Don wrote: Just how many vacation days did President George W. Bush take during his reign? - Obama on Vacation: The $28,429,533.47 Man
Dear Comrade Don,
George W. Bush took vacations either at his own home in Texas or at his parents’ place in Kennebunkport. That’s not the same thing as flying off to South Africa on safari or touring Brazil or hanging at Martha’s Vineyard.
It’d be nice to see the Obamas go back to Illinois, back to Hyde Park for a vacation, and hey, it would lower their carbon footprint too.
But when exactly have liberals been a "do-as-I-do" kind of people?
The most consistent feature of liberal legislation is that it exempts them and their lobbyists, unions and corporate pals from the effects of the social engineering they foist on the rest of us.
Bush at least had the sense to hang up his golf bags and not play golf after 9/11.
Obama, on the other hand, avoids Chicago.
Perhaps that’s because he helped make Chicago the toilet that it’s become.
Whatever else you can say about Chicago, it’s a city that has been forged and refined by Democrats, like Obama.
When I was growing up there, the city at least functioned.
Today it’s just a shooting gallery.
And why not?
Cook County produces wonderful legislators like Jan Schakowsky (D-Socialist) whose husband was convicted of bank fraud, and failure to withhold taxes; and – I think there is more shame in this- was honored in 2000 by the Democratic Socialists of America with the Debs Award with the note: “Your work and your life honors the memory of Eugene V. Debs, Norman Thomas and Michael Harrington and continues their legacy of struggle for social justice. For your dedication to the fight for a just society, the Debs - Thomas - Harrington Dinner Committee hereby presents to you its annual award on this 5th day of May, 2000.”
I guess bank fraud and socialism do go together. If you understand how one works, you probably have a great understanding of the other too.
Anyway, I wouldn’t want to go back and live in Chicago no matter how big a mansion I owned, especially if, like Obama, I lived in Hyde Park.
And it’s not likely I’d ever go back unless I went there to clean it up.
None of that for Obama however.
“It could just be a diabolical, cruel rumor meant to hurt Chicago residents who are proud of the first couple's $1.8 million Hyde Park Georgian Revival mansion and history in the community,” reported the liberal blog PolicyMic during the reelection campaign when Obama wasn't sure he'd be back in the White House. “Several publications have hinted or stated outright that top Obama fundraiser Penny Pritzker has been orchestrating the purchase of an opulent $35 million Honolulu estate for the first couple.”
That's the same Penny Pritzker who Obama nominated for Secretary of Commerce. It's nice when you have "friends" in Chicago who happen to have $35 million to buy you a house.
I don’t know who should be more relieved by his departure for Honolulu, Obama or Chicago?
Egalitarians? That's for little people.
This is a city that kept Jesse Jackson Jr. elected and well-fed after he spent months in the Mayo Clinic for bi-polar depression, necessitated and occasioned by embezzlement charges. The voters would have kept sending him back to Washington too had the FBI not taken the matters out their hands by indicting Jackson.
This is also the city that sent back to the state legislature the first state house representative it has kicked out in 107 years. Do you know how hard it is to get kicked out the Illinois House?
From the CSMonitor:
Derrick Smith managed the rare feat of being expelled from the Illinois House. He faces corruption charges that could send him to federal prison. Authorities say they've got a recording of him requesting that a $7,000 bribe come in cash because he didn't "want no trace of it."
And yet, a smattering of blue-and-white "Vote Derrick Smith" yard signs dot the West Side. It's also not difficult to find people who say they're going to cast a ballot for him. As the Democratic Party's candidate, the board is naturally tilted in Smith's favor.
Smith, you’ll be relieved to know was reelected in 2012 with 76.7% of the vote. It's even harder apparently to stay out once kicked out.
Illinois voters have a contempt for common sense.
So, do I find it outrageous or unbelievable that Penny Pritzker is holding out the hat for Barack Obama, helping him buy a $35 million mansion in Hawaii?
Nope. He needs a place to vacation.
Plus Obama bought his Hyde Park manse with a little help from some “friends.”
Chicago power politics will always stick to Obama no matter where he goes, even if Obama doesn’t stick with Chicago.
So don’t even get me started on vacations, Obama and graft.
The very fact that you defend these doofus-stooges disqualifies you from full-fledged membership in the human race.
Democrat economics probably works out well for you.
Don wrote: If you and your fellow conservatives cannot produce more credible candidates and more realistic solutions, you will never convince "Independents" that so-called Conservatism has answers for America. Then, again, that is probably why ALEC and friends ) is so hell-bent on restricting voting. -
Obama on Vacation: The $28,429,533.47 Man
Dear Comrade Don,
Well, you qualify for back-to-back comradeship.
What is it with liberals and the Koch brothers anyway? You guys are obsessed with them. The American Legislative Exchange Council is funded by many organizations and corporations-- not just the Koch brothers.
Just like the Far-Left has, Middle America has a number of think tanks, lobbying groups and community organizations that represent our point of view. And yes, there are prominent funders out there for some of these groups. The Koch brothers are two such funders.
That hardly explains the obsession, however.
Here’s an email that the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee just recently sent out:
Friends -- We have some bad news.??The Koch Brothers have been waiting for the right moment to crush President Obama’s progressive agenda -- and it could be coming sooner than you think.??That’s right: House Republicans are attempting to use the upcoming debt ceiling deadline to take the economy AND the middle class hostage.??Our fundraising deadline is in less than 48 hours. If we get outraised (for the third month in a row) Paul Ryan and House Republicans could put Medicare, Social Security and Obamacare on the chopping block. We can’t let House Republicans and their Koch overlords get their way:
Koch overlords. Ha!
You know what the great thing is?
ALEC will probably be publishing stuff right here on Townhall Finance shortly.
And not once did I ever speak with either of the Koch brothers or any of their body doubles to arrange this. Of course I communicate with them on a spiritual basis almost daily. All conservative do. It’s built into the GPS radio receiver that they’ve implanted in each of us at our initial ALEC meeting.
Did you ever hear of Pat Stryker, Jared Polis, Tim Gill or Rutt Bridges? How about George Soros or Warren Buffett?
You object to the Koch brothers spending their own money on political activities, but liberals with money can do whatever they want.
By the way, Obama spent $1.5 billion on his two presidential candidacies, all but killing public campaign finance. You object to money in politics? Obama's ground zero for big money.
“[F]or many former allies,” says the Washington Post, “Obama’s decision to convert his campaign operation into a political advocacy group with unlimited funding was the final straw. ‘The president has engaged in uncharted waters that open the door to influence,’ said Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer, a longtime activist who describes Organizing for Action as ‘a precedent that other federal officeholders are likely to follow.’”
Don’t you think everyone else should be entitled to the same megaphone Obama’s celebrity affords him?
Or only those who agree with you and can pay?
Oh, and don’t worry about our candidates.
After all you guys are about to recycle Hillary “What Difference Does it Make” Clinton or Joe "Gaffe and Graft" bin Biden.
Good luck with that.
Myer2 wrote: What is the track record for GNP growth by party in power? According to Fox news its Republicans 2.6% and Democrats 4.2. The stock market? GWBush -6% Clinton +15% BigBush +10.9% Reagan +10% Obama 18%--But of course that only makes the upper 1% happy. - Democrats: Bringing You One Good Year of Economic Growth Over a Five Year Period
Dear Comrade Myer,
Like most liberals you’re economically and politically illiterate so I’ll try to use short, simple words.
By the way, the term GNP was replaced along time ago by GDP.
The stock market is not a measure of all things, especially under Obama. Obama was fortunate in the sense that he took office at a time that the stock market was making record lows. It's not hard to post huge numbers when you start out at record lows.
In 1932, the Dow Jones bottomed out at 41.22, losing 90% of it's value. By 1937 the Dow had rallied and was at 194.40. By contrast, the market lost only about 54% of its value from 2008 to 2009.
The market will have to move from its bottom of 6547 printed in March 2009 to 30,836 by March 2014-- 7 months from now-- to have equaled the "performance" during the Great Depression from 1932 to 1937.
Today the Dow is at only 14,810. And Obama's term hasn't ended yet.
Also the Federal Reserve has provided a record amount of liquidity for stock traders that they didn't provide in the 1930s.
But you are right about the 1% being the prime beneficiaries of the stock market performance under Obama.
If it weren’t for the whole issue of helping “people,” this would be a great economy. If you didn’t have to worry about jobs, income, the welfare of the middle class -- you know the things that Obama seems little concerned about?-- this would be a terrific economy.
Kind of like every other liberal program: the system really works great as long as you don’t have to be one of the people stuck inside it. I mean it really works great for those in Congress who don't have to follow the laws they pass. Or people like your comrade above who I suspect isn't human.
Getting back to the economy as a whole, measured against Republicans or Democrats, such as Clinton, Bush, Other Bush, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Ford, Johnson…Obama’s record is terrible. It’s terrible on jobs, it’s terrible on economic growth and it’s terrible on income.
And Obama either meant to do it this way, or he didn’t. I don’t know which is worse.
Kanawah wrote: Considering the degree of obstruction by the extreme right, one good year's recovery in five is remarkable. If the obstruction from the right were not there, unemployment would be + or - 5%. But the right is willing to destroy our nation because of their hate for Obama. They leave the American people no choice but to destroy the "right". (or should I say WRONG). - Democrats: Bringing You One Good Year of Economic Growth Over a Five Year Period
Dear Comrade Kanawah,
I think you’re forgetting about the period from 2009 to 2010 when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress along with the presidency. At that time the Democrats pretty much passed whatever it is that they wanted to pass.
The economy that you see now is a creation of that body of legislation.
Dodd-Frank, Obamacare, the stimulus measures, the green energy boondoggle, none of which you can point to as an empirical successes for this economy, were all created during that period of time.
For ease-of-use we can call that period the Pelosi Ascendancy.
The one noticeable bright spots in the economy for American families is in housing. And one could make the case that the housing sector did not begin to recover until after the Democrats stopped prosecuting mortgage lenders and allowed foreclosures to proceed in the normal way that they would during free-market periods.
The Right in this country isn’t trying to destroy anything. Rather it’s trying to restore some things, like adherence to the Constitution, free markets, the proper relationship between the church and state, the proper relationship between the federal government and the state government and municipal governments.
You want to use popularist rhetoric like “the American people have no choice but to destroy the Right.”
But it is often the revolutionists who become their own victims in the end.
Just look at how the Pelosi Ascendancy worked out.
CompCon wrote: Hey, fool, you should read your own article. Then, you should read and understand my post. Your article doesn't address innovation and entrepreneurship anywhere. Both are necessary for true economic success, which is why the Chinese have to keep stealing our ideas. See if you can absorb this concept into your pea brain. - The Spirit of 2776 Violations of Civil Liberties
Dear Comrade Comp,
Hey, tool, you should read your own post. Then, you should read and understand my article.
My article doesn’t address innovation and entrepreneurship anywhere because it doesn’t actually include anything that would be subject to innovation and entrepreneurship.
It was an article about the violation of our civil liberties.
But speaking of innovation and entrepreneurship: There was an article and the Denver Post the other day that talked about the number of hospitalizations in the Denver area rising due to the availability of synthetic marijuana. The article stated that people were being hospitalized who were both agitated and violent due to synthetic marijuana use.
Entrepreneurs and innovators have moved into the legal marijuana market to provide new products to a thriving, yet agitated, market.
I say this because I think people need to hear this message, especially you Comrade Comp: Don’t do drugs. Just say no.
MAURY JOSEPH wrote: Mr. Ranson, The brevity of your article on our President's "Violations of Civil Liberties", make us wonder if you will be so incomplete when you get around to writing about our President's Foreign Policy Blunders or his Economic Fiascos? If you are intent on writing SHORT articles, try writing about our President's accomplishments. - The Spirit of 2776 Violations of Civil Liberties
Dear Comrade Maury,
My articles are actually pretty long when you compare them to other columnists. I tend to write articles in the range of 750 to 900 words. And I probably write twice as many articles as most other columnists.
The search of the archives reveals that over the last two and half years I’ve written 833 articles. At 700 words a pop, that 624,740 words.
A notable long novel, War and Peace, by contrast, runs to about 587,000 words. That interminable miasma of right-wing theology, Atlas Shrugged, runs 645,000 words.
Perhaps somewhere in there you’ve missed a day or two.
That would account for you missing voluminous writings on the president’s foreign-policy blunders and his economic fiascoes.
But that’s okay: Soon you will be able to buy the book.
DoctorRoy wrote: Well if WMD's were not a good reason to invade Iraq what was a good reason(s)? I mean that is what we were told. And if the US commits ground troops to Syria I'll eat this keyboard. Piece by piece. No freakin' way. - Obama Gets His Gun Off Again
Dear Comrade Doctor,
Well, for example, did you know that we’ve actually been in a state of war with Iran since the late 1970s? I’m guessing that having 250,000 troops a stone’s throw away from the Iranian border would make the ayatollahs more inclined to behave well. Or how about the fact that Iraq is the strategic crossroads of the entire Middle East, blocking both Russian and Iranian influence into the Arabian peninsula?
Or this: Saddam Hussein was actively intent on providing material support to Al Qaeda affiliates. Just because a bomb didn't explode in the middle of Time Square with a Hallmark card signed by Saddam Hussein doesn’t make it untrue.
Another good reason for invading Iraq was to show the Arab world that they had a choice. Thus far the only choice the Arab world believes they have is either to be ruled by religious dictators or secular dictators.
They can pick self-government; and largely Iraq has picked self-government even if it works unequally and roughly so far.
Liberals like to believe that if you don't commit ground troops, you aren't at war. But the truth is that are enemies see little difference between spinning up missiles and spinning up soldiers.
War is war no matter how you parse it. And you better be prepared to finish it once you start.
And if you don't believe it, I'll put a jihad on you too.
Jonesy wrote: John, Here you go again- No matter what the President does, you would be against it, so either way he loses in your eyes. - Obama Gets His Gun Off Again
Dear Comrade Jonesy,
If you give me a little bit of time I could probably point to at least one or two things that Obama’s done that I support.
Okay, you have to give me a lot of time to think about that one.
That said, here’s a case where Sen. Obama supported positions in direct contravention to the policies that he is now promoting as president. His problem isn’t just with the rightwing in this country either. His problem is that his liberal buddies are becoming disillusioned with him too.
I’m glad to see that Obama has decided to put the case for a declaration of war in front of Congress.
That’s the right thing to do.
Bush did it for the Iraq war. And still many on the left insisted that Bush get impeached.
You’re either a liberal by conviction or a liberal by convenience.
Either way you’re an idiot.
But one part happens to be a hypocrite too.
Kanawah wrote: You left off the fact that the stagnation of our economy is the result of the never ending obstruction of the Transylvania tea bags and the republiCONs. Obama has put forth many very good proposals to move the economy and the nation forward, but the Transylvania tea bags and the republiCONs in the senate filibuster them, and in the house they will not even discuss them in committee, let alone bring them to the floor. The location of the problem is obvious. - The Government's Newest Stupid Human Trick
Dear Comrade Kanawah,
It’s been apparent for some time that they’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel at the George Soros Institute for Internet Trolling. There’s been a real drop off in the quality of talent since Obama raised taxes on everybody. I guess the IRS scandal, the NSA scandal, and revelation of other associated good works by him haven't helped him either.
Eking out that victory against Romney wasn’t quite the mandate Obama supposed it to be.
Leaving me to wonder: Where have the liberal trolls gone?
During the darkest days of World War I, the British were so desperate for men that, according to author William Manchester, “draft notices were being sent to the maimed, the blind, the mad, and in some cases even the dead.”
Tell me: Which are you?
That’s it for this week.
V/r,
JR
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