Sunday, August 21, 2011
Charles is RIGHT AGAIN!
Krauthammer on Obama’s ‘Hope & Change’: ‘Where the hell has he been the last two-and-a-half years?’
Published: Updated: 11:16 PM 08/20/2011 By Jeff Poor - The Daily Caller
Almost every Friday, Washington Post columnist and Fox News Channel regular Charles Krauthammer takes on a different role. Krauthammer tapes a program where he is the lone conservative on a panel. The show: The weekend broadcast of the nationally syndicated “Inside Washington.”
During this weekend’s edition, an unyielding Krauthammer went after President Obama for his failure to “change how Washington works” with a new jobs agenda.
“[H]e came in on ‘hope and change’ and he said he would change the way Washington works,” Krauthammer said. “And we just heard him in the sound bite you opened the show with running against Washington. Where the hell has he been the last two and a half years? He is Washington, he is the president. He pretends that somehow he hovers above all of this and it is Washington that is holding America back. In fact what he did is he spent $1 trillion on the stimulus that did not succeed.”
Krauthammer also identified some of what government could do to improve the economy, particularly in the regulatory arena.
“We are now back at square one hovering on the edge of a second recession,” Krauthammer continued. “And what he is I suppose he will propose is second mini-stimulus. Government doesn’t create jobs, but it kills them. And part of the problem we have is the blanket of regulation he has thrown on America especially in energy. America is the Saudi Arabia of gas and coal and his EPA and his moratorium on drilling elsewhere has killed an industry that has the potential, a) to hire a lot of people, and b) reduce our dependence on outside sources of energy.”
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Obama's EPA is totally out of Control
Obama's EPA is out of control.....Again legislating through regulation to get around Congress..this Administration is CORRUPT!
Utilities warn of higher rates because of pollution rulese-mail
Aug. 19, 2011
Two state utilities said this week new federal pollution rules will lead to higher electricity costs come January.
Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay said its residential customers can expect an increase of more than $4 a month next year, including about $2 linked to the new rules designed to limit air pollution from coal-fired power plants.
The utility said it would see higher costs of about $32.6 million in 2012 from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that was finalized recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That will result in rates going up by 6.8% instead of 3.4%, the utility said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month finalized stronger regulations for Wisconsin and 26 other states aimed at curbing air pollution from long-distance sources.
Environmental groups praised the new rule because it would reduce acid rain and air pollution as well as help curb health effects from dirty air linked to coal plants. The EPA projected the rule will save up to 34,000 lives a year and prevent more than 400,000 asthma attacks as well as 19,000 admissions to hospitals.
Nationwide, the EPA estimated that utilities are projected to spend $800 million on the rule in 2014, in addition to $1.6 billion a year that's been spent to satisfy an earlier version of the regulations.
But the EPA estimates the nation will see $120 billion to $280 billion in annual health and welfare benefits beginning in 2014.
The new rule has been in development for several years but the first phase of compliance hits utilities in 2012. WPS said it won't have time to install pollution controls by next year at its plants, but will be able to comply by purchasing credits from other utilities that have cut emissions.
The utility also said it plans to operate its coal plants less next year than it otherwise would have, and will buy more power from the Midwest wholesale power market as a result, a move that it said is also a factor in higher costs for customers.
"This is the best option we have to meet power supply needs for 2012 and comply with the new EPA rule at this time," said Karen Kollmann, WPS director of fuels management in a statement.
On Thursday, Wisconsin Power & Light Co. of Madison said it would face an additional $9 million in costs linked to the air pollution rule. With the change, the utility is now seeking an increase in 2012 of $20 million, or 2%, utility finance manager Martin Seitz said in a filing with state regulators.
Todd Stuart, executive director of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, criticized the increases, and he noted that large energy users like paper mills will see higher than average increases, compared with homeowners and small businesses. Paper mills served by WPS could see a 9% hike, he said.
"The EPA's new rules have directly resulted in a major new cost for struggling homeowners and manufacturers," Stuart said in a statement. "Members of Congress should be taking a very hard look at the significant compliance costs of EPA's new mandates."
"Industry always cries wolf whenever EPA tries to reduce air pollution," said Katie Nekola, lawyer with the conservation group Clean Wisconsin. "The fact is, the new rule will affect old, inefficient, unnecessary coal plants that should have been shut down long ago. The continued operation of those old units is costing ratepayers money, but you don't hear industry complaining about that."
Utilities warn of higher rates because of pollution rulese-mail
Aug. 19, 2011
Two state utilities said this week new federal pollution rules will lead to higher electricity costs come January.
Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay said its residential customers can expect an increase of more than $4 a month next year, including about $2 linked to the new rules designed to limit air pollution from coal-fired power plants.
The utility said it would see higher costs of about $32.6 million in 2012 from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that was finalized recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That will result in rates going up by 6.8% instead of 3.4%, the utility said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month finalized stronger regulations for Wisconsin and 26 other states aimed at curbing air pollution from long-distance sources.
Environmental groups praised the new rule because it would reduce acid rain and air pollution as well as help curb health effects from dirty air linked to coal plants. The EPA projected the rule will save up to 34,000 lives a year and prevent more than 400,000 asthma attacks as well as 19,000 admissions to hospitals.
Nationwide, the EPA estimated that utilities are projected to spend $800 million on the rule in 2014, in addition to $1.6 billion a year that's been spent to satisfy an earlier version of the regulations.
But the EPA estimates the nation will see $120 billion to $280 billion in annual health and welfare benefits beginning in 2014.
The new rule has been in development for several years but the first phase of compliance hits utilities in 2012. WPS said it won't have time to install pollution controls by next year at its plants, but will be able to comply by purchasing credits from other utilities that have cut emissions.
The utility also said it plans to operate its coal plants less next year than it otherwise would have, and will buy more power from the Midwest wholesale power market as a result, a move that it said is also a factor in higher costs for customers.
"This is the best option we have to meet power supply needs for 2012 and comply with the new EPA rule at this time," said Karen Kollmann, WPS director of fuels management in a statement.
On Thursday, Wisconsin Power & Light Co. of Madison said it would face an additional $9 million in costs linked to the air pollution rule. With the change, the utility is now seeking an increase in 2012 of $20 million, or 2%, utility finance manager Martin Seitz said in a filing with state regulators.
Todd Stuart, executive director of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, criticized the increases, and he noted that large energy users like paper mills will see higher than average increases, compared with homeowners and small businesses. Paper mills served by WPS could see a 9% hike, he said.
"The EPA's new rules have directly resulted in a major new cost for struggling homeowners and manufacturers," Stuart said in a statement. "Members of Congress should be taking a very hard look at the significant compliance costs of EPA's new mandates."
"Industry always cries wolf whenever EPA tries to reduce air pollution," said Katie Nekola, lawyer with the conservation group Clean Wisconsin. "The fact is, the new rule will affect old, inefficient, unnecessary coal plants that should have been shut down long ago. The continued operation of those old units is costing ratepayers money, but you don't hear industry complaining about that."
Now Obama is blaming the Congress for the slowdown in the Economy....Obama's the Cause...
Make no mistake Obama is responsible for the current economy...he's wasted tons of taxpayer money with NO RESULT...he's out of ideas and refused to take responsibliiy for his incompetence.....He's got to go in 2012...If we can afford to keep him that long...
Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:00am EDT
* Construction, trade, payroll tax bills could help -Obama
* Republican governor says Obama has responsibility to act
By Laura MacInnis
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass., Aug 20 (Reuters) - A vacationing U.S. President Barack Obama accused Congress on Saturday of holding back the U.S. economic recovery by blocking "common sense" measures he said would create jobs and help growth.
In remarks recorded on Wednesday on his campaign-style bus tour in Illinois and aired during his holiday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Obama said the stalled construction, trade and payroll tax bills could give a boost to the economy.
"The only thing preventing us from passing these bills is the refusal by some in Congress to put country ahead of party. That's the problem right now. That's what's holding this country back," the president said in his weekly radio address, which is also transmitted on the Internet.
Wall Street stocks have suffered four weeks of losses because of investor jitters, partly over concerns that the United States may be headed for another recession after barely growing in the first half of 2011.
With the national unemployment rate stuck above 9 percent, Obama's re-election hopes may hinge on his ability to convince voters he is steering the U.S. economy the right way.
He has been criticized for taking off to Martha's Vineyard, a wealthy island retreat near Boston, at at time when some 14 million Americans are out of work. Such breaks are typical for U.S. presidents, and the Obamas also took vacations in Martha's Vineyard in August of 2010 and 2009.
The White House has said the president would spend much of his nine-day absence from Washington working on the job and growth package he will unveil in an early September speech.
In his Saturday remarks, Obama acknowledged the country remained far from full health.
"We're going through a tough time right now. We're coming through a terrible recession," he said. "So we need folks in Washington -- the people whose job it is to deal with the country's problems, the people who you elected to serve -- we need them to put aside their differences to get things done."
Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives and Democrats control the Senate. A bitter fight between the two parties over deficit-cutting brought the country to the edge of a debt default and sparked a credit ratings downgrade this month.
In the Republicans' weekly address, Ohio Governor John Kasich said it was wrong for the president to stand aside and blame others for the impasse that has also affected legislation related to immigration, energy and other issues.
"Divided government is no excuse for inaction," said Kasich, a former chairman of the House Budget Committee.
"There's just no substitute for leadership from the president of the United States," Kasich said. "It's my hope President Obama will listen to the people and partner with Republicans to get our economy back to creating jobs and producing growth."
The governor also called on conservative Republicans to show more willingness to compromise as required.
"It's just as important that Republicans not be stiff-necked about working across the aisle when important work must be done," he said, suggesting: "It's OK to compromise on policy, as long as you don't compromise on your principles." (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:00am EDT
* Construction, trade, payroll tax bills could help -Obama
* Republican governor says Obama has responsibility to act
By Laura MacInnis
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass., Aug 20 (Reuters) - A vacationing U.S. President Barack Obama accused Congress on Saturday of holding back the U.S. economic recovery by blocking "common sense" measures he said would create jobs and help growth.
In remarks recorded on Wednesday on his campaign-style bus tour in Illinois and aired during his holiday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Obama said the stalled construction, trade and payroll tax bills could give a boost to the economy.
"The only thing preventing us from passing these bills is the refusal by some in Congress to put country ahead of party. That's the problem right now. That's what's holding this country back," the president said in his weekly radio address, which is also transmitted on the Internet.
Wall Street stocks have suffered four weeks of losses because of investor jitters, partly over concerns that the United States may be headed for another recession after barely growing in the first half of 2011.
With the national unemployment rate stuck above 9 percent, Obama's re-election hopes may hinge on his ability to convince voters he is steering the U.S. economy the right way.
He has been criticized for taking off to Martha's Vineyard, a wealthy island retreat near Boston, at at time when some 14 million Americans are out of work. Such breaks are typical for U.S. presidents, and the Obamas also took vacations in Martha's Vineyard in August of 2010 and 2009.
The White House has said the president would spend much of his nine-day absence from Washington working on the job and growth package he will unveil in an early September speech.
In his Saturday remarks, Obama acknowledged the country remained far from full health.
"We're going through a tough time right now. We're coming through a terrible recession," he said. "So we need folks in Washington -- the people whose job it is to deal with the country's problems, the people who you elected to serve -- we need them to put aside their differences to get things done."
Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives and Democrats control the Senate. A bitter fight between the two parties over deficit-cutting brought the country to the edge of a debt default and sparked a credit ratings downgrade this month.
In the Republicans' weekly address, Ohio Governor John Kasich said it was wrong for the president to stand aside and blame others for the impasse that has also affected legislation related to immigration, energy and other issues.
"Divided government is no excuse for inaction," said Kasich, a former chairman of the House Budget Committee.
"There's just no substitute for leadership from the president of the United States," Kasich said. "It's my hope President Obama will listen to the people and partner with Republicans to get our economy back to creating jobs and producing growth."
The governor also called on conservative Republicans to show more willingness to compromise as required.
"It's just as important that Republicans not be stiff-necked about working across the aisle when important work must be done," he said, suggesting: "It's OK to compromise on policy, as long as you don't compromise on your principles." (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
State-Run Media moves to the Social Media...
Here's the State-Run Media moving into social media....We all know that the Facebook crowd is in tight with Obama and this Socialist Administration...that had to play a par here...I can't believe it was simply an error...Governor Brewer's opinons did no agree with those of the Facebook crowd so they blew them off....
This nation is getting out of control when it comes to media, free speech manipulation, truth telling and un based reporting....It feels often more like a dictatorship regime than America...
Facebook Apologizes for Deleting Arizona Governor's Post
Published August 20, 2011 | FoxNews.com
Facebook issued an apology Saturday for deleting a post by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that criticized President Obama over his administration's new policy on prioritizing deportations of illegal immigrants.
Brewer's picture and a statement that accompanied it were removed Friday from Facebook, apparently because they "violated Facebook community standards."
"The post was removed in error," Andrew Noyes, Manager of Public Policy Communications at Facebook said in a statement. "We apologize for any inconvenience."
Before the photo's removal from the popular social networking site, it had garnered over 10,000 "likes" and comments, Brewer said in a follow-up post that included a reprint of Thursday's original deleted post.
Brewer, one of the president's toughest critics on border policy, said the administration's recent move to launch a case-by-case review of illegal immigrants slated for deportation amounts to an immigration overhaul "via executive fiat."
"This plan amounts to backdoor amnesty for hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of illegal aliens," the Republican governor said in a written statement. "We need to remind President Obama that we elected a president that serves beneath the law and did not anoint a king that is above the law."
According to Facebook policy, moderators remove posts when they fall under the categories of threat, bullying and harassment, hate speech, graphic violence, sex and nudity, theft, vandalism or fraud, identity and privacy, intellectual property, phishing and spam.
This nation is getting out of control when it comes to media, free speech manipulation, truth telling and un based reporting....It feels often more like a dictatorship regime than America...
Facebook Apologizes for Deleting Arizona Governor's Post
Published August 20, 2011 | FoxNews.com
Facebook issued an apology Saturday for deleting a post by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that criticized President Obama over his administration's new policy on prioritizing deportations of illegal immigrants.
Brewer's picture and a statement that accompanied it were removed Friday from Facebook, apparently because they "violated Facebook community standards."
"The post was removed in error," Andrew Noyes, Manager of Public Policy Communications at Facebook said in a statement. "We apologize for any inconvenience."
Before the photo's removal from the popular social networking site, it had garnered over 10,000 "likes" and comments, Brewer said in a follow-up post that included a reprint of Thursday's original deleted post.
Brewer, one of the president's toughest critics on border policy, said the administration's recent move to launch a case-by-case review of illegal immigrants slated for deportation amounts to an immigration overhaul "via executive fiat."
"This plan amounts to backdoor amnesty for hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of illegal aliens," the Republican governor said in a written statement. "We need to remind President Obama that we elected a president that serves beneath the law and did not anoint a king that is above the law."
According to Facebook policy, moderators remove posts when they fall under the categories of threat, bullying and harassment, hate speech, graphic violence, sex and nudity, theft, vandalism or fraud, identity and privacy, intellectual property, phishing and spam.
Mark Steyn has a Great Way to Make a Point...and his Point is right on in the Article....
Mark Steyn August 20, 2011 4:00 A.M.
The Imperial Presidency
European royals make do with a less lavish lifestyle than the supposed citizen-executive of a so-called republic.
Rick Perry, governor of Texas, has only been in the presidential race for 20 minutes, but he’s already delivered one of the best lines in the campaign:
“I’ll work every day to try to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your life as I can.”
This will be grand news to Schylar Capo, eleven years old, of Virginia, who made the mistake of rescuing a woodpecker from the jaws of a cat and nursing him back to health for a couple of days, and for her pains, was visited by a federal Fish & Wildlife gauleiter (with accompanying state troopers) who charged her with illegal transportation of a protected species and issued her a $535 fine. If the federal child-abuser has that much time on his hands, he should have charged the cat, who was illegally transporting the protected species from his gullet to his intestine.
So eleven-year-old Schylar and other middle-schoolers targeted by the micro-regulatory superstate might well appreciate Governor Perry’s pledge. But you never know, it might just catch on with the broader population, too.
Bill Clinton thought otherwise. “I got tickled by watching Governor Perry,” said the former president. “And he’s saying, ‘Oh, I’m going to Washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible — while I ride on Air Force One and that Marine One helicopter and go to Camp David and travel around the world and have a good time.’ I mean, this is crazy.”
This is the best argument the supposedly smartest operator in the Democratic party can muster? If Bill Clinton wants to make the increasingly and revoltingly unrepublican lifestyle of the American president a campaign issue, Governor Perry should call his bluff. If I understand correctly the justification advanced by spokesgropers for the Transport Security Administration, the reason they poke around the genitalia of three-year-old girls and make wheelchair-bound nonagenarians in the final stages of multiple sclerosis remove their diapers in public is that by doing so they have made commercial air travel the most secure environment in the United States. In that case, why can’t the president fly commercial?
You’d be surprised how many heads of state do. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands flies long haul on KLM. Don’t worry, she’s not in coach all night squeezed next to the mom with the crying baby and the party of English soccer hooligans baying moronic victory chants all night. She rides up front and has so many aides that sometimes she’ll book the entire first class cabin! By contrast, the president of the United States took his personal 747 (a transatlantic aircraft designed to hold 500 people that costs a fifth of a million dollars per hour to run) to go from Washington to a Democratic party retreat in Williamsburg, Va., 150 miles away.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark flies commercial, too. For local trips she has a small Challenger jet. When she’s not zipping around in it, they use it for fishery enforcement off Greenland. Does that detail alone suggest that a thousand-year dynasty dating back to King Gorm the Sleepy (regnant 936–958) travels in rather less luxury than the supposed citizen-executive of a so-called republic of limited government? Undoubtedly King Gorm the Sleepy would have slept a lot better on Air Force One, yet the Danish royal family seems to get by.
Symbols are important. In other circumstances, the Obamas’ vacation on Martha’s Vineyard might not be terribly relevant. But this is a president who blames his dead-parrot economy on “bad luck” — specifically, the Arab Spring and the Japanese tsunami: As Harry S. Truman would have said, the buck stops at that big hole in the ground that’s just opened up over in Japan. Let us take these whiny excuses at face value and accept for the sake of argument that Obama’s Recovery Summer would now be going gangbusters had not the Libyan rebels seized Benghazi and sent the economy into a tailspin. Did no one in the smartest administration in history think this might be the time for the president to share in some of the “bad luck” and forgo an ostentatious vacation in the exclusive playground of the rich? When you’re the presiding genius of the Brokest Nation in History, enjoying the lifestyle of the super-rich while allegedly in “public service” sends a strikingly Latin American message. Underlining the point, the president then decided to pass among his suffering people by touring small town Minnesota in an armored Canadian bus accompanied by a 40-car motorcade. In some of these one-stoplight burgs, the president’s escort had more vehicles than the municipality he was graciously blessing with his presence.
By sheer coincidence, I happen to be writing a conspiracy thriller in which a state-of-the-art Canadian bus transporting Pres. Michael Douglas on a tour of Minnesota goes rogue and takes over the government of the United States. Eventually, crack CIA operative Keira Knightley breaks in the rear window and points out to the Canadian bus that it’s now $15 trillion in debt. In a white-knuckle finale, the distraught and traumatized bus makes a break for Winnipeg pursued by Chinese creditors.
Where was I? Oh, yes. Instead of demonstrating the common touch — that Obama is feeling your pain Clinton-style — the motorcade tour seemed an ingenious parody of what (in Victor Davis Hanson’s words) “a wealthy person would do if he wanted to act ‘real’ for a bit” — in the way that swanky Park Avenue types 80 years ago liked to go slumming up in Harlem. Why exactly does the president need a 40-car escort to drive past his subjects in Dead Moose Junction? It doesn’t communicate strength, but only waste, and decadence. Are these vehicles filled with “aides” working round the clock on his super-secret magic plan to “create” “jobs” that King Barack the Growth-Slayer is planning to lay before Congress in the fall or winter, spring, whatever? If the argument is that the president cannot travel without that level of security, I note that Prince William and his lovely bride did not require a 40-car motorcade on their recent visit to Los Angeles, and there are at least as many people on the planet who want a piece of Wills and Kate as do of Obama. Like the president, the couple made do with Canuck transportation, but in their case they flew in and out on a Royal Canadian Air Force transport described as “no more luxurious than a good motor home”: The shower is the size of a pay phone. It did not seem to diminish Her Royal Highness’s glamour.
I wish Governor Perry well in his stated goal of banishing Washington to the periphery of Americans’ lives. One way he could set the tone is by forgoing much of the waste and excess that attends the imperial presidency. Believe it or not, many presidents and prime ministers manage to get by with only a 14-car or even a four-car motorcade. I know: Hard to imagine, but there it is. A post-prosperity America that has dug itself into a multi-trillion-dollar hole will eventually have to stop digging. When it does so, the government of the United States will have to learn to do more with less. A good place to start would be restoring the lifestyle of the president to something Calvin Coolidge might recognize.
— Mark Steyn, a National Review columnist, is author of After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. © 2011 Mark Steyn.
The Imperial Presidency
European royals make do with a less lavish lifestyle than the supposed citizen-executive of a so-called republic.
Rick Perry, governor of Texas, has only been in the presidential race for 20 minutes, but he’s already delivered one of the best lines in the campaign:
“I’ll work every day to try to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your life as I can.”
This will be grand news to Schylar Capo, eleven years old, of Virginia, who made the mistake of rescuing a woodpecker from the jaws of a cat and nursing him back to health for a couple of days, and for her pains, was visited by a federal Fish & Wildlife gauleiter (with accompanying state troopers) who charged her with illegal transportation of a protected species and issued her a $535 fine. If the federal child-abuser has that much time on his hands, he should have charged the cat, who was illegally transporting the protected species from his gullet to his intestine.
So eleven-year-old Schylar and other middle-schoolers targeted by the micro-regulatory superstate might well appreciate Governor Perry’s pledge. But you never know, it might just catch on with the broader population, too.
Bill Clinton thought otherwise. “I got tickled by watching Governor Perry,” said the former president. “And he’s saying, ‘Oh, I’m going to Washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible — while I ride on Air Force One and that Marine One helicopter and go to Camp David and travel around the world and have a good time.’ I mean, this is crazy.”
This is the best argument the supposedly smartest operator in the Democratic party can muster? If Bill Clinton wants to make the increasingly and revoltingly unrepublican lifestyle of the American president a campaign issue, Governor Perry should call his bluff. If I understand correctly the justification advanced by spokesgropers for the Transport Security Administration, the reason they poke around the genitalia of three-year-old girls and make wheelchair-bound nonagenarians in the final stages of multiple sclerosis remove their diapers in public is that by doing so they have made commercial air travel the most secure environment in the United States. In that case, why can’t the president fly commercial?
You’d be surprised how many heads of state do. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands flies long haul on KLM. Don’t worry, she’s not in coach all night squeezed next to the mom with the crying baby and the party of English soccer hooligans baying moronic victory chants all night. She rides up front and has so many aides that sometimes she’ll book the entire first class cabin! By contrast, the president of the United States took his personal 747 (a transatlantic aircraft designed to hold 500 people that costs a fifth of a million dollars per hour to run) to go from Washington to a Democratic party retreat in Williamsburg, Va., 150 miles away.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark flies commercial, too. For local trips she has a small Challenger jet. When she’s not zipping around in it, they use it for fishery enforcement off Greenland. Does that detail alone suggest that a thousand-year dynasty dating back to King Gorm the Sleepy (regnant 936–958) travels in rather less luxury than the supposed citizen-executive of a so-called republic of limited government? Undoubtedly King Gorm the Sleepy would have slept a lot better on Air Force One, yet the Danish royal family seems to get by.
Symbols are important. In other circumstances, the Obamas’ vacation on Martha’s Vineyard might not be terribly relevant. But this is a president who blames his dead-parrot economy on “bad luck” — specifically, the Arab Spring and the Japanese tsunami: As Harry S. Truman would have said, the buck stops at that big hole in the ground that’s just opened up over in Japan. Let us take these whiny excuses at face value and accept for the sake of argument that Obama’s Recovery Summer would now be going gangbusters had not the Libyan rebels seized Benghazi and sent the economy into a tailspin. Did no one in the smartest administration in history think this might be the time for the president to share in some of the “bad luck” and forgo an ostentatious vacation in the exclusive playground of the rich? When you’re the presiding genius of the Brokest Nation in History, enjoying the lifestyle of the super-rich while allegedly in “public service” sends a strikingly Latin American message. Underlining the point, the president then decided to pass among his suffering people by touring small town Minnesota in an armored Canadian bus accompanied by a 40-car motorcade. In some of these one-stoplight burgs, the president’s escort had more vehicles than the municipality he was graciously blessing with his presence.
By sheer coincidence, I happen to be writing a conspiracy thriller in which a state-of-the-art Canadian bus transporting Pres. Michael Douglas on a tour of Minnesota goes rogue and takes over the government of the United States. Eventually, crack CIA operative Keira Knightley breaks in the rear window and points out to the Canadian bus that it’s now $15 trillion in debt. In a white-knuckle finale, the distraught and traumatized bus makes a break for Winnipeg pursued by Chinese creditors.
Where was I? Oh, yes. Instead of demonstrating the common touch — that Obama is feeling your pain Clinton-style — the motorcade tour seemed an ingenious parody of what (in Victor Davis Hanson’s words) “a wealthy person would do if he wanted to act ‘real’ for a bit” — in the way that swanky Park Avenue types 80 years ago liked to go slumming up in Harlem. Why exactly does the president need a 40-car escort to drive past his subjects in Dead Moose Junction? It doesn’t communicate strength, but only waste, and decadence. Are these vehicles filled with “aides” working round the clock on his super-secret magic plan to “create” “jobs” that King Barack the Growth-Slayer is planning to lay before Congress in the fall or winter, spring, whatever? If the argument is that the president cannot travel without that level of security, I note that Prince William and his lovely bride did not require a 40-car motorcade on their recent visit to Los Angeles, and there are at least as many people on the planet who want a piece of Wills and Kate as do of Obama. Like the president, the couple made do with Canuck transportation, but in their case they flew in and out on a Royal Canadian Air Force transport described as “no more luxurious than a good motor home”: The shower is the size of a pay phone. It did not seem to diminish Her Royal Highness’s glamour.
I wish Governor Perry well in his stated goal of banishing Washington to the periphery of Americans’ lives. One way he could set the tone is by forgoing much of the waste and excess that attends the imperial presidency. Believe it or not, many presidents and prime ministers manage to get by with only a 14-car or even a four-car motorcade. I know: Hard to imagine, but there it is. A post-prosperity America that has dug itself into a multi-trillion-dollar hole will eventually have to stop digging. When it does so, the government of the United States will have to learn to do more with less. A good place to start would be restoring the lifestyle of the president to something Calvin Coolidge might recognize.
— Mark Steyn, a National Review columnist, is author of After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. © 2011 Mark Steyn.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Ron Paul...NOT MY KIND OF LEADER!!!
This shows a real lack of leadership in Ron Paul....Unless he outright condemns this ad from one of his supporters he is not the kind of Leader that I could ever support...not that I would ever support Ron Paul especially with his national security viewpoints....
This guys that ran this ad is a nut case....and this takes dirty politics into a whole new sphere..Just take a listen to this interview and you will agree.
And it's really a shame that Ron Paul hasn't shut this down...
This guys that ran this ad is a nut case....and this takes dirty politics into a whole new sphere..Just take a listen to this interview and you will agree.
And it's really a shame that Ron Paul hasn't shut this down...
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