Free Republic

Could it be that I have been wrong about the Obama stimulus? I wrote earlier about the $821 billion of wasted money that President Obama just knew would stimulate our economy and bring us out of the deep recession we were in at the time. I went into some detail about why I felt that money was money thrown down a rat hole, but it seems I may have been wrong in that assessment. According to some reports, the economy may have been helped. It just isn't the American economy. Enter the Chinese companies looking to take over American companies...

I have said before I never cease to be amazed at how President Obama is able to manipulate any given political situation to his favor. Let me rephrase that by saying I stand in awe at his willingness to lie about his record and to place the blame for all things Washington on his political opponents. The latest of these lies came yesterday at the White House. Remember the sequester? That's the plan that includes automatic, across-the-board spending cuts. Domestic and defense programs are under the knife and President Obama has raised all kinds of cane, claiming they are bad...

Obama presses GOP to halt automatic spending cuts WASHINGTON (AP) – Staking out his ground ahead of a fiscal deadline, President Barack Obama lashed out against Republicans, saying they are unwilling to raise taxes to reduce deficits and warning that the jobs of essential government workers, from teachers to emergency responders, are on the line.Obama spoke as a March 1 deadline for automatic across-the-board spending cuts approached and with Republicans and Democrats in an apparent stalemate over how to avoid them.Obama cautioned that if the $85 billion in immediate cuts – known as the sequester – occur, the full range...

Oh, how time flies when we are having fun. Did you realize that February 17 was the fourth anniversary of President Obama signing the highly touted $821 billion stimulus package that was funded by the tax dollars you and I had no choice in sending to Washington? A lot of promises were included with that stimulus, things like lower unemployment because of all the jobs Obama said the stimulus would either create or save. If this is what stimulus really looks like, I want no part of it. Here is what President Obama had to say at the signing ceremony...

Obama proposals face quick opposition in Congress WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama set up high-stakes clashes over guns, immigration, taxes and climate change in a State of the Union address that showcased a newly re-elected president determined to mark his legacy, facing off against a deeply divided Congress with Republicans eager to rein him in.At the center of it all was a fight over the very role of government, with Obama pushing a raft of new initiatives to improve preschool programs and voting, boost manufacturing and research and development, raise the minimum wage and lower energy use. “It is...

Obama proposals face quick opposition in Congress WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama set up high-stakes clashes over guns, immigration, taxes and climate change in a State of the Union address that showcased a newly re-elected president determined to mark his legacy, facing off against a deeply divided Congress with Republicans eager to rein him in.At the center of it all was a fight over the very role of government, with Obama pushing a raft of new initiatives to improve preschool programs and voting, boost manufacturing and research and development, raise the minimum wage and lower energy use. “It is...

President Obama's approach to so-called "climate change" appears to include recycling old ideas. In his State of the Union address, the president recycled the idea of spending more on education, though we are still getting unsatisfactory results. A fact he inadvertently acknowledged by saying we're not keeping up with other countries in science and math. He maintained there are tens of thousands of jobs available but companies can't fill them because public schools aren't teaching students what they need to know. We spend huge sums on education already, so money and achievement must not be related. Infrastructure? We've heard that...

Did I miss a memo somewhere? Is it time for another presidential election? Did they repeal the 22nd Amendment and allow Barack Obama to run for a 3rd term in the White House? That's how it felt last night as I sat and watched Obama give his hour-long State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, along with many other notable figures. It sounded like a campaign speech, with a lot of lofty, mostly unattainable goals, with a doubling down of the rhetoric he normally uses. It took him all of about five minutes to begin his...

There are some things that are as dependable as the sun and the moon. No matter what happens, the sun always rises in the east and sits in the west. The moon will shine its light on the night until God says it is enough. And the left-wing liberals will always want more government spending. That's what we will hear from President Obama in his State of the Union address tonight. No matter what happens with our economy, boom or bust, his answer always seems to be more government spending. Of course, he will probably refrain from calling it government...

Hat tip has to go to Spellchek for this little tidbit of information. In all of his infinite wisdom and glory, President Barack Obama has waived restrictions placed on the direct funding of the Palestinian Authority. If you remember, this is the group that is run by Hamas. Going further back in your memory, you will recall Hamas is the terrorist organization that has refused to acknowledge Israel's right to exist. In fact, their charter calls for the destruction of Israel. (White House) MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE SUBJECT: Waiver of Restriction on Providing Funds to the Palestinian Authority...

Just in case anyone believes President Obama's shout out to environmentalism and climate change during his inaugural address was just for show, here's a little something to dissuade that false hope. If you don't know who Sally Jewell is, you should educate yourself. She is Obama's choice to replace Ken Salazar as Interior Secretary. The head of REI, a fitness company, she lines right up with the rest of the Obama administration and their radical agenda of combating climate change and pushing environmentalism down our throats. (The Wall Street Journal via Human Events)In naming Sally Jewell as Interior secretary, President...

Let me be honest. I am not a fan of President Obama, or the tactics he has used in his four years as President. He continually strikes me as having his nose up in the air, looking down on the rest of us peons. That would include how he treats his political opponents and is especially true when he is "negotiating" with them over how to deal with any given issue. If you can call what he does negotiating, which is quite a stretch. While we are on the honesty track, I'll say one more thing. I don't trust President...

At what point does the ridiculous become absurd? When is it okay to call President Obama out on his complete and total foolishness? Since I am the one writing this post, this is my opinion. We are far past the point where Obama should be called on the carpet for the foolish statements he makes. His latest published gripe about the media really makes me wonder just how out-of-touch the President really is. Is he so naive that he believes the trite nonsense he is spouting? If we are to believe what he says, the media is biased, but it...

Here is a secret that isn't much of a secret. I have made it clear, both in my posts and in comments at other blogs, that I did not watch President Obama's second inaugural address. My reason is simple. I can not stand listening to someone whom I know is lying to me and the rest of America. I can easily glean what I need to know from reading the text of the speech and no, I haven't even been tempted to watch short clips of the speech on YouTube. From reading the speech and other commentaries, one thing is...

Today is the first day of the next four years of our lives. President Barack Obama was officially sworn in for his second term yesterday, but the festivities and lavish parties really get underway today. Lots of hoopla, etc. I care very little for all that, no matter who is being sworn in. I would contend it is all a very big waste of taxpayer money. But, I digress. One of President Obama's senior advisers was on most of the Sunday talk shows yesterday. David Plouffe was going around, basically letting everyone know what kind of administration would be occupying...

By now, I am sure most of us have read through the list of the 23 executive orders President Obama signed yesterday. If you are like me, you were left shaking your head and wondering what good any of them will do. If you would like to read a breakdown of all 23 orders, along with a common sense response to each one, you should visit Texas Fred. Be warned, he is very plain-spoken, but maybe that's just what we need. I have only watched a small portion of the news conference in which President Obama made his announcement, but...

Thank God, we finally have the fiscal cliff behind us. President Obama finally got his highly-touted tax increase, the one that is supposed to make the rich pay their fair share and help reduce the budget deficit. Conservatives aren't exactly happy about that, but we did manage to make the majority of the Bush tax cuts permanent, so that may count for something. As for the tax increases reducing the deficit, National Review Online has a well-written piece that debunks that myth, but most of us already knew how false it was. Even though most conservatives are not happy with...

I realize we are out of the election and there is no need to be in campaign mode. That is one of the reasons I have written very little since the election, and especially since the beginning of December. I saw no use to continue rehashing our loses and wondering what happened. Having said that, I never cease to be amazed at how inept our government is acting, in general, and how blameless President Barack Obama remains, specifically. He sheds blame for his faults and the scandals that should have arisen because of his actions like water off a duck....

I came across an article last night that started me thinking. It was talking about the negotiations that are now underway between the White House and congressional leaders on how to avoid the upcoming fiscal cliff. In this article, Senator Jeff Sessions, R-AL, was rasing a question that I believe is more than a little relevant to the discussion. Exactly why are these negotiations going on behind closed doors? (The Hill) Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is calling on President Obama and congressional leaders to hold open talks to steer clear of the so-called “fiscal cliff.” “These secret talks violate the...

By now, we have all heard the rumor that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell laughed out loud when President Obama's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner laid out his proposal for "solving" the issue of the fiscal cliff. From what I can gather about the proposal, it is certainly laughable. $50 billion in new spending, $1.6 trillion in tax hikes, and only promises of addressing spending in the future. And don't forget, Obama also wants to tie this all to an increase of the debt ceiling, as well as taking that authority from Congress and into his own hands. Oh, they would...