By Glenn Beck
The Obama National Anthem... |
I am amazed at the comment today from Barack Obama that if we don't pass this stimulus bill right now, the recession may prove to be irreversible, that America may never recover from our inaction right now. That is -- wow, that's incredible.
He said this recession may linger for years, our economy will lose five million more jobs. You know what this is? This is really a hedge because he can say, "Well, I didn't get my stimulus bill, I didn't get everything in my stimulus bill that I wanted," as this thing lingers for years, if it doesn't get much, much worse.
He said unemployment will approach double digits. Yes. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that at some point we may not be able to reverse. He's calling this the action Americans need. He says that energy independence is one of the reasons that we have to pass the stimulus bill quickly. Energy independence. Less than 24 hours after his new interior secretary cancelled the oil and gas leases on 77 parcels of federal land, more than 130,000 acres in Utah alone. In a completely unrelated story, Cuban officials say that exploratory drilling to access potential for oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to resume in the second quarter of this year, a sign that lower world prices for oil have not derailed efforts by the Cuban government and its foreign corporate partners to keep moving towards offshore oil production. Cuba's state oil company has estimated that there are 20 billion barrels of recoverable offshore oil in Cuban waters. The U.S. geological survey has issued a more conservative estimate, under 5 billion barrels just offshore of Cuba. But remember we don't want anything to do with carbon.
The idea that this president, from the party that says Bush is using fear, that he's trying to get everybody to do something through fear, well, I don't know if you remember seeing this on TV. They don't show it very often anymore. In fact, they don't show it at all.
Do you remember the World Trade Centers falling? Do you remember the field in Pennsylvania? Do you remember the Pentagon? I seem to recall actual people trying to kill us and that was using fear to get things done. But saying that our economy may never recover if he doesn't get this stimulus package, let me just put this into perspective:
We're never going to recover if we don't get the $50 million for the National Endowment For the Arts, we may never recover if we don't get $380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children's program, we may never recover if we don't get $300 million for grants to combat violence against women, we may never recover if we don't have $6 billion for university building projects, we may never recover if we don't have $1.2 billion to provide youth summer jobs, and this bill defines "Youth" to people up to the age of 24. You'll be paying for those.
We will never recover if we don't have $2.4 billion for neighborhood stabilization activities.
We may never recover if we don't have $650 million for digital TV coupons.
We may never recover if we don't get $150 million for the Smithsonian.
We may never recover if we don't have $34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters.
We may never recover if we don't have $500 million for the improvement projects for the national institute of health facilities.
We may never recover if we don't have $44 million for repairs to the Department of Agriculture headquarters or $350 million for agriculture department computers.
We may never recover if we don't have $88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building, not for a new building. To help them move to a new building.
We may never survive if we don't have that $88 million for a moving truck!
We may never survive if we don't have the money to convert federal auto fleets to hybrids.
This country may never recover if we don't have a billion dollars for the census bureau.
We may never recover if we don't have $89 billion for Medicaid or $30 billion for COBRA extensions or $36 billion for expanded unemployment or $20 billion for more food stamps.
We may never recover if we don't have $850 million for Amtrak, a train that hasn't turned a profit in 50 years. America as we know it may never recover if we don't have $87 million for a polar ice breaking ship, never recover. Let's not look too deeply into why we would need a polar ice breaking ship if the poles are melting and won't have any ice!
We may never recover if we don't have $1.7 million for the national park system or $55 million for the historic preservation fund.
We may not survive if we don't have $7.6 million for the rural advancement program or $150 million for the agriculture commodity purposes or $150 million for producers of livestock, farm-raised fish and honeybees.
We may never survive.
We may never recover unless we have $160 million for paid volunteers at the Corporation for National and Community Service for the community volunteers, the National -- wait a minute. Why are we paying the volunteers?
Look, we may never survive if we don't get serious about renewable energy. Our planet has a temperature. It's very sick. We have to do everything we can. For instance, would be ridiculous for, you know, me, the president, to take Air Force one out on its maiden flight, to take a 747 jumbo jet from Washington D.C. for an out-and-back excursion to the House Democratic caucus retreat at the Kings Mill Resort and Spa in Williamsburg, Virginia, where the 747 is parked in Virginia. It would be crazy to take a 157-mile trip in a 747 jumbo jet when you've got teleconferencing there in the White House, because the Earth has a temperature and that's why America may not ever recover if we don't act now and pass $2 billion for renewable energy research or $2 billion for clean coal power plants in Illinois or $6.2 billion for a weatherization assistance program which basically is weatherstrips for underneath your door!
We may never survive if we don't have $3.5 billion for energy efficiency and conservation block grants or $3.4 billion for the state energy program or $200 million for state and local electric transport projects or $300 million for the energy-efficient appliance rebate program or $400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments or $1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries or $1.5 billion for green technology, loan guarantees or $8 billion for innovative loan guarantee program or $2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration projects or $4.5 billion for the electricity grid or $79 billion for the state fiscal stabilization fund. We may never recover if we don't do these things right now.
Don't think.
Do it now!
Or we may never recover.
Is anyone insulted?