Obama Hijacks Palin Agenda for Born Again Populist Pitch

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Obama talks for 70 minutes, people are still not sure what he said. But he did smile a lot, tell a few jokes, lecture the public, scold the Supreme Court, castigate an inept Congress and hijacked a bunch of Sarah Palin's agenda that he condemned so viciously last year.

So now, will the liberal elite who buried Palin in insults and smears claiming she was too inexperienced to be babysitter let alone president when she was really running for vice president, now apologize to her since the Chosen One has now seen the light and co-opted her platform and that of the Tea Party? Why he didn't even credit the source of the ideas.



Off shore oil drilling, business tax credits, eliminate capital gains taxes, hiring credits, more nuclear plants, coal and natural gas production, he used a whole lot of the Palin platform to try and win back the independents and people who expect government to be competent. You don't think it has anything to do with the polls do you?



Just so you know he was not completely out of form, as the original Obama was quite the entertaining speaker, he did point out that recent letters he has received from people tell him of the suffering and pain Americans feel about jobs, housing, healthcare and education. You would think after campaigning for president for two years and being president for one year he would have known how bad people were suffering but at least he reads the mail.



Did he hear anything the people told him? Guess not as he said the anti-Washington feeling sweeping across the nation and sweeping politicians out of office was the same wave he rode on his surfboard. I don't think so Mr. Obama. How in the world could someone with all the experience you had as United States Senator and community organizer make you an outsider? Anyone mistaking Obama for anything but a Washington insider would be the same people who mistake Bambi for a serial killer.

Anyway his long and often used "outsider" pivot is another area where he ripped off Sarah Palin who really was an outsider and did fight the political establishment. Heck, Obama even made reference to the bank bailout being like a root canal. Does that mean he ripped off Palin once again with her "drill baby drill" mantra during the campaign? After all the flip flops and absconding of Palin's agenda and platform he would have been a lot better off to have had Palin as VP and kept Biden in the doghouse.



Okay, then there were the 66 references to the almighty "I", another consistent Obama trait that leaves one wondering if the virtue of humility has any place in our young president's worldview. I'm beginning to think he has no foundation to his worldview but snatches the last argument he heard about what to think, whether it came from Sarah Palin or South Park. Then he throws out all he stood for in the campaign which seems to upset those liberal groups expecting socialism to already be here.



Did Obama pivot on his policies like he did his Palinesque rhetoric? Let's see. He still wants his health care bill, cap and trade legislation, pending jobs bill, maybe another similar stimulus since the first one did not do what he wanted, and he now has better ideas for the Tarp funds repaid by the big, bad banks. One might have thought the bank payments would go to reduce the deficit but not our president.



Overall there is one difference between what Obama proposes and what Palin, the Republicans or the Tea Party people would want. I'm sorry Mr. President but you are not the poster boy for the Tea Party and you are most certainly not the Washington outsider you claim. You made the deals to bailout out the banks, insurance companies, auto companies and save the unions and Goldman Sachs from huge losses for irresponsible investing.



You along with most of the politicians in Washington take the money from the lobbyists, banks, insurance companies and every other group like trial lawyers and pharmaceuticals and stick it in your campaign coffers. Some outsider. If you could just tell us the truth and say you will stop being a politician we might believe you. But you act as if you are disgusted by the very practices you encourage behind the scenes and behind closed doors. Where I come from that is being a hypocrite.



Beyond the rhetoric and entertainment there were a couple of ominous signs that would scare the hell out of any God fearing, patriotic American but our adoring media seemed to not notice, and they all too often seem to not notice when Obama makes no sense. This time he made sense.

First he threatened Congress when he said if they didn't give him a bill he wanted he would just sign an executive order and eliminate the need for Congress to act. So the Executive branch can eliminate the need for the Legislative branch to perform their duty. It has already happened under Obama with the cap and trade fiasco demonstrating a distain for such Constitutional principles like the separation of powers and checks and balances between the Executive and Legislative branches.



The House passed the Al Gore/Goldman Sachs cap and trade carbon emissions retirement bill but the Senate wants to think about it, so it spins in the wind doing nothing while others investigate it. Obama's Environmental Protection Agency then decides it knows how to cut Congress out of the decision by declaring carbon dioxide a toxic gas thus making it subject to federal regulation with no action by Congress. One again the Administration has demonstrated a disregard for the Constitutional separation of powers between the Executive and Legislative branches.

My advice to EPA is to go out and arrest all the trees of the world because they emit carbon dioxide when they are cut down. Forget about the fact they also absorb nearly 40% of all carbon dioxide through their natural photosynthesis process. Arrest all the people burning wood for heat because they are directly polluting our atmosphere. And arrest the oceans while they are at it because the sea both generates carbon dioxide and absorbs it to the tune of 60% of all emissions.



The Obama Administration disregard for our Constitutional protections, ones which our forefathers warned us about, is quite disturbing. Why do they think they can ignore elements of the Constitution that guarantee the separation of powers and assure the checks and balances between each division of our republic? Not content with ignoring the separation of powers with the Legislature, he then took aim at the third division of government, the Judiciary.

He scolded the Supreme Court, condemning their decision on corporate free speech, and seemed to try and embarrass them as they sat in the front row watching his speech. One was visibly upset, not by the criticism but by the fact Obama did not even tell the truth about the decision. Obama said the court action will allow corporations, including foreign corporations, to own the US election process. Well foreign corporations are prohibited from contributing to our campaigns and the Supreme Court decision had nothing to do with that.



Obama also forgot to mention he and the Democrats already have taken millions of dollars from corporate executives while the political parties take money directly. He also forgot to mention that anytime Obama and Congress want to fix the system of campaign financing they can do it if they have the guts. However, corporations are betting millions that Obama and our political leaders in the capitol will do nothing.

The thought that a president thinks he can ignore the Constitution if the Legislature and the Judiciary fail to do his bidding is very scary. Finally, his criticism of both parties for not doing what he wanted is a joke as he was the one who refused to work with both parties choosing to work directly with the lobbyists of the special interests. His approach resulted in a new meaning for pork barrel as he gave away $60 billion to the unions without Congressional approval, tens of millions of dollars to the people of Nebraska and Louisiana to bribe their Senators, and billions in protection to the pharmaceutical companies.



Well, he can say what he wants but it sure seems to me as if politics as usual is alive and well in the back rooms of our nation's capitol from the White House to the Halls of Congress. Don't be fooled by the rhetoric. Don't be fooled by the pivots. Don't be fooled by the new found or born again populism. No one in Washington, including our Ivy League educated president, is a friend of the people over special interests or Wall Street.

Merry Christmas 2009 from the Grinch that Stole America - The Obama Gang

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There are five gifts President Obama promised his special interests under their Christmas trees when their money got him elected president. Thanks to nearly $1 billion they investment in him, he did become president riding a wave of disapproval of his predecessor George Bush. But one person's gift may be another's yoke and any tax paying citizen of the USA faces a future full of yuletide yokes courtesy of the new administration.

The gifts promised:

Wall Street Bailouts
Card Check
Cap and Trade
Health Care Reform
Global Warming Funding



Wall Street Bailouts

The first legitimized the greatest robbery in history, the pillaging of the American treasury. Between the actions of the Treasury Department through the bank, insurance and auto bailouts and the action of the Federal Reserve in waiving all procedures and saving Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley by changing their banking status, this is a gift that just keeps on giving, at least to the Goldman executive bonus pool.

On September 21, 2008 the Federal Reserve stunned the financial world by announcing that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last two independent banks in America, will become bank holding companies. The Wall Street titans would be allowed to transition into holding companies following a mandatory five-day waiting period, and would be able to take advantage of credit from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in order to complete the transition.

The Fed's move was described at the time as the latest milestone in a jaw-dropping couple of weeks for Wall Street and American business. Goldman and Morgan were the last two independent investment banks, following the filing for bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the acquiring of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan this spring, and the sale of Merrill Lynch to the Bank of America.



Goldman now had access to incredibly cheap money. Exploiting its new status, Goldman became the first financial institution to sell $5 billion in government-backed bonds through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which allowed Goldman to start doing deals when the markets were at a near standstill. The president of the New York Federal Reserve at the time was Timothy Geithner, now Obama's Secretary of Treasury.

All activity by Bush Treasury Secretary and former Goldman executive Henry Paulson was approved by candidate Obama before he was elected, and legitimized by him after being elected. The cost to the taxpayer, untold trillions in short term debt and a nearly $2 trillion increase in the national debt.



Card Check

Legislation long sought by unions to force open voting for union membership which many view as a means to expose voter intentions and open the floodgates to union pressure on non-union employees was endorsed by Obama. It was blocked in the Senate but union advocates believe they can get it approved with a few modifications that will still give unions control of the workers and elections for union representatives. In Congress nothing is ever really dead. If approved labor costs for much of the manufacturing, retail, health care and other industries will significantly increase as union control spreads under Obama and the multiple executive orders he has already signed expanding union influence.

Cap and Trade

Designed by Goldman Sachs and Al Gore and associates like Gore's financial partner, also from Goldman Sachs, the Cap and Trade bill, touted as a tool for carbon management, is nothing more than an investment ruse to allow barrels of money to be made on trading emissions instead of oil futures which are also controlled by Goldman and others. It has already made Gore $100 million developing the concept and he stands to make hundreds of more millions if approved. It will directly lead to a significantly higher cost for oil products.



Health Care Reform

The Democratic bill endorsed by Obama will open the door to the most powerful union backer of Obama, the SEIU, to organize the health care industry. This will increase the cost of health care no matter what else the bill does. Other provisions of the bill will help maintain high costs for drugs because of deals between the White House and major pharmaceutical corporations, will increase taxes on businesses and taxpayers for expanding coverage to all uninsured, could cost over $2 billion after the first ten years, and does nothing to limit excessive legal fees being generated under the present malpractice rules. All costs will be passed on to the taxpayer in the end.



Global Warming Funding

Back when Obama and Congress thought the people would give them carte blank power to sign away federal money there were thoughts of a massive increase in carbon reduction at the World Global Warming conference currently underway in Copenhagen. Now after the Chicago Olympic bid disaster in Copenhagen Obama should know better than to expect good things over there but some people never learn.

Thanks to a hard line by China the newest goals may not become mandatory but the hope of the social activists at the conference is still to get the industrial countries to finance all third world efforts to control global warming to the tune of ten billion or more dollars a year. Now most third world countries are so caught up in corruption you could give them 100 billion and it might disappear but the Obama gang was expected to be the leading financier of the third world efforts. That means the taxpayers, deficit spending and increased national debt and it does not even impact directly on America.



There you have it, your Christmas present from our new president and Nancy Pelosi and Congress. Four major reforms all leading to increased costs, increased taxes and reduced availability of services in they are implemented. Congress has one last chance to stop the nonsense. However, Congress may also believe it has one last chance to pass the nonsense so citizens beware, these expansions of government may be hidden in other actions by our pork barrel addicted legislators in Washington.

We can give them a present, give them a permanent vacation from doing harm to our country by voting them out of office, but vigilance is needed until then to make sure the actions are not buried in other mundane actions by Congress, a trick they have used often.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...

Obama on Health Care - Above the Bickering but What About the Facts

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Long on hyperbole and short on specifics, did the president connect to the public on his health care speech? Well, he spent 10% of the speech glorifying America's most liberal former Senator Ted Kennedy, a man who spent 46 years in the Senate accomplishing just about nothing on health care. I'm sure the liberal left in Boston was pleased but middle America was probably left wondering why far more time was spent on Kennedy than on financing health care.

Obama did promise he would consider tort reform to stop the proliferation of legal fees to his trial lawyers supporters but considering is hardly endorsing. He did wallow around on the public option but in the end who knows if he does or does not want it in the final bill. It would seem at a minimum he will have some trigger mechanism to implement it when the opposition dies down.




Of course if I was talking and the evil eye of Nancy Pelosi was burning holes in my back I might dance around the subject she declared essential to any bill coming out of Her House. If he does compromise with the concern of the people and drops the public option he will spend the rest of his presidency fighting her and not the Republicans.

There have been many presidential addresses to a joint Congress in our nation's history. This was just the third on health care. Yet the only time health care reform has been approved was when presidents did not address a joint session of congress on the subject, under Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.




Some lingering questions:

How will it be financed? He acknowledged it will cost at least $900 billion over ten years. Government has never even been close to accurate on projected spending and when it comes to health care government projections have been a joke. So it will most likely cost far more.

Obama says he will not sign any bill that raises the national debt by one dollar. The Obama gang was quite shrewd in crafting a bill and identifying the cost over ten years, long after he has left the presidency. But in truth the explosive cost will be at the front end of the time period when he thinks he can add millions of uninsured people and build 54 new governmental agencies without increasing the deficit. America is so broke already they can't even give a pay raise to congress without adding to the deficit so this language is deceptive at best, dishonest at worst.

Obama says there is nearly $500 billion in fraud in our current health care system. If that is true then why is the Obama government not prosecuting the crooks stealing billions of dollars from the public treasury right now? Why not prosecute the crooks first, save the $500 billion and then fund health care reform?




How are we ever going to stop the insurance companies, stop the trial lawyers and stop the medical industry from overcharging us and restricting competition when those very industries and their lobbyists already own the president and congress? Nearly every politician in Washington is dependent on those very same bad guys to fund their upcoming reelection campaigns. Are they really going to slap the hands that feed their insatiable appetite for campaign money?

More importantly, how in the world can we spend any more money on anything when the economy is teetering, unemployment is still rising, China holds the mortgage on America, our wars have become an endless pit of money and deaths, the annual debt has hit astounding new records, the national deficit has hit staggering new levels and nothing has been done to stop Wall Street, the banks, the credit card companies and Heaven knows who else from ripping off the unsuspecting American consumer?




As long as the foxes remain in the hen house of our nation's capitol the American public does not have a chance. Obama, Pelosi, the Democrats and the Republicans have created an green environment alright, one that lines their pockets and the pockets of their lawyers, lobbyists, accountants, advisors, stock brokers and bankers with greenbacks sucked right out of your very own pockets. Reform Washington style sucks.

Obama's 3rd 100 Days - Now What?

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Will the next 100 days finally reveal the real Obama so America can get on with evaluating the new occupant in the White House? Don't count on it as what we have seen so far has been such a contrast in styles, a reversal in policies and a world class spending spree that the Harvard fraternity-like mood in our nation's capitol is unlikely to change.





Is there anything we have learned so far? More of the usual when it comes to politics. While Obama may have a far left leaning agenda his actions are no different than the Republicans. All the crooks on Wall Street remain on Wall Street and not in jail, except for the token self-admitted crook Madoff.

Obama's pledge to stop politics as usual stopped nothing and in fact resulted in record shattering spending, deficits and false hopes that will be paid for generations to come. Pork barrel is alive and well. Foreign enemies he was going to engage with his Ivy League charm get bolder by the day and now we have to resort to coddling them and allowing them to get away with stealing elections and kidnapping Americans as a pre-condition to talking to them.





Not only has the Obama administration ignored the Republicans and Independents in Washington even though he was elected to be the president of "all the people," but he has moved partisan politics to new levels of blatant discrimination by threatening to get even with those who do not support his freight train to socialism.

His $2 trillion first year deficit put more money in the pockets of his friends and campaign contributors than the special interest groups he so casually took for granted as a Democrat. The auto unions lost tens of thousands of jobs under his policies. Educators still work in lousy schools and student achievement standards continue to flounder.

His assault on Catholics and Christians seem as if he single-handedly intends to wipe God out of the foundation of America and leave issues of morality a shambles as he promises one thing to the faithful and Pope while doing just the opposite in his actions.

All those local government unions that supported him have suffered furloughs, layoffs and reductions in force while those rich bankers that backed him have received billion dollar bailouts, billion dollar bonuses and get out of jail cards for life I guess.





To demonstrate his fiscal restraint he allowed billions and billions of dollars in outrageous private sector bonuses while bailing out the companies, instead of prosecuting those getting the bonuses for destroying the national and world economies by manipulating the housing, oil and alternative energy stock and commodity markets. Speculation that leads to the destruction of national economies hardly seems like grounds for a $100 million bonus for one person.

His answer to a health care system that is out of control is to create another layer of greed with a public socialized system to compete with the greed mongers already there. The health care crisis is a matter of cost pure and simple.

the cost of health facilities
the cost of treatment versus cure
the cost of doctors intent on making millions rather than helping people
the cost of insurance companies with no incentive to reduce costs when all they have to do it raise premiums
the cost of pharmaceutical companies trying to squeeze every last cent out of our health insurance and government aid programs before they lose their patent rights
the cost of frivolous lawsuits by lawyers that continue to force up the price of malpractice insurance paid by the policy holders, not the insurance companies, lawyers or doctors
even the cost of regulators to keep track of the cost of health care.





Mr. Obama, you Harvard people make things too difficult. If you really want to fix a system out of control from greed, then get rid of the greed and stop pampering the greedy. The problem with health care is no different than Wall Street. You leave the door open and greed will dominate because your administration has shown nothing to indicate you can or will stop it any more than any previous Democratic or Republican president.

You coddle the rich while slamming those whose support you took for granted. Is that a legacy you want to leave behind? You refuse to reform political campaigns because in truth you bent the rules to spend the most in history to get elected. Nothing has happened to reform campaigns, clean up Wall Street, get corruption out of politics or help people. Your legislative agenda has been a boondoggle for the rich, protecting the haves while continuing to penalize the have nots.

If you are Christian like you claim though your actions certainly are no example, then find a church and go to it and stop trying to drive God out of the constitution and foundation of our nation. We came here to found a nation under God, not against God and not one that ignores the role Divine Providence plays in our lives.





Americans are not stupid. The collapse of your poll numbers should tell you that. We know you are using the office we elected you to for your own self-serving purposes. We know those closest to you are being helped while many more are paying the price. Maybe you will help all the people in the end but America will survive whether you are honest with us or not, whether you are honest with yourself, whether you become the king of socialism, or whether you dedicate yourself to helping all the people all the time rather than the chosen few that are your faithful and blind followers.

We don't care if you join Bill Clinton and Al Gore and go make a few hundred million dollars after you are president, just don't make it while you are president at our expense. Try vacationing where normal people go, not just $40,000 a week vacation homes for the elite and rich. Tell Michelle $400 sneakers are not a good example to set in the White House when greed and materialism got us here in the first place.





You made history getting elected, not for what you might do once you were elected. So far your record in office and your shot gun approach to governing has diminished your reputation. Perhaps it is time you take a courageous step and declare that in spite of your ability to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for political campaigns you will not run for re-election in 2012, and you might very well regain some of the credibility you have lost. For the first time you will prove you are not intoxicated by power and money but by what is best for all Americans.

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Obama's Helter Skelter Agenda - Maybe Harvard Wasn't Ready for the Presidency

It has been since 1962 that a true Harvard grad has been president, a span of 47 years while it has been 49 years since one was elected president. Of course we are referring to John Kennedy and I think it is clear already that Barack Obama sure isn't any John Kennedy.

Oh yes, the fact checkers may say "wasn't George Bush, Jr. a Harvard Business School grad" and the answer is yes but based on what he did with the economy and what Obama has done since taking over it might be something that Harvard may not want to talk about. Besides, Bush was a Yale undergraduate while Obama was a Columbia undergraduate.

Now Obama seems to be a nice enough kid. Maybe he made a few mistakes because of his lack of experience, mistakes getting to the White House and mistakes now that he is there, but in spite of his claims that being a community organizer qualified him to run the economy, fix Wall Street and give us all health care, we now know that is just plain nonsense.

I don't remember anyone in the campaign telling us the Obama Administration would be an on-the-job training program for future liberal leaders rather than the president of all the people all the time. His gang has ignored Republicans and Independents and tried to use the Democratic majority in Congress to jam legislation down our throat.

The Obama handlers seemed to forget that just 53% of Americans voted for Obama while 47% opposed him. His was not an overwhelming public mandate but a referendum on the Bush Administration which seemed to be drifting aimlessly the last few years in office. Even Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, the last famous liberal presidential candidate from Illinois and three time loser could have beat Bush last year.




Unfortunately for the Republicans Bush was soooo unpopular Speaker Nancy Pelosi was able to get a Democratic majority in the House and Majority Leader Harry Reid got one in the Senate thus, in their minds, giving the president an ironclad veto proof majority in Congress.

So after promising us a break from old style politics and transparency and no lobbyists and prosecution of crooks and new ideas, etc., etc., etc. Obama was able to use the Pelosi-Reid majorities and slam a massive amount of legislation down our throats to fix all the things the Republicans screwed up the past 8 years. It was a great opportunity and a historic landslide of laws but they were written by the same old politicians and lobbyists who were already owned by the special interests from Wall Street to Union Leaders and the laws were filled with the same pork barrel projects we always expected before.

As for the Emergency stimulus bill which Obama touted as the savior of America at a cost of $787 billion to fund shovel-ready projects that could be implemented immediately, we are entering the 5th month since passage and so far the accelerated efforts of Obama have managed to get $44 billion spent, just 5% of the money. Most was probably for unemployment benefits which has nothing to do with stimulus.

In spite of the failure of the program, the economy continues to recover meaning why did we need the program in the first place? We didn't. But Obama did to fund all the none stimulus social agenda he wanted to advance the liberal cause in the nation. Our secret march toward socialism will leave an amazing legacy if left unchecked by Congress.



In less than six months since Obama took office the USA has borrowed more money than the entire amount borrowed during the previous 30 years. In terms of foreign countries of course China continues to hold the biggest mortgage on the future of America with $767.9 trillion in US debt and a total of $1.4 trillion in US debt and US currency. Since we forced Chrysler and GM into bankruptcy and Fannie May and Freddie Mack were bailed out with federal ownership I guess that means China and the other foreign debt holders will own America's largest auto and mortgage companies as well.

The top 7 foreign debt holders are China ($767.9 b), Japan (686.7 b), Caribbean Bank Centers ($213.6 b), Oil Exporters ($192.0 b), Russia ($138.4 b), UK $128.2 b), Brazil ($126.6 b), and Luxembourg ($106.1 b) with a total of $3.2 trillion in foreign debt ownership.

Now the Administration takes comfort in knowing the Federal Reserve here in the US owns the greatest amount of US debt, $4.8 trillion, but who owns and controls the Federal Reserve? Not the US government. Not the US president. Not the US Congress. No, the twelve regional Federal Reserve banks are owned by the private banks doing business with the Fed.



The Obama record shattering borrowing has pushed the US into a debt never before seen and he has just begun. Waiting in the wings are more bank and other bailout programs, energy efficient spending, more health care spending, and a crippled Social Security and Medicaid programs all in need of billions and billions of dollars.


The failure of the Obama economists to accurately project unemployment trends led to gross errors in the estimated costs or value of new programs like the stimulus and bank bailout, the bank stress tests, and the US budget revenue and deficit projections. Obama and the Democratic Congress decided the unemployment rate would stop at 8% because of all their spending yet the rate shot to 9.4% in spite of the spending or lack of spending. It will most likely rise throughout 2009 as projected in the Coltons Point Times and peak around 10% before the effects of economic recovery, not stimulus spending, begin bringing it back down.

So far Obama and the Democratic Congress have brought us record unemployment, record debt, record foreign deficits, record foreign ownership of US assets, record bailouts of banks, mortgage companies, insurance, auto and other industries, and record oil prices with no demand to support it.

Even the Obama worshipers like the media, liberals, unions, bureaucrats, teachers, disenfranchised citizens and Democrat puppets are beginning to get nervous about the failures of programs to protect them and their special interests. Wait until they begin to feel the effects of spiraling interest rates and skyrocketing inflation rates to pay for all the liberal agenda which will surely be the result.

Oh yes Obama is a likeable guy. His wife is likeable as well. But being likeable and from Harvard, Columbia and Princeton Ivy League schools as they are does not make one mature, street smart nor able to govern any better than a Ronald Reagan also from Illinois who attended tiny Eureka College with a student body today of just 750 students.

Obamamania Thrills Liberals and Socialists Throughout the World

So Europe has an Obama, the Muslims have an Obama, Russia and China have their Obama, Michelle might even have her own Obama, Turkey has one and even we have one, or two, or three. Don't get me wrong, I do not want the president to fail. However, there are a lot of things he is doing that give me the creeps.

He promised change then loaded his staff with former Clinton people, not exactly my idea of fresh new faces. Seven nominees by Obama owed back taxes. What is that all about? He has the greatest collection of liberal socialists next to the French parliament or the old Soviet Politburo.

What happened to the new era of ethics in government? What happened to his ban on lobbyists working for him? His appointees quickly violated both of those promises. I don't remember him saying he would generate more national debt in four years or less than Bush did in eight years.

He promised to eliminate or slash the budgets of all those departments and agencies that don't do their job but the only budget cut has been our national defense. He promised to build a wall to stop illegal aliens then went and promised to let the 12 million illegal aliens stay here behind the wall and become citizens. I thought the wall was to keep them out.

Now we discover he sent the Congressional Black Caucus to negotiate with Fidel Castro to open our borders to Cuba. Okay, if the average Cuban makes $9 a month under the Communist country aren't they going to become illegal aliens trying to get into America as well? And besides, the Black Caucus was never approved by the Senate to negotiate treaties.

He spent trillions more than he promised in just his first year and even spent a trillion on stimulus when less than a third of it can actually stimulate. Big cars are gone. Bank accounts are empty. There will be no drilling for oil though millions of gallons are there to drill.

He doesn't bow to the Queen of England but does bow to the King of Saudi Arabia. Countries at the G 20 and NATO meetings greeted him cordially then refused to do anything he asked. He can't even make up his mind about the dog for his kids.

He promised no pork bills from Congress would be allowed yet thousands of pork projects costing billions of dollars have already been signed in to law by him. What happened to reforming our corrupt campaign laws? Where is the new level of ethics? What has been done to stop special interest groups from buying the influence of Congress?

We know stem cell research has been expanded. The floodgate to more abortions have been raised as if 50 million abortions already performed in America were not enough. We know we won't be in Iraq long even if the country falls apart when we leave. And that bad prison in Cuba will be closed although no one knows where the hundreds of terrorists will be set free.

All in all our new president is off to quite a start. Now he did get something right, he picked North Carolina to win March Madness. Stay tuned.

AMERICA'S COLLECTIVE NATIONAL TRIP

I never thought I would get the chance to do this article but there is no doubt that truth changes here in America and it is about time we take another look at the facts. The subject is marijuana use in America and the facts are this; over 100 million Americans have tried marijuana and 14.8 million use it monthly. Over 40% of all high school age kids have tried it.

Now for comparison purposes, there are three recreational drugs in America, alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs including marajuana.

Results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Office of Applied Studies (OAS)

Alcohol
Slightly more than half of Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2007 survey (51.1 percent). This translates to an estimated 126.8 million people, which was similar to the 2006 estimate of 125.3 million people (50.9 percent).





More than one fifth (23.3 percent) of persons aged 12 or older participated in binge drinking (having five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the 30 days prior to the survey) in 2007. This translates to about 57.8 million people, similar to the estimate in 2006.

In 2007, heavy drinking was reported by 6.9 percent of the population aged 12 or older, or 17.0 million people. This rate was the same as the rate of heavy drinking in 2006. Heavy drinking is defined as binge drinking on at least 5 days in the past 30 days.

In 2007, among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate of binge drinking was 41.8 percent, and the rate of heavy drinking was 14.7 percent. These rates were similar to the rates in 2006.

The rate of current alcohol use among youths aged 12 to 17 was 15.9 percent in 2007. Youth binge and heavy drinking rates were 9.7 and 2.3 percent, respectively. These rates were essentially the same as the 2006 rates.

Tobacco
In 2007, an estimated 70.9 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) users of a tobacco product. This represents 28.6 percent of the population in that age range. In addition, 60.1 million persons (24.2 percent of the population) were current cigarette smokers; 13.3 million (5.4 percent) smoked cigars; 8.1 million (3.2 percent) used smokeless tobacco; and 2.0 million (0.8 percent) smoked tobacco in pipes.

The rate of current use of any tobacco product among persons aged 12 or older decreased from 29.6 percent in 2006 to 28.6 percent in 2007, but the rates of current use of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, and pipe tobacco did not change significantly over that period.





Between 2002 and 2007, past month use of any tobacco product decreased from 30.4 to 28.6 percent, and past month cigarette use declined from 26.0 to 24.2 percent. Rates of past month use of cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipe tobacco were similar in 2002 and 2007.

The rate of past month cigarette use among 12 to 17 year olds declined from 13.0 percent in 2002 to 9.8 percent in 2007. However, past month smokeless tobacco use was higher in 2007 (2.4 percent) than in 2002 (2.0 percent).

Illegal Drugs
In 2007, an estimated 19.9 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit drug users, meaning they had used an illicit drug during the month prior to the survey interview. This estimate represents 8.0 percent of the population aged 12 years old or older. Illicit drugs include marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, or prescription-type psychotherapeutics used nonmedically.

The rate of current illicit drug use among persons aged 12 or older in 2007 (8.0 percent) was similar to the rate in 2006 (8.3 percent).




Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug (14.4 million past month users). Among persons aged 12 or older, the rate of past month marijuana use in 2007 (5.8 percent) was similar to the rate in 2006 (6.0 percent).

In 2007, there were 2.1 million current cocaine users aged 12 or older, comprising 0.8 percent of the population. These estimates were similar to the number and rate in 2006 (2.4 million or 1.0 percent).

Hallucinogens were used in the past month by 1.0 million persons (0.4 percent) aged 12 or older in 2007, including 503,000 (0.2 percent) who had used Ecstasy. These estimates were similar to the corresponding estimates for 2006.

There were 6.9 million (2.8 percent) persons aged 12 or older who used prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs nonmedically in the past month. Of these, 5.2 million used pain relievers, the same as the number in 2006.

In 2007, there were an estimated 529,000 current users of methamphetamine aged 12 or older (0.2 percent of the population). These estimates were not significantly different from the estimates for 2006 (731,000 or 0.3 percent).

Among youths aged 12 to 17, the current illicit drug use rate remained stable from 2006 (9.8 percent) to 2007 (9.5 percent). Between 2002 and 2007, youth rates declined significantly for illicit drugs in general (from 11.6 to 9.5 percent) and for marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, LSD, Ecstasy, prescription-type drugs used nonmedically, pain relievers, stimulants, methamphetamine, and the use of illicit drugs other than marijuana.

Did you really check out the statistics? Alcohol was used by 126.8 million people 12 and over, tobacco was used by 70.9 million people 12 and over, and illegal drugs were used by 19.9 million Americans 12 and over. Of the latter 14.4 million used marijuana. Over time 100 million people have used marijuana.

The cost of illegal marijuana is staggering with a study by Jon Gettman, Ph.D. indicating that Americans spend nearly $113 billion annually on the drug. We also spend $10.7 billion in law enforcement to control the drug before the stimulus and new drug enforcements efforts by the Obama Administration. In other words our government loses nearly $31.1 billion in lost tax revenue to illegal marijuana and spends $10.7 billion trying to stop it, about $42 billion a year.

That is only the beginning of the cost however. The majority of the drug is grown in South America and Asia and smuggled into the states. Along the Mexican border over 6,000 Mexicans have been murdered in drug wars in the past year alone. Tens of thousands of people in other countries have been murdered over the years supplying the US with pot.

Yet the effects of marijuana are nearly insignificant compared to the physical and psychological damage inflicted on us from legal drugs sanctioned in America, alcohol and tobacco. If you threw in the abuses in the prescription drug use here you would find billions more in wasted money. We know all these legal drugs kill and cost us billions of dollars in medical costs.




So why not legalize marijuana? The benefits now substantially outweigh the risk. Marijuana is the only natural drug of the three sold in a natural state. Where it has been legalized in places like the Netherlands, the use by the public has dropped significantly below the rate in America. In fact in Columbia where it is grown the drug use is a fraction of the American use.

Not only would legalization eliminate the $10.7 billion in law enforcement costs, money that could be better used chasing the criminals in suits whose actions cost us trillions of dollars in losses, but the $31.1 billion in lost tax revenues could pay for a lot of deficits in states and a lot of new initiatives nationally.

Marijuana could be grown in America putting tens of thousands of acres into productive, tax generating use, land currently sitting idle and generating no property tax revenue. States that lost significant property taxes with the loss of tobacco crops would have a way to recover the losses. Thousands of lives in Mexico would be saved every year by eliminating the drug smuggling and drug wars involved in distribution.




When we tried to prohibit the sale of alcohol in America it backfired and we should have learned our lesson. We allow the sale of tobacco which has hundreds of chemicals added to it to make us addicted to it and the government still can't stop 126.8 million people from using it. The last three presidents of the United States have all admitted to using marijuana. There would be a great sigh of relief from all the countries trying to stop the flow of marijuana into America and we would be saving thousands of lives a year. How about we use common sense and finally legalize it and put billions of dollars to work for us?

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