Apr 02 2009
Who’s Job Is It To Make Sure the President Gets Some Rest?
Every answer here was on the mark, and I’m proud of our president. And worried for him. He sounds like he needs sleep:
QT
Archive for the 'Barack Obama' Category
Mar 31 2009
Expectations: What Won’t Obama Do?
From The Atlantic’s politics page:
Honestly – it made me chuckle. I remain one of the people who really thinks that President Obama is an amazing President, doing stuff that we’ve not seen before, against overwhelming odds. But – I’m not sure I needed him to repair my car.
[poll id="2"]
QT
Mar 22 2009
A Naw Ruz Message from the President
I posted about Naw Ruz at WindOnWater.net – that it is the one time in the year when even Baha’is in Iran celebrate the same holidays as their Muslim neighbors.
Here’s the president:
QT
Mar 07 2009
The President Sees The Same Problem I Do…
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0309/obama_i_rarely_read_blogs_70410d8b-b283-4f6e-b74f-51982c34306d.html
Key quote:
And part of the reason we don’t spend a lot of time looking at blogs is because if you haven’t looked at it very carefully then you may be under the impression that somehow there’s a clean answer one way or another – well, you just nationalize all the banks, or you just leave them alone and they’ll be fine, or this or that or the other.
That reflects well something I just said…
Mar 06 2009
Obama Citizenship Case A Waste Of Time: Federal Judge
This is long overdue. Thank you, Judge Robertson!
Feb 27 2009
The Wingnut Revolution?
As always, Bob Cesca pens a brilliant post. Once a week, Huffington Post’s best poster sheds light on the darkness of our political discourse with humor that makes truth telling bearable…
Except this time I’m not laughing. (Sorry Bob.) This week I’ve seen numerous people who I feel ought to be more reasonable, and knowledgeable, passing along flat out lies picked up from the mainstream media. I’ve heard so called conservatives, with no stake in the elections whatsoever, excoriate our President for doing a less harmful version of what their former champion (Bush II) did, and I have finally had enough with dishonesty and deliberate disingenuousness.
These rich creeps whining on television about “revolution” need to get a grip. Here’s a nice IRS table showing tax rates over the years: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/02inpetr.pdf.
Have a look at key dates:
| Tax year | Lowest bracket | Highest bracket | ||
| Tax rate² (percent) | Taxable income under–³ | Tax rate² (percent) | Taxable income over–³ | |
| 1959………………………………………………………….. | 20% | $ 4,000.00 | 91.0% | $ 400,000.00 |
| 1962………………………………………………………….. | 20% | $ 4,000.00 | 91.0% | $ 400,000.00 |
| 1969………………………………………………………….. | 14% | $ 1,000.00 | 77.0% | $ 200,000.00 |
| 1972………………………………………………………….. | 14% | $ 1,000.00 | 70.0% | $ 200,000.00 |
| 1979………………………………………………………….. | 14% | $ 3,400.00 | 70.0% | $ 215,400.00 |
| 1982………………………………………………………….. | 12% | $ 3,400.00 | 50.0% | $ 85,600.00 |
| 1989………………………………………………………….. | 15% | $ 30,950.00 | 28.0% | $ 30,950.00 |
| 1992………………………………………………………….. | 15% | $ 35,800.00 | 31.0% | $ 86,500.00 |
| 1999………………………………………………………….. | 15% | $ 43,050.00 | 39.6% | $ 283,150.00 |
| 2000………………………………………………………….. | 15% | $ 43,850.00 | 39.6% | $ 288,350.00 |
| 2001………………………………………………………….. | 10% | $ 12,000.00 | 39.1% | $ 297,350.00 |
| 2002………………………………………………………….. | 10% | $ 12,000.00 | 38.6% | $ 307,050.00 |
(If that chart doesn’t show up well, look on page 5 of the link).
The point being – the whiners are complaining about a tax hike that brings them no where near as high as the highest tax bracket during the majority of the Reagan years – and the one year when Reagan cut taxes down to 28%, he left George the First with having to break a promise and raise taxes (thereby likely costing the republicans their run).
Whiners. They want a revolution? While millions of Americans are LOSING THEIR HOMES and their JOBS and their HEALTH CARE… they want a revolution because they are going to lose less than 2% income to taxes – taxes to help get the country they claim to love out of its bind?
They want a revolution? They want to foster an environment where MY President is threatened by their reckless, selfish chatter about birth certificates and tea parties? Oh really? BRING IT.
They might get more than they bargained for.
QT
More on
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Feb 25 2009
The Incorrigible Maureen Dowd strikes again! :)
Northern No Trust had a lavish dinner at the Ritz Carlton on Wednesday with a concert by Chicago (at a $100,000 fee); rented a private hangar at the Santa Monica Airport on Thursday for another big dinner with a gig by Earth, Wind & Fire, and closed down the House of Blues on Sunset Strip on Saturday (at a cost of $50,000) for a dinner and serenade by Sheryl Crow.
In the ignoble tradition of rockers who sing for huge sums to sketchy people when we’re not looking, Crow — in her stint as a federal employee — warbled these lyrics to the oblivious revelers:
“Slow down, you’re gonna crash,
Baby, you’re a-screaming it’s a blast, blast, blast
Look out babe, you’ve got your blinders on …
But there’s a new cat in town
He’s got high payin’ friends
Thinks he’s gonna change history.”
I am increasingly skeptical of our Secretary of the Treasury. I think our President likes Geithner as a fellow smart and elegant (thank you, Sean Penn!) guy. I recall reading that during the selection process, Obama just “fell in love” with Geitner. Well. I think the honeymoon will be over soon enough if Geitner keeps pouring money needed for other priorities into the banks while not really holding them accountable, and from all signs that I can see, the Treasurer’s plan doesn’t quite meet the president’s lofty goals for accountability.
We shall see. I remain committed to prayer for our nation, and for our president.
QT
Feb 25 2009
The President Calls the Charge on Education!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/us/politics/24obama-text.html?pagewanted=6&em
So tonight I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be a community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.
And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself; it’s quitting on your country. And this country needs and values the talents of every American.
Last night my eyes opened wide and my mouth hung open as I heard these words. Never have I heard a president make such a statement, nor felt so compelled, myself, to rise to the challenge, nor felt so hopeful that others would hear this call as well. Can you imagine if we as a nation really do heed this call?
Feb 25 2009
What it means to act in good faith…
This matters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/us/politics/24obama-text.html?pagewanted=8&em
That’s what she said: “We are not quitters.” These words…
(APPLAUSE)
These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here. They tell us that, even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres, a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.
Their resolve must be our inspiration. Their concerns must be our cause. And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us.
I know…
(APPLAUSE)
I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far.
(LAUGHTER)
There are surely times in the future where we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed.
(APPLAUSE)
I know that.
(APPLAUSE)
That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.
