Colin Powell Scolds Obama

"I think one of the cautions that has to be given to the president - and I've talked to some of his people about this - is that you can't have so many things on the table that you can't absorb it all. And we can't pay for it all." Colin Powell

I'm sure all the folks who bragged to me and those who were so excited about Powell's support aren't talking about this statement. Here's what I'd like to ask Mr. Powell:

What exactly did you expect, sir? Why would you think Barack Obama was anything other than a big-government, big-spending far left politician?

Mr. Powell, this is why I was so upset with your support of Obama.

No One Wants to See President Obama Fail
Despite what some defenders of President Obama may think, no sane person wants to see him fail. Obama critics are worried about their country, honestly. The people who despised President Bush have little right to silence us.

Critic of Mr. Obama's policies are frustrated. We have jobs and we need jobs. We need a healthy economy. It would be wrong for us to sit silently while policies are implemented that are going to prolong or worsen the pain for all of us.

A 6-month tax holiday sounds radical, but it would have been more stimulative. We probably wouldn't be seeing headlines like this:

Economist: U.S. may see double-dip recession by late 2010

You Want Solutions? Here You Go.
The little bit below is something I wrote in response to a comment on the Rep. Boehner stimulus video. Neal Boortz seems to be on the same page today. I added a fascinating fact from his column along with a link. It's followed by my little ramble.

"When Obama started talking about the $750 billion dollar stimulus price tag I did some quick calculations. It seems that $750 billion is almost exactly equal to the amount of federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from American paychecks over a six-month period." Neal Boortz

Back to me:
President Obama promised that his stimulus would create jobs immediately. Shovel-ready blah blah blah. If he had the intelligence credited to him, he would know that more immediate efforts like, God forbid, cuts in corporate and personal taxes, have a more immediate stimulative effect. People are hurting NOW. Jobs that will come in 2012 won't help.

For Mr. Obama it's not about us. It's about increasing political power. It's about using the "crisis" to put into place policies that cannot be easily reversed or overturned.

Mr. Boehner and others offered ideas but the Chairman and Queen Pelosi said it was just "the same failed policies of the past 8 years."

THAT kind of lame rhetoric is not appropriate for someone who promises to "change the way Washington works."

The Chairman spends more time going on and on about George W. Bush, lying and distorting the truth and history, just to cram through his policies. Even people like Warren Buffett, whom Mr. Obama said he would listen to, are opposed to Cap and Trade, Employee NO CHOICE, etc.

In the end, the notion that you can build an economy from the bottom up doesn't work. As tough as it might sound, poor people don't create jobs. You cannot take from those who produce and "give" to others. Allowing people to keep the money they earn isn't "giving."

Companies and entrepreneurs are terrified of what's coming next. Why reinvest in your company when you don't know how much of your wealth will be seized? So many people are just holding on for another 2 years in hopes that Congress will change hands.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of faith that it will because the public is more concerned with and aware of Michael Jackson than what's going on with their government.

Mike Lupica Gets the Dunce Cap. Steve McNair and the Culture Debate

Leave it to some loony leftist like Mike Lupica to try to use the tragic events surrounding Steve McNair's death as an occasion to complain about guns. McNair's death is not a result of gun culture. Guns were the least of the myriad problems. The issue that should be brought to light by the murder of Mr. McNair is the overarching cultural collapse we're seeing in our country.

As cliche' as it will sound, our culture is in trouble. Of course, those on the political Left hate to hear people talk about cultural issues. No doubt they will lie in wait to celebrate after catching me in some shortcoming. Whether I fail or not, which I most certainly will, won't negate the fact that there is a right way and a wrong way.

We've been taught to view with hostility and contempt anyone who, rather than blaming inanimate objects like guns, challenges us to look at our values. What are the finger-pointers on the Left really trying to say when they celebrate the falling of someone who tries to promote cultural standards?

"Trying to have standards is pointless, old fashioned and stupid!!! We don't need no stinking standards!"

That sure makes a lot of sense. Clearly it's much easier (and safer if one doesn't want to be called a hypocrite) to blame an object like a gun rather than looking at the underlying cultural disease.

Side note: How did anyone who says anything about standards suddenly become a hypocrite? Hypocrite is apparently worse than child molester. Do people who use that word really understand how silly they are? Are they advocating that there should be NO religious instruction, for certainly every preacher sins in some way? Iron sharpens iron. We all must challenge one another to be better.

Passe' Notions of Marriage
Part of this cultural disease expresses itself in the fact that our society no longer values marriage. Movies and television shows mock marriage. It seems like every week another prominent person comes forward confessing to some act of marital perfidy. Entire television shows are even dedicated to "Cheaters."

Many in the younger generation have no desire at all to get married. Young women have learned to view marriage as some sort of a loss of their identity. Young men see marriage as a loss of their ability to have sex with as many women as possible. The old adage "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" has turned to "Let's go halves on a baby."

Out of wedlock births are at all-time highs and increasing every day. This is true among all racial/ethnic groups. A-list celebrities like Halle Berry and Matthew McConaughey are celebrated for having children out of wedlock. We have no shame as a society.

Mr. Lupica is either unwilling or incapable of looking at the real issue. Mr. McNair should not have been with this young woman. It's not a matter of judging McNair. It's stating the obvious. Married people should not be with anyone other than their spouses. Even if every preacher and conservative on the planet cheated on their spouses, that truth won't change. Outdated notions like those "stupid" Ten Commandments weren't given to keep us from having fun. They've been passed down to keep us out of this kind of trouble.

Who killed McNair? No one knows at this point. The reality is that they could have done it a different way.

Some are speculating that the woman found with McNair, 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, shot McNair and then killed herself. If that's the case, then that poor woman could have just as easily used poison. Jim Jones killed over 900 people at once doing just that. Let's ban cyanide and Kool-Aid. Better yet, ban cigarettes, because they kill far more people.

So, Mr. Lupica, the problem isn't a "gun" culture. Our society's problems run far deeper than that. It's our prideful nature and Leftist brainwashing that keep us from looking at those issues. Stick to sports analysis...or something.

No doubt I will take more time to deal with these issues in the future. I just had to rush something out after reading Lupica's column. Feel free to share your thoughts.