Charlie Daniels: Better Off?

[Jolie Rouge]

When you look at a presidential candidate you are faced with the sobering fact that if elected they will be the most powerful person on earth for the next four years, having power over not only weapons of mass destruction, but the economy, foreign policy, social and civil rights issues and the quality of your life.

New candidates have to run on a limited record of public service, their character, their personality and believability.

If the person is an incumbent, that person should stand on past achievements and the accomplishments or lack thereof in the last four years.

Being a good president requires much more than being a nice and charismatic guy, a good public speaker and looking good for the television cameras.

A president is supposed to be a leader, a pacesetter, a father figure, a pursuer of justice, a champion of the American way of life, defending it around the world verbally and militarily if necessary.

A good president is a good administrator who realizes that he can’t possibly be everywhere at the same time, that he needs capable assistants to take care of the details and strong competent men and women who have the experience and ability to run departments of government, leaving him free to tackle the big problems and oversee the work the people under him are doing.

The president represents the face of America to the rest of the world and every word that comes out of his mouth is diced, dissected and analyzed by foreign leaders around the world and have to be carefully chosen so as not to show weakness or vulnerability.

A president can’t be a crybaby or petulant or petty and should, above all, take responsibility for his actions good or bad. Harry Truman said it best, “The buck stops here”.

When we examine the question which is the most essential in deciding whether or not to elect an incumbent it should not be just, am I better off than I was four years ago, but, is the country better off than it was four years ago.

I do not openly support political candidates and admit that I don’t know as much about Mitt Romney as I intend to learn in the next few months, but from what I’ve seen so far he seems to be a capable administrator who has had extensive experience in running government and business.

He seems to me to be moral and honest and anybody who has risen as high in politics and business simply has to be a good administrator, capable of surrounding himself with the best, the brightest and the most motivated and delegating authority to the most capable ones.

Let’s look at Barack Obama’s four years in office.

One of the first things Obama did was to tour the world, apologizing for America’s greatness and bowed to a Muslim king who is one of the worst human rights violators on earth.

The prestige of this nation has fallen ever since.

Do you feel better about America’s place in the world than you did four years ago?

He surrounds himself with incompetence and inexperience. Eric Holder alone is enough of a testament to Obama’s weakness when it comes to appointing capable personel.
Holder’s tenure has been an unmitigated and unparalleled disaster. In the hands of Holder, justice is not blind and certainly not colorblind.

His refusal to turn over pertinent documents pertaining to the Fast and Furious debacle, in my opinion, means that he’s got something to hide. There is no way possible that a gun running operation that crosses international borders could possibly have happened without the approval of the head of the department, if not approval at an even higher level.

Holder is not Attorney General material. The man seems to think the constitution is a list of suggestions. He is dangerous.

Do you feel better about the Justice Department than you did four years ago?

Tim Geithner’s understanding of the street level economics is either non-existent or well hidden. He looks and acts like a lost child.

Do you feel better about the treasury department than you did four years ago?

Have you flown lately? If you have, you probably got a taste of Janet Napolitano’s style of Homeland Security, it seems that the TSA just goes from one blunder to another and there’s simply no telling how many terrorists have crossed our border with Mexico unimpeded.

Do you feel safer now than you did four years ago?

Obama has had more Czars that the entire history of the Russian Monarchy and in most cases we don’t even know what they do.

Obama has shown his contempt for the constitution on several occasions. He has also shown his contempt for the will of the people with his sneaky midnight legislation and further corrupting of the already corrupt houses of Congress to get his socialist agenda passed over the will and behind the back of We The People.

Do you feel that your government represents your interests better than it did four years ago?

His whispered conversation with Russian President, Medvedev when he thought the mics were off, not only bespeaks what a second Obama term would be and his tell Vladimir “after my election I’ll have more flexibility” is a harbinger of some dealings with the Russians he wants to hide from the American voting public.

His secretly recorded, “guns and religion” statement seems to pretty much sum up how he feels and talks about Middle America when he thinks they can’t hear him.

Do you trust the president more than you did four years ago?

A net two million jobs have disappeared under Obama, the national debt has grown to sixteen trillion dollars and getting bigger every day,

Do you feel better about the economy than you did four years ago?

Obama has been the most socially divisive president in my lifetime. He fans the flames of racial and class envy any time he thinks it will benefit him politically.

Do you feel better about race relations than you did four years ago?

Obama talks about all the jobs he saved by bailing out General Motors, but many of those jobs are overseas and don’t benefit the American economy or tax base at all.

His chosen head of the White House’s “Jobs Council”, Jeffrey Immelt – the head man at General Electric – moved the manufacturing of GE light bulbs to China.

Do you feel better about keeping your job than you did four years ago?

And how about Tom Vilsack’s Agriculture Department wanting to tell farm families what age their children could operate machinery. Mr. Vilsack is evidently out of his depths and knows very little about the family farm.

Do you feel better about raising your family without government interference than you did four years ago?

Kathleen Sibelius should be called the secretary of health, welfare and abortion because she has at least as much interest in terminating the unborn as she does health and welfare.

Is the country better off than it was four years ago?

Does Obama deserve another four years based on his performance?

Would Mitt Romney move America in a better direction if he was elected?

That’s the question we will all be a part of answering in November.

I pray the best man wins.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, and for our country.
God Bless America

Charlie Daniels
May 18, 2012

http://www.foramerica.org/2012/05/better-off/

[hblueeyes]

Love it.

Me

[3lilpigs]

Do you feel better about America’s place in the world than you did four years ago?

No. Obama has disgraced this country.


Do you feel safer now than you did four years ago?

yes and no. It depends on what you're specifically talking about.

Airline security.....actually yes.
Wondering about the amount of Illegals invading this country.......no.



Do you feel that your government represents your interests better than it did four years ago?

NO. This government is only worried about THEIR OWN interests.


Do you feel better about keeping your job than you did four years ago?

My schedule for next week at ONE OF MY JOBS, is a whopping 4 hours.
I'm not even going to answer that question.

I work 3 jobs. Something I NEVER, EVER had to do, until 2009.


Is the country better off than it was four years ago?
:lol :lol :lol


Does Obama deserve another four years based on his performance?

Where's the smiley flipping the middle finger????.............

[Jolie Rouge]

Rubio on Obama: Most 'Divisive Figure in Modern American History'
10:09 AM, May 20, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

Florida senator Marco Rubio slammed President Barack Obama in a South Carolina speech delivered last night to a large gathering of Republicans.

“For all the policy disagreements that we may have with the president, it is hard to understate how much he inspired people across this country four years ago, with his promises to unite America and lift it up,” Rubio said about Obama, referring to his 2004 DNC speech and 2008 presidential run.

But, Rubio said, President Obama has changed: “The man who today occupies the White House and is running for president is a very different person. We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history as we have over the last three and a half years.”

Rubio, who might be the next Republican vice presidential nominee, also said that Obama and his Democratic party are on a "destructive, counterproductive, and very unfortunate" path.

"The president and his party’s view of America’s government and our lives is a failed one. It hasn’t worked. His ideas that sounded so good in the classrooms of Harvard and Yale haven’t really worked out well in the real world," said Rubio. "They get frustrated. They can’t win on their record, and so they’ve chosen to go down a different road, one that I think is destructive, counterproductive, and very unfortunate."

Rubio also used the speech to introduce himself and talk about his personal story.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/rubio-obama-most-divisive-figure-modern-american-history_645218.html


Campbell Brown: Obama 'Grating and Even Condescending'
5:36 PM, May 19, 2012 • By WILLIAM KRISTOL

Sunday's New York Times features a strong piece by Campbell Brown, "Obama: Stop Condescending to Women." Brown isn't a big fan of President Obama's Barnard commencement speech last Monday. Here's the heart of her op-ed: http://nyti.ms/KlcbxV


WHEN I listen to President Obama speak to and about women, he sometimes sounds too paternalistic for my taste....It’s all so tired, the kind of fake praise showered upon those one views as easy to impress....

The women I know who are struggling in this economy couldn’t be further from the fictional character of Julia, presented in Mr. Obama’s Web ad, “The Life of Julia,” a silly and embarrassing caricature based on the assumption that women look to government at every meaningful phase of their lives for help....

I have always admired President Obama and I agree with him on some issues, like abortion rights. But the promise of his campaign four years ago has given way to something else — a failure to connect with tens of millions of Americans, many of them women, who feel economic opportunity is gone and are losing hope. In an effort to win them back, Mr. Obama is trying too hard. He’s employing a tone that can come across as grating and even condescending. He really ought to drop it. Most women don’t want to be patted on the head or treated as wards of the state. They simply want to be given a chance to succeed based on their talent and skills.

Of course, maybe if Obama had Hillary at his side in the campaign instead of the useless Joe Biden, she could teach him how not to come across to women as "grating" and "condescending"!

And speaking of dumping Biden, here's an excerpt from an e-mail I received in response to my editorial from one of the savviest political pros I know:


Makes sense to dump him. Not one vote will be lost if they switch VP's. Even if he isn't promised State no one will care. He has absolutely zero die-hards. What they should do is leak a few bad stories about him and the bottom will fall out.

Clinton would be a plus. So would [Sen. Mark] Warner I suspect. But she makes most sense at this point....

Alternative move: Ken Salazar or Mark Udall. With Colorado in the bag Obama's path to victory much easier. Salazar: Was sort of a moderate. Brings big Latino vote to strengthen Nevada, New Mex and Arizona. Might add a bit in Fla, and some of the industrials. Senate plus Cabinet. Former AG......Udall: Again Colorado. Plus helps in Arizona and New Mex. Not a national figure though and new to Senate etc.

Either of these guys--and of course Hillary--are more helpful than Joe and far less likely to self destruct.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/campbell-brown-obama-grating-and-even-condescending_645207.html

[Jolie Rouge]

The “Photo of the Day” on the White House website features President Obama at Soldier Field in Chicago throwing a football following a NATO event. This could be some sort of “Hail Mary” campaign metaphor:

http://s.michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/obama2.bmp

The photo is of course more carefully staged than a U2 concert, because Obama is clearly looking upward as he throws.

However, it’s possible there was somebody on the receiving end who is very tall. Where was John Kerry over the weekend?

More than likely Obama was looking up because he was mesmerized by an awesome sight on the Soldier Field Jumbotron
http://s.michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/obama4.bmp
http://michellemalkin.com/2012/05/21/pose-of-the-day/


No single photo perhaps describes the Obama Administration as succinctly as this one… Performing in an empty stadium, in the wrong uniform, for a staged photo-op vainly attempting to remind Americans just how awesome Barack Obama truly is.

Speaking on that issue, have you see this? Check out the four pictures of bho! bho sure does love himself! Wonder how many pictures of bho hangs in the wh?

http://weaselzippers.us/2012/05/19/pic-g8-summit-at-camp-david-look-at-the-four-pics-in-the-top-left-corner/


I am constantly reminded of this column: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/how_the_nanny_president_sees_himself_Rz5QE1GoCFaiw CJvR9mrdP


Obama’s self-regard is at its most resplendent when he delivers a remark attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “I am not bound to win, but I’m bound to be true. I’m not bound to succeed, but I’m bound to live up to what light I have.” That the words are actually those of Ronald Reagan is an amusing but trivial detail.

What’s telling is that Obama set up the remark by saying he takes great pleasure in the White House library, and that he stumbled upon the remark in the process of searching out the wisdom of his predecessors. This was not a true statement. In fact Obama later admitted to Wolffe that he had found the quotation while reading one of his own diaries, in which he had mistakenly attributed the Reaganism to Lincoln.

So: In times of worry and strife, Obama looks for comforting inspiration in the sacred, timeless words of . . . Obama!
Presidents are often accused of surrounding themselves with yes-men and retreating from the world. This president doesn’t even need the yes-men. He lives in a hall of mirrors, and he’s awed by the view.

I’d laugh if it wasn’t so pitiful to watch.

[pepperpot]

http://s.michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/obama2.bmp

I looked at this real quick and it looked like he had a gun in his right hand...then I realized it was a man way off in the back. :lol

[Jolie Rouge]

http://s.michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/obama2.bmp

I looked at this real quick and it looked like he had a gun in his right hand...then I realized it was a man way off in the back. :lol

Why would he have a gun ? Maybe he was going to shoot the QB ?? I see what you mean thu... it is a little awkward

[pepperpot]

Why would he have a gun ?
To shoot himself? :shrug

We could only hope. ;)

:rolling

[Bahet]

Wow, what a crock of ****. Listen to a Romney campaign ad. He even says he's going to cut taxes for the rich by eliminating benefits for the poor and raising taxes on the middle class. He goes on to say that he's going to kid every 19-26yo off their parents health care, allow insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, and allow them to cancel you if you get sick. I cannot imagine anyone, except perhaps the ultra rich, who is stupid enough to think life will be better like that. Of course, I'm obviously wrong. There seem to be a lot of people who are stupid enough to vote against their own best interests.

Oh, and you might want to check out some of those "facts". Most are complete lies. Wouldn't expect anything else though. Now I remember why I left in the first place.

[Jolie Rouge]

Wow, what a crock of ****. Listen to a Romney campaign ad. He even says he's going to cut taxes for the rich by eliminating benefits for the poor and raising taxes on the middle class. He goes on to say that he's going to kid every 19-26yo off their parents health care, allow insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, and allow them to cancel you if you get sick. I cannot imagine anyone, except perhaps the ultra rich, who is stupid enough to think life will be better like that. Of course, I'm obviously wrong. There seem to be a lot of people who are stupid enough to vote against their own best interests.

Oh, and you might want to check out some of those "facts". Most are complete lies. Wouldn't expect anything else though. Now I remember why I left in the first place.

I'd like to see some of your source information on Romney ...

[Jolie Rouge]

Oh, and you might want to check out some of those "facts". Most are complete lies. Wouldn't expect anything else though. Now I remember why I left in the first place.

Are these facts also in dispute ?

Obama leadership in action: His own democratically controlled senate voted 99-0 against Obama's proposed budget. He can't blame the GOP. His own team wants a new quarterback.

Here is what the "ONE" has accomplished for America:

OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record 22% of all homeowners are underwater on their mortgages
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record Bankruptcies √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Home Foreclosures √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Numbers in Poverty √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Homelessness √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Numbers on Food Stamps √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record Loans from China √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Fall in Housing Prices/Equity √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Unemployment (really 19%) √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record for number of working men unemployed (1 in 5) √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record for no jobs created in one month (August 2011) √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record Deficits And he has just added another $1.5 TRILLION
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record for Spending – Over $6.7 Trillion √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Debt – Added over $6.7 Trillion √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record for number of unemployed blacks (27.9%) √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record Wealth gap between young and old is widest ever √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Servicemen deaths in Afghanistan √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S Record Bonuses for Wall Street Brokers and Bank Managers √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record High Gasoline Prices since the Carter administration √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record Devaluation of the Dollar (Devalued by 19.5%) √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record for Most Jobs created in China & Finland √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record for No Budget presented to American people (3 Years)
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record for internet snooping on civilians √
OBAMA CHANGE: U.S. Record for most children living in poverty (1 in 5) √

[hblueeyes]

If the statement about Romney above is true, then at least he is being honest about his plans and not telling us what we want to hear, knowing that it is BS. If cutting taxes for the rich creates jobs and boosts the economy, then fine. If cutting government handouts will reduce debt and make people take care of themselves, then OK. What's the problem?

Me

[Jolie Rouge]

WaPo: No, you’re not better off than four years ago
posted at 10:01 am on August 24, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Thirty-two years ago, Ronald Reagan asked voters a simple question that devastated Jimmy Carter’s chances for a second term, and that presidential candidates have had to answer ever since: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? In 1980, voters overwhelmingly said no and gave Carter the heave-ho. When times are good, incumbents ask that question, and when times are bad, challengers ask it. It’s a personal question, one that has a different answer for each voter.

Overall, though, the Washington Post reports that the answer isn’t just no, but hell no. Household incomes have dropped 4.8% during the Obama recovery, and are now at a level below the recession: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/household-income-is-below-recession-levels-report-says/2012/08/23/aa497460-ec80-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html


Household income is down sharply since the recession ended three years ago, according to a report released Thursday, providing another sign of the stubborn weakness of the economic recovery.

From June 2009 to June 2012, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 4.8 percent, to $50,964, according to a report by Sentier Research, a firm headed by two former Census Bureau officials. http://www.sentierresearch.com/

But — but — but — Obama inherited this decline, right?


Incomes have dropped more since the beginning of the recovery than they did during the recession itself, when they declined 2.6 percent, according to the report, which analyzed data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The recession, the most severe since the Great Depression, lasted from December 2007 to June 2009.

Overall, median income is 7.2 percent below its December 2007 level and 8.1 percent below where it stood in January 2000, when it was $55,470, according to the report.

And while the decline differs by employment type, it turns out no one is better off than they were at the beginning of the recovery. However, one class managed to do less worse than the others:


Households led by the self-employed saw their income drop 9.4 percent, to $66,752, the report said. Households headed by private-sector employees saw wages drop by 4.5 percent, to $63,800, and households led by government workers saw median income decline by 3.5 percent, to $77,998, the report said.

Yes, you read that right. Government-worker households earn 17% more than the self-employed, and 22% more than private-sector workers. They also suffered less of a decline than those other classes of workers.

What did Barack Obama say at the beginning of summer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qevbhsmKFOQ&feature=player_embedded

The truth of the matter is that the Obama “recovery” feels like a recession because on a household-income basis, it is. And compared to the private sector, it’s the public-employee households that are “doing fine,” at least relatively speaking.

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/08/24/wapo-no-youre-not-better-off-than-four-years-ago/

[Jolie Rouge]

Oh, dear. Sunday morning shows sure are hard when one is trying to desperately spin to defend an abysmal failure. Governor O’Malley couldn’t even manage it. In a rare instance of truth, when asked if people are better of now than they were four years ago, he said, “No.”

Want a preview of the presidential debates? Then spend two and a half minutes with this clip from today’s Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace and David Axelrod. Wallace asks Axelrod the quadrennial question: are voters better off now than four years ago? When the man running Team Obama tries to run away from the question by talking about the tough environment Barack Obama inherited, Wallace lays out the comparison on economic statistics between January 2009 and today, and asks Axelrod again: are voters better off now than four years ago? Answer: Er....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hDEDvH_bHms

More : http://twitchy.com/2012/09/02/question-of-day-are-people-better-off-today-than-four-years-ago-gov-omalley-no-plouffe-axelrod-uh-err/

[Jolie Rouge]

Biden: I’d go into more detail about why we’re better off than we were 4 years ago… if it weren’t so hot
By Doug Powers • September 3, 2012 10:24 PM

A U-Haul carrying some equipment for a Joe Biden campaign event was ripped off in Detroit over the weekend, but fortunately Biden’s comedic ability wasn’t among the stolen items.

Over the long weekend Democrats did some flip-flopping and danced around the “are you better off” question. Among them, Joe Biden, who Monday said you’re darn right we’re better off than we were four years ago. Joe didn’t want to take time to offer the audience any examples of why we’re so much better off than we were four years ago because he said it was too hot. That Biden… always concerned with everyone’s comfort:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CFyPI4eqByw

We’ll probably be hearing more of that approach during Plugs’ VP debate against Paul Ryan. “God love ya, but it’s too hot (or cold) for math, sonny. Try and have more concern for others in the future.”

Zombie has a running list of “if it weren’t so hot, I’d go into more detail how _____” mottos for Biden.

All this “we’re better off…” talk is confusing, because just over two months ago Biden said America was in the midst of a “depression for millions and millions”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=endBtyHs6p0

The Stimulus Sheriff would offer examples of why things turned around so quickly, but it looks like it’s going to rain pretty soon — better take cover.


**Written by Doug Powers http://michellemalkin.com/2012/09/03/biden-better-off/

[Jolie Rouge]

Let’s help Joe Biden answer a question, shall we?
Posted by: Phineas on September 3, 2012 at 6:15 pm

Vice President Joe Biden is in Charlotte this week for the Democratic National Convention (1). At a rally, he struggled with the question of whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago, when he and his boss were elected: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CFyPI4eqByw

Looks like the heat was giving Joe some trouble, since he couldn’t go into any specifics. Let’s help him out, shall we?

According to that notorious conservative rag, The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/household-income-is-below-recession-levels-report-says/2012/08/23/aa497460-ec80-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html


From June 2009 to June 2012, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 4.8 percent, to $50,964, according to a report by Sentier Research, a firm headed by two former Census Bureau officials.

Incomes have dropped more since the beginning of the recovery than they did during the recession itself, when they declined 2.6 percent, according to the report, which analyzed data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The recession, the most severe since the Great Depression, lasted from December 2007 to June 2009.

(…)

Over the past three years, the inflation-adjusted median income of households headed by whites was down 5.2 percent, to $56,255. Households headed by blacks sustained a staggering 11.1 percent drop in median income. Hispanic-led households saw their real income decline by 4.1 percent over the same period, the report said.

Looking at the data by age, the researchers found that income has risen only for workers older than 65 during the recovery, which report co-author and Sentier partner Gordon Green attributes to the cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients.

Households led by the self-employed saw their income drop 9.4 percent, to $66,752, the report said. Households headed by private-sector employees saw wages drop by 4.5 percent, to $63,800, and households led by government workers saw median income decline by 3.5 percent, to $77,998, the report said.

Peter Ferrara, writing in Forbes, see this trend and calls in an accelerating downward spiral: http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2012/09/02/obamas-accelerating-downward-spiral-for-america/


The problem is that Obama has only greatly accelerated everything Bush did wrong, and reversed everything Bush did right. So Obama’s spending has skyrocketed the federal budget by nearly one-fourth as a percent of GDP in just one term. Moreover, the Obama Fed has abandoned any semblance of control over monetary policy, buying most of the soaring federal debt issued to finance Obama’s record smashing federal deficits with newly printed money (actually created by computer record, a sort of cyberprinting). Of course, the whole point of Obama’s tax policy has been to more than reverse the Bush tax rate cuts, which is now already slated under current law to go into effect on January 1.

That is why it will all only get worse in a second Obama term, as the economy slides back into a double-dip recession in 2013 unless these Obama policies are swiftly reversed. I first began ringing alarm bells about that a year ago with the publication of my Encounter Books Broadside No. 25, Obama and the Crash of 2013. But now even the Washington establishment CBO is pealing the air raid siren as well.

Renewed, double-dip recession would mean unemployment rocketing back into double digits once again, the deficit exploding to over $2 trillion, the highest in world history by far, real wages and incomes declining even more, and poverty soaring further.

Obama has failed the poor as well as the middle class. Last year, the Census Bureau reported more Americans in poverty than ever before in the more than 50 years that Census has been tracking poverty. Now The Huffington Post reports that the poverty rate is on track to rise to the highest level since 1965, before the War on Poverty began. A July 22 story by Hope Yen reports that when the new poverty rates are released in September, “even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest level since 1965.” But a consensus survey of experts across the political spectrum indicates the poverty rate could soar from the current 15.1% to as high as 15.7%. “Poverty is spreading at record levels across many groups, from underemployed workers and suburban families to the poorest poor,” Hope Yen reports.

Be sure to read all of Peter’s article. His conclusions about where we’re headed if we don’t make the right choices in this election are sobering, to put it nicely.

In other words, the Democratic Dream Team inherited a bad situation, made it worse and, if reelected, promise to take it from “bad” to “God-awful.”

No wonder Joe had to plead the heat: answering the question makes the Republicans’ case for them.

**Posted by Phineas http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2012/09/03/lets-help-joe-biden-answer-a-question-shall-we/

[Jolie Rouge]

Zombie has a running list of “if it weren’t so hot, I’d go into more detail how _____” mottos for Biden.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/09/03/biden-launches-new-dnc-motto-if-it-werent-so-hot-id-go-into-detail/

Obama campaign officials later explained that the President plans to use Biden’s formulation to clarify every single aspect of Obama’s record. While the campaign’s staff speechwriters will supply many of the variants in upcoming weeks, Obama for America 2012 invited voters to submit their own versions; lucky winners will be selected for inclusion in speeches by the President himself.

A White House press release revealed the following examples which Obama plans to use in his convention acceptance speech and on the campaign trail; voters (no ID required) are encouraged to submit their own in the comments section below.

“If it weren’t so hot”: Motto for an Obama Future


• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail how four straight years of 8+% unemployment proves that my economic theories have succeeded.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail why plunging the nation $16 trillion into debt is wise fiscal policy.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail about how you didn’t build that.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail about how aborting babies in the ninth month of pregnancy is a popular mainstream position.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail why I support the Islamic extremists who have taken over Egypt.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail how selling guns to Mexican drug cartels is a good way to safeguard America.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail how I personally helped cause the housing crisis.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail how I promised high energy prices, then got what I wanted, then pretended it was bad news.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail why I recycle the exact same speeches and campaign promises I gave back in 2008, as if I had achieved nothing.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail what I really mean when I say the Constitution is a ‘living document.’”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail, but since the media covers for me every time, I don’t really ever need to go into detail anyway.”

• (To be used in Biden speeches) “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail about how they’re gonna put y’all back in chains.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail about what ‘more flexibility after the elections’ means when translated into Russian.”

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail about what’s in my college records.”

Now it’s your turn…

• “If it weren’t so hot, I’d go into detail…”

[Jolie Rouge]

Pre-convention tussle: Are Americans better off?
By CALVIN WOODWARD and KEN THOMAS | Associated Press – 17 hrs ago.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — In a Labor Day warm-up to the Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney and their top allies engaged in a cross-country tussle over whether Americans are better off than they were four years ago. It was a debate that burst open overnight after top Democratic allies offered muddled answers to the same question over the weekend.

Romney said in a statement: "For far too many Americans, today is another day of worrying when their next paycheck will come."

His running mate, Paul Ryan, chimed in from a rally in Greenville, N.C.: "Simply put, the Jimmy Carter days look like the good old days compared to where we are now."

"After another four years of this, who knows what it'll look like then," Ryan wondered.

Obama tailored his better-off pitch toward an agreeable audience of autoworkers in Toledo, Ohio, arguing that because of his administration's bailout "the American auto industry has come roaring back."

"I stood with American workers, I stood with American manufacturing, I believed in you," he bellowed. "I bet on you. I'll make that bet any day of the week and because of that bet, three years later, that bet is paying off for America."

Vice President Joe Biden seconded the broader better-off message at a Labor Day rally in Detroit and put the blame for the country's economic woes squarely on the Republicans, declaring "America is better off today than they left us when they left."

Then he struck up a familiar chant: "Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."

Republicans, though, were happy to mock Obama's supporters for giving equivocal answers to the better-off question in a series of weekend interviews. Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus called Monday's happier talk from the Democrats "a total reversal of their position of yesterday. This must mean that 23 million Americans have found jobs, incomes have gone up, gas prices are going down, poverty is in decline and the deficit has been cut, all in the last 24 hours."

Obama's aides and allies went into overdrive to put a glossy sheen on economic progress over the past four years and on the question of whether Americans are doing better under Obama. "Absolutely," said Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager, on NBC's "Today" show. "By any measure the country has moved forward over the last four years. It might not be as fast as some people would've hoped. The president agrees with that."

Martin O'Malley, Maryland's Democratic governor, had answered the same question with a "no" on Sunday before turning the blame to Obama's Republican predecessor. But appearing Monday on CNN, O'Malley tried a more positive turn of phrase, saying: "We are clearly better off as a country because we're now creating jobs rather than losing them. But we have not recovered all that we lost in the Bush recession. That's why we need to continue to move forward" under Obama.

As they open their national convention, Democrats have plenty of convincing to do.

In the most recent Associated Press-GfK poll, 28 percent said they were better off than four years ago, while 36 percent said they were worse off and 36 percent said they were in about the same financial position.

His convention over and done, Romney spent Labor Day enjoying some downtime with his wife, Ann, at their lakeside estate in New Hampshire. Romney took a midmorning boat ride, pulling up to the Goodhue & Hawkins Navy Yard in Wolfeboro to gas up his 29-foot Sea Ray and pick up a Sea Doo jet ski that had been in for repairs. Ann Romney drove the jet ski back toward their home across the lake, while Romney stayed in the boat.

The GOP nominee planned to lay low for a few days, preparing for the October debates as Democratic conventioneers gathered for the opening of their event Tuesday.

Delegates were gathering across Charlotte on Monday for state breakfasts and a festival in downtown Charlotte featuring singer James Taylor and actor Jeff Bridges.

At a breakfast with the Iowa delegation, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the chair of the convention, told about 60 members of the state's contingent that Romney and running mate Paul Ryan would pursue massive tax cuts that would benefit only the very wealthy — stances that he said were far removed from their GOP predecessors. "Ronald Reagan would turn in his grave listening to some of these people," he said. "They're so far out there."

Villaraigosa told the Iowans that he spent 25 years as a community organizer and urged them to register new voters and recruit volunteers to help re-elect Obama. "We've got our work cut out for us. We know that," he said. "The country is evenly divided. It has been for a long time. So what are we going to do? This is going to be a working convention. Every one of you can sign up as a volunteer. In fact, I know you're already going to volunteer."

The campaign had one immediate need in the turnout department: filling up a 74,000-seat outdoor stadium for Obama's prime-time speech on Thursday night. With 6,000 delegates at the convention and thousands more attached to the event, Democrats were hoping to pack the event.

Obama deputy campaign manager Jennifer O'Malley-Dillon told Iowa delegates the campaign was hoping the rain would stay away when the president delivers his speech. "If you believe in weather gods, you should pray to them," she said.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro delivers the keynote speech on Tuesday, followed by first lady Michelle Obama's remarks. Obama and Biden will be nominated for second terms on Wednesday night, when former President Bill Clinton takes the stage as star speaker.

Keeping a strong focus on the economy, a new Obama campaign ad running in six closely contested states — Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia — claims Romney's policies would "hit the middle class harder" and that he doesn't see the "heavy load" the middle class is carrying.

Obama aides said they expected Romney and Republicans to outpace the president and his party in fundraising in August because Obama spent less time raising cash than in the month before, and because the GOP held its convention — usually a big money draw — in August.

http://news.yahoo.com/pre-convention-tussle-americans-better-off-161937862--election.html

comments

Fuel and food prices are still rising. It gets harder and harder when your sallary stays the same and everything else keeps going up!!

..

I would love to hear or read any POLL that attempts to get a more accurate number of unemployed. 8.3% comes from those who are currently getting unemployment checks. There are undoubtedly more that ran out of unemployment benefits, who are still just as unemployed. Let's see that POLL. Not polls of "likely voters." Nothing says all those "likely voters" will actually take the time to vote this time. But the unemployed are factaully unemployed.

..

8.8% unemployment......Let's talk about the under employed. People that have used all of their unemployment. The homeless that used to have homes and food on the table.

"A record 44.7 million people, or 1 in 7 Americans, were on food stamps last year"- CNN
Some people still think we are still getting better pretty much like the still-born "Recovery Summer" two years pending.

..

Let's see, no raises in four years. Gas has doubled, food up over 20%, I won't even mention utilities or insurance costs. You do the math.

..

All these people blaming repubs for low taxes, lol.
Obama campaigning in 2008: "If elected, my top priority will be reforming the US tax code so it's fair for all americans."
..yea right, lol.

[Jolie Rouge]

Obama rates himself an 'Incomplete' on Economy
By Devin Dwyer | ABC OTUS News – 55 mins ago.

With 63 days to go to the election, President Obama says he still deserves an "incomplete" - rather than a letter grade - when asked to rate his performance on fixing the economy. "You know, I would say incomplete," Obama said in an interview with Boulder, Colo., TV station KKTV. "But what I would say is the steps that we have taken in saving the auto industry, in making sure that college is more affordable and investing in clean energy and science and technology and research, those are all the things that we are going to need to grow over the long term," he said. "One big piece of business that we still have to do is make sure our debts and deficits are brought under control, and I've put forward a balanced plan that would reduce our deficits by $4 trillion."

It's not the first time Obama has rated himself "incomplete" when asked about his first-term economic performance. But the latest assessment provides fresh fodder for Republican attacks at the start of the Democratic National Convention.

The interview excerpt has already been circulated by the RNC and Romney campaign as what they see as an acknowledgment of Obama's ineffectiveness. In May, Obama told the ladies of ABC's "The View" that his record on the economy is still in progress. "It's still incomplete," he said. "We've still got work to do."

The president also told ABC's Jake Tapper the same thing during an October 2011 interview:


"Well, you know I'm not going to give myself a grade other than "incomplete" because the work that we started is not yet done," Obama told Tapper. "But the fact is that the American people are rightly frustrated over what they see as a system in which responsibility is not always rewarded, where people who have done the right thing all their lives still seem to be struggling, that sense that the American dream is slipping away. I think that is something that helped get me elected but it hasn't been entirely solved yet, and in some ways it's gotten tougher for folks because of the financial crisis."

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-again-rates-himself-incomplete-economy-124305314--abc-news-politics.html?_esi=1


comments

He said if he didn't have it done, he would be a one term president. Time for him to honor at least one promise.

...

College is more affordable? What the heck has he been smoking? I just paid almost 200 dollars for a beginning algebra textbook. My guess is that with all the major advancements and new discoveries in the field of beginning algebra the publishers felt that last year's book was just too out of date and we needed a new one.

...


How bad does he want it to get before the grade?

8%+ unemployment for nearly 4 years
New college grads- Get a loan, go to college and go home
Median income down ~10%
Economic growth running at ~2%/yr (in a recovery!), a preObama normal yr beats that.
BIG legislation that dampens growth

..

Well, it figures. He probably had lots of incompletes in college, too, but we'll never know since he has kept his transcripts from public view.

..

An "incomplete" for a President whose leadership has been MIA.



https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/426635_180445208747075_1298709212_n.jpg




See also :Dems: "Better of?f" question needs context
Associated Press – 1 hr 22 mins ago

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Democrats say answering the question of whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago requires some context.

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren tells NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that people should remember how far the economy fell and how hard it is to get back from a time when the stock market was crashing and the auto industry was a mess. She says the real issue is who has the best plan to move forward.

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, meanwhile, says to ask the millions of people out of work if they are better off. He noted on ABC "Good Morning America" that unemployment remains above 8 percent, despite President Barack Obama's stimulus plan.

The question is a major talking point as the Democratic National Convention kicks off Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/dems-better-off-needs-context-122125628--election.html;_ylt=AmbNSZvwYyxHF1k9ft2V7ypg24cA;_y lu=X3oDMTQ5aTRqYzBjBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIFNlY3Rpb24gUG9 saXRpY3MgMgRwa2cDOGE5MWM4MGMtMzRmMi0zOGQ4LWIxY2UtM 2M4YWI4ZmZjYjIxBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnlfY29rZQR 2ZXIDOGU0MmUwMjEtZjY4Yi0xMWUxLWFkZWYtMDQ4ZmQ2ZjY5N 2Ri;_ylg=X3oDMTM5MmhucWd2BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11c wRwc3RhaWQDMDAyZWNlYTEtZGVkZi0zNjVmLThjNzAtNGExNGV mNDZkYmM0BHBzdGNhdANwb2xpdGljc3xlbGVjdGlvbnMyMDEyB HB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=3

[Jolie Rouge]

"But what I would say is the steps that we have taken in saving the auto industry, in making sure that college is more affordable and investing in clean energy and science and technology and research, those are all the things that we are going to need to grow over the long term," he said. "One big piece of business that we still have to do is make sure our debts and deficits are brought under control, and I've put forward a balanced plan that would reduce our deficits by $4 trillion."

"Fast And Furious," "Solendra," "New Black Panthers," "Lightsquared," "Acorn," "Gun Walker," "Obama Care" "Gibson Guitar" gitmo, opening the borders, attacking states that want to secure their borders with mexico, his own illegal relatives, and so on and so forth ....


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/612874-few-things-you-should-know-about-obama-s-favorite-colorado-solar-panel-maker.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/631925-cash-caulkers.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/629305-stimulapalooza-3-6-million-jobs-lost-quite-positive.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/615497-whats-few-more-trillion-dollars-obamas-climate-plan.html?highlight=solar


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/612457-passed-not-one-member-read-bill-7-dems-all-repubs-against.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/655067-fisker-fiasco.html Auto Start-Up Given $529 Million Loan Courtesy of US Taxpayers Heads for the Finnish Line

http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/658424-administration-rejects-keystone-oil-pipeline.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/655822-rule-fiat.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/660842-college-costs.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/655187-obama-acts-ease-burden-student-loans.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/619712-mortgage-modification-might-cost-you-your-house.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/626690-then-now.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/618995-report-obama-administration-preparing-bankruptcy-filing-chrysler.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/615539-fannie-mae-pay-bonuses-up-611-000-four-execs.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/615511-heap-stimulus-cash-clunkers-bill-could-jumpstart-new-auto-sales.html


http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/651659-second-amendment-perverted.html



But what I would say is the steps that we have taken in ... <snip> ... investing in clean energy and science and technology and research

Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter Administration? Anybody? Anything? No?
Didn't think so.

Bottom line . . we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember.

Ready? It was very simple, and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted 8-04-1977 TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL. HEY, PRETTY EFFICIENT, HUH?

AND NOW IT'S 2008, 31 YEARS LATER, AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS NECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR, THEY HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES AND LOOK AT THE JOB THEY HAVE DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY 'WHAT WAS I THINKING?'

Ah yes, good ole beauocracy. And now we are going to turn the Healthcare system over to them? God Help us.


The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. Its responsibilities include the nation's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, energy-related research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production. DOE also sponsors more basic and applied scientific research than any other US federal agency; most of this is funded through its system of United States Department of Energy National Laboratories. yes.. they were given authority over the Nuclear industry because it was a way to achieve what was given as their PRIMARY purpose which was to reduce our dependancy on foreign oil. Research into alternative energy sources ... wind, solar, geothermic, hydrogen, ect ect ect .... Seems that they have a huge buget and not much in the way of results.

[Jolie Rouge]

Just Released Rock Anthem: “Obama Gotta Go” ~ by Glen Shulfer
September, 3, 2012 — nicedeb

This brand new ditty, “Obama Gotta Go” by Glen Shulfer is a toe tapper I think you’ll enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=16y8peNt0dA



Lyrics:

I been trying not to say anything,
but I been waiting for the end of his fling.
And I can’t wait to hear the Fat Lady sing.

I’m so tired of all the money he spent.
And I wonder where the heck it all went.
But now we got to get a new president.

Doing all his calculation on where to go on his next vacation.
All the while the nation hurts so much, I can’t hold back.
No I can’t hold back any more.

Obama gotta go.
Ship him back to Chicago.
I’ll even help him move his cargo.
I had enough of B.O., so Bama gotta go…go back home!

I been working at my job every day,
just to see him take it all away,
so he can build another Chevrolet.

I don’t know how he could make such a mess.
But I sure can take a pretty good guess.
ObamaCare and the Stimulus.

Doing all his redistribution is only stepping on the Constitution.
All the destitution hurts so much, I can’t hold back.
No I can’t hold back any more.

Obama gotta go.
Ship him back to Chicago.
I’ll even help him move his cargo.
I had enough of B.O., so Bama gotta go!

I have to say with no exception,
I won’t be paying for his contraception.
All of his deception hurts so much, I can’t hold back.
No I can’t hold back any more.

Obama gotta go.
Ship him back to Chicago.
I’ll even help him move his cargo.
I had enough of B.O., so Bama gotta go…go back home!



Here’s another gem by Shulfer from earlier this summer: “Blame Someone Else”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gXWNM7JhENM

http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/just-released-obama-gotta-go-by-glen-shulfer-video/

[Jolie Rouge]

Are you better off today than four years ago? Consider these #ThingsObamaImproved
Posted at 7:55 pm on September 15, 2012 by Twitchy Staff

Some top Dems were stumped a couple of weeks ago when confronted with the question, “Are people better off today than four years ago?” While the campaign retreated to get its story straight, several polls in the interim showed that most believe they’re not better off in 2012. But somebody (or something) must be doing well. Let’s check with Twitter for a quick list of #ThingsObamaImproved.


Paul Delaney@gipperguy

#thingsObamaimproved his golf game

15 Sep 12


brenda watkins@temi227

#thingsObamaimproved The Mexican drug cartels GUN SUPPLY.

15 Sep 12


Jim Jam@CoachWalk50

#thingsObamaimproved mmmmmmm......can't think of anything, oh wait the strength of the Muslim Brotherhood in nations where they were weak

15 Sep 12


SCPatriot68@SCPatriot68

#ThingsObamaimproved: Iran's nuclear program

15 Sep 12


Marty@MaineMiiarty

#thingsObamaimproved. Jimmy Carter's place in the history books

15 Sep 12


Jane Galt@JGalt9

#ThingsObamaimproved the wealth of his millionaire and billionaire cronies through stimulus funds #solyndra

15 Sep 12

http://twitchy.com/2012/09/15/are-you-better-off-today-than-four-years-ago-consider-these-thingsobamaimproved/

[Jolie Rouge]

Research poll. Compared to today, in six months how much spending money do you think you & your family will have?

17% : More than today.
53% : Less than today.
28% : About the same.

Total votes: 8966

[Jolie Rouge]

Biden again forgets who’s been in charge: Middle class has been buried the last 4 years
By Doug Powers • October 2, 2012 05:15 PM

Joe Biden has a tendency to forget who’s been in charge for the past few years http://michellemalkin.com/2012/06/27/joe-biden-again-forgets-whos-been-in-charge-for-the-last-3-12-years/ and today was no exception: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/10/biden-adds-paul-ryan-to-percent-attack-137240.html?hp=f2


Discussing the Romney campaign’s tax plan, Biden asked a crowd in Charlotte, N.C.: “How they can justify raising taxes on the middle class that has been buried the last four years?”

It makes sense though. In 2010, Biden’s “Recovery Summer” got things shovel ready for the middle class http://michellemalkin.com/2010/06/17/its-sheriff-joe-bidens-big-summer-recovery-tour/ — Joe just didn’t tell the middle class they’d be left at the bottom of the hole when an administration crony was paid to fill it back in. http://twitpic.com/1xljul

Keep talking, Mr. Vice President — you’re doing fine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nlvqqNG4hr8

**Written by Doug Powers
http://michellemalkin.com/2012/10/02/biden-forgets/


Read http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/october-surprise-obamas-other-race-speech-to-be-aired-tonight-on-hannity/

[Jolie Rouge]

Obama Causing Double Dip Recession
Sunday, 03 Feb 2013 11:46 AM

By Dick Morris

Now that the economy is officially contracting, it’s a good time to look back and list the various Obama policies that are causing it. We do this not in the spirit of blame but rather to point to the corrective steps he needs to take to head off a new recession.

After several quarters of optimistic but rigged data showing the economy growing at a 2 percent clip, the truth is emerging: We are on the verge of a double dip recession.

Here’s why:

• Our exports to China are artificially depressed because of Beijing’s deliberate weakening of its currency to underprice its goods in the US market and overprice ours in theirs. Correction: Demand that China stops manipulating its currency and impose taxes on currency exchanges if they don’t.

• Stop insisting on tax increases which fall on small businesses. Cut spending instead. The negative multiplier effect of a tax increase is much less than that of a spending cut.

• Be far more aggressive in expanding oil and gas production. Our huge oil import bill – about $40 billion a year – is dragging our economy down.

• The current contraction is before the tax increases Obama just passed have hit. These tax hikes on upper income people will take $50 billion of demand out of the economy and his 2 percent increase in the payroll tax will take out over $100 billion more. These tax increases go directly toward cutting demand and employment. Correction: Cut spending instead.

• The rising cost of health insurance due to Obamcare and increased costs of government – particularly EPA – regulation.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics – aka the B.S. – will doubtless show unemployment steady at some ridiculously low number like 7.8%. But University of Maryland economist Peter Morici says that “labor force participation is lower today than when President Obama took office…factoring in discouraged adults and others working part-time that would prefer full time work, the unemployment rate is 14.4%.

And, around the corner is a likely reduction in the U.S. credit rating by Moody’s.

People ask: How can the Republican Party come back? Because of the impact of Obama’s economic policies which will soon be evident even to the most optimistic and obtuse.


Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Dick-Morris-Obama-Double-Dip-Recession/2013/02/03/id/488612?s=al#ixzz2JwzjldUp

[Jolie Rouge]

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s480x480/560125_10152084550555288_2147842_n.jpg

[Jolie Rouge]

Bloomberg's Exposure of Worried Walmart Emails Stays Mostly in the Business Pages
By Tom Blumer | February 16, 2013

On Friday, Renee Dudley at Bloomberg News exposed the contents of February 12 internal emails revealing that Walmart executives are worried -- very worried -- about sales during the first 10 to 14 days of the its most current fiscal period (mostly likely either the first 10 days of February if the company works with calendar months, or 14 days if it began the second period of the fiscal year on Monday January 28).

Their primary concerns are the payroll tax hike and delayed tax refunds, but they may also need to start worrying about higher gas prices http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-15/wal-mart-executives-sweat-slow-february-start-in-e-mails.html


Wal-Mart Executives Sweat Slow February Start in E-Mails

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had the worst sales start to a month in seven years as payroll-tax increases hit shoppers already battling a slow economy, according to internal e-mails obtained by Bloomberg News. “In case you haven’t seen a sales report these days, February MTD sales are a total disaster,” Jerry Murray, Wal- Mart’s vice president of finance and logistics, said in a Feb. 12 e-mail to other executives, referring to month-to-date sales. “The worst start to a month I have seen in my ~7 years with the company.”

Wal-Mart and discounters such as Family Dollar Stores Inc. are bracing for a rise in the payroll tax to take a bigger bite from the paychecks of shoppers already dealing with elevated unemployment. The world’s largest retailer’s struggles come after executives expected a strong start to February because of the Super Bowl, milder weather and paycheck cycles, according to the minutes of a Feb. 1 officers meeting Bloomberg obtained.

Murray’s comments about February sales follow disappointing results from January, a month that Cameron Geiger, senior vice president of Wal-Mart U.S. Replenishment, said he was relieved to see end, according to a separate internal e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News. “Have you ever had one of those weeks where your best- prepared plans weren’t good enough to accomplish everything you set out to do?” Geiger asked in a Feb. 1 e-mail to executives. “Well, we just had one of those weeks here at Walmart U.S. Where are all the customers? And where’s their money?”

... About $19.7 billion more in tax refunds had been delivered to shoppers by this time last year, according to an analysis prepared by Wal-Mart’s Global Customer Insights & Analytics division that was attached to Murray’s e-mail on Feb. 12. The retailer expected returns to be delayed by three to four weeks because of the late release of tax forms and additional, federally mandated tax-fraud scrutiny.

The February pullback may also have something to do with gas prices, which began rising on January 21 and have done so for the past 27 straight days. The national average for regular gas is now 3.68 per gallon. In Cincinnati and Ohio as a whole, it's well over 3.80, and still rising, as of 7:30 p.m. ET. A sixty-cent rise in gas prices will costs a two-car family driving a combined 500 miles a week and average 25 miles per gallon about $50 per month. If gas hits $4, the impact will be roughly equal to the impact of the payroll tax hike on a family with a gross annual income of $40,000. The weather was also a probably factor in the Northeast, where the winter storm nicknamed "Nemo" hit on February 9.

What Bloomberg reported barely news at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press. A search on the company's name at the AP's national site returned one item about Friday's results in the stock market:


Walmart was the biggest decliner in the Dow Friday. The stock fell $1.52, or 2.2 percent, to $69.30 after Bloomberg News published excerpts from an internal e-mail that said sales in February were a "total disaster." The retailer, which reports earnings next week, said that sometimes internal communications lacked "proper context" and "are not entirely accurate."

Notably lacking is the specific reference to anything relating to the "worst in seven years" -- which, by the way, is referring to 2006, over two years before the recession as normal people define it began -- or any general attempt to estimate an impact on the economy as a whole. Perhaps one could argue that it's not the press's place to interpret what Bloomberg exposed, but such constraints didn't matter to Christopher Rugaber at the Associated Press when he called the January jobs report showing unemployment rising and job creation mediocre "mostly encouraging."

A Google News search on "Walmart February sales" (not in quotes) returned 69 relevant items, Many of them contained the short AP passage quoted above. The vast majority of anything resembling extended treatment came from business publications.

Somehow, I think that if a Republican or conservative occupied the White House, we'd be hearing a lot more about the larger implications of the downbeat news from Walmart so far this year.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/02/16/bloombergs-exposure-worried-walmart-emails-stays-mostly-business-pages#ixzz2LAt0EHxA

[Jolie Rouge]

11 Shocking Facts About Detroit That Don’t Fit Obama’s So-Called Economic Recovery
February 13, 2013 5:53 pm

In President Obama's State of the Union speech last night he maintained that the United States was on the road to economic recovery. In fact, the delusional Barack Hussein Obama said exactly this:


"After years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs. We buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil than we have in twenty. Our housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever before. "


"Together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is stronger."

It is sure interesting that Mr Obama talks about us buying more cars than we have in 5 years, while at the same time the once powerful city of Detroit, Michigan which was in the 60's and 70's the hub of the car industry in America, is now a virtual wasteland. It has gone from the symbol of American prosperity and industry and it has been transformed into a rotting, decaying, post-apocalyptic Mad Max type landscape.

Unfortunately, our politicians cannot see that what is happening in Detroit is simply a microcosm of what is happening to the entire American experiment. President Obama brazenly boasts, "that the state of our union is stronger." Well here are 11 facts about the city of Detroit Michigan which say that we are not on the road to recovery, not at all:

1.Detroit was once the fourth-largest city in the United States, and it was once home to close to 2 million people. However, according to the 2010 census, only 713,000 people now live in Detroit.

2.The population of Detroit has declined by about 25 percent over the past decade. The last time the population of Detroit was this low was back in 1910.

3.Back in 1960, the city of Detroit had the highest per-capita income in the United States.

4.Today, the unemployment rate in Detroit is more than 18 percent, which is more than twice as high as the nation as a whole.

5.According to a report that was just recently released, approximately 60 percent of all children in Detroit live in poverty.

6.Approximately one-third of Detroit's 140 square miles are either vacant or derelict.

7.The city government of Detroit has closed dozens of schools and has decided to cut off public services to the heavily blighted areas.

8.According to one estimate, there are 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 vacant residential lots in the city of Detroit today.

9.The median price of a home in Detroit is just $9,000, and there are some areas of Detroit where you can still buy a house for $100.

10.The murder rate in Detroit is 11 times higher than it is in New York City.

11.Due to budget cutbacks, most police stations in Detroit are now closed to the public for 16 hours a day.


That's just one city in America that used to be a main industrial hub, which it is no longer. Not only is Detroit near total collapse, it was once the icon of an industry President Obama cited in his State of The Union speech which is supposedly in recovery.

There is President Obama and his Socialist delusion, then there is reality. Detroit Michigan is reality.

Read more shocking facts about the city of Detroit from TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/bankrupt-decaying-and-nearly-dead-24-facts-about-the-city-of-detroit-that-will-shock-you

http://www.isthatbaloney.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/crumbling-city-of-detroit-michigan.jpg

[Jolie Rouge]

Peter Schiff: Coming debt crisis will make 2008 look like a Sunday school picnic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZTlsDepd08
A best-selling author and one of the world's most in-demand financial pundits, Peter Schiff

The most educational 17 minutes 29 seconds anyone could possibly hope for regarding the economy. Well worth anyone's time.

[Jolie Rouge]

Paula Priesse - "Obama Sticks It To The Middle Class!"
Published on Mar 10, 2013

America's favorite hapless progressive, Paula Priesse,
learns how President Obama is hurting the middle class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HhnwE-3yjk

[pepperpot]

http://www.isthatbaloney.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/crumbling-city-of-detroit-michigan.jpg
At one point, that was someone's beautiful home. What a shame. :(

[Jolie Rouge]

At one point, that was someone's beautiful home. What a shame. :(

I love the type of structure & style - what it must have looked like when it was cared for... only thing to do now is demo it - I'd be afraid to even try to salvage any of the interior

[pepperpot]

I love the type of structure & style - what it must have looked like when it was cared for... only thing to do now is demo it - I'd be afraid to even try to salvage any of the interior
I'm surprised that it is allowed to stand. It is clearly a hazard, especially for curious children, the "homeless"/squatters and bored teens.

[Jolie Rouge]

cost money to tar it down ... prob went to the city for nonpayment of taxes ... city can't afford the expense of the demo... if the house is past a certain age you have to look at abestos abatement which means $$$$$

[Jolie Rouge]

Obamacare Got My Son and Company - Eventually, It'll Get Around to You, Too
November 14, 2013 - 10:50 AM By Charlie Daniels

Sometimes, when I write about Obamacare and the catastrophic effect it's going to have on the economy, the healthcare system and society itself, I get correspondence from people who say things like, "In your position, you don't have anything to worry about."

In the first place, nobody in America, except Congress and Obama's chosen ones, are going to be exempt from the ruinous ramifications of this ill-conceived bit of socialism, myself included.

First of all, let's get this straight. Obamacare is not about healthcare, it's about the seizing of more power by a loose cannon government that is totally incapable of handling the enormous power it has now. Obamacare is a gamble, a roll of the dice, betting that enough young, healthy people will enroll to offset the older folks who are more susceptible to sickness and will require more care. The very design is flawed, with so many regulations it's impossible to comply, a board of non-medical bureaucrats, who I predict will not be above partisanship and, most ridiculous of all, enforced by the most powerful, feared and proven to be corrupt at it's very highest levels, the Internal Revenue Service.

We have an insurance plan for our employees, which they can either enroll in or we give them the cash equivalent. Just the other day, my office manager told me that next September changes will be coming down that will affect our coverage. What the changes and their ramifications will be, we have no way of knowing and so we join the rest of American businesses in Obamacare Limbo.

At present I have thirty employees, many of them who have been with me for over thirty years, who will, to one degree or another be affected. My son recently received word from his insurance carrier that his current policy would eventually be cancelled; the only reasons being that it doesn't meet the new Obamacare requirements and he made a change after the Affordable Care Act was passed.

What are these requirements and why weren't they made known to the American people before, not after, the monstrosity was passed?

No small business will hire over fifty employees now because of Obamacare.

People are working 29 hours a week, living on starvation wages because of Obamacare.

Doctors are opting out of the program, retiring or going into concierge medicine which will be priced out of the reach of many people, farther increasing the load of those who will practice under ACA, increasing waiting times and the dispensing of care, all because of Obamacare.

Businesses are unable to build or even plan for the future with any degree of certainty; they know they will be adversely affected, they just don't know how deeply, all because of Obamacare.

Millions of people are receiving cancellation notices from their insurance companies and will be totally without insurance until they can enroll on a computer system that doesn't work, all because of Obamacare.

The nation is in a state of confusion; Congress does not have enough members with the gonads to stand up to a president who seems to think he is the reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte who is about to lay the final straw on the national fiscal scales with a healthcare plan that is doomed to abject failure.

So you see, we're all affected in one way or another by Obamacare, and if it hasn't gotten around to you yet, believe me, it will.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/commentary/charlie-daniels/obamacare-got-my-son-and-company-eventually-itll-get-around-you-too#sthash.T6Si5Dxz.dpuf

[Jolie Rouge]

sometimes I just can't resist laughing at the bitter irony. In 2008, college age kids voted 66% for Obama. In 2012 it was 59%. Congratulations, college students, your guy won the election.

Students suffer ObamaCare sticker shock as premiums soar, plans get cut
Published November 18, 2013 • FoxNews.com

While millions of Americans are watching their individual polices get canceled due to ObamaCare regulations, the new health care rules are also having a major impact on college campuses.




For decades, universities and colleges have offered students bare-bones policies. But because of the Affordable Care Act, those policies no longer cut it – and universities are forced to decide whether to offer significantly higher-cost plans or cancel coverage altogether.

The new rules affect a broad swath of American schools, especially the small ones.

At Bowie State University in Maryland, the cost of student health insurance policies went from roughly $100 a year to $1,800 a year.

The cancelled plan offered $5,000 worth of medical coverage to students for just $54 per semester. University administrators said an acceptable replacement under the Affordable Care Act would have cost $900 per semester, a 1,500 percent increase.

Students who need individual coverage are likely to find a better deal for themselves on the Maryland Health Connection insurance exchange, University spokeswoman Cassandra Robinson said.

In the end, the school decided to drop the policy for all of its 5,500 enrollees. Students were notified of the dropped coverage on the school’s website.

"Bowie State University has suspended offering health insurance for domestic students for the 2013-2014 academic year," according to the school's official website. "Due to new requirements of the Affordable Care Act which will go into effect on January 1, 2014, the cost of insurance for domestic students will increase to approximately $1800 per year."

The sticker shock didn’t sit well with some students who spoke out against the price hike.

“You’ve haven’t done anything Obama and I am disappointed in you,” one student said. Another told Campus Reform, “We don’t have that money. We can barely afford books.”

The frustration has been felt across the country as colleges and universities have to decide whether to cut coverage or offer sky-high plans that in some cases triple the cost of premiums.

In New Jersey, students who enrolled in this past semester were the first class that had to shoulder the higher premium costs. Many community colleges in Bergen and Passaic counties were forced to cut student coverage altogether.

In Cranford, N.J., Stephen Nacco, the Union County Community College Vice President of Administrative Services, says the cost of health insurance is now “more than a thousand dollars per students and that it is dramatically different” than what it had been in the past.

Students were paying so little before because the coverage they received was so scant. The costs have gone up because under ObamaCare, plans must offer coverage for services like annual checkups and alcohol abuse treatments. Because they offer a wider range of services, the premiums also increase.

According to the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities, students at nine schools in the state saw the cost of their policies triple, Paul Shelly, a spokesman for the organization told North Jersey.com.

It’s been a similar story across most of the country.

According to a 2008 study by the Government Accountability Office, about 6,000 students or about 7 percent of the total number of 18-to-23-year-olds in college, bought their own insurance, usually through plans arranged with the school.

The same study found that 60 percent of schools’ plans had coverage of $50,000 or less for specific conditions, and almost all the rest had some sort of payout caps that they will have to do away with by 2014.

In the past, students at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., were offered a one-year plan that cost students $445, with payouts capping at $10,000. For the 2012-2013 academic year, the payout cap was increased to $100,000 per the new health care overhaul, which meant students at Bethany would have to shell out more than $2,000 for coverage. It apparently was too much in the end.

Bob Schmoll, Bethany’s vice president for finance, told The Wall Street Journal, the school “decided not to offer coverage for our students next year” given the proposed increase in premium. Schmoll says the school could have kept the limited-coverage plan but that it would have financially not been feasible.

Administrators at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina, Cornell College in Iowa and the University of Puget Sound in Washington also told students they would be dropping school-sponsored coverage. The three schools say student premiums would have gone up 10-fold.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/18/students-suffer-sticker-shock-from-obamacare/

[Jolie Rouge]

The Sides Are Forming For The Coming Civil War
November 28, 2013

I remember as a young child that the key to winning a lot of the neighborhood games in football and basketball was all about who got picked first. If you were lucky enough to get Michael on your team, then you knew you were going to win. If you were in a foreign park playing against kids you did not know, Michael was the great equalizer. I also knew that getting the right kids on my side helped in spelling bees and walking home from the movies so I didn’t get beat up. Learning how to organize my team with the right people, served me well when I became a men’s college head basketball coach in terms of winning the recruiting wars. I always felt the April recruiting wars was the deciding factor in many games in the following December.

America is in the choosing sides phase of the coming civil war. To use a college recruiting phrase, it is accurate to state that the letters of intent to join one side or another have mostly been signed and the commitments offered. However, there is one big uncommitted piece, but very soon the sides will be drawn.

The Chess Pieces of Civil War

What is going on today in America all about choosing sides. There are clear lines being formed in the United States. The recruiting pool consists of the Department of Homeland Security, the American military, local law enforcement, the Russian troops pouring into the United States, the trickle of Chinese troops coming into the country through Hawaii and, of course, the poor, the middle class and elite. This is the recruiting pool which will form the chess pieces of the coming American Civil War.

Even if all parties in this country wanted the country to continue, even in its present mortally wounded state, it would be foolish to believe that it could continue for much longer.

There are three paramount numbers that every American should be paying attention to and they are (1) national debt ($17 trillion dollars), (2) the unfunded liabilities debt ($238 trillion dollars), and (3) the derivatives/futures debt (one quadrillion dollars which is 16 times the entire wealth of the planet. The net result of these staggering numbers can only end one way, and that is with a financial collapse, followed by a bank holiday, rioting in the streets and the full roll out of martial law. These financial numbers guarantee that the party cannot continue much longer.

Since America, in her present form, cannot continue much longer without experiencing a cataclysmic shift, we would be wise to realize what resources are going to be the impetus for civil war. When you play the board game, Monopoly, the properties on Boardwalk are among the most coveted. It is no different in real life. The biggest prize of the coming conflict is real estate. Homes, office buildings and shopping malls are the most coveted prize. The MERS mortgage fraud continues unabated as millions of homes have been confiscated through mortgage fraud. When the dollar is worthless and is awaiting its replacement (e.g. the Amero or the Worldo), real estate will be more valuable than gold.

Other big game that is being hunted by both sides in the coming civil war will be bank accounts, which must be looted before the dormant computer digits we call money can be converted into hard assets. That is why my advice is, and has been, convert your cash into tangible assets which can enhance your survivability in the upcoming crash.

Also, your pensions, your 401K’s and your various entitlement programs are also at risk as evidenced by Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew’s “borrowing” from various Federal retirement accounts in order to increase the debt ceiling fight that will resurface in Congress, again, early next year.

Again, my advice is to convert your assets in tangible items which will aid in getting you through some very dark days coming up in the near future. Before the cognitive dissonance crowd rears their ugly heads and accuses me of fear mongering, ask yourself what the elite did prior to the crash of the economy in 1929. For example, Joseph Kennedy took his money out of the stock market the day BEFORE it crashed. Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Westinghouse, et al., all took their money out just prior to the crash, leaving the ignorant masses unaware of what was coming. Don’t make the same mistake.

Barring a false flag event, US martial law will have a trigger event, which will lead to martial law, that will be financial and it will naturally occur as we are already on a collision course with destiny.

Building Fences Around the Ignorant

Please allow me to ask you an ignorant question. If you knew that a virus was coming to your neighborhood which would infect much of the local canine population, wouldn’t it be prudent to build a fence around all of the dogs in the neighborhood in order to isolate any potentially infected dogs? Well, this is how the elite view you.

Many of us, devoid of financial resources, will soon become like a pack of rabid dogs and we must be contained. As I have written about recently, it is becoming very difficult to get your money out of the country. Banks, such as JP Morgan Chase and HSBC have already imposed withdrawal limits. If you withdraw more than $10,000 cash, you run a good chance of being investigated by the IRS. One layer of fencing has already been placed around you and your assets.

The NDAA constitutes another big fence being built around the people in which all due process will soon be gone. The NDAA will allow the administration the “legal” right to secretly remove any burgeoning leadership of citizen opposition forces. The second provision which will allow this country to quickly transition to martial law is Executive Order (EO) 13603 which allows the President to take control over any resource, property and even human labor within the United States. This EO gives the President unlimited authority including the ability to initiate a civilian draft as well as a military draft. In short, this spells the potential enslavement of the American people. For those of you who still have your blinders on, research the NDAA and EO 13603 and then when you realize that I am correct in my interpretation, ask yourself one question; If the powers that be were not going to seize every important asset, then why would the government give itself the power to do just that? And while you are at it, remember the Clean Water Act gives the EPA to control all private property as well as the precious resources of all water. And then of course, the FDA and the conflicts with local farmers is escalating. And if this is not enough to convince the sheep of this country that the storm clouds are overhead, then take a look at HR 347 which outlaws protesting and takes away the First Amendment. This unconstitutional legislation makes it illegal to criticize the President and the government, as a whole, in the presence of Federal officials. I have news for you, there are Federal officials in every town, city and county in America. If one violates HR 347, they will be immediately arrested and charged with a felony.

I just saw the Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, and this is eerily similar to what I saw in the movies in that the people are being provoked to revolution. In fact, in the TV show, Revolution, the most evil entity in the series is the re-emergence of the United States government and the heroes of the show are rebelling against the abuse. It seems like everywhere we turn in the media, the people are being encouraged to rise up now and challenge authority. I am sure the establishment would rather confront a small group of dissidents and squelch the rebellion now, before the numbers can become significant and overwhelming to the establishment and this theme is being carried out in the media.

Along these same lines, Obama has done nothing but agitate the middle class. I like to ask Obama supporters, can you name one thing Obama has done, on behalf of the establishment elite, to improve the plight of the American middle class? I can’t think of even one thing.

The fences have been built around the soon-to-be rabid dog population, so when the infected dogs go crazy, the pieces will have been put in place to deal with the uprisings that will surely follow the loss of everything. Containment is nearly complete. The final action will consist of gun confiscation and one side of the coming conflict is attempting to position themselves to do that in the near future and that would be the DHS, the Russians and the Chinese. I cannot think of another legitimate reason which would describe why they are here.

Cognitive dissonance only relieves one of psychological distress for so long.

Choosing Sides

I have told you what is at risk before the inevitable economic crash. Now it is time to take stock of the sides of this coming civil war and a very clear picture is emerging.

The poor have no resources other than their food stamps which are already under attack. The middle class and their resources are the target for the coming conflict. And most of the middle class has no idea that they have been targeted. Soon the divide and conquer strategies will lose their effectiveness and the poor and the middle class will be on the same team because they will both have lost everything.

Written by Dave Hodges.

http://www.militianews.com/the-sides-are-forming-for-the-coming-civil-war/

[Jolie Rouge]

Poll: Only 22 Percent of Americans Say They’re Better Off Under Obama
by Josh Feldman | 4:47 pm, October 15th, 2014

You know that old election cliche: “are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Well, a new Washington Post/ABC poll finds not that many people who consider themselves better off now than when President Obama was inaugurated.

(Unrelated note: midterms are less than a month away, and while Obama himself is not on the ballot, he very specifically said that his policies are.)

22 percent of those polled say they’re better off now than they were six years ago. This is in reaction to the question “Would you say you yourself are better off financially than you were when Obama first became president, not as well off, or in about the same shape as then financially?”

30 percent overall say they’re worse off, and 46 percent say they’re in the same shape.

Democrats are a little kinder to Obama, with 37 percent saying they’re better off, while only 9 percent of Republicans and and 19 percent of independents say the same.

Among African-Americans, 33 percent say they’re better off and only 8 percent say they’re worse off. Meanwhile, 18 percent of white voters say better off; 35 percent say worse off.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/poll-only-22-percent-of-americans-say-theyre-better-off-under-obama/

[Jolie Rouge]

Daniels wrote a provoking, yet very thought-out open letter to the president on his personal website. Daniels touches on various issues such as government overreach in taking away Americans’ privacy and gay marriage while blasting Obama for his “disregard for the maintenance and morale” of the armed forces and for trying to make a deal with enemy Iran that spits “in the face of Israel.”

The entire text of the letter that appeared on http://www.charliedaniels.com is as follows:


Dear Mr. President,

This letter is not written in a spirit of hate, disrespect, nor is it motivated in any way by racial bias and is written with respect due the office and the awesome tasks that have been laid on your shoulders.

I write this letter because I am a tax paying American citizen who has experienced the American Dream and wants his children and grandchildren to have the same advantages and opportunities that he has had.

And no, Mr. President, I was not born into a one-percenter family, I come from a blue collar background, never went to college, have made a living doing manual labor and went into my chosen profession at ground level, worked hard and sacrificed to achieve success.

On April 13, 1967 I arrived in Nashville, Tennessee with a wife, a two-year-old baby, a twenty-dollar bill and the clutch out of my car.

I won’t go into the mountains and valleys that I’ve traveled since then except to say that I have been successful and somebody did help me build the business I own. Almighty God, not the government.

I employ thirty people, good citizens and family people, hard-working people, the kind of gun-clinging, God-fearing folks who make America the greatest nation the world has ever known.

Mr. President, it seems to me that you have little faith in American ingenuity, American capability, American exceptionalism and even American patriotism.

You seem to think that America needs a monolithic, big brother type government to oversee and regulate every aspect of American life, that citizens are not competent to control their own affairs and make their own decisions without some oppressive bureaucracy to call the shots.

Mr. President, the answer is not government, conversely, the problem is government. A government that has doubled the national debt, increased unemployment, lowered take home pay, increased food stamp participation and disability claims and introduced socialized medicine.

You support teacher’s unions which take political activism more seriously than education.

You intentionally lied to the American people about your stand on marriage being between a man and woman, and continue to lie when it is politically expedient for you to do so.

You surround yourself with inexperienced ideologues and political yes men and take the advice of individuals who are swimming in waters way too deep for them.

Your petulance is unbecoming, Mr. President, and your criticism of anyone who disagrees with you is downright unmanly. You come off like a spoiled child who has been denied his way.

And while you blame your shortcomings on opposing political parties, you had both houses of congress and the White House in the first two years of your term. Plus an electoral mandate to do just about anything you wanted to, so the least you can do is cowboy up and take the blame for the messes you’ve made.

Your apparent disregard for the maintenance and morale of our armed services is extremely unwise and dangerous.

Mr. President, the office you hold is not a place for the faint of heart and when you draw a red line you’d dang well better be willing to back it up, because when you don’t every tyrant and despot in this world takes it for a sign of weakness and will take advantage, Putin and China being a prime example.

In making any kind of deal with Iran you spit in the face of Israel and plant the seeds of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

The last report showed that the US economy actually shrunk by .07% while the national debt and other obligations grow by the day.

No matter how many apologists come forth and no matter how much double talk you and the puppets who speak for you come up with, the greatest nation the world has ever known is losing a war with a small army of criminals and thugs that grows bigger every day simply because you don’t have the guts to face the problem.

You’re running out of diversions Mr. President, slight of hand political policies eventually stop working and lies finally float to the top of water.

Time is running out for you Mr. President and the horrible thing about it is that time is running out for America too.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

What do you think of this letter? Was Charlie Daniels on the mark? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and don’t forget to share via Twitter or Facebook

http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com/legendary-country-singer-charlie-daniels-destroys-obamas-policies-in-open-letter/#ixzz3coNKVFel

[Jolie Rouge]

In victory lap, Obama says US better off than 7 years ago
February 26, 2016

JACKSONVILLE - President Barack Obama says anyone who says the U.S. isn't better off than it was seven years ago isn't telling the truth.

Obama is taking a victory lap on the economy in Jacksonville, Florida. He's promoting the benefits of the $760 billion economic stimulus bill he signed shortly after taking office seven years ago. Obama says the United States has benefited because his administration put "smart policies" in place.

The president is touring a factory that makes high-tech batteries. He says the U.S. should be investing in clean energy technologies that allow it to continue to be an innovation leader.

Obama says the economic recovery has required dauntingly fast adaptation to change but that the U.S. makes change work for itself.

http://www.wbrz.com/news/in-victory-lap-obama-says-us-better-off-than-7-years-ago?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_WBRZ_Channel_2