I'm Going to Revisit Our Constitution ...

Well, the votes are in on President Obama State of the Union Speech ... and from what I've heard, the overall consensus is that the President's speech was condescending, non-conciliatory, and in some instances downright disrespectful (e.g., direct attack on recent Supreme Court ruling concerning campaign finance contributions, with the Supreme Court Justices sitting directly in front of the President during his speech ... and being seated there at the request of the White House).

[ News Story:  Justice openly disagrees with Obama in speech. Alito visibly responds negatively when president mentions recent decision.

Video:  Jan. 28: Watch Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's reaction after President Obama criticized a recent decision on campaign spending. NBC's Pete Williams reports. 

I was actually surprised to see this acurately reported ... especially by MSNBC?  Perhaps Obama's love affair with mainstream media is finally over.  ]

 
Glen Beck went so far as to say President Obama is attempting to $$BUY$$ Americans' support for his "liberal progressive agenda for America" with a government pledge of a college education for everyone -- which if you do the math and use logic just isn't possible without further increasing the already unwieldly monster of national debt.  Beck asks if our freedom, the future of our children and our country can truly be so cheaply bought?

I for my part, am going to revisit the Constitution and read up on the Executive Branch's powers, in particular the use of the Executive Order.  Then, I'm going to review historical instances for the use of this power by former Presidents.  I'm going to do this, because given the tone of President Obama's State of the Union speech, the subsequent remarks by Nancy Pelosi on Healthcare Reform ( e.g., "We will climb the fence ... if that doesn't work we'll pole vault over ... and if necessary we'll parachute in."), and the fact that Democrats no longer have the 60 votes that they need in the Senate in order to cram their destructive piece of Healthcare legislation through ... I suspect that it is highly probable that President Obama may resort to using (abusing??) this power.

On that note ... here is a cartoon that Lauren drew for me ...

Lauren loves to watch Glen Beck.  She is now 12 and still says "Mike Huckabee for President".  Lauren is probably better informed on current affairs, our government and key issues facing our nation than most adults that I know.

Keep hope! All is not lost, and whether the President likes it or not: I am hopeful that the 'times they are a changing' (Love this song!  : ).  Think my next post will be about Art again ... too much gloom and doom in politics these days, but such is life, no?


Song:  "The Times They Are A Changin' ", By Bob Dylan

President Obama's First State of the Union Address ...

Don’t want to go into a lot of negatives about the President’s State of the Union Address.  I'lll leave that to the political analysts.  But right off the bat, something about the jobs numbers in his speech just doesn’t add up with reality. How can we have created so many millions of jobs if unemployment has risen from 8.7% (have to double check this … may be 8.6 or 8.8%) when Obama took office to now 10% (know this number is correct!) if the nation has truly witnessed such a surge in jobs created?

I was a bit disappointed that President Obama still (as from days of his campaigning) seemed to be blaming the other side of the aisle for lack of realizable progress on his promised partisanship pledge, stating that “Just saying ‘no’, may be good short term politics, but it's not leadership.” Gee, I wonder, did it not occur to President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the like, that Democrat-only meetings, behind closed doors, was anything BUT extending the hand of partisanship ... and just may have left the Republican constituency little alternative but to say ‘no’? Don’t need to be high paid political analyst to see that, now do you? Hopefully, the election of Senator Scott Brown, by the people of the state of Massachusetts, sent President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the like, a clear message on the need for true partisanship in the near and foreseeable future.

Didn’t like the coining (?) of the term “clean energy” … seems, in my mind, to be priming the pump for the Presidents ‘cap and trade’ agenda, which to my way of thinking is only going to further injure an already crippled economy and cost more Americans jobs in the long run. Seemed especially odd, in light of the fact that the eyes of the American public – and the rest of the world for that matter -- are finally beginning to open to the full story behind the REALITY of ‘Global Warming’ (i.e., what it IS and IS not). As I’ve said before: FOLLOW THE MONEY $$$.  Nuclear power plants and short term offshore oil drilling ... need to think some more on long term ramifications of these ...

Did finally realize that Joe Biden has a REALLY crooked … almost blindingly, white smile. Creepy?! And perhaps telling, no? Not sure if Biden's crooked smile has any real relevance to actual State of the Union though? : )  Just an amusing side note, maybe?

Okay transitioning from the negatives into the neutral: Is telling the other side of a war that you’re fighting the exact date of your military forces departure a sound military strategy? Might the other side just decide to lay low until after W-day and then let all hell break loose? I don’t know you tell me; I’m no military strategist? And ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ … ah, didn’t a revisiting of that policy fail once before? And with good reason? Somehow, I don’t think that an Executive Order, or Congressional Bill, ordering an end to the current 'don't ask don't tell' policy is the going to be the band-aid that suddenly changes military culture and makes everything right in the world once again.

Another neutral(?): Healthcare reform … can you say ‘beat a dead horse’?! Enough said?  The American people spoke loud and clear (via the recent Massachusetts Senate race)on the Healthcare reform that the Democats have been trying to ram through the House and Senate:  they don't want it!  Now should the Democrats continue to push this piece of dead legislation through as it stands, this now neutral point will quickly shift right back into the negative.  And something tells me that Nancy Pelosi and crew just aren't going to let this bad piece of legislation die.

Nuclear weapons proliferation … somehow, I suspect that telling those that pursue acquisition of nuclear weapons that "There will be dire consequences" for their actions isn’t going to carry a whole lot of weight with the likes of North Korea and Iran … hasn’t worked so far. Maybe it’s time to lay out the specifics and really hit them where it hurts (e.g., ). But I could be wrong?

And increasing our exported domestic products .... "We need to double our exports ...." … great idea, but again no meat … no specifics … another neutral. Wonderful idea, but how can we make it a reality?  What is it that we, as Americans, currently make (or can make) that other countries want?  And can we make this product(s) at a competitive cost with say China? 

Creation of a task force, by Executive Order, to study reducing the National Debt (note the President used the Executive Order override a bill defeated by Congress to do the same)… smoke and mirrors? I’m willing to reserve judgment, however, and take a wait and see attitude … to see what, if anything, this task force is able to actually accomplish. A noble idea … which might (emphasis on ‘might’) be capable of producing some tangible results.  The Presidents using the Executive Order with such levity has me a bit concerned though.  If I'm not mistaken, use of the Executive Order is privilege that is not taken lightly.  It has historically been used only rare instances and after great consideration of all possible alternatives.

Onto the positive (notice that I did not say positives, plural) now:  I did like the notion of finally eliminating tax breaks for companies who send jobs overseas. That would be a HUGE step (as I’ve said before … again and again) in creating American jobs.

Last but not least: "Freezing the national deficit for the next three years"…  that is eliminate all non-discretionary spending ... now that goal has merit and promise … if it can be and IS, in fact, truly done. I’m not sure where to put this? A neutral-positive perhaps?

On that note, my three shots of 5-hour energy drink have finally burned off (it's 2:15 a.m. now); I’m on the down swing now. So, I’ll wrap it up. Stay informed: BE INVOLVED!

God Bless!
M

P.S.  After a few hours sleep and rereading this ... seems to me as if President Obama seems to think that we can afford to maintain the status quo:

State of the Union ==>  Maintain the Status Quo? ... that is the liberal progressive agenda and power grabbing surge ....

 And just hours after the President claims that the government is going to freeze non-essential spending:  the congress just passed a 1.9 Trillion National Debt Ceiling increase?!  Am I missing something here?

State of the Union Address

My 3 daughters -- all in elementary school, the youngest in kindergarten -- say:

"Go Bush! You ROCK!"


I agree. More later, but I will say this: I challenge you, one and all, to rise above your comfortable complacency and to actually think critically for yourselves about the true state of our union. Don't just digest and accept the spin that you get from the liberal media machine.

[more later ...]

I think that President Bush gave a good address. It was very upbeat, focused on the positive, and addressed specific charges about the war in Iraq. The order of affairs was definitely different than previous speeches -- recognizing Americans (even those for finishing business in Iraq) are weary of war and ready to focus on domestic issues.

Too bad Bush won't be given credit -- in the present day liberal media ... I think history will give him his due however -- for all that he has done for the economy in spite of:
1) war in Afghanistan & Iraq, 2) 9/11 terrorist attacks on U.S., and 3) 2 natural disasters -- one of which was the worst on record in the history of our country. I mean we have a strong economy and a dollar that is competitive on the world market -- with countries like India and China whose economies are booming -- interest rates are low, unemployment is at an all-time low, and the job market is growing, with great choices for anyone looking for work or wanting to change jobs.

To have cut the federal deficit by 1/2, and 3 years ahead of schedule is truly an accomplishment! I think that it is awesome that Bush is going after earmark spending. Hope that this gets signed into law before our Democratic congress starts deciding how best to spend our money for us. At least that way, there will be some additional revenue at their disposal, and maybe they won't tax the poor middle class into oblivion.

Bush said he has a plan for completely eliminating the federal deficit in 5 years. I'd like to see the details of that plan. Did you know that China owns nearly half of our debt? Scary.

Hopefully Bush can make a mark on saving our Social Security program so all the $$$ that we "young" folk are paying into the program will actually be available to us when we retire. The idea of a universal health care system scares me, although I do think medical costs are out of control. I think health care insurance for all will help some, but costs have got to be reigned back in somehow.

What is your take on the State of the Union?