40 years ago The Beatles hit The Long and Winding Road to their final separation. Although the news was rather sad, we hoped the Lads from Liverpool would get back together, Yoko free, of course. And as the years passed, there was talk of reunions. Always talk.

Alas, with the passing of John Lennon, a true reunion was not to be. And then George Harrison joined John in their own Strawberry Fields.

But before they broke up, and before The Long and Winding Road was a hit, Let It Be climbed the charts to number one.

Perhaps Barack Obama can find wisdom in the simple lyrics penned 40 years ago. Perhaps Mother Mary will play on his heart to “Let It Be”. To stop ruining the country and let us return to prosperity and leave his Socialist dreams far behind. They have never worked, and will not work now.

If Obama will not Let It Be, allow things that should fail to fail, I promise you the voters will not let it be in November. It is already too late, but the threatened and predictable flow of more ruinous legislation from a Lame Duck session will crush America.

Let It Be

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.

Let it be, let it be, …..

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, …..

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

Well looky there, ACORN has its own little nut in the Texas House.  The Texas Republicans peeled her bark in a press release today. Thibaut’s past is not unlike that of President Barack Obama; she too started out as a community organizer. And both did work for ACORN. Kristi even appeared at the State Capitol as a paid lobbyist for ACORN during the 2007 Legislative Session. ACORN activities have attracted the attention of law enforcement and prosecutors around the country, after they were exposed in a series of stings by a couple posing as a prostitute and a pimp, soliciting ACORN’s advice on how to operate their illegal enterprise without getting caught. Even the United States Congress condemned ACORN’s actions and cut off

More:
Even in Texas, Democrat state Rep. Kristi Thibaut’s ACORN doesn’t fall far from the tree

New!!! Virginia Blog Roundup – Old Dominion Blogs – now online and FREE! Read all the Virginia Blogs in one place.

The Virginia Right! News Hound surfs the ‘net to take the pulse of the world every day. The links published below are opinions and takes on the news that we find interesting. By design, these links are mostly outside of the Mainstream Media. This feature is designed to save you the time of sifting through dozens of websites and blogs. Buckle up. It is going to be a bumpy ride.

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

This slipped past my radar when it first came out back in April, but thanks to Fran for sending it to me. Professor Robert Weissberg, was struggling to define his growing sense of unease about Barack Obama and his administration.  It goes deeper than disagreeing with his policies and has nothing to do with his race. But I think he nailed it. After auditioning countless political terms, I finally realized that the Obama administration and its congressional collaborators almost resemble a foreign occupying force , a coterie of politically and culturally non-indigenous leaders whose rule contravenes local values rooted in our national tradition. It is as if the United States has been occupied by a foreign

The rest is here:
Alien Rule

Ex Bank of England Official is worried according to MoneyNews:

Many economists are worried about the possibility of a double-dip recession, but former Bank of England official David Blanchflower thinks it could be much worse than that if the Bush tax cuts aren’t extended.

“If we don’t act fast, a plunge into Depression is a growing risk in . . . the U.S.,” he writes in a column on Bloomberg.

“The so-called Bush tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, should be extended as soon as possible.”

President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress want to keep the cuts only for those with income of less than $200,000, while Republicans want the reductions to continue for everyone.

The weak economy begs for the tax cuts, implemented in 2001 and 2003, to be continued, says Blanchflower, now an economics professor at Dartmouth College and the University of Stirling in Scotland.

The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to buy more Treasuries is a positive step, he says.

“But banks aren’t lending and firms need incentives to hire, so the Fed move isn’t enough, especially since quantitative easing will take time to work.”

Blanchflower notes that unemployment stands at 9.5 percent, jobless claims are rising, bank lending is weak, housing prices aren’t rebounding despite mortgage rates at record lows, consumer confidence remains depressed and consumer spending is slowing.

The whopping $49.9 billion trade deficit in June doesn’t help either.

“It’s time for tax cuts, which have the added advantage that they work quickly,” Blanchflower writes. “Firms respond to incentives.”

Rather than being eliminated, the Bush tax cuts should be adjusted to maximize job creation, he says.

In addition to extending the cuts, Blanchflower likes the idea of suspending the payroll tax, half of which is paid by workers, for 12-18 months.

“Households would experience an immediate 3.5 percent increase in disposable income that they could employ to sustain consumption and pay down debts,” Blanchflower says, citing American Enterprise Institute estimates.

“And it would give an incentive to hire. This would inject an additional $625 billion a year and would jumpstart the economy.”

Read the rest here.

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

The Pew Forum on Religion and Politics released a poll on Religion, Politics and the President  revealing that a substantial and growing number of Americans say that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while the proportion saying he is a Christian has declined  and that most do not know what religion he follows. This must not sit well with the journ-O-list types. Look at how he editorialized  in this excerpt of supposedly straight reporting in an AP story . Americans increasingly are convinced – incorrectly – that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and a growing number are thoroughly confused about his religion. In other words those who believe Obama to be a Muslim are wrong and those who are unsure about the presidents religious beliefs are dim-witted idiots wandering through life in a dazed stupor. Mr. Fram then goes on to insinuate that the poll is skewed by a political bias identifying the …

Go here to read the rest:
Journ-O-List alert, AP reporter Alan Fram fills in the blanks.

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

His latest post on Barack Obama’s vacation on Martha’s Vineyard is HILARIOUS. No wonder he only spent 26 hours of his eighty-seventh two-week vacation in the Gulf, “healing” it through his mere presence. Look at the hero’s welcome he gets up in Six Flags At Herpes Petri Dish.   I once lived on nearby Cape Cod and these sort of liberal suck ups were omnipresent, although there was a crusty underbelly that many are not aware of, as evidenced by one friend. He was approached by a breathless, starry-eyed woman, who was vactioning on the Cape, inquiring about directions to the Kennedy

Read the rest here:
You gotta love Ace

Saturday August 14, 2010 Roundup:

New!!! Virginia Blog Roundup – Old Dominion Blogs – now online and FREE! Read all the Virginia Blogs in one place.

The Virginia Right! News Hound surfs the ‘net to take the pulse of the world every day. The links published below are opinions and takes on the news that we find interesting. By design, these links are mostly outside of the Mainstream Media. This feature is designed to save you the time of sifting through dozens of websites and blogs. Buckle up. It is going to be a bumpy ride.

What is the price for opposing Barack Obama on Healthcare and Immigration?

Virginia found out on Monday. In a move straight out of Chicago Style Politics, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va would be closed down. Calling this a cost cutting measure, Gates admitted that thousands of Virginians would lose their jobs and the economic impact would be at least $240 million.

Almost immediately, Virginia’s Democratic lawmakers screamed foul. Even as they have supported the ObamaCare bill and sat silently as this Administration turned the Immigration problem into a political firestorm, they now act surprised?

No matter how much these Democrats scream and pretend to care about this economic blackmail, they still support the Obama agenda. Today’s vote to take money already appropriated to Food Stamps to give to the Union Teachers would have been a perfect opportunity for Virginia’s Nancy Boys to send a symbolic message loud and clear to Obama – We refuse to allow you to blackmail Virginia.

So, did any of the Nancy Boys stand up an draw a line in the sand? Are you kidding? They are right with Obama on more spending, especially if it means bailing out more Union workers, like the teachers. And starving kids are no obstacle. Besides, Michelle Obama says the little twerps are too fat anyway.

No, Virginia’s Democrats are content to pretend like they object to Obama’s heavy handed Chicago politics, yet they are happy to enable him at every turn.

So, is there any way we can stop the retaliatory closing of a Virginia Military Command and the loss of thousands of Virginia jobs?

Absolutely. Vote out the Nancy Boys on November 2, 2010 and put the adults back in charge of the House. Only then will this rubber stamp Congress finally begin working for the people, and not the left wing elitists.

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

The bile is rising up in my gut as this has been one of the most horrific weeks in American history.   Sure, we’ve faced attacks and wars and death and other unspeakable attacks on America, but NEVER BEFORE have the American people been assaulted on so many fronts from WITHIN.  Our Government is accelerating its attack on her own people in a Cloward-Piven, overwhelm the system, frenzy that makes this week historical. The following appears in no particular order. It’s a rant.  Skip over it or get over it.  No linking.  Got questions?  Put them in the comments and I’ll give you the particulars. As for this President and his birthday, may this be the first of many,long, lonely miserable birthdays that he suffers through as a failed one term (or hopefully less) President.  As the rabbi said in Fiddler on the Roof…May God bless the Czar and keep him…very far away from us.   Or something like that….

Read more here:
Uh Oh. He’s getting ready to BLOW!!!

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports today, “Missouri voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a federal mandate to purchase health insurance, rebuking President Barack Obama’s administration and giving Republicans their first political victory in a national campaign to overturn the controversial health care law passed by Congress in March.” The New York Times adds, “Missouri voters on Tuesday easily approved a measure aimed at nullifying the new federal health care law, becoming the first state in the nation where ordinary people made known their dismay over the issue at the ballot box.” And The Wall Street Journal notes, “With all precincts reporting, 71% of voters supported Proposition C, establishing a state law that says Missouri cannot compel people to pay a penalty or fine if they fail to carry health coverage. Twenty-nine percent voted against the proposition.”

The NYT explains why the Missouri referendum is so important: “The measure was intended to invalidate a crucial element of President Obama’s health care law — namely, that most people be required to get health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Supporters of the measure said it would send a firm signal to Washington about how this state, often a bellwether in presidential elections, felt about such a law.”

Yesterday’s vote is yet another confirmation that Americans continue to oppose Democrats’ massive health care takeover. The WSJ notes in its story, “A June Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 44% think Mr. Obama’s health-care plan is a bad idea, while 40% called it a good idea.” But just last month, 2 polls showed support for the law under 40%, while a third, from Democrat polling firm PPP, showed opposition to the law at 53%. And yet in spite of all of this, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) still claims, “Remember, any poll you see today, the majority of the American people support what we did here with health care.”

This hasn’t really been a good week for the health care law. On Monday, “A federal judge has refused to block a challenge to the Obama administration’s health care law brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia,” as the NYT reported. That lawsuit came in part from another state-based repudiation of the individual mandate, where the Virginia legislature, one house controlled by Republicans and the other by Democrats, passed a law saying residents of the state could not be compelled to purchase health insurance. And yesterday, Politico featured a report from the Congressional Research Service declaring it ‘impossible’ to count all the new bureaucratic entities created by the 2,800-page health care bill.

Is it any wonder Americans continue to say they don’t like the health care takeover? Polls show there hasn’t been majority support for the Democrats’ health plan since this time last year.

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained in a speech on the floor this morning, “All throughout the health care debate, Democrat leaders in Washington told themselves they could do what they want, and then persuade Americans after the fact that it was okay. Last night, the voters in Missouri overwhelmingly rejected that notion. The people of Missouri have sent a message to Washington: enough is enough. . . . Americans weren’t kidding when they said they said they opposed this health care bill. And they’re not going away. This is just the beginning. Some of us have been saying it for more than a year: the American people will be heard. Whether it’s the failed Stimulus, the health care bill, or the financial regulatory bill, Americans are more intent than ever on reversing the trend of centralizing more power in Washington.”

President Takes Credit For Siding With Iraq Strategy He Criticized, Troops He Worked To Defund

PRESIDENT OBAMA: “While Other Individuals And Institutions Have Shirked Responsibility, [Americans In Uniform] Have Welcomed It.” “While our country has sometimes been divided, they have fought together as one. While other individuals and institutions have shirked responsibility, they have welcomed it.” (“Obama: ‘Sacrifice In Iraq’ Not Over,” Politico, 8/2/10)

Then-Sen. Obama: “The President’s Strategy Will Not Work.”

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): “…20,000 Troops Is Not Gonna Make A Difference” “What I did not see from the President was any recognition that there is not a military solution to the problems that we face in Iraq right now… And in the absence of that, 20,000 troops is not gonna make a difference.” (ABC’s “Nightline,” 1/10/07)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): “…The President’s Strategy Will Not Work.” “What was striking to me in listening to all the testimony that was provided, was the almost near unanimity that the president’s strategy will not work.” (Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 1/24/07)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): “Tonight We Heard President Bush Say That The Surge In Iraq Is Working, When We Know That’s Just Not True.” (Paul Handley, “Democrats Blast Bush’s ‘Failed Policies,’ ‘Empty Rhetoric,’” Agence France Presse, 1/29/08)

Senate Democrats, Including Sen. Obama, Fought To Cut Off Funds For Troops In The Field

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI): “And What The Feingold-Reid Amendment Was — Started With Was A Proposal To Use The Power Of The Purse To Try To Use Congress’ Power To Bring This Mistake To An End. It Was Considered Absolute Heresy Four Months Ago.” (Sen. Feingold, Press Conference, 5/16/07)

• SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV) On The Feingold Resolution: “An Important Issue That I Support Wholeheartedly.” “So we’ll see what we have here in the Senate on Feingold. It’s, I think, an important issue that I support wholeheartedly.” (Sen. Reid, Press Briefing, 5/15/07)

S.AMDT. 1098 KEY PROVISION: “PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS.–No funds appropriated or otherwise made available under any provision of law may be obligated or expended to continue the deployment in Iraq of members of the United States Armed Forces after March 31, 2008.” (S.Amdt.1098, Roll Call Vote #167, Cloture Motion Rejected 29-67; R 0-48; D 28-19; I 1-1, 5/16/07)

S.AMDT.2924 KEY PROVISION: “Use of Funds.–No funds appropriated or otherwise made available under any provision of law may be obligated or expended to continue the deployment in Iraq of members of the United States Armed Forces after June 30, 2008.” (S.Amdt.2924, Roll Call Vote #345, Cloture Motion Rejected 28-70; R 0-49; D 27-20; I 1-1, 9/20/07)

Democrats Criticized Petraeus Surge, Campaigned On Opposing Plan

SEN. JOE BIDEN: “This [The Petraeus’ Plan] Is Ridiculous. There Is No Plan… He May Be The Only One Who Believes This Is A Good Idea.” “This is ridiculous. There is no plan. I ask the President and everyone else who comes forward with a plan, whether it is capping or surging or whatever they have: Will it answer the two-word test: Then what? Then what? Then what? What happens after we surge these women and men? And by the way, he said General Petraeus is one who believes. He may be the only one who believes this is a good idea. Virtually no one else thinks it is a good idea.” (Sen. Biden, Congressional Record, S.3080, 3/14/07)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV) On Gen. Petraeus: “I Don’t Believe Him.” Q: “…General Petraeus is going to come to the Hill and make it clear to you that there is progress going on in Iraq, that the so-called surge is working. Will you believe him when he says that?” SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “No, I don’t believe him, because it’s not happening. All you have to do is look at the facts.” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 4/23/07)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “We Are Going To Pick Up Senate Seats As A Result Of This War… Senator Schumer Has Shown Me Numbers That Are Compelling And Astounding.” (Shailagh Murray, “Reid Sees Gains on Iraq,” The Washington Post, 4/13/07)

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL) On Gen. Petraeus: He’s “Carefully Manipulating The Statistics.” “By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and thus the surge is working. Even if the figures were right, the conclusion is wrong.” (Sen. Durbin, Remarks To The Center For National Policy, Washington, D.C., 9/7/07)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “This Is A Campaign.” “We intend to address the Iraq issue … The heat on those Republican senators up in ’08 is tremendous and growing, and that’s why they’re squirming. … This is a campaign.” (Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 3/9/07)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA): “As For Where We Go From Here, It’s Not Really A Secret Plan. We Force Votes On Iraq Again And Again And Again. We Pressure Them Every Chance We Can Get. And I think these Republicans who stand with George Bush’s rotten policy will squirm. … We have a number of groups organizing in key Senate states, such as the AAEI’s campaign with USAction, that have been running ads and building field operations. All Of This Is Slowly Taking Its Toll — If We Continue To Build It, They Will Crack. As An Old Friend Of Mine Used To Say, Nothing Focuses The Mind Of A Politician Like The Prospect Of Defeat At The Polls.” (Sen. Kerry, www.dailykos.com, Accessed 05/24/07)

Politico reports today, “President Barack Obama takes the first steps of a U.S. victory lap on the war in Iraq Monday. . . . In his speech the president … stress[ed] that the end of U.S. combat missions in Iraq on August 31 will mark a key ‘transition’ in the seven-year conflict, the onset of a phase dubbed Operation New Dawn.”

In his speech, Obama said, “As a candidate for President, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. Shortly after taking office, I announced our new strategy for Iraq and for a transition to full Iraqi responsibility. And I made it clear that by August 31, 2010 America’s combat mission in Iraq would end. And that is exactly what we are doing—as promised, on schedule.”

But this is disingenuous. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell pointed out on Fox News Sunday, “I have to commend the President for basically, once the election was over, ignoring my counterpart Senator Reid — who said the war was lost in 2007 — and basically ignoring his own campaign rhetoric in 2008 and adopting the program of the Bush administration to wind down the war.”

Praising veterans who served in Iraq, Obama said, “While our country has sometimes been divided, they have fought together as one. While other individuals and institutions have shirked responsibility, they have welcomed it.” But who might the President be referring to when he talks of people who “have shirked responsibility”? Might that include the Democrats in Congress who opposed the surge in early 2007, and voted repeatedly to cut off funds to the troops? What about Reid declaring “This war is lost,” and bragging, “We are going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war… Senator Schumer has shown me numbers that are compelling and astounding.”

And what about Democrats who accused General David Petraeus, who was in charge of turning Iraq around and implementing the surge strategy, of “cooking the books” and  “manipulating the statistics”? In March 2007, then-Sen. Joe Biden said on the Senate floor, “This is ridiculous. There is no plan. I ask the President and everyone else who comes forward with a plan, whether it is capping or surging or whatever they have: Will it answer the two-word test: Then what? … What happens after we surge these women and men? And by the way, he said General Petraeus is one who believes. He may be the only one who believes this is a good idea. Virtually no one else thinks it is a good idea.” Asked about Gen. Petraeus reporting progress in Iraq, Reid said in April 2007, “No, I don’t believe him, because it’s not happening.” In a speech, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) accused Gen. Petreaus of “carefully manipulating the statistics” about the surge. And Biden said, “There is some accuracy to’ so-called ‘cooking-the-books’ charges being leveled against Petraeus.”

For President Obama and his administration to now be claiming credit for the successful results of the surge that he and Vice President Biden voted against, and for him to complain of people who “shirked responsibility” when Senate Democrats voted to cut off funding, declared the war lost, and bragged about the political benefits of the war is particularly audacious. President Obama’s continuing of President Bush’s strategy of winding down combat operations deserves praise, but claiming the strategy as his own and ignoring how his party behaved during the surge clearly does not.

In his appearance on The View yesterday, Barack Obama was asked about Jersey Shore star Snookie. The Mongrel-in-Chief claims he did not know who she was.

From Gawker.com:

Asked for his opinion on Snooki (who voted for John McCain) the president claimed ignorance. However, a mere two months ago he dropped Snooki’s name in a White House Press Correspondents Dinner punchline about a health care provision named in honor of the hit MTV show. “It [the provision] reads, ‘The following individuals shall be excluded from the indoor tanning tax within this bill: Snooki, JWOWW, The Situation and House minority leader John Boehner.’” So which is it, Obama? Do you know Snooki, or don’t you? Clearly, this is the Watergate of our time, and America demands an answer.

Read the Rest Here

With businesses afraid to hire due to the unpredictable nature of his administration, Barack Obama’s poll numbers have hit their lowest point to date across all of the major polls. He has been abandoned by just about every group and demographic, leaving only the hard core Democratic base and African-American voters standing by their man.

Real Clear Politics averages the major polls and keeps an eye on trends. The latest average shows that Obama has nearly half of the country disapproving of the job he is doing.

With the exception on a single Time poll, every major poll has Obama’s disapproval higher than his approval. And if you look at the Rasmussen poll, which surveys only Likely Voters, as opposed to Adults or Registered Voters, the picture for Obama is even more gloomy. Rasmussen shows the disapproval rating at 56% among likely voters.

It is no wonder Obama has begun sending political teams around the country to stem the tide of negativity. But most see the move as simply an admission of failure and a lack of direction.

This morning, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the floor about the Democrats’ job-killing agenda. He said, “For more than a year and a half, the President and his Democrat allies on Capitol Hill have pushed an anti-business, anti-jobs agenda on the American people in the form of one massive government intrusion after another. . . . As I stand here this morning, millions of Americans are struggling to find jobs — and yet all they see in Washington are Democrats passing massive bills that, at their core, seem to have one thing in common: more job loss.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took exception to this, and claimed that none of the major points made by Sen. McConnell is really true. But the counterpoints Reid employed in his response simply get the facts wrong.

Sen. McConnell said, “Later this morning the President will sign a financial regulation bill that was sold to the American people as a way of reining in Wall Street. Anyone who believes that didn’t read beyond the cover sheet. Because if they did, they’d discover instead a far-reaching government intrusion that was endorsed by Wall Street and opposed by Main Street.” But Reid took issue with this, proclaiming, “To think that banks, Wall Street, liked Wall Street reform is a stretch beyond our ability to comprehend.” Reid must have missed Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, telling a Senate subcommittee, “I listened to a speech by Barack Obama at Wall Street, and one of the points he made resonated with me because I’d said it myself. He said that the biggest beneficiaries of reform will be Wall Street itself.” Citibank and J.P. Morgan also offered praise for the Democrats’ bill, but community bankers and small businesses are worried the bill will adversely affect them.

Sen. McConnell also noted, “As a result of the health bill, small businesses, student loan centers, tanning salons, medical device manufacturers, hospitals, and major American employers have all either laid off employees or are trying to figure out how not to.” Reid’s response was to assert, “Remember, any poll you see today, the majority of the American people support what we did here with health care.” But in July alone, 3 polls have come out showing that no more than 40% of Americans support the Democrats’ costly health care legislation. Two polls actually showed 35% or 36% support for the health care bill, and the one poll that shoed 40% support, from PPP, showed 53% oppose it.

Sen. McConnell pointed out, “Just this week we read a report that during the process of the auto bailout, this Administration decided to shut down auto-dealers, without cause, effectively costing thousands of Americans their jobs.” Reid replied, “My friend says that we bailed out the auto industry. Well, isn’t that a good thing we did? . . . If it were up to them [Republicans], Ford Motor Company would probably be gone.” Did Reid forget that, as The Hill noted, Ford was “the only U.S. automaker not to take a bailout”? Not only that, The New York Times reported in April, “The Ford Motor Company had its best quarterly performance in six years, earning $2.1 billion, and now expects to return to profitability this year, executives said . . . .”

Clearly, Democrats don’t want to talk about the fact that their agenda has featured one job-killing piece of legislation after another: bailouts for auto companies, a massive takeover of the healthcare system that Americans never wanted, and now a burdensome financial regulation bill “that does nothing to reform the government-sponsored enterprises that many people believe to have been at the root of the financial crisis this bill grew out of; that was meant to rein in Wall Street, but which is now supported by some of Wall Street’s biggest banks; and that’s meant to help the economy, but which is expected to stifle growth and kill more jobs,” as Sen. McConnell described it today.

He explained, “Americans are tired of this kind of ‘reform.’ Job stifling taxes, regulations, government intrusion. These appear to be the three pillars of every Democratic legislative effort. They’re also the three things lawmakers can do that are guaranteed to kill more jobs. That’s why it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that unemployment’s been scraping double digits since Democrats started ramming these so-called reform bills through Congress.”

The bottom line, Sen. McConnell said, “It’s almost as if it’s a prerequisite for any Democrat legislation: If it leads to more job loss, they’ll pass it.” These aren’t the reforms Americans wanted and this isn’t the kind of change they were looking for.

The AP reports this morning, “President Barack Obama intends to use the congressional recess to bypass the Senate and appoint Dr. Donald Berwick, an expert on patient care who’s drawn fire from the GOP, to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, the White House announced late Tuesday.”

Berwick’s nomination has been controversial since President Obama first put his name forward because of effusive praise for the British National health Care system and for his comments suggesting health care needs to be rationed.

Speaking on the Senate floor in May, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) noted two of Berwick’s most controversial statements. “Dr. Berwick . . .  is a huge fan, a major champion, and a contributor to the British national health care system called NHS. As a matter of fact, I have a quote of Dr. Berwick regarding the NHS. ‘I am romantic about the National Health Service; I love it. The NHS is not just a national treasure; it is a global treasure.’ . . . Now, why is this important? Because the NHS rations health care. The NHS denies and delays patient access to therapies in regard to breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, kidney cancer, macular degeneration—this happens to be my favorite example: patients required to go blind in one eye first before they get treatment for the other eye—and brain tumors. . . . [Another] quote by Dr. Berwick is: ‘The decision is not whether or not we will ration health care—the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.’”

The New York Times notes, “As a recess appointee, Dr. Berwick will have all the powers of a permanent appointee. But under the Constitution, his appointment will expire at the end of the next session of Congress, in late 2011. . . . The recess appointment was somewhat unusual because the Senate is in recess for less than two weeks and senators were still waiting for Dr. Berwick to submit responses to some of their requests for information. No confirmation hearing has been held or scheduled.”

The fact that there will now be no Senate hearing on Berwick, his controversial views on rationing health care, and how they relate to the Obama administration’s new health care law is particularly outrageous. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), one of only two doctors in the Senate, said, “This recess appointment is an insult to the American people. Dr. Berwick is a self professed supporter of rationing health care and he won’t even have to explain his views to the American people in a Congressional hearing. Once again, President Obama has made a mockery of his pledge to be accountable and transparent.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was no less outraged: “As if shoving a trillion dollar government takeover of health care down the throat of a disapproving American public wasn’t enough, apparently the Obama Administration intends to arrogantly circumvent the American people yet again by recess appointing one of the most prominent advocates of rationed health care to implement their national plan.

“Democrats haven’t scheduled so much as a committee hearing for Donald Berwick but the mere possibility of allowing the American people the opportunity to hear what he intends to do with their health care is evidently reason enough for this Administration to sneak him through without public scrutiny.

“Just over three months after passage of this misguided law, with Americans’ worst fears about it being realized every day, the fact that this Administration won’t allow the man charged with implementing the President’s plan to cut $500 billion out of Medicare to testify about his plans for the care of our nation’s seniors is truly outrageous.”

George W. Bush, we hardly knew you!

When you took office, the press was busy making Al Gore the victim, and you nothing more than the illegitimate president.

Not quite nine months into your presidency, America was attacked by the most devastating attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor. And everything you planned to do flew out the window.

And in short order, you did the right thing and hit Afghanistan – hard. It took all of thee minutes to bomb them back to the stone age.

Our military was all dressed up with no war to fight. So how does one build a Presidential Legacy? Ronald Reagan did it without bombs and casualties. You would use the military to attack Iraq and plant the seed of Democracy in the Middle East, hoping to do for them what Reagan did for Eastern Europe.

What a plan! What an idea. Too bad the Middle East was not ready for Democracy. Afghanistan should have been a clue.

Toppling governments is relatively easy for a Superpower. It was the “remake them in your own image” that proved impossible. Winning the hearts and minds of those that do not want your idea of government and civilization is truly mission impossible. As you found out.

Where, oh where is a poor president to find a legacy?

Social Spending! That’s the ticket. Let’s pile on more debt (in addition to the two wars) and force the wealthy to pay for prescription medications for the elderly. You can be known as the “old people medicine man” or something.

And let’s let the Democrats, who now control congress, give free houses via Freddie and Fannie to the unfortunate millions that can’t possibly pay their mortgages. Let Barney Frank dictate banking policy.

Where did all this war and spending get you? George W. Bush earned his legacy as the man who took America to the brink of financial ruin with fiscal irresponsibility, dereliction of duty and incompetence never before seen.

And then Barack Obama was elected.

He promised to reverse course and turn the country around.

No longer would we have the greedy businessmen running the country.

No longer would America be unfair.

No longer would America be hated throughout the world.

No longer would the government hide the truth from Americans.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the new American Utopia.

Barack Obama did not reverse course. It turns out that Bush had slowly become a fiscal progressive, just like Obama. So Obama locked the wheel and pushed the financial Armageddon pedal to the floor.

Obama lied.

We did not reverse course, because that reversal would have taken us on a course to fiscal conservatism, the path Bush abandoned early in his first term.

Obama has replaced the greedy businessmen with greedy Union Leaders and environmentalists and special interests.

In his attempt to make America more fair, Obama has become unfair to businesses. As a result, businesses have retracted. And there are no jobs.

America is now the most unpopular country in the world. China and Russia are the new world leaders in all things economic, military and security. Under Bush, at least our stalwart allies remained our friends. In kowtowing to Muslims, Obama has lost respect for America among them by showing weakness, and he has shunned and insulted our friends. America has become just like Obama. The only friends we have left just want to use us to help themselves. They no longer like us.

And there is absolutely no truth or transparency in Obama or his administration.

America is floundering.

So, when Obama blames Bush for the problems in America, that much is correct. Bush set us on the course we are on.

But despite more goodwill than any president has ever had with the American people on day one, Barack Obama has squandered the good will. He has squandered the opportunity to make America better.

Obama has fundamentally changed the country, as he said he would. But we are on an equally bad path. It is just a different bad path than Bush chose.

And this path is of a far steeper decline.

America is in trouble. That much is true.

Where did all this war and spending get you? Barack H. Obama earned his legacy as the man who took America over the brink of financial ruin with fiscal irresponsibility, dereliction of duty and incompetence exceeding that of even George W. Bush.

George W. Bush did not leave office with a legacy. He left it with a curse on America. A curse named Obama.

From AP:

GOP leader criticizes immigration amnesty proposal

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says if President Barack Obama wants Republicans to go along with immigration reform, he has to drop any amnesty proposal.

The GOP leader says the legislation also would have to “make a real commitment to border and interior security.”

Obama wants to create a way for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to become citizens, that’s what opponents call amnesty. But the president says illegal immigrants would have to acknowledge that they broke the law, pay fines and back taxes, perform community service and learn English.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he’s committed to passing a bill this year. The Nevada Democrat is in a tight re-election race and could benefit politically from enacting a broad overhaul.