All of the House Republicans voted against the stimulus package. Good for them. President Obama doesn’t need their support, and he shouldn’t expect it when the legislation being proposed doesn’t achieve (or come close to achieving) what should be the primary objective — stimulating the economy. This is pork-laden legislation as well as some tax cuts to people who don’t EVEN PAY taxes (otherwise known as welfare). Bad proposals are bad proposals. It does the Republicans no political good to go along with all of President Obama’s plans, and it might continue to hurt them with the conservative base. In addition to that, if this stimulus fails to get the job done (and it will), the blame will be solely on the president and the Democrats. That is, unless the Senate Republicans fail to follow the lead of their colleagues in the House.
not in my country
So President Obama has taken care of one of the items on the left’s wish list – closing Gitmo. Congratulations to them. I suppose it never occurred to anyone to question whether what we were told about the general care and treatment of the detainees there was accurate. Instead we are content to assume that a few obvious cases of mistreatment there are representative of the whole operation at Gitmo. I don’t intend to minimize any abuses that may have occurred, but I tend to find our military more trustworthy than alleged terrorists. No way any of these detainees would have exaggerated or lied about their treatment . After all, these are simply misunderstood young Muslim men who were just minding their own business when they were snatched away from their families for no good reason whatsoever. Right. The majority of Gitmo inmates are there for a good reason. Also, I don’t know many other prisons that have made so many accommodations for their prisoners’ religious faith. Many of them have special dietary-approved food, prayer rugs, and their own Korans. They even have scheduled prayer times. How many countries would show American captives such consideration? Answer: None.
There is some question about how many former Gitmo prisoners have returned to the jihad after their release. The number is immaterial. I’m not saying this to defend those who may be exaggerating the numbers here. How many terrorists (or alleged terrorists, if you prefer that term) does it take to carry out terrorist attacks? Not very many. So whether it’s 5%, 10%, or some other percentage, these are folks that I wouldn’t trust to stay on the straight and narrow after their release — and I certainly wouldn’t want former Gitmo inmates in my neighborhood (unless it was clear that they were never part of the jihad).
I question President Obama on this, because I don’t think he has thought this whole decision through. What are the chances Europe will agree to take these former Gitmo detainees? Even with President’s Obama’s awesomeness and great charisma, they will still say no to him on this. I just can’t understand why they wouldn’t want all these pure and innocent Muslim folks in their countries. Maybe they see something that the left in this country refuses to see. Where will these detainees go? This is an important question, and one Obama should have considered before pulling the trigger on this executive order. He will need more than a year to figure out what to do with them.
One thing I know — the president’s sky-high approval numbers will come to earth in a hurry if he re-settles the former Gitmo detainees in this country. It’s great that the president has so much faith in the virtue of these gentlemen, but I don’t trust them, and I bet that my fellow Americans would agree with me. It’s a chance we shouldn’t have to take. One 9/11 was one too many.
the gift that keeps on giving
Our new Vice President Joe Biden. After questioning Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ memory of the Presidential Oath of Office, he then proceeds to make a similar gaffe while swearing in Colorado Senator Michael Bennett.
Watch:
I very much look forward to watching Joe Biden for the next four years.
history
It was with mixed emotions that I watched the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama. As a conservative, I have an obligation to stand up for what I believe is right, and to oppose about 95% of what our new President wants to do. But it’s hard not to get caught up in the moment and almost believe that one mortal human can do everything he’s promised to do as our new President. Inaugural events are made for TV, and the massive crowds gathered to witness this historic event added to the drama of the moment we all witnessed together. Yet we all must realize the limitations of any President and any politician to fill gaps in our wallets or in our lives. There is a proper role of government in this country, and we need to get back to it. The responsibility for our success or failure belongs to us alone. If you are looking to a politician or to a celebrity to fulfill a spiritual need in your life, may I humbly suggest that you look elsewhere? Otherwise, prepare for disappointment. Some walls were broken down today, but there are those who insist on living in our tainted racial past — like Rev. Lowery. If the African-American community expected all racism to be gone with the election of Barack Obama, then this might come as a shock.
Highlights and lowlights:
That was awkward — Chief Justice John Roberts flubbing the presidential oath of office, DiFi’s questionable pronunciation skillz (For the record, I do think she could have said OATH instead of OAF.)
Worst meaningless poem ever — Elizabeth Alexander and her ‘praise song for the day‘. I’m not even sure if that was the title, but it certainly seemed to be a poem about nothing.
Not Dress code approved — Joe Lieberman’s baseball cap.
Best-looking Obama – tie – Barry and his kids. I question the wisdom of the First Lady’s stylist.
Because Jeremiah Wright suddenly had to be out of town on January 20th — Rev. Lowery. His words were a repudiation of all this unity our President keeps talking about. We are all Americans. That’s our common thread. Why is this guy seeking to keep us divided into racial groups?
I don’t remember much about what our new President said, except that it was unexceptional compared to some of his previous speeches. The trouble is that he’s set such a high bar for himself that it could be difficult to meet those expectations.
conflicted
Republican Rep. Tom Davis makes a few suggestions:
So what do we do? First, we eliminate checklists and litmus tests and focus on broad principles, not heavy-handed prescriptions. Free trade. Strong defense at home and abroad. Government as small as is practicable in these times. Economic, education and energy policies that promote growth, energy independence and a competitive agenda that will allow businesses to grow and compete, not be protected by artificial barriers.
Thats it. Believe anything else you want, but advocate for those things outside the structure of the party.
I’m all for broad principles, and creating a basic framework of beliefs for the Republican Party — a party that should always support a strong national defense, free trade, pro-growth economic policy, etc. But denying that there is a strong bloc of grassroots support for our party that comes from people who care about issues like abortion, the 2nd amendment, and gay marriage is a mistake. We seem to believe that we will become a more popular party by nominating more candidates like John McCain, who don’t threaten the less religious and all those independents and “centrists”. Wow. That worked out brilliantly , didn’t it?
The current batch of Republican leaders haven’t followed the principles articulated by Rep. Davis, especially those who decided to vote for the stupid bailout. In this rebuilding process, that’s a good place to start. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to de-emphasize social issues, since there are much bigger fish to fry and problems to confront, as long as social conservatives know that they always have a home in the Republican Party.
my next phone
Since it seems to be pointless to explain to the president-elect the importance of reducing government spending during tough economic times for those of us who can’t simply print more money for ourselves, behold — shiny new technology from Palm. It’s the new Palm Pre, coming soon (and exclusively for Sprint). It’s my understanding that one of their developers used to work at some well-known company in Cupertino. Well done, dude. It’s got everything, including a full-featured web browser, GPS, and Wi-Fi. Palm finally developed a great-looking OS to go along with their phones, and I am very impressed.
When I have more to say on the so-called stimulus, I will write a post about it. Right now, I’m just too discouraged with the willingness of both parties to accept this profligate new spending to attempt a stirring counter-argument. Republicans are too interested in getting along with Dems even if it means they support bad policy — and there’s nothing I can do about that. If we don’t start injecting some common-sense into this process soon, all of us are hosed. On that cheery note, hope you have a happy Friday.
ohio state loses another bowl game
At least we crushed Michigan this year. Maybe we will have the opportunity to play non-national championship contenders next year. I hope so. This is getting really depressing.
now that’s funny
I found this at Fark. About 200 Illinois state workers are going to be attending a seminar on ethics…the speakers include some from the Governor’s office. There really is no hope for this state.
awesome
I just can’t understand why Anchorage, Alaska wants to ban such an awesome creature as Snowzilla. It’s holiday fun for all. Put some restrictions and regulations on it if you must, but banning giant snowmen is just un-American.
(Credit: Say No to Crack)
sarah palin’s pay raise
She doesn’t want it. Maybe someone smarter than me can explain to me why pay raises have any relationship to fiscal conservatism, or the lack of same. If that’s the standard, there are no fiscal conservatives, at least in politics. Not many politicians say no to pay raises. In addition to that, there’s also a difference between spending public (taxpayer) money and donor money. This does not matter to Sarah Palin’s detractors.
Fiscal conservatism, in terms of its relationship to government, should be defined as the way public money is spent and allocated. It doesn’t have anything to do with Sarah Palin’s personal spending, or her accepting pay raises as governor, or even allowing the RNC to spend $150,000 on a VP wardrobe. (Although I don’t think the RNC itself has any credibility as fiscally conservative because of the actions of its membership in Congress…)
The election is over. Leave Governor Palin alone. There’s no guarantee she’s going to try again, or any guarantee that she will do enough in 4-8 years to become a credible candidate for President. Let’s see what happens, and who else may emerge from the Republican chaos of 2008 to become a contender.