There is increasing dissatisfaction with the Afghanistan War, the war Obama said was the one that should be fought instead of the Iraq War his predecessor fought.
Then Obama proceeded to disregard the advice of his generals, and now the public's angst is increasing.
Would a smart chess player tell his opponent his next moves. Obama has. Would a chess player conclude he should not play to win. Obama has.
Therefore, it is little wonder even hawks want out because Obama has no intention of winning and all he will do is waste more American lives in a no win situation but he cannot pull out now because of the election and his desire to be re-elected.
---
The last time I ordered a drink at a bar I had to show identification but had I been voting no problem.
---
Osama Bin Laden was living with three wives in one compound and never left the house for five years.
It is now believed that he called the U.S. Navy Seals himself.
---
Is Obama about ready to cede American territory including oil and other minerals. (See 1 below.)
---
I am not suggesting GW managed the economy the way I would have or wished he would have but here are some basic facts that bear repeating. (See 2 below.)
The recent debate over the issue of birth control, in my humble pinion, is not totally a pitch by Obama for the female vote as much as it is the beginning of his desire to undo the constitutional protection of religion from the heavy hand of government intrusion. Liberals have dissed those who profess religious beliefs for decades and Obama, again in my humble position, is seeking to accommodate them by unraveling the constitutional distinction and Obama's attack on The Catholic Church by forcing them to pay for contraception is just the beginning shot.
I believe it will boomerang as will his and Soros' support of the "march on whatever' bothers them crowd.
This president has done more to give our nation heartburn and indigestion than a Pittsburgh Hogey!
---
Charles Goyette also sees inflation ahead. (See 3 below.)
---
This from a long standing friend, one of the brightest people I know and a long time memo reader. (See 4 below.)
---
Dick
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1)Argosy University
By Joe Miller
The Obama administration, despite the nation’s economic woes, effectively killed the job-producing Keystone Pipeline last month. The Arab Spring is turning the oil production of Libya and other Arab nations over to the Muslim Brotherhood. Iraq is distancing itself from the U.S. And everyone recognizes that Iran, whose crude supplies are critical to the European economy, will do anything it can to frustrate America’s strategic interests. In the face of all of this, Obama insists on cutting back U.S. oil potential with outrageous restrictions.
Part of Obama’s apparent war against U.S. energy independence includes a foreign-aid program that directly threatens my state’s sovereign territory. Obama’s State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to the Russians. Yes, to the Putin regime in the Kremlin.
The seven endangered islands in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea include one the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The Russians are also to get the tens of thousands of square miles of oil-rich seabeds surrounding the islands. The Department of Interior estimates billions of barrels of oil are at stake.
The State Department has undertaken the giveaway in the guise of a maritime boundary agreement between Alaska and Siberia. Astoundingly, our federal government itself drew the line to put these seven Alaskan islands on the Russian side. But as an executive agreement, it could be reversed with the stroke of a pen by President Obama or Secretary Clinton.
The agreement was negotiated in total secrecy. The state of Alaska was not allowed to participate in the negotiations, nor was the public given any opportunity for comment. This is despite the fact the Alaska Legislature has passed resolutions of opposition – but the State Department doesn’t seem to care.
The imperiled Arctic Ocean islands include Wrangel, Bennett, Jeannette and Henrietta. Wrangel became American in 1881 with the landing of the U.S. Revenue Marine ship Thomas Corwin. The landing party included the famed naturalist John Muir. It is 3,000 square miles in size.
Northwest of Wrangel are the DeLong Islands, named for George Washington DeLong, the captain of USS Jeannette. Also in 1881, he discovered and claimed these three islands for the United States. He named them for the voyage co-sponsor, New York City newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett. The ship’s crew received a hero’s welcome back in Washington, and Congress awarded them gold medals.
In the Bering Sea at the far west end of the Aleutian chain are Copper Island, Sea Lion Rock and Sea Otter Rock. They were ceded to the U.S. in Seward’s 1867 treaty with Russia.
Now is the time for the Obama administration to stand up for U.S. and Alaskan rights and invaluable resources. The State Department’s maritime agreement is a loser – it gives us nothing in return for giving up Alaska’s sovereign territory and invaluable resources. We won the Cold War and should start acting like it.
The Obama administration must stop the giveaway immediately.
Author’s addendum, Feb. 17, 2012: This is not a new issue. In fact the Bush and Clinton administrations are directly at fault for the same inaction. A maritime agreement negotiated by the U.S. State Department set the Russian boundary on the other side of the disputed islands, but no treaty has ratified this action. Consequently, it is within the president’s power to stop this giveaway. The Alaska delegation’s failure to put pressure on the administration is inexplicable. State Department Watch, an organization that assisted with this article, has confronted each administration and is currently confronting the Obama administration — and has been met by silence. I’m hoping this piece will help reinvigorate efforts to stop this handover.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2)Lies were being told about President Bush. No shame among corrupt politicians. This tells the story, why Bush was so bad at the end of his term. Read it slowly and let it sink in. If in doubt, check it out.
The day Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007 the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress. The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995. For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this: January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress.
At the time:
The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
The GDP growth for the previous quarter was 3.5%
The Unemployment rate was 4.6%
George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTH
Remember the day... January 3rd, 2007 was the day Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee. The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy? BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES! Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!
Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy. And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA
And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie? OBAMA and the Democrat Congress.
So when someone tries to blame Bush... REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!".
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party. Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 & 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.
For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets. And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009.
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) Charles Goyette: 'High Inflation Crisis' Looms for U.S.By Forrest Jones and Kathleen Walter
Runaway government spending and excessively loose monetary policies are set to send U.S. inflation rates spiking, says Libertarian author Charles Goyette.
To combat what it saw as deflationary threats and uncomfortably high unemployment rates, the Federal Reserve bought trillions in mortgage-backed securities and Treasury bonds from banks during the past couple of years, flooding the economy with inflation-fueling liquidity in the process.
Considering all that liquidity remains in the economy while government spending remains rampant, consumer prices are set to soar.
"I'm afraid the stage is already being set right now and it's certainly a high inflation crisis. You can see the incipient signs of rising prices in all kinds of areas," Goyette told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
A good portion of that excess liquidity has ended up in commodities markets, which has sent crude and food prices rising.
"These things don't start going up because of the phases of the moon or because of the weather," said the author of the recently released “Red And Blue And Broke All Over.”
Editor’s note: To order ‘Red and Blue and Broke All Over' at a great price — Click Here Now.
"The rises in commodities prices across the board is a result of the Federal Reserve trying to monetize the deficit and give the politicians cover for their irresponsible spending by printing the money to cover it up so we don't have to go out and borrow it," Goyette says.
The Federal Reserve isn't the only culprit, as central banks worldwide have been flooding their respective economies with liquidity to stave off recession without giving thought to the inflationary consequences that tend to follow.
"We're not the only ones doing it. The Bank of England is doing it, the Bank of Japan. China is inflating, even the Swiss for crying out loud, and the European Central Bank. We have a global problem of money printing that's going to explode in our faces in the next year or so."
Such a monetary policy is technically known as quantitative easing, although critics say asset purchases from banks are merely money printing.
The best way to get the economy growing again and really bring down unemployment rates, which remain well above pre-crisis levels, is by letting the private sector heal on its own.
"As far as the unemployment rate, the single best thing we could ever do is we have to get government out of the picture."
Fiscal stimulus measures don't work, as they run up the government's debt burden without creating lasting employment, Goyette says.
"When World War II ended, the federal government cut spending by two thirds and this country boomed like you cannot believe. We haven't had a boom like that since. And they cut spending by two-thirds to achieve it."
Don't blame President Barack Obama and the Democrats alone, Goyette says, as Republicans deserve their fare share of the blame as well.
Bipartisan attempts at streamlining the overwhelmingly bloated U.S. public debt burden end up in political impasses and are too toothless to make an impact anyway.
"They come up with bipartisan commissions and they're going to cut $2 trillion over nine or 10 years — that's $200 billion a year. We had one month I think it was last month or month before where we ran a $200 billion deficit just in that month," Goyette says.
"Normally we're running at least a $100 billion deficit a month ... Not only is the country broke, but the red party and the blue party are both into this thing up to their eyeballs."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) I spent three days in DC last week, two of them at a reunion of persons who had formerly been "Young Leaders" for the American Council on Germany. It was an impressive group, notwithstanding the fact that I was once a member. Former YLs include Francis Fukuyama and Frank Luntz. Armstrong Williams was there; Franklin Raines was probably the most high profile YL in attendance, and I had my copy of Reckless Endangerment with me, so I took it to one of the sessions. Not that it would shame anyone. Jim Jones and Jamie Gorelick have never even once looked embarrassed at what they did.
We heard from several ambassadors, and David Rubinstein of Carlyle on Saturday morning (fascinating), but there was a focus on the economy and the transatlantic alliance. I think most people at the conference wanted to use it to give a realistic perspective of the American scene to the Germans, and a realistic perspective of the European scene to the Americans. But even assuming that is usually the case, there seemed to be less willingness to put up with the politically correct claptrap than there usually is at these "internationalist" gatherings. One person noted that Obama was struggling battling racism in the US, and a black participant stood up to point out that Obama's poll numbers have very little to do with racism, but with the fact that he was elected on a platform of bringing people together, not shoving anything down anyone's throat, and governing from the center, and he has been the most partisan President in history, shoved Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, environmental regulations, electric cars, Solyndra, GM, etc. down the gullet of America, and he has governed from the extreme left. It was good to be honest about that, and the person who made that point in Q&A got an ovation. Of course, a counterpoint was made by another African-American later that afternoon, but at least the Europeans in attendance did not get deceived into thinking that racism was a major factor in opposition to Obama.
There was also a sense of realism about Iran and the threat it poses to everyone. I can't say that there was an expectation that the US or Israel might have to take military action to ensure that Iran does not violate the Nonproliferation Treaty, and I am sure that the internationalist community will be in high dudgeon if there is a preemptive attack -- just like they were after Osirak -- but I don't get the sense that there is a lack of realism about Iran.
The economy was discussed broadly, and maybe there was even a realistic recognition that we've reached the end of the Age of Stimulus -- and maybe the Age of Keynes (finally!). The Europeans seemed resigned to further bailouts to keep the Euro afloat, but also seemed to recognize that would destroy the German economy and might lead to domestic turmoil. As is sometimes the case, no one wanted to acknowledge that the answer might be less of the welfare state, etc. A real strong feeling that China may be the answer. If so, I am not sure I want to know the question.
Best,
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment