrusion into the energy industry via Obama’s Clean Energy Plan. This plan wants to cripple the U.S. coal industry in the name of man made climate change that may or may not exist. And that crippling will have disastrous effects on the state of West Virginia.

West Virginia is one of more than two dozen states that are pushing back on the Clean Energy Plan through the court system. Those states recently won a Supreme Court round when the Court ruled that the plan could not go into effect until all legal challenges had been met, certainly a legal defeat for the Obama administration. But in West Virginia, they are also pursuing another avenue of push back against the Federal government.

West Virginia citizens got together and set aside January 31, 2016 as a day of prayer for coal miners. According to reporting by the Heritage Foundation, on that day: “A congregation of pastors, businessmen, and lawmakers will seek divine intervention in one of the nation’s hardest-hit coal economies. Doubtless, though, many will ask for deliverance from what they consider a man-made crisis.”

Roger Horton, president of Citizens For Coal: “West Virginia’s absolutely in dire straits. The point we’re trying to stress is that we need a higher power to change the hearts and minds of those who want to destroy Appalachia.” At least in this case, when the Federal government gets too intrusive and stupid these folks are calling on an even higher power to overcome the stupidity. 

Remember, the Obama administration is trying to kill the domestic coal industry at the same time that the rest of the world is on track to build 2,400 new coal fired power plants in the next few years. Thus, anything that Obama succeeds in doing to destroy the coal industry in this country will be dwarfed by the huge increase in coal burned around the world. Even John Kerry, the Secretary of State is on record saying that anything the U.S. does for the environment in this area will be nothing compared to what the rest of the world has planned. All it does is wipe out thousands and thousands of American jobs for no environmental gain.

And the folks of West Virginia are pushing back, both legally and religiously. 

That will do it for today's edition of “will the center hold.” West Virginia citizens uniting in more than one way to push back on the Federal government’s overreach on coal and at least three states telling Washington we will run common sense, efficient and compassionate welfare programs,unlike what the Washington political class does, and in the process save taxpayers loads of money.




Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:


www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org

http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w