April 6, 2011
Apr 06 03:40 If This Isn't Voter Fraud... Apr 06 18:06 President Talks My Way Or the Highway On Budget
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
If This Isn't Voter Fraud...
Yesterday, my fists clenched in rage, again, when I watched Eric Shawn interview Jim Stene. Jim lives at the Crow Wing Group Home. His father, Alan P. Stene swore out an affidavit saying that Jim isn't capable of voting.
When Shawn asked who he'd voted for this November, Jim Stene said "Ford." Shawn asked again, obviously stunned, "You mean, Gerald Ford?" Jim's answer was yes.
The group home's owner, Len Peterson, said Jim was not exploited, replying "Absolutely not" when asked by Shawn. Follow this link to see the entire video.
If you think this young man was exploited, then we aren't on the same page.
Posted Wednesday, April 6, 2011 3:40 AM
Comment 1 by Dan McGrath at 06-Apr-11 10:37 AM
Your last sentance is a bit of a disconnect from the rest of the post. Typo?
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 06-Apr-11 11:32 AM
There's no disconnect. Had I intended it to be a declarative statement, I wouldn't have included the ...
If I wanted this to be a question, I wouldn't have included the ...
President Talks My Way Or the Highway On Budget
During a speech in Fairless Hills, PA, President Obama included a line talking about getting away from an attitude of "my way or the highway." It's a great line. It'll likely poll well until...
It'll poll well until it's highlighted that Senate Democrats refused to build their part of the highway. In fact, in 2010, when Democrats could pass any budget they wanted to, they told the American people that they wouldn't make their members cast difficult votes.
Democrats are still telling the American people that they still won't let vulnerable Democrat senators cast potentially politically damaging votes.
This past November, the American people spoke clearly. The American people told the Democrats that they had a choice. Either Democrats can cast politically difficult votes or they'd settle many Democrats' political futures.
Simply put, the minute that Republicans regained the majority in the House, Speaker Boehner charged his committee chairs to put a CR to run the rest of this fiscal year. Within weeks of getting gavels, that's exactly what Republican chairs did.
President Obama didn't veto the Republicans' budget. He didn't veto the conference report hammered out between House Republican conferees and Senate Democratic conferees. He didn't sign the conference report hammered out between House Republican conferees and Senate Democratic conferees.
That's because Harry Reid's Senate didn't produce a budget. It's worth highlighting the fact that President Obama didn't push Senate Democrats to put their own budget together so there'd be two distinct budgets to work from.
House Republicans put together a good faith budget, thanks in large part to the leadership of Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. It isn't too much to ask President Obama to do more than hold a single negotiating session at the eleventh hour.
It's just another opportunity for him to vote present.
During the government shutdowns of 1995-1996, then-President Clinton was an active participant in negotiations. In fact, money people will remind us that President Clinton's negotiating partner wasn't Newt Gingrich, that it was then-Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich.
President Obama isn't negotiating this year's budget with Chairman Ryan. He's MIA or, more accurately, he's campaigning for the status quo :
Obama said he wants to move toward "a future where America is less dependent on foreign oil, more reliant on clean energy produced by workers like you." That will happen by reducing oil imports, tapping domestic energy sources and shifting the nation to renewable and less polluting sources of energy, such as wind, the president says. He has set a goal of reducing oil imports by one-third by 2025.
But the president said it won't happen overnight and if any politician says it's easy, "they're not telling the truth."
"Gas prices? They're going to still fluctuate until we can start making these broader changes, and that's going to take a couple of years to have serious effect," Obama said.
This might sound futuristic to some but it really isn't. That speech could've been given by Bill Clinton. In fact, it likely was.
It's also worth noting that President Obama didn't put a spotlight on significantly increasing domestic production of fossil fuels:
Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.
"If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know," Obama said laughingly. "You might want to think about a trade-in."
There are lots of people whose vehicles get 25 mpg that are complaining about gas prices. Doug Schoen, Clinton's pollster, wrote an op-ed about the seriousness of the issue , saying:
Food costs and oil prices are now spiking to alarming levels. So there is every reason to believe that the president's approval rating, which fell below 50 percent, to 47.6 percent, in the most recent Real Clear Politics average, will continue to slide in the weeks and months to come.
Moreover, Obama's short-term strategy of striking a centrist pose on budgetary matters and demonstrating at least a rhetorical commitment to job creation and regulatory reform may not matter if he continues to vacillate. His unwillingness to offer clear plans and policies has been evident lately, both domestically and overseas.
It's easy to say Schoen is taking this stance because it makes his former boss look better. Anyone who's seen Mr. Schoen operate knows that he's mostly concerned with America winning. Besides, he doesn't need to highlight his boss's record. People are already seeing President Obama in a more negative light when compared with Bill Clinton.
If President Obama was really for the middle class, he'd fight with his party on increasing domestic energy sources, including coal, nuclear and gas.
One of the best-kept secrets is that it wouldn't take that long to get producing oil from shallow water wells :
Here are two quotes from John Peterson that caught my attention:
'There is no environmental danger in offshore drilling.' Rep. Peterson cited the fact that there was 'no damage offshore from Katrina & Rita.'
Finally, there was this eyepopper:
' California could have production 'within months' with modifications to offshore rigs .
The reality is that President Obama doesn't like increasing domestic energy production if it isn't colored green:
What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there.
I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.
That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.
The only thing I've said with respect to coal, I haven't been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a (sic) ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.
"So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it'll bankrupt them..." That says it all.
Just like we waited for then-candidate Obama to take a stand on energy, we're waiting for President Obama to show some leadership on the budget. I'm not holding my breath.
Posted Wednesday, April 6, 2011 6:06 PM
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