TightyRighty.net

I thought our President was supposed to be a brilliant thinker.  A welcome respite from that “cowboy” George Bush.

Alas, he is not.  He just doesn’t get it.  Pardon the disrespect to the Office of President, but

It’s the Economy Stupid!

Last night, “President Obama on Thursday evening presented his clearest plan yet to move forward with comprehensive health care legislation”.   Doesn’t he understand the #1 priority with the American people is the economy?  We don’t care about health care reform and we definitely don’t want the health care reform which has been proposed in Congress. We certainly don’t want President Obama trying to explain a 2,000 page bill on TV with a few Republicans and “independent” experts.

Mr. President, with this message last night, you have proved you are either incredibly out of touch with the American people you represent, or you are a hard left ideologue who will not give up on the opportunity to push this country towards euro-style socialism, or you are so arrogant that you believe you know what is best for us and you will shove it down our throats whether we want it or not.

Likely it is some combination of all three of these.

It seems the MSM Reporter’s Lexicon book has been reissued, and two works are noticeably absent.   Whatever happened to “Gravitas” and “Quagmire”?

When George Bush ran and was elected on 2000, all we heard from the MSM was he has no gravitas.  Now that we have a president whose lack of experience is reflected in his lack of results, the word is mysteriously missing from prolitical dialogue.  Run a search using Obama gravitas and everything is several months to years old, except the article stating that “West Point offers gravitas”.  Not that Obama has gravitas, but that his audience does.

Secondly, now that we have a new president who is staying the course in Iraq and has doubled down on Afghanistan, clearly we have a (continuing) quagmire, right?  Apparently not.  run a a search using Obama quagmire and most of the articles are dated by several months to a year with only one such article dated after the President made the decision (which I agree with) to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Isn’t it amazing how the MSM seems to march in lockstep, even in their lexicon?

… or Pro-Abortion?

The huge kerfuffle over the Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad is exposing the feminist movement for what it is really all about – promoting abortion and squelching any discussion which does not promote abortion.  While they claim they just want to “protect a woman’s right to choose”, they get very uptight when someone who chose not to have an abortion wants to tell other people about her choice.  Seems clear to me these feminist groups are only about choice when the choice is abortion.

Oh, and it appears they forgot the unborn child in the womb has no choice in the matter at all.

I listened to the first 40-45 minutes of the State of the Union address last night and I was very underwhelmed.  The things I liked:

“I do not accept second-place for the United States of America”

“building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.”

“It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.”  (These last two fell in consecutive sentences!)

I also heard we need to export more, we need trade agreements, we need to fight the deficit, we need small business tax credits, etc, all of which sound good.

However, I heard a lot I did not like (and which did not surprise me).  The President believes we need to stay the course on the programs which he supports to which the public has demonstrated either disdain or extreme opposition:

Heath Care:   President Obama made it clear he is still committed to the government takeover of 1/6 of our economy:

“I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people. And I know that with all the lobbying and horse-trading, this process left most Americans wondering what’s in it for them.”

No Mr. President, the problem is not that the American people don’t understand what you have proposed.  We understand exactly, and we do not want the government intruding in our lives on such a massive scale.  We also don’t want the increase in costs that government mismanagement of such a huge portion of our economy will inevitably result.  Additionally Mr. President, we are not the selfish folks you paint us to be.  The reason we don’t want this reform is not because we don’t understand what is in it for us, it is because we know it is bad for our country.

Climate Change:  The President remains committed to Cap and Trade legislation which will cripple our economy:

“it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.  I am grateful to the House for passing such a bill last year. This year, I am eager to help advance the bipartisan effort in the Senate. I know there have been questions about whether we can afford such changes in a tough economy; and I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. But even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future – because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation.”

The Cap and Trade bill is not primarily built around incentives to make clean energy more abundant and cheaper.  It is based around significant disincentives ($685 Billion) to continued use of fossil fuel.  These additional taxes, which will be borne by anyone who uses energy, will blunt any mild recovery we may be experiencing currently.  Additionally, do you see the Chinese or Indians rushing to saddle their economy’s with this type of burden?  I think not.  I would much rather have a strong economy built on fossil fuels than a weak economy built on clean energy.

Regarding the “overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change”, perhaps the President has not heard of “Climategate”.  In addition to the fact the earth has not experienced any increase in temps over the last decade or so, the emails liberated from the Climate Research Unit demonstrate that any such evidence has dubious to downright false supporting data.

A lot of what the President said was simply populist rhetoric – we need more focus on creating jobs, better education, bankers are scum, etc. but the devil is in the details.  Most of what I heard was we need a government program for this and a government program for that.  I heard very little, if any, of  let’s get the government off the backs of the people and business and let the American people do what we have always done in the past, and that is work hard, innovate, strive to make a profit and get ahead.

But I wouldn’t expect that kind of talk from this President.  His actions in his first year in office have spoken much louder than any words he spoke last night. After a brief foray into addressing the economy (through the ineffective $900 Billion stimulus act), he turned his focus to his hard left agenda – taking control of industry (insurance companies, banks and auto companies to start), implementing draconian cap and trade taxes to limit our economic growth, and intervening directly in the life of every American through the as yet, thwarted government takeover of healthcare.

Accordingly, I am not surprised the President continues to push for these measures, while trying to make himself appear as a pro-economy deficit hawk.  The fact is, this man is a hard left ideologue and the sooner everyone understands that, the better we can deal with his proposals.

ps.  I almost forgot.  Mr. President, you are the President and have been for a year.  It is time for you to take ownership.  STOP BLAMING GEORGE BUSH!!!  You said the Stimulus bill would keep unemployment under 8% and you and the Democrats passed that bill.  YOU, not George Bush, own the current 10% unemployment rate.  Quit blaming George Bush and FIX IT!  I suggest that you formally and publicly drop your plans for health care reform, cap and trade, and that you commit to significant deficit reduction in order to eliminate the uncertainty which citizens and businesses face regarding taxes, inflation, etc.  This uncertainty is causing these folks to tighten their belts, not hire or start a new business, delay investments, etc.  Getting the government off the peoples’ backs will fix the economy significantly faster than your whining about the desperate situation you inherited.    DO YOUR JOB, Mr. President.

Growing up, I frequently heard from my very fiscally conservative Dad that I had “No concept of money”, usually after I purchased something he viewed as frivolous.

President Obama has taken this to a new level.  The Social Security Administration has announced that there will be no Cost of Living Adjustment to retiree benefits because consumer prices are down since last year.   This is the first time this has happened since the COLA was implemented in 1975.

However, the decline in consumer prices is no setback to our President in his efforts to make our elderly ever more beholden to the Federal Government.  Accordingly, he has proposed a $250 payment be made to each of this Country’s 57,000,000 social security recipients.  Never mind that this would cost more than $14,000,000,000 (that’s $14 BILLION).  Never mind that although consumer prices decreased, by law, social security benefits can not be decreased and therefore, seniors already have more purchasing power than the did last year.  Never mind that we just ran a $1.42 TRILLION deficit in 2009 and that our national debt (at least the recorded debt) is approaching $12 TRILLION.

I think that between $700 BILLION for TARP, $787 BILLION for the Stimulus, $200 BILLION (annual cost to taxpayers) for Cap and Trade, $829 BILLION for Health Care, etc, that President Obama has just lost touch with economic reality.

As my Dad says, he has “no concept of money.”

In the last week or so the Obama administration has opened up a full scale barrage on Fox News.  First, WH Communications Director Anita Dunn threw out a few opening salvos:

“The reality of it is that Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party. And it is not ideological… what I think is fair to say about Fox, and the way we view it, is that it is more of a wing of the Republican Party.”

“Obviously [the President] will go on Fox because he engages with ideological opponents. He has done that before and he will do it again… when he goes on Fox he understands he is not going on it as a news network at this point. He is going on it to debate the opposition.”

“[Fox is] widely viewed as a part of the Republican Party: take their talking points and put them on the air, take their opposition research and put it on the air. And that’s fine. But let’s not pretend they’re a news organization like CNN is.”

This is so wrong an a number of levels, but I will deal with that later.

Sunday morning, it was WH Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and WH Senior Advisor David Axelrod’s turn.   Emanual ripped Fox News claiming it “is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective.”

Then WH Senior Advisor David Axelrod claimed about Fox News that “It’s really not news — it’s pushing a point of view.”

These would be hilarious if these guys were a couple of lefty bloggers on the Huffington Post.  But they are not.  Emanuel and Axelrod are the closest confidants of the President and other than the inept Robert Gibbs, Anita Dunn is the primary mouthpiece of the administration and its policies.

So where is this going?  Watch closely and you will see this rhetoric build to a crescendo about how Fox News is an extension of the Republican party, misrepresents the facts about the President’s policies, deceives the American people, etc.  Then someone will “notice” that Fox has the highest news ratings so there must be lots of people being misled by Fox News the deceiver.  This will then morph into a drumbeat for reimplementation of the fairness doctrine.  Since Fox is “not news”, Fox needs to present offsetting opinions to “balance” the RNC propaganda they are spewing.  Never mind that there are 500 other stations on the channel dial, including Obama handmaidens MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, etc.  Never mind that the print media is in the bag for the liberals or that there are a host of bloggers on the web presenting opposing views to Fox.  Fox has the numbers so they must present the opposing viewpoint.

Watch this and see if this plays out.   In my mind, the administration is just “laying the groundwork.”

ps.  Anita Dunn – what an idiot!  When is the President going to go on Fox?  Why has the White House refused to provide any administration officials to go on Fox News Sunday to be interviewed by Chris Wallace since August?  When the President made his 5 Sunday news show blitz a few weeks ago, why was Fox News omitted?

And she demonstrated she really understands what a real news organization is when she stated “let’s not pretend they’re a news organization like CNN is.”  Is she referring to the same CNN which fact checked a Saturday Night Live skit critical of the President but did not see fit to fact check inflammatory quotes they attributed to Rush Limaugh?  Then when they were called on their erroneous reporting, issued the correction via Twitter?  That is one top flight news organization – no doubt about it!

Written by my daughter Courtney on her Facebook page:

Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize: It’s unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. What has he actually accomplished? A bunch of Scandinavian socialists have given this award to another socialist.

Apparently it is true that the apple does not fall far from the tree.  I could not have said it better or any more succinctly.

This makes a father very proud.

As everyone is aware, the IOC awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics to Brazil and Rio de Janeiro in spite of the efforts of President and Mrs. Obama and Oprah Winfrey, among others.  While some are reveling in this “defeat” for the President and bemoaning the loss of prestige incurred by the Office of President, I have a slightly different take on this matter.

I am hopeful that the President looks at this matter as a “teachable moment” (to use a recently publicized term) and does a critical assessment of his role in this process.

It appears President Obama believed he could sweep in at the last moment, and by the sheer force of his personality and the strength of his eloquent speech, he could win the day for the Windy City.  Instead it seems that the IOC panned his performance and Chicago was first to be “voted off the island.”

Unfortunately, the President believes the strength of his personality and the eloquence of his words are just the ticket to deal with many of the world’s despots and dictators, including Iran, Korea, Venezuela, Russia, etc.  He has taken a very soft approach with this cabal of thugs by continually apologizing for America, tweaking our allies (such as Israel, Poland and Czechoslovakia) in order to curry the favor of these hoodlums and then offering them an olive branch.

President Obama had the perfect opportunity (twice) to call out Iran for its nuclear arms program at the U.N. when he made the first speech of significance to open the General Session and then when he chaired the Security Council the next day.  At the time, he was sitting on a figurative bombshell with the knowledge that Iran has developed at least one other nuclear site.  Did he use the bully pulpit and this knowledge to call for accountability and conformance with international standards and threaten consequences for non-conformance?  No – first he made a “Can’t we all get along?” mealy-mouthed speech to the General Session in which he threw Israel under the bus and abdicated the U.S. role as leader of the free world.  Then he made a plea for a nuclear free world to the Security Council without naming the 2 biggest violators of the nuclear development regime – Korea and Iran.  He even angered our allies – the British and French, who wanted to expose the double dealing of the Iranians at the high profile venue of the U.N. Security Council.

Additionally, a few weeks ago he threw a massive bone the the Russians when he canceled a missile defense system for the Poles and Czechs.  The Russian President Medvedev indicated some flexibility regarding sanctions on Iran for its nuke program, but it is Russian Prime Minister Putin who wields all the power.  It is in Russia’s best interest for the Iranians to continue their nuke program so do not expect any sanctions requiring approval of the Russians.

So the pattern which has emerged is our President, fueled by his massive ego in which he believes he can reason with and negotiate peace, nuclear disarmament, (insert additional pipe dreams here) with anyone, no matter how evil, supplicating before and schmoozing and sweet talking the worst people in the world.  And what does he get for it?  These guys all tell the world how great he is (Qaddafi wants him to be president for life!) but none of them are forthcoming with any concessions which would make the world or the U.S. safer.  After the great American apology tour, how many countries said they would take any Gitmo detainees?  What concession of any significance has come from Iran, Korea, Venezuela, Russia, etc as a result of President Obama being “not President Bush?”  NONE!

So the President’s Olympic experience is a microcosm of the the way the world works.  He can be gracious and eloquent and likeable until the cows come home, but he is perceived by the world as a weakling and as a result, he gets nothing of significance, other than having his ego stroked and told how much better he is than the last U.S. president.

So perhaps President Obama will learn from this teachable moment with the Olympics.  The strongest horse wins the race, not the best liked. He needs to stand up and accept the mantle of leadership of the free world and begin to impose the U.S. will upon some of these bad guys and show them he means business.  He could start by calling for an embargo of gasoline into Iran by any oil company which wants to do business in the U.S. and tell the millions of Iranian protesters that he supports their cause.  He could rethink his position on the Eastern Europe missle defense system.  He could quickly agree to General McChrystal’s request for more troops to defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan.  He could stand behind the legally installed government in the Honduras and tell Chavez to foment his unrest elsewhere.

Is any of this likely to happen?  Depends whether the President wants to be a successful leader or or a well liked patsy.  Unfortunately, the national security ramifications of this answer are staggering.  Let’s hope the President can learn from this teachable moment.

Isn’t it amazing that at a time when so many critial things are happening:

We are in the midst of the biggest economic crisis we have seen since the depression  and unemployment is hovering just under 10%,

The General he appointed to assess the situation in Afghanistan and provide recommendations has requested more troops and his request has been shelved,

Iran continues its inexorable march toward obtaining nuclear capabilities (undoubtedly to be shared with its terrorist buddies like Hamas and Hezbollah),

That our President can find the time to flit over to Denmark so he can put the final schmooze on Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics?  Were Michelle and Oprah not strong enough to carry this banner?

And this comes just days after President Obama, when pressed about the continued government funding of Acorn with tax dollars which come from our pockets, (apparently so Acorn can assist entrepreneurial pimps),  stated “George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country.  It’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to.”

Given the trip to Denmark, it would appear that the Chicago Olympic bid is the biggest issue facing the country.

Perhaps Mr. President, you should pay more attention to issues which matter to the citizens of this country, such as jobs, National Security and being a good steward of the public’s tax dollars, rather than feeding your ego by making a grand appearance in Denmark on behalf of your Chicago cronies.

Yesterday the Senate Finance Committee was working its way thru some 500+ amendments to Senator Baucus’ health care bill (not actually a bill, but rather, a conceptual framework).  Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky) proposed that the final text of the bill be posted on-line for 72 hours and the final cost of the bill (as scored by the CBO) be available before the bill was voted on by the Committee.

This proposal was voted down 12-11 with Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) the only Democrat siding with the Republicans.  Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-Mt) said it would take too long to obtain the CBO report and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) apparently thinks the American people are too stupid to understand the legalese of the bill.

This is infuriating.  I can not tell you how angry this makes me.

I can somewhat understand not posting the bill before they vote on it.  After all, this is just a committee and the bill will likely be amended significantly once it hits the actual Senate floor and they want it too the floor ASAP so the real discussion can begin.  However, for committee members to vote on a bill without any idea of what it will actually cost the taxpayers, in an era where we are we are incurring TRILLION dollar deficits, is an unfathomable dereliction of  their fiduciary duty to the United States taxpayers.  After all, this is the Finance Committee!  If this was a corporation, they would be sued (rightfully so) by their shareholders with the SEC and Justice Dept in lockstep.

For these 12 Democrats to put politics so far ahead of the needs of the American taxpayer is criminal.  These people should be thrown out of office for this one vote alone!