Obama General Discussion, vol. 4

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From the last thread:

Daily Caller blogger Jim Treacher commented, "Say what you want about Romney, but at least he only put a dog on the roof of his car, not the roof of his mouth."

LOLZ. It's hilarious when people from other, poorer countries have different sources of animal protein, AMIRITE???
 
I've actually seen a few people on facebook post something about "I bet the lamestream media won't say a thing about Obama eating dog meat".

Really?

Of course they won't. It's not news. No matter how bad media may be today they aren't fucking morons. Step outside of the United States, or at least pick up a book that isn't Trickle Down Tyranny, it will do you some good.

My apologies but these are supposed educated people, and I just can't take this ignorance anymore.
 
Eh, I thought it was pretty funny. We're talking bumper-slogan wars here, this isn't heavily loaded stuff.

In my limited experience, Indonesians tend to regard dog-eating as somewhere between an indulgence and a vice (Islam, like Judaism, forbids it since dogs are deemed ritually impure). But in general, East and Southeast Asians have traditionally eaten dog meat not because they're poor, but because (so I'm assured) it tastes good and they've historically held neither religious taboos nor (as we do) ethical taboos against it. They don't really have anything like the tradition Westerners generally do of perceiving dogs as belonging to a special "companions" category such that eating them evokes revulsion.
 
My distaste (har har) was based on knowing that some would take a fairly innocuous joke and turn it into actual disgust/suspicion at other cultures and just another dumbass reason to hate Obama. And considering what BVS saw people saying, I guess that wasn't too far off the mark!

I hesitated adding "poor" to my comment, because I honestly wasn't sure if it that was a factor. Should have gone with my first instinct.
 
Mrs. Garrison said:
Let me get this straight, you mean you'd rather continue this war and then give these crooks $2billion per year minimum after we pull out?

Nope, not even close. I just happen to think this situation isn't as black and white as you're making it. I also happen to think that if the USA is a responsible citizen of this world it would recognize that if we wage war in another nation, disrupting the lives of its citizens (to put it mildly), it would be irresponsible and dangerous to our national security and standing (especially among those who already distrust us) if we were to up and leave without recognizing or offering some recompense for the collateral damage and disruption done.
 
Nope, not even close. I just happen to think this situation isn't as black and white as you're making it. I also happen to think that if the USA is a responsible citizen of this world it would recognize that if we wage war in another nation, disrupting the lives of its citizens (to put it mildly), it would be irresponsible and dangerous to our national security and standing (especially among those who already distrust us) if we were to up and leave without recognizing or offering some recompense for the collateral damage and disruption done.

Fair enough, this is not a black and white situation. But again, its not like we just "invaded" Afghanistan for no reason. You know as well as i do that despite 10 years of war the US govt has spent a great deal of resources in trying to rebuild what little infrastructure they have. For instance, we are building and rebuilding schools, why i have no idea (know anyone who wants to go there and teach?) Must we really spend $5 million building a school that will get blown up a month later by the Taliban?

This country is TRILLIONS in debt. This war should have ended long ago. Troops are getting killed for no good reason, because someone accidentally burned a koran, or because they are just....there. Our own troops are overwhelmingly serving very honorably. But the few bad apples....guys urinating on dead Afghans, killing animals, and YES losing their minds and going on murderous rampages in villages killing women and children....this is a big problem. This commander in chief has to be a better leader....something in which he has failed to do...aside from killing Bin Laden. Instead he wants to cut Defense spending while raising taxes and pay for massive health care. Its pretty clear this President has a problem with the military when he had to fire one of his highest ranking supporters in Gen McChrystal for speaking out against him, to Rolling Stone of all people. WTF?

Im sorry, but "they hate us" is not a good enough reason for anymore American troops to die over there. And its not a good enough reason for them to attack us abroad or at home, any longer. If they continue to do so, we have every right to retaliate, but im against conventional boots on the ground. Its past time to bring the troops home, i agree with Ron Paul on this one, get our troops out of there. And we don't owe the Afghans shit. If they didn't want us over there they should have dealt with the Taliban menace in the first place.
 
This commander in chief has to be a better leader....something in which he has failed to do...aside from killing Bin Laden. Instead he wants to cut Defense spending while raising taxes and pay for massive health care. Its pretty clear this President has a problem with the military when he had to fire one of his highest ranking supporters in Gen McChrystal for speaking out against him, to Rolling Stone of all people. WTF?



wait.

who got us OUT of Iraq? who wants to leave Afghanistan and who wants to stay indefinitely? who wants to cut taxes and raise military spending? who wants to attack Iran?

and when you say "raising taxes" you really mean "let the Bush tax cuts expire" and we'd return to 1990s Clinton-era tax rates. that's why we are TRILLIONS in debt -- we have a revenue problem.

you just complained about spending money on Afghans for school, why do you have problems paying in some way for health care? i mean it's HEALTH CARE! every last industrialized nation in the world has universal health care except for us.
 
Checked the debt/GDP ratio of "every last industrialized nation in the world" lately?

Debt as a percentage of GOP (IMF, 2010 or 2011 figures)

Sweden 37 %
Denmark 46 %
Germany 81 %

Unlike the United States, all quite rather social democracies.

A low debt to GDP ratio means next to nothing. Romania, Oman, and The Republic of Congo have some of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in the world. What's your fucking point?

The United States had run a relatively stable budget deficit since the great depression until your exhausted conservative President Reagen was in office, then we decided to start giving handouts to the rich.
 
Articles: Why Obama Lies

April 19, 2012
Why Obama Lies
By Ed Lasky

George Will writes that "Barack Obama's intellectual sociopathy -- his often breezy and sometimes loutish indifference to truth -- should no longer startle." But why do Obama and his supporters feel no compunction when they do so? And does this pattern provide an opportunity for Mitt Romney to gather votes in November?

As has often been commented, all of Barack Obama's promises come with an expiration date. They range from the relatively minor to the truly majestic such as his promise that he would not raise taxes for those families earning under $250,000 a year and that he would cut the deficit in half.

He peddled a world of wonders that would flow from passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The fabrications started early -- even in the very name of the act. Patients are not protected: not only will they not be able to keep their current plans if they like them, as he promised (businesses have been dropping company plans in reaction to Obamacare), but their care will fall under the control of the Independent Payment Advisory Board that may just decide that various medical procedures are not covered -- and, incidentally, the people on this board are "unelected." Where is the Patient Protection?

Nor is the Act "affordable". Obama pledges that the Act would cut the deficit and bend the cost curve downward have been shown to be false.

Bu the lies keep coming and will expand exponentially during the campaign at a far faster pace of growth than the economy has under Barack Obama's stewardship.

Often these falsehoods will focus on Medicare -- trying to play the politics of fear with the politically potent group of seniors who depend on Medicare. Barack Obama recently charged that Paul Ryan's plan to reform Medicare and ensure its future viability will "end Medicare as we know it." When this lie was first used by Democrats in 2011 it won the none-too-coveted "Lie of the Year" award from Politifact, the truth-checking outfit. Regardless of this dubious distinction, Obama recycled the lie once again.

The list can go on and on.

Oil companies do not get "subsidies" from taxpayers ; however, his green energy boondoggles and failures (I am being redundant here) do. He claimed that Solyndra was not funded under his program "per se" but under a program funded by the all purpose straw man, George Bush. That was false. He promised that his green energy push would create 5 million jobs by 2008, but that was a lie and the numbers of jobs actually produced despite the expenditure of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been miniscule, as has the actual production of kilowatts. He has truly hit a gusher with his string of lies claiming credit for oil production gains over the last three years, but he has a long history of claiming credit for the work of others.

The Supreme Court "Citizens United" decision does not permit foreign money to be donated to political campaigns, as he charged in the State of the Union address last year. It would not be "unprecedented" for the Supreme Court to find an act of Congress unconstitutional -- that is their role under our form of government and they have done so many times; nor was Obamacare passed by "strong majorities" (219-212 in the House; 60-39 in the Senate). Perhaps Barack Obama, the president of the Harvard Law Review and a lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Chicago, needs a remedial course not just on the basics of constitutional law but also in elementary school math.

Barack Obama has won numerous awards and prizes: the Grammy Award (twice) and the Nobel Peace Prize. But he has also won numerous Pinocchio Awards bestowed by Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post for his "stretching of the truth" over the years -- and those he has actually earned and deserved.

But why does he -- and his supporters -- feel they can so blithely lie to us?

There are obvious reasons and one not very obvious reason.

First, the obvious reasons.

One obvious reason is to distract us from his poor record as president. He is so confident of his oratory that he, as is true of many con men, can feel confident that whatever message is being peddles will be believed.

The liberal media will provide cover for them and will not judge the veracity of his claims. Journalists are overwhelmingly liberal and give the vast bulk of their donations to Democrats. He can rest assured that major media will not fact-check most of his claims or filter out the most obvious fabrications. The various fact-check groups are a small blip on the radar screen compared to such Obama-friendly media outlets as MSNBC or the New York Times.

He will use his vast war chest to flood the media with commercials filled with all sorts of fantastical claims regarding his record while demonizing Republicans -- especially his likely opponent, Mitt Romney. Interestingly, his campaign is making a truly unprecedented effort to tap the internet to tailor very specific and individualized messages to voters: the plan has been so aggressive that it has drawn complaints from privacy advocates (see Big Brother Obama is Watching ). These campaign efforts will be difficult to monitor for their veracity.

Barack Obama and his supporters apparently feel the end justifies the means -- as has been true of many despots throughout history, by the way. After all, one cannot make an omelet without breaking some eggs (Hat Tip: Joseph Stalin) and if one is determined to "fundamentally transform America," such antiquated concepts as honesty and trust can be thrown under the bus. You can take the politico out of Cook County but you cannot take Cook County out of the politico.

A Cook County politician to the core, he plays hardball as much as he plays basketball. He revealed his modus operandi back in 2008: he brings a gun to a knife fight. Lying is just the way he plays the game. Winning is not only the most important thing -- it is the only thing that matters. He has repeatedly shown his willingness to embrace ruthlessness when it comes to his career (this New York Times article provides insight to the methods and means he has used to defeat opponents; behind the big grin must be some very sharp incisors)

However, there may be a more fundamental reason we are so consistently lied to by Barack Obama and his allies: they just do not respect most Americans and have very little regard for our intelligence.

Where, one may ask, is the proof of this claim? Barack Obama and his closest advisers have in fact told us they don't think too highly of most Americans.

The tip off should have been Barack Obama's "gaffe" (Michael Kinsley's definition of a gaffe made by a politician is when he tells us how he truly thinks by accident) back in 2008 when he derisively described people who live in small-towns as bitter people who "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them." Ah, yes, ignorant yokels sharing kinship if not genes with the Clampetts.

But his scorn is not reserved just for people who live in rural areas. He has also said that "I'm not interested in the suburbs. Suburbs bore me," so it may be a fair assumption that he does not have much respect for suburban dwellers either (though if the zip code is ritzy enough he may drop by for a fundraiser or two or two dozen).

But his condescension is as big as his ego and it doesn't stop with suburbia or small towns; it is as big as our nation.

He has said we have become "lazy" and grown "soft" over the years. He has mocked Republicans as being too dumb to understand a jobs bill he was trying to pass, so Democrats were going to have to break up the Jobs Bill into bite-sized pieces that were easier to understand.

A leader who has no respect for the people "below" him becomes emboldened to make all sorts of claims, confident that the dullards will not fathom they have been had.

But he is not alone in his derogatory remarks about Americans. Michelle Obama has called us a "mean" country; Attorney General Eric Holder has called us a "nation of cowards" when it comes to discussions of race. But even more revealing were comments made by his closest adviser, Valerie Jarrett, who said that Obama and his officials might have to use "simpler words" when addressing supporters of the so-called Tea Party.

Undoubtedly, Obama's chief speechwriter Jon Favreau (here seen groping and shoving a beer into the mouth of a cardboard cut-out of Hillary Clinton, so take that War on Women propagandists!) would agree with this condescending sentiment. When asked about the victory address following the last Democratic primary Favreau just responded "Hope. Change. Y'know" How revealing that the man vested with the power by Obama to put words in his mouth thinks so little of the American people that he just thought a few words were all that was needed -- repeated ad infinitum, ad nauseam -- would propel Obama to the Presidency. Unfortunately, he was right with many voters, particularly among young voters.

The Republicans therefore have a target-rich environment for future commercials starring Barack Obama and his leading team members. One can dream up some visuals: a list of claims made by Barack Obama and show them to be false-one after another. Then ask a question: why does Barack Obama lie to us so often?

Cue up some choice comments, such as those mentioned above, revealing how little regard he has not only for the truth but for his fellow Americans. Reveal not only his dishonesty but also his disrespect for so many of us. Perhaps, there can also be a reference to the media giving him a free-ride on any obligation to be honest. Mitt Romney, taking a page from Newt Gingrich, has criticized the media for its favoritism towards Barack Obama -- a smart move on several levels. Romney shores up conservative support while reinforcing the view of many Americans that Obama has been blessed with a cheering section in most media outlets

The Obama campaign has recently given the Romney campaign a gift by announcing that "Trust" will be a feature of their attacks against Romney ("Hope" and "Change" have clearly outlived their usefulness). Jujitsu-like, Romney can turn that word around and ask why Americans should trust Barack Obama given his record of lies and the disregard he has for so many millions of Americans.

Hope springs eternal that the GOP and its more wily supports in the super-PAC world (that would include you, Karl Rove) will focus their firepower on Barack Obama in ways-- such as the one suggested herein -- that escaped John McCain a few trillions of dollars of debt ago.

The future of our nation is at stake.

Ed Lasky is news editor of American Thinker.
 
President Obama, in my opinion, has not
been a very good leader.



We live in a political world
Love don’t have any place
We’re living in times where men commit crimes
And crime don’t have a face

~Bob Dylan
 
Weekly jobless claims above 380K for second week ? Hot Air

Weekly jobless claims above 380K for second week


posted at 9:21 am on April 19, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

As if the Obama administration didn’t have enough problems with economic indicators, the Department of Labor gave them another headache. The upward spike two weeks ago in initial jobless claims doesn’t look like a fluke:


In the week ending April 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 386,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 388,000. The 4-week moving average was 374,750, an increase of 5,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 369,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending April 7, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 2.6 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 7 was 3,297,000, an increase of 26,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,271,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,317,750, a decrease of 21,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,339,250.

Officially, the number of initial weekly jobless claims fell last week by 2,000 — but to 386,000 claims, which is 6,000 above the level announced last week. That number got revised this week, but the real story is in the 4-week rolling average. Just three or four weeks ago, that number was in the 360K range. Now it’s close to 375K, roughly the same level as last spring’s stagnant economic conditions.

Reuters headlines the drop, but reports on the disappointing results:


New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week, according to a government report on Thursday that could dampen hopes of a pick-up in job creation in April after March’s slowdown.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week’s figure was revised up to 388,000 from the previously reported 380,000.

The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, rose 5,500 to 374,750.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 370,000 last week.

Their economists had bet that last week’s results were an outlier, which wasn’t an unreasonable assumption. This, however, looks like an upward movement in job churn, not a good sign for overall employment. It’s interesting that we’re seeing that now rather than last month, where jobless reports ran in the mid-360Ks but job creation got stymied at only 120,000 for the month. If this indicator continues at the mid-380K level or starts rising above it, April’s jobs report may make March look positively cheery.
 
Existing-home sales fall 2.6% in March, adding to downward housing trend ? Hot Air

Existing-home sales fall 2.6% in March, adding to downward housing trend


posted at 1:36 pm on April 19, 2012 by Ed Morrissey






Yesterday, the Census Bureau showed new-housing starts plummeting 5.8% last month from February, which stunned analysts expecting a slight uptick in the series. Today’s report from the National Association of Realtors shows that it’s not just the new-home market that tanked in March, a result which once again surprised analysts (via Instapundit):


Sales of previously owned U.S. homes in March unexpectedly fell for the third time in the last four months, showing an uneven recovery in the housing market.

Purchases dropped 2.6 percent to a 4.48 million annual rate from 4.6 million in February, the National Association of Realtors reported today in Washington. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey called for an increase to 4.61 million. In January, sales at a 4.63 million rate were the strongest since May 2010.

Ah, yes — unexpectedly. Why such a surprise? Apparently, analysts didn’t figure in the decline in job creation last month:


Residential real estate remains the economy’s soft spot, challenged by stricter lending standards, lower home values and the threat of more foreclosures. An improved labor market and mortgage rates near historic lows have yet to stoke bigger gains in demand.

The description of an “improved labor market” applied more in February than it did in March. Last month, the US only added 120,000 jobs, barely enough to keep up with population growth. Even before that, the previous three months added around 650,000 jobs in the aggregate, which means actual growth above population increase of about 300,000 jobs — which wouldn’t greatly increase demand in the housing market, but shouldn’t result in a decrease in demand. First-time buyers still only account for a third of these purchases, when the normal level is around 40%, according to Bloomberg News. That’s an indication of a lack of confidence among younger adults.

Now that the churn rate on jobs has increased, as evidenced in the rise in weekly initial jobless claims, confidence and demand will likely decline a bit. The soon-to-arrive flood of foreclosures and short sales might stoke demand for bargain hunters who have waited patiently for the settlement to take effect. That may give a false impression of demand, though, as one analyst warns:


Investors accounted for 21 percent of purchases last month, down from 23 percent in February, today’s data showed. Such figures suggest the recovery in housing isn’t broad-based, said Jay McCanless, a housing analyst with Guggenheim Securities LLC in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We’ve seen investors and cash sales continue to be anywhere from 20 percent to 33 percent of monthly sales,” McCanless said. “That may be giving the appearance that there’s more activity, more demand for housing than may actually be the case.”

Cash buyers have been a big factor in the local Twin Cities foreclosure/short sale market for the past year already. That will also likely spike upward when the pent-up foreclosures come to market, but the inventory will allow others to play in the same market, too. We may not get a clear idea of how the resale market looks for several months after the release, so new-home sales and startups might give us a better indicator to watch.
 
Debt as a percentage of GOP (IMF, 2010 or 2011 figures)

Sweden 37 %
Denmark 46 %
Germany 81 %
Think you missed a few !!
A low debt to GDP ratio means next to nothing. Romania, Oman, and The Republic of Congo have some of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in the world. What's your fucking point?

Good news!! Romania, Oman, and The Republic of Congo can all buy Western debt when China closes their pocketbook.

The United States had run a relatively stable budget deficit since the great depression until your exhausted conservative President Reagen was in office, then we decided to start giving handouts to the rich.

Only if by "handout" you mean letting people keep the money they've earned.

(and it's Reagan.)
 
INDY500 said:
Let's protect women from the GOP and pass the Buffett Rule that will fund the federal government for 1 whole day each year. :applaud:

Empty symbolism is one thing; clearly sated policy is something else entirely.
 
INDY500 said:
Only if by "handout" you mean letting people keep the money they've earned.

(and it's Reagan.)



If I make more money than you ... does this mean I'm a better, more hardworking, more worthy person than you and entitled to lower taxes than in the booming 1990s even of it means that one bout with breast cancer or a car accident will bankrupt you?



Also, tell the other red states we're sick of subsidizing them.
 
If I make more money than you ... does this mean I'm a better, more hardworking, more worthy person than you and entitled to lower taxes than in the booming 1990s even of it means that one bout with breast cancer or a car accident will bankrupt you?



Also, tell the other red states we're sick of subsidizing them.
These kind of ideologies and the overall constant discussion and tiki taka about government and politics wouldn't exist if people started to expect less from the government, especially in the forms of economic benefit.

In summary, people should not expect anything from the government, nor from anyone, including family, parents, spouses or children. Independence is very valuable throughout life, which is a misconception that the majority of people have trouble accepting.
 
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