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I never thought I would be rallying around the Clinton war cry, but I guess I am.

While our 401Ks burn and unemployment climbs, what is the President focused on – Healthcare, Energy Policy and Education.  In the meantime, we have no plan to resolve the banking crisis put forward from Secretary Geitner (the one who brought so much expertise to this position we needed to overlook his ability to file an accurate tax return.)  Until the credit markets are freed up, we will continue to see companies and citizens hold back on spending and the economic pain will continue.

BTW – How does the President plan to reform energy policy?  By a cap and trade system under under which “electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket”.  That will certainly help the economy and will definitely put-off a lot of voters who thought they were electing a centrist who would bring about change we can believe in.

I guess the upside is that if the economy doesn’t recover, we are looking at a one-term president.  The question then becomes how long does it take to reverse the slide to socialism we are currently on.

Ben Smith at Politico.com has written an interesting doom and gloom piece about the current turmoil in the Republican party you can see here.  I have a little different view of the situation.

Hey Rush,

You are right on, dude!!  As much as I would love to see the economy humming and the Dow back at 14,000, if it comes at the expense of the US becoming a Euro-style socialist nanny state, COUNT ME OUT!  I hope the policies put forth by our President fail and fail miserably!

A couple of my (least) favorites to point out:

What happened to “no one who makes less than $250,000 per year will have their taxes raised”?  It now appears that two earner couples who cross this threshhold together will see tax increases.  I guess that when you file a joint return you have cleaved together and become one.

What has been the biggest financial boon to the middle class in the last 6 months?  Clearly the decline in oil prices and the drop in gas from $4 to less than $2.  Do you know the President’s budget eliminates certain incentives for oil exploration and drilling?  It may not be a tax but it will hurt just as bad when oil prices go back up because of this short sighted policy.

On all the college campuses we have visited lately, nary a building we have entered was not named for some one.  Undoubtedly, for a signifcant contributor to the school.  These universities and most charitable organizations are dependent on contributions and frankly, it is much more efficient to obtain few large donations from wealthy benefactors than many small donations.  So why does our President want to make it less attractive for the wealthy folks to make these contributions?  I guess he would prefer those wealthy folks be more patriotic by paying more taxes.

What about health care?  You think that waiting in line to renew your driver license sucks, try waiting in line for treatment when you are in pain.  Bummer!!  No wonder sick Canadians come to the US for treatment and a key part of executive compensation in the UK is private health insurance.

I could go on but I think you get my drift. 

Candidate Obama said he was going to “transform America”.  Millions were so blinded by his message of “hope and change” they didn’t look at his far left voting record or consider his lack of experience running ANYTHING. Now we have what we voted for – a socialist who doesn’t have the experience or skills to address the problems we face as a country.  It appears all he know how to do is throw trillions of dollars at the problem and see what sticks.

Unfortunatley for our 401K plans, the market is not buying it.  The stock market represents a leading indicator of what is going to happen financially.  Based on the nearly 3,000 points the market has lost since “the one” was elected, there is little faith in his ability to turn this around. 

Let’s hope and pray that our elected representatives, both republicans and blue dog democrats, have the spine to turn down these egregious spending plans.  Let’s also hope our economy is much more resilient than President Obama believes (otherwise, why would he throw trillions at it?) and the economy improves in spite of his policies.

Has Michigan stopped recruiting Texas?  I worked in the Michigan equipment room for Jon Falk in 75-79 and I have contacted Michigan 3 times about Caleb but have rec’d no response.  He already has offers from Notre Dame, Stanford, TCU, Nebraska, etc.  The Big House Blog is reporting that LB is one of Michigan’s biggest needs for 2010.  What gives?

UPDATE:  As of Friday, February 27, Michigan has offered Caleb full ride.  GO BLUE!!

Check him out at www.caleblavey.com

As I get ready to head down to the parking garage and peel the McCain-Palin bumper sticker off my car, I think it is appropriate to take a minute to say thank you to our now departed President Bush for 2688 days of keeping Americans safe since 9/11/01. (I hope in 4 years to be able to thank President Obama for 1,461 days of keeping America safe as he leaves the White House.)

I haven’t always agreed with President Bush, particularly on matters like immigration and federal spending, but I believe he is an honorable man who has stuck by his principles. He made tough decisions based on what was best for the country without regard for his approval ratings, and for that I say “Thank You”. Being the president is not an easy job, particularly when much of congress and all the mainstream media is aligned against you. He served with honor and dignity and I believe history will reflect kindly on how he has managed the war on terror.

God Bless You Mr. President!

That’s what I screamed (to myself, at least) during the famous/imfamous Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France when Floyd took back most of the time he lost the prior day and reinjected himself back into the GC hunt.

I am screaming the same thing now that Floyd has taken his case out of the bailiwick of the USADA and CAS (where conviction is more important than the truth and the rules are changed/made up on the fly) and into the US Federal Court system (where evidence and procedure do matter).

Apparently, Floyd can’t race after his suspension expires (January) until he pays the punitive $100K that CAS levied upon him.  After being screwed the way he has, I would not be inclined to pay either.

That’s why I say – Go Floyd Go!!

ps.  Let me be clear, I do not know if Floyd doped or not.  I would like to think he did not.  However, it is very clear to me that his guilt was never proven – just assumed.  A system where the athlete is presumed guilty unless they can prove themselves innocent should be an anathema to any US citizen.  It is very difficult to prove a negative (I didn’t do it) as is evidenced by the USADA’s 95%+ record vs atheletes.

Obviously this is a hot topic being debated around the country and world.  From what I hear, citizens (US only – the others don’t matter) are strongly opposed to this bailout. 

I think this reaction is due to the framework of the discussion.  It is being discussed as a bailout of companies (Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros, etc) vs a bailout of the system.  Most folks are thinking that these companies got themselves into this mess, let them get themselves out (without gov’t intervention).  This makes sense and is easy to understand.

However, the crux of this issue is the overall impact it is having on credit markets, and the very real ripple effect it is and will have on the economy at all levels (I am loathe to say “both Wall Street and Main Street”).

That said, I think that this deal needs to get done.  However, it should be done right – focused strictly on the credit markets with no pork.  The deal also needs to maximize bailee cost and minimize taxpayer cost.  I think the price of participation should be sufficiently high so as to make companies think hard about whether they desire to eat at the Taxpayer/Gov’t trough.  How about 20-25% ownership in your company if you want to participate?  That would make companies think twice and would give the gov’t enough equity clout to manage the great bogeyman in this issue – executive compensation.

Regarding pork – there should be absolutley none.  So the House needs to do some work to make the Senate bill work.  I am a cyclist – you can tell that from my web site.  However, it pisses me off that the Senate bill includes a provision related to reimbursement of bicycle commuting expenses.  How the hell does this relate to a bailout plan for the credit markets??  No wonder congress has single digit approval ratings!

I finished the David Freddoso book this week – “The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise …,” and highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know the truth behind the Dems candidate. This book is very well documented and footnoted and paints a picture of an incredibly ambitious (and arrogant) guy who is good at only one thing – running for higher offices. Since entering public life, he has no other accomplishments of any note – NONE.

As for “change we can believe in”, Obama is a big government, Chicago political machine crony who is not only a typical politician, he is the worst of what we hate in politicians. Obama won his first nomination to the Illinois State State Senate after he had all his Democrat opponents thrown off the ballot because his operatives were able to invalidate enough signatures on his opponent’s petitions to run for office. (Remember the howl from the left in 2000 about the Florida voters who were “disenfranchised” because the voting machines could not interpret their incorrectly prepared ballots? We needed a hand count so the “intent” of the voter could be determined from the dimple or hanging chad. How do you think they would have felt about a registered woman voter’s signature on a petition being disqualified because she signed her married name but was registered under her maiden name? Where’s the inclusiveness in that?)

Now Obama has come out with a new ad which is untrue on several fronts. The ad distorts his own record on the Born Alive Protection Act – it claims these were “taken out of context”. I can understand quotes taken out of context, but votes? These bills were not part of some “omnibus budget act” or some other such legislative BS, they stand on their own – there is no “context” here.

The Born Alive Protection Act declares any child with a beating heart or muscle movement outside the womb as ‘born alive” and therefore entitled to normal consitutional protections. How could anyone be against that? Obama was, 4 times. This ties in exactly with his “above my paygrade” comment at the Saddleback Civil Forum to the question regarding when human rights accrue to babies. If he says at birth, then babies who survive abortions would be entitled to human rights (like medical care). Hence, the dodge.

He also calls “John McCain’s attacks, the sleaziest ads ever”. Nice try Mr. Change – you would hate to miss an opportunity to slime the competition, even for something they didn’t do. The ads he is referring to were placed by BornAliveTruth.org, an independent organization presenting the truth on Obama’s voting record against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. Their ad properly states Obama’s record on the Born Alive Infant Protection act – he has voted against it 4 times. The 4th time the wording was exactly the same as the Federal version which passed the Senate 98-0 and was even supported by NARAL. He has said he would have voted for the bill if it matched the Federal version, but when given the chance, he did not. Obama is so deep in the pocket of Planned Parenthood, it borders on evil.

Finally, the quotes listed in Obama’s ad were published days before the Born Alive ads ran and referred to ads McCain ran about an entirely different subject. Obama claims his votes were taken out of context, then he uses quotes about different ads run by McCain to describe the BornAliveTruth.org ads. This is dishonesty in its purest form.

How can this be “Change” we can believe in when its the same old dirty politics and the source is untrustworthy? Not much change and not very believable if you ask me.

I have seen the furor which erupted over Barack Obama’s “lipstick on a pig’ comment. Having watched it in context, it is clear to me that he was not referring to our next VP Sarah Palin. It is equally as clear that John McCain’s comments about Hillary’s health care plan a year ago were about Hillary’s health care plan and not Hillary.

However, by the reaction from the crowd, I believe they thought Obama was referring to Palin, which raises the question Dennis Miller asked on his show yesterday – Is he mean-spirited or is he stupid?

I vote for stupid. “Lipstick” has had a lot of play in the media for the last week since Palin’s joke at the Republican convention. If you throw out the word in conversation, most folks will think of Palin. So for Obama to make this statement is politically insensitive. Imagine that – a politically incorrect liberal – there’s change you can believe in!

What would be the hue and cry if someone use a term related to race – like “community organizer”. Oh, I forgot, there already has been a hue and cry over this racially insensitive remark. Give me a break!

… for correcting me of the mistaken notion that my hometown newspaper is not a liberal tool. The Saturday front page headline stating that Sarah Palin’s Alaska pipeline is only a partial victory (I can’t quote it directly since I don’t have the paper and the headline on the DMN website is different) was clearly a shot at Palin’s claim she had gotten a (long delayed) Alaska natural gas pipeline project started. While it is true that there are no contracts in place from the oil and gas companies to tranport their gas via this pipeline, and there is currently a lot of posturing going on and much negotiation to be done, this is a significant achievement which has been a long time coming. How about a little credit where credit is due!

Why didn’t the DMN print a front page, above the fold headline that Barack Obama’s claim at the Saddleback Civil Forum to have worked across the aisle with John McCain on ethics reform was a partial truth? He told the Saddleback forum he agreed to work with McCain but he must have forgotten the Democratic leadership told him “no way” so then he leaked a memo to the press dissing McCain’s efforts. That “work across the aisle” prompted this response from John McCain:

“Dear Senator Obama: I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. When you approached me and insisted that despite your leadership’s preference to use the issue to gain a political advantage in the 2006 elections, you were personally committed to achieving a result that would reflect credit on the entire Senate and offer the country a better example of political leadership, I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your…decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussion. I’m embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won’t make the same mistake again…. Sincerely, John McCain.”

If this is bipartisonship and working across the aisle, we need a lot less of this.

Partial victory indeed!