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Michael T. Barrett
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Sep
5
Aug
15
Silent Sunday
Category: Economics, Society | Comments Off | 0 words | Print
Apr
20
Awesome, Announcements, Amnesty & Articulation
Category: Opinions, Politics | Comments Off | 490 words | Print
For the first time in over two weeks, I don’t have a headache at this time of the night. It’s refreshing to know I will actually enjoy a day, finally, even if my neck is still as stiff as a board. Well, I guess I can’t be back to 100% all in one day now can I?
Gidget almost has her sewing studio all set up, but here’s a sneak peak at the new “fitting room”.
Sometime next week (or the week after that) I will be setting up my photography “studio” and my woodworking area in the basement. I just don’t have the energy right now.
Here are some thoughts for you…
Thought #1
This is the video where Jon Voight Calls Out President Obama. This is awesome.
Thought #2
The White House says the job numbers in Georgia are looking good. They say that the stimulus program has created 84,000 jobs in the state.
That is probably true. It probably has. It’s also true that the stimulus has not helped one bit.
According to state-by-state numbers released on Friday by the President’s Council on Economic Advisors, the stimulus program created or saved 84,000 jobs in Georgia during the first three months of 2010.
But even with those gains, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Georgia had:
162,000 fewer jobs in January, 2010 than it had in January, 2009
136,000 fewer jobs in February, 2010 than it had in February, 2009
116,600 fewer jobs in March, 2010 than it had in March, 2009
Add it up people. That’s 414,600 jobs. If you adjust for all of those wonderful stimulus jobs (many of which are probably census jobs that won’t exist in next month’s reports), the State of Georgia has 330,600 less jobs than it had last year at this time.
That’s hope for ya! What awesome results huh? Got any spare change?
Thought #3
Keep an eye on Washington, because Scary Harry and company are at it again…
Harry Reid is claiming to already have nearly all the votes he needs to force amnesty for illegal immigrants down our throats (despite voters overwhelmingly rejecting the idea) and is vowing to pick up the remaining stragglers within weeks.
That’s right. In the middle of “the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” as Obama calls it, we are now going to reward 15 million uneducated poor people for illegally breaking into our country and cutting in front of law-abiding immigrants.
Just say no to amnesty! If you thought the employment numbers looked bad before, just wait until you’re competing with 15 million more people for that job at Burger King. ¿Qué Pasa?
Thought #4
Herman Cain. What can I say about Herman? I think he is one of the most articulate and well spoken people I have ever listened to in my life. Oh yeah, and he nails it every time he speaks about the government.
Apr
9
Totals, Truths, & Treaties
Category: Our Nation | Comments Off | 556 words | Print
Thank God it’s Friday. I’m going to relax tomorrow, that’s for sure. I need it.
Thought #1
Thirty-three states are out of money to fund unemployment and are must resort to borrowing money from the fed to keep benefits flowing.
With unemployment still at a severe high, a majority of states have drained their jobless benefit funds, forcing them to borrow billions from the federal government to help out-of-work Americans.
A total of 33 states and the Virgin Islands have depleted their funds and borrowed more than $38.7 billion to provide a safety net, according to a report released Thursday by the National Employment Law Project. Four others are at the brink of insolvency.
The U.S. Constitution provides for States rights, but what happens when those states owe billions to the federal government? Something tells me the line between right and wrong is going to be blurred for a very long time.
Thought #2
Bart Stupak, the alleged “pro-life” Democrat who sold his soul in the fight against the health-care bill is calling it quits.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who played a central role in the health reform fight as the leader of anti-abortion Democrats, announced Friday afternoon that he will not run for reelection, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. Without Stupak on the ballot, the seat becomes an immediate pickup opportunity for Republicans.
At a press conference in his home district this afternoon, Stupak attributed the exertion of traveling back and forth from Washington to his sprawling Upper Peninsula district as a primary reason for his retirement but also said that he had completed much of what he aimed to do in Congress.
The truth is, he sold out, and his constituents know it. Pro-Life voters sent him to Washington and those same Pro-Life voters would have made sure he wasn’t going back regardless of his decision. He quit in the fight against the health-care bill, so it’s no wonder that he’s quitting again now.
Thought #3
The new START Treaty, which is supposed to curtail nuclear weapon proliferation, contains limits on conventional weapons.
Section 1251 of the fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization Bill Congress warned President Barack Obama not to include any “limitations” on U.S. advanced conventional weapons in New START. Now that New START has been signed, the State Department is putting out fact sheets on the agreement. An April 8th fact sheet from the State Department is entitled: “Key Point: The New START Treaty does not contain any constraints on current or planned U.S. conventional prompt global strike capability.”
So it would appear that President Obama listened to Congress’s concern regarding limitations on conventional weapons system. Unfortunately, appearances deceive. Later in the same release, the following is stated: “Long-range conventional ballistic missiles would count under the Treaty’s limit [emphasis added] of 700 delivery vehicles, and their conventional warheads would count against the limit of 1550 warheads, because the treaty does not make a distinction between missiles that are armed with conventional weapons and those that are armed with nuclear weapons.”
There is no limit to the audacity of the current administration. President Obama announced just days ago that we would not retaliate for certain acts against our county, and now we know why. It’s because he’s going to make sure we don’t have any defenses left to retaliate with.
Apr
1
Washington. The One-Stop Money Shop
Category: Our Nation, Politics | Comments Off | 523 words | Print
Now that April Fool’s Day is almost over… Seriously. ObamaCare!?! Too bad it wasn’t just some cruel joke.
Just in time to snap you back to reality, take a look at this.
Powerhouse student loan provider Sallie Mae says layoffs are imminent as a result of President Obama’s new student loan overhaul.
“This legislation will force Sallie Mae to reduce our 8,600-person workforce by 2,500,” Conwey Casillas, Vice President of Sallie Mae Public Affairs, said in a statement to Fox News.
Twenty-nine percent of the people who work for Sallie Mae are going to lose their jobs just because of the student loan overhaul.
What? Oh, you didn’t know? In the reconciliation package for the health-care bill, which was sent to the President for his signature, was a complete overhaul of the student loan process in the United States.
In addition to being the nation’s leading banker, insurance agent, mortgage company, and wall street investment firm, the United States government will now be the sole provider of student loans.
You wanted change America. You definitely got change America.
In the old days, when you had a student loan, you just kept paying and paying until it’s paid off. My wife had just finished paying off a student loan before we got married, but she paid it off. Now, with Obama Savings & Loan, students who pay for 20 years will have the balance written off at that time, unless they work in public service or for a non-profit, then the cutoff is 10 years.
So who do you think is going to pay for all those balances that get “written off”? That’s right. John Q. Taxpayer. The same John Q. Taxpayer who is already paying for bankswho keep their doors open for you, Wall Street investment firms who keep trading your stocks for you, insurance companies who keep insuring you, and mortgage companies who make sure you stay in your house.
I don’t know where President Obama got the idea, but John Q. Taxpayer is not as rich as he thinks he is.
On a side note, did you return your Census form? If you didn’t you might get a visit from a real life human being going door to door to get that information from you. Or not.
April 1 was Census Day – a day marked by events to remind people to return their census questionnaires. But some Census workers were abruptly dismissed from their part-time jobs on Census Day with no explanation.
In Northern Virginia, hundreds of Census workers were told on Thursday to turn in all materials, including partially completed enumeration assignments, because the Group Quarters Enumeration project was being canceled.
So much for those “awesome” unemployment numbers, huh? Just remember. Be patient.
Facing a public still wary of his massive health care overhaul, President Barack Obama urged Americans not to judge the nearly $1 trillion legislation he signed into law last week until the reforms take hold.
Many of the “reforms” don’t take effect until 2014, which is the very reason we were RUSHING the legislation in the first place, right?
Mar
2
Another Day, Another Snow Job
Category: Life, Opinions, Politics | Comments Off | 585 words | Print
Yesterday some weather forecasters said we’d get snow while others said we wouldn’t. Of those calling for snow, one was correct. We got exactly as much as he said we would, and that’s why I pay attention to Glen Burns at WSB-TV. After 13 years of watching (and listening to) him, he’s right more often than anyone else.
I took the video fairly early in the day. We ended up with about 3 inches total here at our house, but at one point it was melting as quick as it was falling.
It was pretty to watch, but it was a heavy, wet snow and the kids didn’t find much interest in it. Amazing really, because we rarely get snow, so you would think they would want to be out there all day.
With all the snow falling outside, I couldn’t help but wonder if hell had frozen over. After reading the news today, I’m still not sure.
House Ways and Means Committee Charlie Rangel was on the verge of losing his gavel Tuesday night as a trickle of Democratic defections turned into a flood.
It wasn’t clear how Rangel would go – voluntarily, by force, temporarily or permanently – but the tide had clearly turned against him by the time he walked into a closed-door meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staff Tuesday night.
“The dam broke today,” said a senior Democratic aide.
Charlie Rangel has been in the House of Representatives for 39 years. House members are elected every two years. That’s one election and 17 re-elections so far for those of you keeping track. By now, Mr. Rangel is pretty settled into his job as a career politician, but it looks like his days are finally numbered.
Sure, it’s only a leadership role, but a very influential one at that, so if hell is freezing over, I’m hoping his days as a Congressman could be coming to an end as well.
Another interesting development today was the sudden “switch” by Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY).
For days now he has blocked a bill extending unemployment benefits, highway funding, and other government programs because the bill was unfunded.
Tonight, however, he switched his position because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised him a vote on his amendment forcing the $10 billion bill to be offset by closing a tax loophole, as well as a chance to offer amendments on the next Senate jobs bill which will cost $150 billion.
Just moments after he agreed to Scary Harry’s terms, the extension bill passed 78 – 19 and his amendment failed with only 43 Senators voting for it.
So what did Bunning gain out of this? Nothing. Nothing at all. He folded under the pressure when he should have stood his ground. How much longer can we write checks with nothing to pay them with? Here’s Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) speaking on the Senate floor today before Sen. Bunning caved.
The one bright side was seeing which 19 GOP members voted against the measure. Senators Alexander, Barrasso, Bennett (UT), Bunning, Burr, Coburn, Corker, Cornyn, Crapo, DeMint, Ensign, Enzi, Gregg, Hatch, Johanns, McConnell, Risch, Sessions, and Thune all voted against a bill that will cost $10 billion with no money allocated to pay for it.
Even though he voted against the bill itself, by dropping his opposition to the bill Jim Bunning helped increase our national debt by $10 billion in just a matter of minutes. Thanks, Jim!
Dec
7
When are politicians going to learn that they should not brag about “good news”, especially when that “good news” isn’t really that good at all? You would think, after years of practice, they would realize that their attempts at spinning bad news into political gold just does not work and Rumpelstiltskin is not going to come to their rescue.
The November jobs report was quite shocking to many people. Shocking because the numbers were far better than “experts” thought they were going to be. When I say better, that does not mean it was good news. In fact, it was far from it.
The number of jobs lost in the month of November was just 11,000. The unemployment rate fell from 10.2% to 10%. While both of those numbers are a good sign, and definitely an improvement over last year, there is no logical way anyone could classify the jobs report as “good news”.
November payrolls fell by much less than expected – declining by just 11,000 – and the unemployment rate fell to 10.0%, the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday. But while it’s becoming more apparent that the U.S. job market is closer to growth, caution is still the buzzword as the jobless recovery continues.
When growth does return the consensus is that getting back the roughly 7.2 million jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007 won’t be an overnight phenomenon.
In other words, it’s going to be a long hard road. Families are struggling more than ever, and I think it’s rather brash to make statements which spin this news as anything exciting or in anyway permanent. How many times has the government had to revise the job numbers because they realized they screwed up? Shouldn’t we wait a bit and see if these numbers hold up before we start telling everyone that the loss of only 11,000 is good news?
Earlier today I was hanging out on Twitter, and I noticed a message from Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO). She said,
“December of last year we lost more than 600,000 jobs. November this year we lost 11,000. Good news. Progress. Still work to do.”
If the goal is to stop job loss, and the target is employment, how can you consider the loss of 11,000 as progress? That’s insane.
If you compare the loss of 11,000 jobs solely with the loss of 600,000 jobs, you may feel like your making progress, but let’s look at it realistically. If you need to walk a total of 10 miles, and last month you walked backward 600,000 steps are you really making progress to complete those 10 miles this month if you walk backward another 11,000 steps? Like I said, you’d have to be insane to think so.
Anyway, I don’t have that many characters on Twitter, so I responded to her message with the following,
@clairecmc Only you could see the loss of 11,000 jobs as “progress”.
I have replied to a couple of Sen. McCaskill’s tweets, but she has never responded directly to me, and I don’t expect her to. She’s not my senator, so why should she? Of course, she only follows one person on Twitter, so she doesn’t even see what her constituents say unless they direct their message directly to her. Twitter must be a lonely place for Sen. Claire McCaskill. Just imagine how engaged she could be on the conversation if she just listened to what people had to say.
I have no idea if her response was directed toward me, but minutes later she responded with the following tweet.
So weird when politics turns good news into cynical disappointment.
She thinks it’s weird when politics turns good news into cynical disappointment? Is she serious? Isn’t she using politics to try and turn a very bad situation into a feel good story for all who will listen to her? Isn’t it weird to think moving backward should be considered progress? Talk about being a cynical disappointment.
Do her constituents really think moving backwards another 11,000 jobs is good news? Maybe it is good news for those who aren’t one of the additional 11,000 who now find themselves unemployed, but I doubt those 11,000 think the report was good news.
I responded to her again, of course with Twitter’s 140 character limit.
@clairecmc I don’t think those 11,000 ppl (or the 15million looking for work) consider it good news at all. Only politicians do.
The truth is, politicians want you to believe these job numbers are good news. No matter how negative the numbers still are, if you believe the numbers are positive, you’ll tend to forget the “bad times” when you walk into that voting booth come election time. And that my friends it the worst kind of cynical disappointment there is.
Apathy at the voting booth leads politicians to believe they can say anything they want because no one really cares and the majority of people aren’t going to do anything different when they walk into that voting booth the next time around.
This type of behavior results in the House and Senate being filled with politicians like Claire McCaskill who will do their best to pull the wool over our eyes as many times as they can as long as they can.
The next time someone tells you the “good news”, sit back for a moment, look at the entire story and make up your own mind. You just might surprise yourself and wake up in time for the next election.
Dec
5
Numbers, Numbing, & Numbnuts
Category: Opinions, Our Nation | Comments Off | 791 words | Print
Today was supposed to be a fun day. We were planning on attending a camera club field trip, but all three boys were up late into the night excited about the pending snowfall. The snow began to fall around 2am, lightly. Very lightly. Tiny, almost microscopic snow flurries were drifting down onto our deck.
We woke in the morning, to no snow. None. Nada. Zilch. So there we were with three boys who all had less than 5 hours sleep. The heck if I was going to try to take them anywhere.
We’re waiting now for the annual Christmas parade in our small town. The boys love seeing all the different police cars and fire trucks, as well as all of the floats from the different civic and church organizations. I’m planning to take video of the entire parade, which usually lasts about 10 minutes or so.
Here are some thoughts to get you through until tomorrow, when you’ll be able to see my awesome small town Christmas parade video.
Thought #1
The numbers just don’t add up.
President Obama told us that unemployment would peak at 7.9% if the stimulus was passed. The stimulus passed and now unemployment is sitting at 10%.
More than 2.3 million people have stopped looking for work because of the economy, because more than 2.6 million jobs have been lost since the stimulus was passed.
Want to see more numbers? Check it out.
Thought #2
The Obama administration is sticking their heads in the sand again.
The U.N.’s decision this week to investigate whether some of its climate change research had been manipulated constitutes a “direct rebuke” of the Obama administration, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Friday.
The White House’s unwillingness to open a similar inquiry could now only be characterized as “a sad abdication of their responsibility to ensure that U.S. policies are not driven by corrupted science and data,” the congressman added.
We have evidence that climate data has been tampered with. Raw data has been destroyed, so we have no evidence that man-made global warming even exists. Wouldn’t it be prudent to investigate the events that led up to the deception and the fraud, to find out (a) who is responsible and why, (b) if man is actually having any effect on the Earth’s climate, and (c) what we can do in the future so a handful of over-zealous scientists don’t control all of the raw data that is used to support their own falsified scientific theories?
Thought #3
Would Comcast stoop so low as to blatantly pander the President and Congress to win approval of the Comcast/NBC deal?
Now Comcast is a big company, with about 100,000 employees. I’m sure health care costs have a big impact on their bottom line. But the bottom line impact on Roberts’ personal net worth will be much greater if the federal government, with a big say-so from the US Senate, approves the $13 billion deal.
So Roberts’ heartfelt letter to the president in support of the Democrats’ singular policy issue was the first action he took in what is expected to be a twelve-month regulatory review process. This is an action with absolutely no relevance to the vast intricacies of the merger, but a move that sets a new standard for blatant pandering aimed at a group of people for whom pandering is the new coin of the realm.
Heck, I’ve seen politicians supporting the socialist agenda and American citizens actually supporting that agenda, I’ve seen the women Tiger Woods was with when he allegedly cheated on his wife, none of which are hotter than his wife, and I’ve seen family members show their true colors and take it out on my children, so nothing, and I mean nothing that happens now will ever really surprise me.
Thought #4
Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said NASA has refused for two years to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act that would show how the agency has shaped its climate data and would explain why the agency has repeatedly had to correct its data going as far back as the 1930s.
“I assume that what is there is highly damaging,” Mr. Horner said. “These guys are quite clearly bound and determined not to reveal their internal discussions about this.”
The numbers matter. Under pressure in 2007, NASA recalculated its data and found that 1934, not 1998, was the hottest year in its records for the contiguous 48 states. NASA later changed that data again, and now 1998 and 2006 are tied for first, with 1934 slightly cooler.
Something tells me, now that the Climategate scandal has broken, we’re going to see another recalculation or two.
Nov
7
220 Reasons For Change In 2010
Category: Our Nation | Comments Off | 702 words | Print
I waited to write this post tonight while I watched the debate over HR 3962 play out all evening on CSPAN. I was hoping for a small miracle, as I was hoping to post about the defeat of the bill while it sat on Nancy Pelosi’s table. The House passed the bill by a vote of 220 – 215. They only needed 218 votes to pass the bill.
In the end this evening, 220 people voted to in favor of taking away your rights as an American citizen.
The debate started early in the day and did not conclude until well into the evening. In typical Nancy Pelosi fashion, the debate on the House floor soon took a turn for the worst when the majority failed to observe House rules in a fair manner.
Democrat after Democrat was allowed to parade down to the microphone and ask for unanimous consent to enter their comments into the record. When Republicans questioned whether or not these unanimous consent requests were counting against debate time, they were told they were out of order. When they raised parliamentary inquiries about the procedure for objecting to the unanimous consent requests, they were told that regular order would continue and they should just shut up.
It’s quite clear how things are run in the House under Nancy Pelosi’s leadership. This first video is almost 8 minutes long and shows how things got heated up to begin the day.
This second video shows how efficiently Nanny State Nancy is at shutting down the minority.
As the evening progressed we heard some excellent floor speeches, from MIke Pence (R-IN),
and Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI).
The final vote in support of the bill included on Republican, Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-LA) who claimed that he voted for passage of the bill to support “life”. Thanks for killing any chance of a happy life there Anh. We appreciate it, and we’ll show you how much in 2010.
Make sure you check the final roll call of the vote to see how your Representative voted and remember their vote when you walk in to cast you ballet next year.
The unemployment rate (of those still able to collect unemployment benefits) hit 10.2%. More Americans are out of work now than ever before in our nation’s history, and the Democrats in the House of Representatives chose to pass HR 3962 which gives the government control of 1/6th of our economy, reduces even more jobs, violates your right as an American citizen and adds trillions to our federal deficit.
The CBO estimate released last night finally sheds light on the smoke and mirrors game the majority has been playing with the cost of their health care reform proposal. Over the first 10 years, this legislation builds in gross new spending of $1.7 trillion – and most of the new spending doesn’t even start until 2014. Once that spending is fully phased in, the House Democratic bill rings up at more than $3 trillion over ten years.
I guess it could be worse. The President of the United States could be making snide comments about people who attend tea parties.
Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit “Democratic voters” and it will encourage the extremists.
If you don’t find anything wrong with that statement, make sure you look up the definition of teabag and you’ll develop a whole new respect for our Commander-in-Chief. Oh! Speaking of our Commander-in-Chief…
After speaking to House Democrats, insulting a great number of Americans, and forcing his hand in the health care debate, President Obama and his wife flew off for a relaxing weekend at Camp David. In the meantime, our former President, and his lovely wife spent several hours at Fort Hood visiting with families and showing their support.
Word has it that Barack Obama might get around to visiting Fort Hood, and showing his support of the families there, on Tuesday. Maybe. The teleprompter might change its mind though.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.
Barry Goldwater
Nov
6
I was sitting here relaxing tonight, when I heard that Nancy Pelosi will be putting HR 3962 up for a vote sometime this weekend. Wonderful, it’s not like I had planned a busy weekend bird watching, stopping by the Instant Tea tomorrow, or celebrating my wife’s birthday either. Sheesh. Thanks Nancy.
Thought #1
There was a “house call” in Washington yesterday and thousands of protestors showed up again to protest the current health care reform bill. It seems some of the protestors that showed up in Washington couldn’t control themselves and got themselves arrested.
The health care debate got ugly in Washington this morning. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was the target of protesters today — some of whom were arrested.
The protests took place in the waiting area of Lieberman’s office inside the Hart Office Building.
About 20 protesters, carrying signs, took over the waiting room, many sitting on the floor. They told police they were not taking over the office, but rather waiting to see the senator.
Before I go any further, let me make something clear. It was not these protestors,
or these protestors.
In fact, the only protestors who got arrested were those who showed up to protest the fact that Rep. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) said he would take part in a Republican filibuster of any health care bill he does not agree with. These protestors were not part of the ‘House Call’.
Thought #2
This is President Obama’s economy now.
Thought #3
Have you pondered the actual costs of the health care proposals in the House?
Thought #4
When has Nancy Pelosi actualy kept a promise she made?
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the speaker will not allow the final language of the health care to be posted online for 72 hours before bringing the bill to a vote on the House floor, despite her September 24 statement that she was “absolutely” committed to doing so.
Thought #5
Some stories do have a happy ending.
A 1965 Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Spokane, Washington, was found by customs agents in a shipping container in the Los Angeles port last month, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official said.
The original owner should get the vehicle back, if you ask me.