More Partisan Garbage

You don't think that the Port Authority's North Shore Connector was worth the $500 or so million? Join the rest of Allegheny County.

But seriously, these assholes and their bullshit report are so far off base with this it's not even funny.

Here's the article.

Let me get this straight. Because $62 million of stimulus money had to be used to complete this project, Obama's stimulus or if you want to be naughty "bailout" is a pork filled failure?

Ok thought so...

Well, I see one glaring hole in your analysis which is oozing partisan bullshit*. You see, the original $435 million used to start the project, well that came from G Dubs administration way back in 2003-2004.

Oh snap, that's right. If the "fiscally responsible" Republican controlled Federal Government hadn't provided these funds, then they wouldn't have had to be bailed out to begin with.

Sounds like another Republican turd from the turn of the 21st century that the Obama administration has been left to polish.

So really, unless we wanted two unused tunnels under the river that would be incurring regular maintenance fees, we had no choice but to seek funding. That funding was able to keep the project going and keep those construction workers employed (it's all about jobs right???)

All this partisanship is getting out of control. You can't take anything at face value from any political party. Americans unfortunately need to verify anything that comes out of a politicians mouth. What's even more unfortunate, is that we don't. They spoon feed us horse shit and we ask for more.

*Yea I know I'm oozing with partisan bullshit too...we all are, but at least I'm not attempting to present figures misleadingly to influence people's opinion.

What was the NAACP thinking?

Why in the world would the NAACP condemn the tea party movement as racist???

What were they thinking????




Oh...Right then, carry on.

What is it You Were Looking For?

Everyone seems to be down on Obama these days. From the Gulf oil spill or “Obama’s Katrina” to the impending great Democrat vote out scheduled for this November, it’s become fashionable to be down on Barrack.

A commenter on the Radical Middle made a statement that as much as I hate to; I have to agree with. This commenter stated that Obama has “become too liberal for the moderates and too moderate for the liberals.” So true except for one little word: “become”. I think he has always been that way; but the American public has awoken. So far, with the exception of transportation and infrastructure, he has stayed pretty true to his word. He talked about beginning to focus on Afghanistan, and has done that by drawing down forces in Iraq and beginning to re-deploy those forces to Afghanistan. He talked about reversing “Don’t ask Don’t Tell” and is well on the way to doing that. Last but certainly not least, he talked about healthcare reform, and, well; we all know what happened in March.

All this was done while the economy was in the middle of taking a big stinky dump and a massive environmental disaster that will make the Exxon Valdez look about as bad as a turd floating in the kiddie pool.

So I think in-action is not the problem. He hasn’t exactly strayed from what he said he was going to and wanted to do. The problem is people didn’t want Obama, or any democratic President for that matter. They just didn’t want George Bush, and were too gun shy to vote for another Republican candidate. They voted for him because he wasn’t another G Dubs.

Here’s the problem: They didn’t pay attention to what he said, or what McCain said, or what Palin said (ok, no one did that because they were too busy laughing). Obama didn’t pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.

A friend of mine stated the other day “I voted for Obama, but I’ll tell you this; I did NOT vote for him to change healthcare”. Guess what, he didn’t hide the fact during his campaign!!!! Maybe you shouldn’t have called his bluff! Maybe you should have evaluated your decision a little better. If that was such a hot button issue for you, then perhaps you should have reconsidered.

My point to all this is; if you really supported a lot of the issues Obama addressed during his campaign (which I do for the record), then I don’t see a reason to be all that upset with him thus far. If you are one of the above people, then tough shit. He was pretty clear on what he wanted to do as President. If you don’t like the idea now, then you probably didn’t like it then. You just weren’t paying attention.

The Crux of the Issue

I was reading an article yesterday on Post Gazette.com about Obama’s trip to CMU and found this little nugget from a local leader for the “passionate” and “hard charging” (I don’t know how I could possibly make those quotes more sarcastic) Tea Party movement.

“Patti Weaver of Fox Chapel, organizer of the local tea party,
complained that they were not allowed to get closer than Morewood and Forbes
avenues. She also said the closure of parking garages and spaces in the area
made it hard for members to get there”

That damned Obama and his socialist plot to keep the Tea Partiers at bay! Will he stop at nothing? It would be one thing if his communist minions used water cannons and riot police to discourage protesting, but to TAKE AWAY THEIR PARKING SPACES! Has he no shame!!????

Right there is the crux of the issue and why I have NO respect for the Tea Party or most Americans in general. Your “popular” movement to “take the country back” is stymied by lack of parking spaces. You think providing all Americans with access to healthcare is socialist but think that you are entitled to parking where and when you want it. Oh no, that’s not selfish. You sure do have your priorities straight.

Hey, here’s a thought, if your “party” membership weren’t so lazy and self-entitled so as to let lack of parking derail your demonstration, then the majority of America that thinks you're full of shit might take you more seriously*.

You wouldn’t want to take the Hummer/Escalade/Expedition into the city anyway…parking’s a bitch. Besides, don’t you have to pick up little Muffie up from private school at three anyway???

*According to Ms. Weaver, 49% of America agrees with Tea Party values. Couple of quick questions and comments on that little "stat".

#1: 49% does not a majority make.
#2: Does that 49% believe in giving up on a cause if you can't find parking?

HA HA!

Ok, so to recap (as if you won’t find out in a minute), #1: I vote democrat; #2 I support universal healthcare (also, yes I have a private insurer, yes I will be keeping that insurer, as we have not witnessed the end of private healthcare)

Now that that is out of the way, there have been some really sweet nuggets in the comment sections of a lot of papers and news outlets. I also added comments in bold

Hilarious really, here are a few of my favorites:

Did you know that when Patrick Henry made his famous “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech, he was actually referring to the eventual rise of a black president who would institute healthcare for all the citizen’s in the United States? Well if you didn’t, now you do, courtesy of “CLR” on CNN.com:

“Speaking of Irony (the day Obama signs the HC bill PH proclaimed):
March 23, 1775: Patrick Henry exclaims, "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"” –Clearly “CLR” knows that it’s been empirically, and scientifically proven that universal healthcare is tantamount to slavery….oh wait, that’s really not the case at all…

Again from the completely sane and rational empirically and scientifically proven department, we get a quote from “Henry Flynn”:

“Soon after he signs the bill, although the bill has some good things in it, it also is the first steps toward installing socialism in America-according to whom? Fox News I suppose. The signing of the bill is an act of treason-Missed the part in the Constitution where it says that when Obama signs this bill it should be considered treason.. Treason is an attempt to overthrow our government –just in case you didn’t know and yet the democrats allow such. He also went against his vows, when he took office, to uphold the constitution-Again, didn’t see the part of the Constitution where it forbade Obama to sign a universal healthcare plan. There are parts of this bill that are unconstitutional-where? In my opinion, he should be impeached and charged with treason-because Fox News says so! There will be no charges brought because our AG will not charge anyone with anything. He also dropped the charges against the Black Panthers for voter intimidation-huh? The president appointed people who would let him do whatever he wants, no matter how wrong it is! –Wow, that sounds a lot like a previous administration, or was that the other way around; he did whatever THEY wanted, no matter how wrong it was…At least the AG of the states all Republicans are taking their separate cases to court, the part that is unconstitutional!”

The next nugget comes from Tony, who must be in pretty good health:

“I make 120,000 a year and do not have insurance, by choice. I afford to pay full price at my doctors visits and pay full price for my prescription drugs. Does this mean, I have to now pay nearly 10,000 in healthcare or I will be fined? how does this make sense?” – Can’t wait until Tony has a major medical issue and then tries to pay the bills. This is selfish America in a nut shell, if this does not benefit me directly, I should not have to participate.

This one is PRICELESS, from "Comrade" Neal…

Welcome to the Divided Socialis(sic) States of America. Feels like the good old days of the Soviet Union. –Because you would know The Russians had Lenin, Stalin,nkhrushchev and Brezhnev.....we have Pelosi, Reid, Stupak, and Obama.-So ridiculous, needs no other response. Just warms your heart doesn't it? In a few years the U.S. will be just like the former USSR.......GONE!!!! God save our country from this abomination!!! -I’m sure you had alternative solutions to the problems the Democrats were/are attempting to address, you weren’t just a member of the massive chorus of “No’s” or a member of the collective temper tantrum whose members resorted to screaming insults like 5 year olds expecting that they would somehow get their way…

If anyone is bored at work, or in general, log onto any news website and you’ll find some real gems.

Oh yea, and our Attorney General has just joined the Republican cavalcade of State Attorney Generals who are filing lawsuits to stop this healthcare legislation. Hmmmm, sounds like a certain political party is real sore they didn’t stop the legislation.

A Fine Point My Ass!

This article pissed me off. I’d like to draw attention to a few of the author’s main points in the editorial and insert my thoughts.

1. “Mr. Obama and the Democrats contend that the high debt and the deficits are the fault of the Bush administration, which left a legacy of two unfinished wars, one 7 years old and the other nearly 9, tax cuts and an economy pushed near ruin by recession and a poorly regulated financial industry. Yet other heavy spending is directly attributable to the Obama administration.Mr. Obama’s two-step escalation of the war in Afghanistan by increasing U.S. troops by 46,000 to a level of 100,000 is his alone.”

My Take: First, soooo what I am getting out of this is; two wars, foolish tax cuts, and poor financial regulation were all unimportant to our current situation but holding the line on military spending is inexcusable???? Odd. Second, In my extremely humble opinion, if there is to be troop escalation in Afghanistan and it costs more money...FINE. You know why? Osama Bin Laden (Remember he is the guy/reason we HAD to go to war to begin with) and his organization Al Qaeda were and are still based in Afghanistan. If we are to prevent another repeat of 9/11, he and Al Qaeda must be dealt with (i.e. killed and destroyed).

Third, while he is expanding our military presence and increasing money spent in Afghanistan, he is also drawing down our forces and money spent in Iraq (Remember that theater of war? That was the one where we invaded under false pretenses and a lot of brave selfless Americans lost their lives over a lie, or at the very least “bad intelligence”). I would further contend that had we not spent the $700 BILLION with a B on the war in Iraq to begin with, we could perhaps be further along in our campaign in Afghanistan.

2. “The expansion of military activity, under Mr. Bush's old "war on terror," in Pakistan and Yemen is also Mr. Obama's work.”

My Take: He is expanding the War on Terror to those areas because they are known refuges for Al Qaeda. To me, it seems that instead of manufacturing intelligence to fit his agenda, he is adapting our national security strategy to meet the realities of the situation. That is not foolish or a wasteful use of our money, it’s good strategy.

3. “Mr. Obama has given no reason for why military expenditures should be immune from cuts.”

My Take: First, I don’t know our President personally and can’t say what is going on in his head but here is a wacky idea; maybe it’s because we are at war with a lunatic and an organization of religious zealots who are responsible for the largest foreign attack on American soil EVER which killed 2,973 innocent Americans. That’s why. Never Forget….I think somebody forgot.

Cutting our military spending in the face of war is not an answer to our fiscal OR national security problems. President Obama is an intelligent man (that is why I voted for him). He knows that our deficit is growing uncontrolled, but he also knows that we still face an unresolved national security* threat with Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. He must address our deficit AND respond to new threats to our security. He is doing that.


*For those of you that don’t know, National Security is what allows every Fat Lazy American to drive around their over sized SUV/pick up truck from parking lot to parking lot and then head straight to McDonald’s so they can stuff their fat faces without fear of attack from “those damn foreigners and towel heads”