Romancing the GOP & Corruption to Stimulate Recovery »
Posted By Spadecaller 9 months, 1 week ago in Political NewsA s written by Bob Dylan, "Oh, Mama, can this really be the
end, to be stuck inside" Washington with the insider blues again. After two long years on the campaign trail, the nation chose to believe its newly crowned leader’s vows to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyist sycophants from holding positions of authority, to change the politics of partisanship, and to usher in “a new era of responsibility.” Implementation of such lofty ideals is another matter entirely. Romancing the GOP and accepting corruption as the most expedient way to stimulate economic recovery is alienating this administration’s greatest asset, the will and spirit of the American people.
Read Full Story at freewebs.com »
1001 Views Share Story 105 Comments Report
Submitted By:
Spadecaller
Welcome to my profile. About me: I'm an artist of several kinds; from bull to painting. I don't spare too many words. Most ...
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentShowing 104 of 105 Comments (view all)
-
93%
Spadecaller9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Unlike his predecessors, President Barack Obama is leading a nation that is teetering on the precipice of a depression. Most Americans do not care what label legislation comes under. If it works and is passed with or without the support of the GOP makes little difference to families who are suffering from the loss of their homes and their jobs. The President’s desire to open his administration to both parties and to be the President of all the people are wonderful sentiments; but they must remain secondary to promoting the right legislation that will address the corporate fraud, unfair trade, and abuses of Wall Street that has driven the country into financial ruin. Romancing the GOP and accepting corruption as the most expedient way to stimulate economic recovery is only going to alienate this administration’s greatest asset, the will and spirit of the American people.
Reply-
85%
jordan119 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Obama needs to do what he believes is right. The American people gave him that mandate. The CONS have shown they're still the same jerks they've always been, & personally I think he needs to knock off trying to be all things to all people. It's not possible, it wastes precious time, & he needs to just get on with it.
Reply -
83%
Spadecaller9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I agree jordan. He is bending over too much. He has invited everyone to be represented; now the hell with those that only want to obstruct whatever he tries. Though I think the stimulus bill can be improved, I am sick and tired of hearing these miserable GOP sour asses pointing the fingers when they have done nothing to help for years.
Reply
Time for them to shut up or help out. Enough bs. We are in trouble and this country does not need these phony jerk-offs pontificating just to get their fat asses covered and their lobbyists satisfied. -
50%
THOMNH629 months ago
-
-
100%
cushi9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I do agree with you in principle! However, the realist in me accepts that it is not possible to be perfect in an imperfect environment! Other factors come to bear and thwart, if not altogether prevent it. That does not absolve one from trying, however, and from coming as close to the ideal as humanly possible. I think Obama is sincerely trying, and there are many,many forces of enmity working against him. What he needs is backup with backbone. The dems need to rally round and let him know they will back him 100%! No man is an island.
Reply-
sonofreasonComment removed: Hard Banned3 Replies
-
-
89%
not2needy9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Great essay SC.
Reply
President Obama is never going to get the support of Mitch McConnell and his ilk, so the president just needs to do what he knows is right, and what Americans elected him to do. He is never going to be able to please these people, he needs to get over it and move on, post haste!-
-
-
64%
beavith19 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
i dunno. McConnell says the right things. its not like he's leading the republicans to a sit down, they've pretty much said to 'hold on a minute. some of this stuff doesn't make sense.'
Reply
that's hardly obstructionism.
when Obama and his congressional leadership want someting, they just roll over them anyway.
where's the problem? could it be that you don't want to hear any dissent? that if you're not one of us you're against us?
there is a whiff of partanship and its not coming from just the republicans. -
Republicrat1844Comment removed: Retracted by user
-
-
75%
icono19 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I'm not a big 0Bama fan but in this case n2n I can agree with you. You are right in that he will never be able to please all the people and he needs to get over it and move on.
Reply
I think 0Bama's big problem is his narcissistic attitude about how he thinks the world should view him and that is as an 'all encompassing and compassionate do right kind of guy'. Once he grows a 'pair' and slams down with it is 'my way or the highway' then things will start getting done.
If he keeps trying to 'kill them with kindness' while playing the 'two ends against the middle rope-a-dope politics' he is into now he will always be caught betwixt and between and the next 4 years will be a real political quagmire of 'change that never happened'.-
100%
cushi9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Every great leader has an ego, and I don't consider Obama narcissistic because he has one. He is a realist, first and foremost, and he knows very well that he doesn't really "walk on water." I think it is important to him to keep his word, or at least, make every attempt to, and his pledge to work with everybody is as important to him as any of his other promises. Still, I believe the realist in him will take hold and he will leave the stiff necked folks in the dust if they continue to drag their feet and drag his efforts down.
Reply -
0%
nonparted9 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
u know icono1 ur second paragraph u are like most people on this site HYPOCRITS
Reply
first u slam president Bush about how did u put it 'my way or the highway' attitude but its ok if president Obama does it
people with this kind of thinking are pathetic and u wonder why America is in such turmoil
-
-
-
50%
buckncindykill9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
All this (which is in their "stimulus" bill), according to Democrats, constitutes economic stimulus. If it eliminates all this pork, then he needs to court not just the GOP, but the American people:
Reply
* $350 million to develop and maintain a "broadband inventory map" at the Department of Commerce
* $1.375 billion for "Rural Water and Waste Disposal"
* $1 billion for the 2010 Census
* $150 million for the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee
* $50 million in aid to combat Internet Crimes Against Children
* $1.4 billion for water projects for Indian tribes
* $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas
* $2.1 billion on energy efficiency in government buildings
* $600 million to buy high fuel economy vehicles for the federal government
* $240 million for "Alteration of Bridges"
* $55 million for Historic Preservation in Park System
* $150 million for facilities at the Smithsonian
* $100 million in Aging nutrition services
* $400 million for screening and prevention of STD's, including HIV
* $1.5 billion for "Homelessness Prevention Fund"
Keeping all of these pork barrel projects in mind .. and by the way, that doesn't even scratch the surface of what is actually in this bill .. Obama says that he would be willing to scale back some of his spending plans in order to win Republican support. He said that he would remove any proposals which were not directly aimed at job creation.
OK ... let's parse that a second. Job creation? Most of Obama's stimulus plan is "work" creation, not job creation. These temporary construction and infrastructure projects don't create jobs, they create work. When you're finished sprucing up those government offices at the Department of Agriculture that work disappears. Ditto for landscaping around the National Mall. Also - where Obama's spending plan does create jobs they're generally government jobs, not private sector jobs.
Just a few weeks ago there was a hearing with the chairman of the joint committee on taxation. He was there to testify on behalf of the economic stimulus package. And when he was asked how many jobs this plan is expected to create, the guy didn't have an answer. Amazing.
How do you modify the stimulus plan? Start with each of the projects above. Then move on to every project that focuses on government work instead of private sector jobs. How do you do that? Pretty easy, actually. You put more money into the hands of the private sector - businesses large to small - to create jobs. The way to do that is through tax cuts. Not phony welfare checks you call tax cuts, but actual tax cuts. Right now the corporate tax rate in the U.S. is the second highest in the industrialized world. Do you think that is how to work toward business and job growth? If you do, you're a Democrat.-
-
-
-
75%
DenCuddy9 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
* $350 million to develop and maintain a "broadband inventory map" at the Department of Commerce (Infrastructure and jobs)
Reply
* $1.375 billion for "Rural Water and Waste Disposal" (infrastructure and jobs)
* $1 billion for the 2010 Census (jobs)
* $150 million for the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee ( I don't know enough to comment)
* $50 million in aid to combat Internet Crimes Against Children ( and this is bad how?)
* $1.4 billion for water projects for Indian tribes (Infrastructure and jobs)
* $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas (Infrastructure and jobs)
* $2.1 billion on energy efficiency in government buildings (Infrastructure, jobs and energy independence)
* $600 million to buy high fuel economy vehicles for the federal government (energy independence and lower tax burdens in the future)
* $240 million for "Alteration of Bridges" (Infrastructure and jobs)
* $55 million for Historic Preservation in Park System (don't know enough to comment)
* $150 million for facilities at the Smithsonian (jobs and our heritage)
* $100 million in Aging nutrition services ( bad how?)
* $400 million for screening and prevention of STD's, including HIV (Lowere future healthcare costs)
* $1.5 billion for "Homelessness Prevention Fund" (foreclosure protection and lower government costs down the road)
Your "pork looks to be fairly straightforward job creation vehicles across the board, except where they will decrease costs of government later or protect americans.
-
-
77%
Spadecaller9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Most of us are nauseated with the GOP's disingenuous call for putting more money in the hands of the rich. Trickle down economics and tax cuts for the wealthy have exploited middle class Americans enough without improving anyone except those on the direct receiving line. We just finished 8 years of Corporate welfare and tax breaks for the richest in our country and look how well it has worked. WE just gave billions to bailout these same pigs who then turned around and used the money to pad their own pockets again.
Reply
This same nonsense of putting more money into the hands of the rich was promoted during Reagan's term and then King George's regime, which led our nation to two stock market crashes and now to the greatest separation between rich and poor that our nation has ever known.
Amazing is right. Just try selling that crap to Americans again and the GOP will dry up and die once and for all. When the corporate pigs are grunting about pork, they fail to recognize that under their years of "regulation" deficit spending has been far greater than the Clinton years, which left the nation with a surplus. The truth is obvious and so is the bs. -
42%
beavith19 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
my god. i didn't know it was possible to be articulate and ignorant at the same time.
Reply
spade. you of all people.
the election is over. using the tripe that was considered election rhetoric is beneath you.
class warfare beggars us all.
while it may make you feel better to be able to point a finger, its not a solution. we all played the game. when house prices went up and up, no one said 'i've made too much money' and got out. now we pay for our greed with this correction.
come on. you can do better.-
100%
hyperbola9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Well beavith, I see that you still haven't understood the reasons for the financial collapse. Mortgages are a small problem. Fraudulent ponzi schemes run without regulation by "financiers" whom the government allowed to run wild under the influence of "free market" rhetoric are the real problem. Take some time off and begin to educate yourself.
Reply
What Cooked the World's Economy?
... Credit derivatives also figure heavily in the plot. Apologists say that these became so complicated that even Wall Street couldn't understand them and that they created "an unacceptable level of risk." Then these blowhards tell us that the bailout will pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the credit arteries and save the patient, which is the world's financial system. It will take time—maybe a year or so—but if everyone hangs in there, we'll be all right. No structural damage has been done, and all's well that ends well.
Sorry, but that's drivel. In fact, what we are living through is the worst financial scandal in history. It dwarfs 1929, Ponzi's scheme, Teapot Dome, the South Sea Bubble, tulip bulbs, you name it. Bernie Madoff? He's peanuts.
Credit derivatives—those securities that few have ever seen—are one reason why this crisis is so different from 1929.
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/02/03/what-coo...
-
-
-
100%
Tango579 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Considering the depth of economic woes along with every possible thing that could go wrong; did, Obama is doing an amazing job. He is exactly what we needed.
Reply
I also scrutinize the economic plan on the table. I would like to see the 600 M for government cars withdrawn. They can use their own cars and get .30 mile.-
100%
Spadecaller9 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
This will help families struck by the recession and will help pave the way for more the creation of more new jobs.
Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UxZNjqVT9M=http://... -
67%
GehlLady9 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is far too much in this bill to be rushed through in an emergency situation. As far as the republicans, they are joined by some democrats, aren't they? Isn't debating the merits and disadvantages of these bills what they get paid for?
Reply
I'd much rather see a much smaller bill that addresses the immediate job creation measures that can be implemented within the next 12-18 months. Once that's done, they will have time to craft a comprehensive plan.
-
-
60%
Commodore19 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Corruption U say? Are there any liberal politicians out there who pay their taxes or who are trying to sell a senate seat? Are there any Republican governors out there who have been impeached? Who is it again that is trying to pass a stimulus bill that's laden w/all sorts of pork and unnecessary spending? If U said liberals then U gave the right answer.
Reply -
100%
calitennflo9 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Since 1791, it has been the standard that government operate upon wholesome grounds; stimulus for a good and virtuous environment increasing morals. The provisions for such are protective clauses, placed in the constitution as amendments, that continually amend the constitution to correct, improve and revise government.
Reply
The definition of a Democracy, grants the powers of government are vested in all the people...or the authority to carry out the processes or the immunities and priveleges associated with rights (especially certain or inaliable rights) are with the people.
However...today...lawenforcement, the courts, use of the military within the borders, removal of protections exampled by the loss of consent with a government spying on every thing we do or accomplish, and the missdirection of congress as they focus on the wealthy, companies and corpoations when the ways and means of it's people should be the most impoetant thing.
Government is actually in a destructive mode, and uses money to justify anything....when no-one will ever govern anything using money...not even money. -
100%
Spadecaller9 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
This will help families struck by the recession:
Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UxZNjqVT9M=http://... -
JustTrollKingComment removed: Hard Banned
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.