The Respectfully Republican Conversation

Shokk,

We're going to have to brown bag it for the next 4 years.  Don't leave home without one, you might hear something on the radio.

This might be a short-lived war, Israel doesn't seem to have been practicing their target shooting.  Too many civilians being hurt, a school too?  Not good.  I know the Hamas likes to stay close to civilian areas.  Now Lebanon is firing rockets at them too. 

We have more to say about this than our President-elect. 

I've been watching the History channel this week about the start of armageddon.  This isn't such good timing to be watching those shows.

Stimulating Bankruptcy And Chaos
By Michael Reagan
January 8, 2008

Like millions of my fellow Americans I want Barack Obama to succeed in governing America and reviving the economy, despite my opposition to his candidacy.

I had hoped that being the cautious man he appears to be, President-elect Obama would avoid taking extreme positions and policies vis-à-vis the economy and settle for the tried-and-true approaches to economic stability.

It appears that I was wrong. In an era when it is essential for out-of-control government spending to be halted and drastically cut back, Barack Obama wants to spend at least $800 billion on a so-called stimulus package which many predict will soar past a trillion dollars.

Obama himself has acknowledged that the nation faces monstrous deficits in the future, but seems not the least concerned that his stimulus programs will send the deficits soaring to previously unseen heights.

"Potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point," he has said.

"I remain concerned about wasteful spending that might be attached to the tax relief," House Republican leader John Boehner says. "Simply put, we should not bury future generations under mountains of debt and create 600,000 new government jobs which, according to reports, the plan under consideration would do in the name of economic stimulus."

Boehner was referring to President-elect Obama calling on Congress to create 3 million jobs over the next two years -- "more than 80 percent of them in the private sector."

Math-wise observers noted that the remaining 20 percent, which amounts to 600,000 jobs, would be government jobs, boosting the already-swollen ranks of federal employees by a third.

As Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King noted , "The federal government is bloated, inefficient, and spends too much of your hard-earned money," adding that 600,000 new government jobs "will only add to the waste, fraud, and abuse coming out of Washington, D.C., and fail to provide a true economic stimulus."

Moreover, some cynics would say this massive public sector job increase looks a lot like payback to the member-hungry public-employee unions for their all-out support of Obama and other Democratic candidates in last year's elections.

More disturbing is Barack Obama's tax relief program under which there would be alleged tax cuts for 95 percent of the American people. Under Obama's plan the majority would not only pay no federal taxes but would actually get government checks, presumably for just being alive and breathing, while a tiny minority of their fellow Americans would pick up the tab.

Dick Morris and co-columnist Eileen McGann explain that while the bottom 50 percent of U.S. taxpayers pay a total of $30.6 billion in federal income taxes on a combined income of about $1 trillion (just 3 percent of total taxes), the top 1 percent pay 40 percent and the top 25 percent pay 85 percent of the federal income tax.

"In one stroke," they write, "this would transform the majority of voters from taxpayers into tax eaters, and leave an increasingly small minority to pay the bill," putting those who actually pay taxes into "much the same situation as landlords in New York City: hopelessly outvoted by their tenants, who use their political clout to limit rents and landlords' profits.

"For the economically well off," they warn, "it effectively could become taxation without representation, which, as the founders of our nation warned, leads to tyranny."

It's not merely the dangerous trend that is developing in the economic realm that disturbs me, however. In the past week we've seen Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary, Bill Richardson, forced to withdraw because it develops that he is under a federal corruption investigation -- a fact the Obama people should darn well have known before the president-elect chose him for a Cabinet post.

Then we have the astonishing appointment of Leon Panetta -- a man with no experience in the cloak and dagger trade to head of all things, the CIA. Moreover, the appointment was made without notifying Sen. Diane Feinstein, who is now heading the Senate Intelligence Committee.

You have to wonder if Team Obama has any idea of what they're doing. I sure wonder.

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And I'll add:

Well, I just forced myself to watch Obama's speech. As usual, no questions asked. Just give the speech. Do you remember any other president giving all these speeches before the inauguration? He won't undermind the current president on the Israli conflict, but he thinks nothing of acting as if he is  the president on everything else. What burns me the most is how he keeps saying how bad everything is and that it will get worse. Is this so he can make himself look good when the economy recovers, which it will. Every time he opens him mouth, the market nosedives.The other thing that really upset me was that he says the government needs to be the solution to the problem. THE GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM! If they would just let us keep what we earn, and let US decide how to spend it, we would be better off. The dems were all screaming about the big deficit two years ago, so people voted out the GOP. Now their solution is to triple the deficit! I cannot believe people are stupid enough to buy this. There is no way Obama is going to dig us out of this hole with his spend spend spend philosophy. Oh yeah, he says he is going to cut the waste. Maybe he could start with the hundreds of "advisors" he has on the taxpayers payroll. They certainly aren't giving him any great advice so far. The guy has no clue!

Well, I don't know if his package would work, I don't think lowering taxes and increasing government services would even be able to work.

But, the news radio said that Obama will be hitting his job running. He will be the most "ready" in history. I am not saying that he has experience but he is doing a commendable job in getting ready instead of walking in the first day and asking "What's up?"

The news radio also said that FDR changed the economy in 100 days.  That if Obama has the right packages in place, it could happen.  We could see progress and change *that* soon if it's done right.

I am certainly hoping that he does change things for us.  The proof will be in the pudding, so to speak.

Just to let you all know, the Darwin Awards show is on tonight. 8:30 on Showtime. 

Rosemary,

I don't get showtime...   I love the darwin awards!  How can I see that?

Shirley,

I'm so sorry to hear that your dd's dh has been laid off.  That sucks!  Speaking of that sucky thread, the ladies there want me to let you know that they miss you!!  Flyerzfan (Bonnie) says HI...   She said that she won't go on this thread because WE SCARE HER!!!   LOL

Harley

I love The View !!! The only one I cant stand is Joy Behart.  She is rude, crude, and sociably unacceptable.  Elisabeth took a beating, but bless her heart, she stood her ground and didnt let them "bully" her to their side.

Now I like Whoopie a lot. The biggest reason is for the most part, she is at least respectable of differing opinions.  There were a few times she was bordering on being rude, but then she would "reel" herself back in.  And she is very funny.

And did you see it when Bill O'Reilly was on there????  It was CLASSIC!!!  He had Joy so mad I thought she was going to get up and walk off!

Harley,

Maybe they have the show at blockbuster?  I knew I saw it before. It's hard to laugh at people who kill themselves, but some of their antics is worthy of an award.   I didn't watch the show last night, just taped it, but my husband has this memory of the guy who put a rocket booster thing on his car, and they found him and his car half way up the side of a mountain.   I guess he didn't put much thought to his brakes not being able to work should  the car become airborne.  Whatever he thought, will remain unknown.

Sorry Shirley about your son-in-law losing his job.  If he's an engineer, oil companies are still hiring.

I have a rant.  This really kills me and its off topic.  Yesterday I was reading a headline:  Lady saved by mule.  Ok, I go inside the story and then read this:  Elderly lady, 63, was saved by her mule.  ELDERLY at 63???????  How dare they!

Who wrote that?  Are the newspapers hiring kids under 16 to write their blurbs?   I don't know anyone in their 60's who is elderly, nor those in their 70's.  I don't know anyone older.  That just frosts me. 

Anyway, in case your wondering how the mule saved the woman, he bayed and it alerted her to her house was on fire.  Thank God she wasn't 70, she might not have been able to walk out the door.

If Obama's goal is to create jobs in government, then they better look at the requirements for that job.  We all have to be fluent in spanish now.  Which means they might be creating jobs for illegal aliens only.

I just thought I'd post this to let you know how ridiculous some of the items in the stimulus package is. 

"One tax provision would provide a $500 tax cut for most workers and $1,000 for couples, at a cost of about $140 billion to $150 billion over two years. The individual tax cuts may be awarded through withholding less from worker paychecks, effectively making checks about $10 to $20 larger each week."

Look at the cost, and then see the reward.  This should help the economy, it will buy your lunch.  Maybe.

Ewwwwww...............Paulette don't need those images in my head............Shokk

Rosemary, that's the dumbest tax cut I've ever heard of.  Geez!

Sherri, the Illinois house has voted to impeach, but the senate still has to do so for it to take effect. When they do, Reid can then refuse to seat Burris, claiming that he is the nominee of an impeached Gov. This is exactly what the dems in Ill and in Congress have been plotting for. They do not want Burris seated because he is unelectable. They want to put someone in who would not be a dupe to a republican challenger. By rushing the impeachment, and stalling the seating of Burris, they are trying to beat Blago at his own game. Sadly, all the dems have plotted against the real losers, the people of Illinois.

You remember how we are going to improve our infrastructure? Well, here's a socialist country with REAL problems!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=d4U5ZmkaXcM