If it weren't for the rest of the stuff, I'd be laughing

Most Democrats, many Independents, and even a few Republicans flocked to Obama because he promised "Change" with a capital C. War on terror? Gone. Excess spending? Gone. Huge government, excesses? Gone. Earmarks? Gone. The schism between the two Parties? Gone.

Everyone from the media to the mindless masses swallowed his lines and gulped the kool-aide.

Now we're living with the reality of Obamavision.

War? Shift the troops to Afghanistan and pull 'em back from Iraq. When are the troops coming home? Roughly the same time President Bush said they'd be coming home and a bit further out than Obama originally promised.

Excess spending? Without the stimulus-porkulus-scamulus package Obama's budget still, especially coupled with the $410 billion Omnibus package and all the other bits he's doling out, makes Bush look like Ebenezer Scrooge.

Cutting back on government? Hold on, I am having to laugh at this one... picture busy little bees building glorious hives, ever expanding hives, bzzzzz, bzzzz... except the end result sure isn't going to be sweet. Maybe a better analogy would have been the killer ants that sweep through areas decimating them.

Earmarks? He stood strong on that one for all of about ten seconds didn't he? Have you ever heard such a lame excuse as the one he is using to justify the signing of the killer Omnibus (if it gets through, when it gets through). He's not going to veto the bill that President Bush said he'd veto because it was something that got started during the "I'll veto it" Bush administration. Wouldn't it make a bit more sense to say, well, President Bush wouldn't approve it during his administration, and I don't believe in earmarks, so I will veto it unless you strip the earmarks?

I wish every Republican who had an earmark in the Omnibus would stand up and ask to have it dropped from the bill. Wouldn't that say something? It would also take "true grit" and we know that's something many of our Republicans haven't got. Yet.

Kumbaya, love and happiness between the Republicans and Democrats? Sure, Obama said he was a miracle worker. Then he starts pumping out advanced socialism (as opposed to socialism 101), starts printing money like it's not real, raids the kids piggy banks for generations to come, ignores the Republicans, goes on a rampage to reverse every good thing President Bush and / or the Republicans ever did and then invites everyone to share a group hug. Kind of hard to hug someone who's slapping and kicking you.

So now Obama is channeling Cheney in regards to wire-tapping according to the Wall Street Journal. Anyone surprised?

You know, if he weren't destroying the country with all his actions, I'd be laughing at the fools who voted for this man. I'd be saying "I told you so." You wanted change? However, while he may not be keeping those campaign promises that drew the crowds, he's making other changes that are bad-news serious. Seems he's managing to alienate people on both sides of the aisle. An equal opportunity destructo machine.

Based on the poll numbers it appears that many are still in la-la land when it comes to seeing the reality of what's going on. Obama is out there campaigning and selling his wares just as successfully it seems. I pray our fellow citizens wake up before his actions take us too far over the brink.

Obama Channels Cheney
The Obama Administration this week released its predecessor's post-9/11 legal memoranda in the name of "transparency," producing another round of feel-good Bush criticism. Anyone interested in President Obama's actual executive-power policies, however, should look at his position on warrantless wiretapping. Dick Cheney must be smiling.

In a federal lawsuit, the Obama legal team is arguing that judges lack the authority to enforce their own rulings in classified matters of national security. The standoff concerns the Oregon chapter of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Saudi Arabian charity that was shut down in 2004 on evidence that it was financing al Qaeda. Al-Haramain sued the Bush Administration in 2005, claiming it had been illegally wiretapped.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123638765474658467.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Obama articles that caught my eye

Obama Administration: No on Nuclear Energy
More pieces fell into place today regarding the new Administration’s desire to end America’s access to low-cost energy, and replace it with high-cost wind and solar power.
Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee heard from Treasury Secretary Geithner, who said that it’s the wrong policy choice to “subsidize” oil, gas and coal producers by allowing them to operate as they always have.

A Backlash Against Obama's Budget
BusinessWeek - USAThe target is the aggressive domestic agenda laid out in President Barack Obama's first budget. Private health insurers are mobilizing to fend off Obama's ...

Obama’s ‘shared sacrifice’ means taking from rich
Houston Chronicle - United StatesBy JONAH GOLDBERG Barack Obama proclaimed many times during the campaign, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” He and his throngs of supporters preened ...

Critics Say Obama's Focus-Group Approach More Style Than Substance
FOXNews - USA
US President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the White House forum on health reform in Washington, March 5, 2009. REUTERS For the second time in as many ...

Senate preparing huge spending bill for Obama
The Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — Senate leaders hoped Thursday to clear for President Barack Obama a huge spending bill that awards big increases to domestic programs and ...

Barack Obama's UK PR Disaster - Nile Gardiner - The Corner on ...
Barack Obama's UK PR Disaster [Nile Gardiner]. Not content with throwing out a bust of Sir Winston Churchill from the Oval Office, President Obama did his best to keep the British press corps out as well from yesterday’s White House ...
The Corner - http://corner.nationalreview.com/

Why Mommy Is A Republican: Obama and His Teleprompter Addiction
By Lisa Graas Member Blog...
Why Mommy Is A Republican - http://genuinegopmom.blogspot.com/

The Intellectual Redneck: Obama reaffirms support for "card check"
By The Intellectual Redneck ... The Intellectual Redneck - http://bloggingredneck.blogspot.com/

Conservative Congressmen Hammer Geithner Over Obama's Planned Tax Hikes, Cap-and-Trade
Washington (CNSNews.com) – Three conservative Republican lawmakers -- Reps. Paul Ryan (Wis.), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) and Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.) -- pounded on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Thursday over the Obama administration’s plans to impose new tax increases and a national cap-and-trade program as the economy emerges from recession. Geithner said the administration would not call for tax increases or push for cap-and-trade until after the economy had begun to recover.

Biden Says Stimulus Is Aimed at Boosting Union Jobs
(CNSNews.com) - Vice President Joe Biden, expressing his solidarity with organized labor, told the AFL-CIO Executive Committee on Thursday that "rebuilding our broken economy gives us the opportunity to get it right and reward workers." Union workers. “We're going to make sure that in every policy, every decision, we don't lose sight of the folks that brought us to the dance,” he said -- a nod to organized labor’s support of the Obama-Biden ticket.

He Who Has Earmarks, Let Him Hear

And now, back to our regularly scheduled spending. One week after the shock of the $1.3 trillion stimulus hit home, President Obama and his party are back at it, promoting fiscal responsibility while exercising anything but. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), fresh from her taxpayer-funded vacation, lifted the veil on a $410 billion omnibus bill that fails to live up to the President's campaign promises of "earmark reform."

"[W]hen I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely," he told a crowd in Mississippi last year. Of course, the irony is that Congress introduced a bill with 9,000 earmarks on the same day that the President delivered a speech to economists on spending restraint. "[I]f we want to spend, we'll need to find somewhere to cut," the President suggested Monday, mere days after he signed the biggest spending bill in U.S. history. At the same meeting, Obama vowed to reduce the deficit by half in his first term, which would be a real feat considering that he has already expanded it by roughly a trillion dollars. Got vertigo yet?

Liberals claim the omnibus, now under review in the House, is pork-free. The evidence suggests otherwise. A portion of the $5 billion in earmarks is slated to fund: a "Tattoo Removal Violence Prevention Outreach Program" ($200,000); the creation of a "Ted Kennedy Institute for the Senate" ($5.8 million); the National Council of LaRaza ($473,000); "the promotion of astronomy in Hawaii" ($2 million); and the Las Vegas Natural History Museum ($143,000), where Sen. Harry Reid's son served as a board member.

The flagrant waste, while upsetting, is far less damaging to values voters than the shifts in social policy, which often go undetected in spending bills like this one. Of particular concern to FRC are the diminished pro-life "riders" attached to the legislation. (For a better understanding of the term "rider," check out the FRC Action Blog). Unfortunately, we learned yesterday that the President has reinstated $50 million for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA). For the first time in eight years, the U.S. will be knowingly subsidizing forced abortion and sterilization.

The President demanded $545 million ($88 million more than 2008) in contraceptives and other "family planning" activities that do not merit public support. In a major setback for the Community-Based Abstinence Education program, the White House asked for a $13 million reduction in CBAE grants, while increasing its funding for Title X birth control programs to $307 million. Another provision would give college health and abortion clinics the ability to purchase contraception and Plan B at a "nominal" price. (Keep in mind that leaders are proposing this while a network of California Planned Parenthood clinics is under investigation for fraudulently re-selling these same drugs at higher prices for profit.)

On the education front, the bill includes language that would eliminate the D.C. school voucher program and bars new students from participating in the program despite its documented success. In a subtle move, House liberals have also pushed for $1.2 billion in "anti-bullying programs." In the past, these funds have been used to introduce pro-homosexual curricula into the nation's public schools. Last, but by no means least, the report language launches a sneak attack on marriage by encouraging reconsideration of the ban on benefits for same-sex partners of federal employees.

Tonight, despite these assaults on American values, the President will address the nation with the familiar themes of hope, camaraderie, and optimism. But, as we have come to expect in Obama's first month, the rhetoric of this administration falls miserably short of reality.

Additional Resources Kitchen Table Blog: What Exactly are Pro-life Riders?

Tony Perkins
Family Research Council:
801 G Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
P: 202/393-2100 or 800/225-4008
W: frc.org

We knew the spending bill had earmarks... but 9,000?

Change. Reform. A different Washington. Hope. No more earmarks. Cut wasteful spending.

There is change. It's now worse than ever. He says one thing, does the complete opposite. When is America going to wake up? Tea Party? I hope the Tea Party is HUGE. I hope mainstream media actually covers it. They're ignoring all the protests being held when Obama shows up to mouth his empty words.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/stimulus_bill_earmarks/2009/02/23/184512.html?s=al&promo_code=7AD3-1
Obama's New Spending Bill Has 9,000 Earmarks
William Douglas and David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidates Barack Obama and John McCain fought vigorously over who would be toughest on congressional earmarks.

"We need earmark reform," Obama said in September during a presidential debate in Oxford, Miss. "And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."

President Barack Obama should prepare to carve out a lot of free time and keep the coffee hot this week as Congress prepares to unveil a $410 billion omnibus spending bill that's riddled with thousands of earmarks, despite his calls for restraint and efforts on Capitol Hill to curtail the practice.
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/stimulus_bill_earmarks/2009/02/23/184512.html?s=al&promo_code=7AD3-1

A Trillion Dollar Failure

The United States Congress is about to pass the largest single-year increase in domestic federal spending since World War II. Despite the fact that neither the Republicans in Congress, the media, nor the American people have been allowed to read the bill, the House plans to vote on the plan today. The Senate will quickly follow suit so that the bill will hit President Barack Obama's desk by Monday.

Even without the full benefit of digesting what is in this trillion dollar debt bill, over 200 economists have expressed their belief that this plan is destined to fail.

And conservative economists that once supported the idea of a stimulus are now calling the current plan "An $800 Billion Mistake." Even center left economists like President Bill Clinton’s budget director, Alice Rivlin have told Congress that the long-term spending items in the plan "should not be put together hastily and lumped in with the anti-recession package."

This past summer, Obama Administration National Economic Council director Larry Summers said that any stimulus bill must be “timely… targeted … and credibly temporary.”

The plan coming out of Congress is none of those things.

Not Timely

The Heritage Foundation has never believed that temporary tax cuts have a stimulating effect on the economy. That is why last year we predicted that President George Bush's tax rebates would not help the economy. The Obama Administration's temporary tax cuts will be equally ineffective.

However, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax cut portion of the stimulus bill was the fastest working part of the package. It was also one of the first things reduced in the conference committee to make room for more spending. This means the stimulus will be even slower acting than the CBO originally predicted.

Much of the infrastructure spending in the bill will also not help the economy recover. The Obama Administration's budget director, Peter Orszag (who was previously head of the CBO) authored a report in 2008 stating: "Large-scale construction projects of any type require years of planning and preparation. Even those that are 'on the shelf' generally cannot be undertaken quickly enough to provide timely stimulus to the economy."

Badly Targeted

The White House has pretty much conceded that most of the stimulus bill is not fast acting and are instead telling the Washington Post that "the president secured many of his biggest priorities in the legislation, including the longer-term health-care and energy investments that the administration views as a down payment on broader reforms."Many of these "broader reforms" will undermine immediate economic recovery, including:

An $87 billion dollar bailout for state Medicaid funding which only rewards inefficiency and encourages overspending.

Wage controls for construction work on federal projects which will raise costs and decrease employment.

Billions for increased government health care bureaucracy which serves as a major down payment on the path to socialized medicine.

The bill also settles old ideological scores including the abolishment of the bipartisan 1996 welfare reform policies and a ban on funds for faith based educational institutions.

And then there is the pork. Despite assurances that the bill would be pork free, the Obama Administration has been crisscrossing the country highlighting which local pork projects are in the plan. Plus the $6.5 billion line item for medical research was key in winning Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-PA) vote.

Not Temporary

There is nothing credibly temporary about the spending in this bill. The new welfare spending in this bill has already become the new budget baseline and anyone who dares to try pare it down is being attacked for "slashing" government funds. According to Heritage fellow Robert Rector, once this permanent new spending is factored in, the real cost of the plan balloons to $1.34 trillion.

Trillion Dollar Deficits for Years to ComeThe “stimulus” bill alone will create more debt (approximately $1 trillion including interest costs), than Bush’s first three years of budget deficits combined ($948 billion). Under the Reagan Administration, the deficit peaked at 6% of GDP in 1983. According to the CBO the 2009 deficit will reach 8.3% of the economy, not including the stimulus or bank bailout cash. If you include the permanent nature of the stimulus spendathon, the deficit could hit nearly $2 trillion, or 13.5% of the U.S. economy.

That is why the CBO has predicted that this so-called stimulus bill will actually harm economic growth. Democrat appointed CBO director Doug Elmendorf explains why:

The principal channel for this effect is that the legislation would result in an increase in government debt. To the extent that people hold their wealth in the form of government bonds rather than in a form that can be used to finance private investment, the increased government debt would tend to 'crowd out' private investment—thus reducing the stock of private capital and the long-term potential output of the economy.

Why are we passing a stimulus bill that our own government is telling us will cause our economy to shrink?

Here's another great article to read: President Obama Set to Exceed President Bush’s Deficits

www.heritage.org - be sure to sign up for the Morning Bell... best read you'll have.

Keep calling, keep writing! Don't stop fighting!

The stimulus (porkulus) battle is not over yet! We have to continue calling, writing and faxing. I've read that the three turncoats who stabbed their Party and the rest of us in the back didn't have a clue about all the horrific things stuck in the government growth bill. They haven't read it.

Over the next few days Pelosi, Reid and friends are going to try and add as much as they can into the bill. We need to keep the pressure on them.

Although I'm going to call and write, because I'll go down in flames rather than sitting waiting for the bus to roll over me... I don't think the Democrats give a flying flip about any of their constituents now that they, and 3 Republicans, have their stimulus package. Once this stimulus package is fully implemented, they won't need us anymore. Our votes and voices are going to be worthless. Especially if they manage to implement the Fairness Doctrine and the Employee Free Choice Act.

Americans will be on life-support and the government will be the breathing machine.

Preying on the fear of Americans who aren't really paying attention, they've tipped the balance of power and we're no longer just dipping our toe into the socialist pool, we're halfway immersed.

I didn't mean to get on a rant here... I really just meant to post this email from the www.nostimulus.com group... forgive me, I'm heart sick about what is happening to our country. I'm praying we somehow manage to band together to stop the madness.

From Americans for Prosperity:

Just minutes ago in the U.S. Senate we suffered a difficult defeat as the $838 billion senate version of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama spending bill passed with 61 votes. While today's vote is a disappointing setback we cannot afford to be discouraged. Much of this fight still lies ahead in the next few days.

The bill still must to go to conference to work out differences between the House and Senate versions. Speaker Pelosi will fight to add back as much pork as possible, including brand new big government programs not in either the House or Senate version. So, we still have several days (most likely until Friday or Saturday) to keep turning up the pressure on these congressional barons.

At the same time, due to the dedicated work of people like you and the good common sense of our fellow citizens, our movement keeps exploding!

In less than 24 hours yesterday we went from 96,000 petition signers on NoStimlus.com to 204,000 signers! That's incredible and shows the momentum we've got. Simply put: as Americans learn about this bill and hear about our effort, they respond no matter what the pundits in the media say.

You and I both know about the outrageous pork barrel spending in this bill, but there is another element of this legislation that is simply chilling. That is the provision in this legislation for your health care.

Hidden in the dark recesses of this trillion dollar spending bill are the first steps towards government run health care including:

- Government rationing of your health care especially for seniors and the chronically ill
Federal ownership and control of your medical records

- Under the bureaucratic jargon of “Comparative Effectiveness Review” the package earmarks several billion dollars for the first steps towards taking us to a Canadian or, even worse, British health care system that will lower the quality of our health care while trampling individual rights.

Betsy McCaughey points out in a stunning piece on Bloomberg News, just how far the bill goes. Her article is currently featured on Drudge.

We have three to five days to drive home this new message. I know you signed the petition on www.nostimulus.com and for that I'm so thankful.

Many of you have called your senators telling them to vote no because of the pork and waste and debt in this bill. However, the earmarks in this Pelosi/Reid/Obama bill earmarking billions for the "Comparative Effectiveness Review" (meaning government run health care) is new information for most Americans and sadly, even most Senators. So, I'm asking you to go a step further than you've gone and call and email your representatives again to drive home the health care point.

Take a moment to read the McCaughey piece on Bloomberg News by clicking here now or go to Heritage.org for more information. Then, call and email your Senators to tell them this Pelosi/Reid/Obama bill threatens your health care and that's yet another crucial reason to vote NO.

On FOX news yesterday the commentator asked me if this bill could really be defeated. I told him what I know from my own experience: Americans don't give up.

That's why I know you and I are going to keep fighting straight through.

Sincerely,Tim Phillips
President, Americans for Prosperity

P.S. Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi are aggressively pushing to have a final vote by Friday night. They know what we know -- pressure is building against their trillion dollar spending spree because of folks like you. They are watching NoStimulus.com and see that thanks to you we're well over 200,000 petition signers. They're hunkered down in their offices getting the phone calls and emails. They know time is on our side. Let's keep building the pressure to slow down this vote.

Price, Campbell & Issa on Porkulus

Economic Recovery Act is Wiser Alternative to Massive Spending
Chairman Tom Price (GA-06)
Congressional Democrats have engaged in a full offensive to convince the American people that another massive dose of borrowing and spending is the solution to our economic tribulations. They talk of an economic near-Armageddon without as much as a trillion dollars in new spending. The rhetoric, in point of fact, sounds remarkably similar to the appeals for their last economic solution, the disastrous Troubled Asset Relief Program. (Read more)

An Awful Excuse for a Stimulus Bill
Rep. John Campbell (CA-48)
Last September, we cautiously backed away from the precipice of financial collapse, but we are still a long way from getting our economy growing, flourishing, and functioning properly. Now, more than ever, we need innovative economic policies, not the political gamesmanship already playing out across all areas of government. (Read more)

The $825 Billion Earmark
Rep. Darrell Issa (CA-49)
The more we learn about the proposed Pelosi-Obey $825 billion economic stimulus proposal, the more it looks like an $825 billion earmark. Excluded from the package are good government provisions that would prohibit use of economic stimulus funds for lobbying or political activities. Democratic leaders are repeatedly touting the importance of passing their bill, yet are taking the path of least resistance and failing to ensure that the funds actually go towards the stated goal of creating jobs and jumpstarting our economy. (Read more)

Key Democrat rips stimulus, predicts more bailouts

Maybe there's some hope... We're going to need some Democratic and Independent help if we're going to squash the stick-it-to-us-stimulus package.

Key Democrat rips stimulus, predicts more bailouts
By Bob Cusack
Posted: 01/27/09 01:22 PM [ET]
A key Democrat on Tuesday lambasted the economic stimulus bill that is headed to the House floor, claiming it was put together too quickly and won’t help the economy in the short term. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), who chairs the Financial Services subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, said on C-SPAN that Democrats have "lost our way" and "shouldn't be pressed by silly deadlines" of getting the bill into law by the Presidents Day recess...
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/key-democrat-rips-stimulus-predicts-more-bailouts-2009-01-27.html