Barack Obama, our next President

This may be a little too deep for a Sunday morning, much less Father's Day (and Happy Fathers' Day to all you dads out there) but I'm having to do a little soul searching this morning after watching a documentary on Andrew Jackson last night. I still believe this country has done more good in the world than bad but, after watching that documentary, I once again realized we have much to be ashamed of. Jackson was responsible for the American Indian's plight and their being duped by the government and ordering them westward on the infamous Trail of Tears. I have always had an interest in the Native American Indians and already knew much about how they were treated in the name of Manifest Destiny, but learning the president on our twenty dollar bills was no different than any figure in history who we would otherwise label as heartless or evil, is is tremendously depressing. It presents a sort of conundrum for me. Even though the inevitable influx of the white man settling the west would have proved to be an insurmountable problem for the Indians in the end, it was very wrong the way they were treated by a president who we have honored throughout history.

Lynn wrote:

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We were told if we didn't pass the stimulus, unemployment would go up over 8%. We are being told that healthcare is the reason for this crisis, so we better hurry up and pass healthcare reform. We are told global warming will cause irrevisble calamity if we don't pass cap and trade right away. We were told GM and Chyrsler would completely disappear if the government didn't take action. I don't believe that GM or Chrsyler would have disappeared. I believe they could have gone through Chapter 11 and survived. I believe our government does want to run car companies.
The ironic thing about GM making a profit depends on investors. The same investors who you didn't seem to care whether or not Obama gave them the shaft or not. So now you want these same people to invest in a company owned by the government and the unions. Well we will just have to see how that works out.

Correct Lynn, it will work out or it won't, we'll learn in time. If the company can right itself Obama will look like a hero, if not he can blame it all on Bush LOL.

He should impeach himself

Realtime wrote:

<quoted text>Correct Lynn, it will work out or it won't, we'll learn in time. If the company can right itself Obama will look like a hero, if not he can blame it all on Bush LOL.

This is all I need to know about it being right or not:

Hugo Chavez declared on one of his rants on state TV recently, "Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama!" He added that if he and Cuba's Fidel Castro weren't "careful," they might "end up to Obama's right."

(Chavez has nationalized most of his country's economy. That's helped turn the country into a "repressed" economy in Heritage's annual Index of Economic Freedom.)

It's amazing how we just can't seem to learn from history and other country's mistakes.

Realtime wrote:

<quoted text>I own several homes and a few small commercial properties which I rent out to others as a way of earning a living. Would it be different if I owned a motel or car rental agency? Hell no it wouldn't, we each chose our paths in life and today I'm regretting that I didn't choose an easier path with benefits retirement and such.
What kind of question was that?

My point was that we have laws in this country and when the laws are ignored then everything we do is uncertain. Obama likes social justice and GM and Chrysler are just one example of social justice. Obama is pretty much giving unlimited control to the Fed to be able to take control of private businesses if they feel a business will affect the economy negatively. All I was saying is that the government is making up the rules as they go which does nothing to help our economy. FDR did pretty much the same thing during the depression. He broke contracts, he meddled in the private sector with the National Recovery Act and those 2 things definately prolonged the depression. He didn't allow the private sector to rebound on their own. No one knew the rules and the stock market remained pretty much flat.

By the way, I agree with you about the piano. I quit my lessons when I was younger and I regret that decision.

carol wrote:

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This is all I need to know about it being right or not:
Hugo Chavez declared on one of his rants on state TV recently, "Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama!" He added that if he and Cuba's Fidel Castro weren't "careful," they might "end up to Obama's right."
(Chavez has nationalized most of his country's economy. That's helped turn the country into a "repressed" economy in Heritage's annual Index of Economic Freedom.)
It's amazing how we just can't seem to learn from history and other country's mistakes.

Maybe it's just because I'm already a little down about the realities of our history this morning, but I can't help but think (in this present state of mind) that maybe the sins of our past are coming back to haunt us - that we have become too complacent and dishonest about it and, therefore, are not too big to fail either. On the bright side, we do try and right our wrongs, but the significant black marks - the treatment of the Indians, the too long complacency about slavery and the A-bomb falling on Japan to name the most obvious ones - is giving me pause that we might just be fooling ourselves that we deserve anything better than what we are getting. I'm scaring myself actually because I'm sounding a little too much like Rev. Wright. But, right now, this is exactly how I feel. And I'm usually the epitomy of optimism.

carol wrote:

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I wonder how many IGs are going to go off on their own now to investigate wrongdoing since Obama rewrote that law too and can apparently fire anyone who he finds a threat to his political self-preservation. Kind of spooky if you ask me. Sixteen czars that are accountable only to him, taking over banks and car companies and now immune to scrutiny by the very people whose job it is to scrutinize. We really do have an unusual state of affairs. However, the people will be heard.

I guess Walpin isn't the only IG that has been fired. There has been a firing of one other IG and now maybe a 3rd.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworl...

carol wrote:

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No, but Clinton ruined the respect for the office of the presidency. Reagan and Bush did not take off their jackets in the Oval Office out of respect for the office. Clinton not only ran around the Oval Office in his shorts after a jog with his sweaty doughy cellulitic thighs hanging out and eating a McD's cheeseburger blaring rock and roll music throughout the capital building but used the Office as his own personal bordello for his sick and kinky sexual trysts.
And don't even get me started about his lying under oath for which many highly professional people have lost their licenses and were sent to jail. Or the fact that the President of the United States was even on trial in the first place because of a sexual harrassment allegation at the same time he was getting his kicks by an intern not much older than his own daughter in the Oval Office.
But, I'm quite sure you admire that in a president. Loser.

The "loser" comment wasn't really necessary. I would never have said that to your face, so I should not have said it here. The anonymity of posting makes it easier to say what we normally wouldn't. But the rest still stands.

This is off the subject, but people need to know how crazy things are in California. Paul Rodriguez, the comedian, is speaking out on a desperate situation. 80,000 people will lose their jobs, America will be more dependent on other countries for food, and part of America's best farm land will be destroyed. Why? Because a two inch minnow was put on the endangered species list. Our own government has cut off the water supply to farmers in the Central valley area. Some experts say it will not even save the minnow to take these insane measures. I love animals but at some point, we must put people, food and jobs first.

carol wrote:

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Maybe it's just because I'm already a little down about the realities of our history this morning, but I can't help but think (in this present state of mind) that maybe the sins of our past are coming back to haunt us - that we have become too complacent and dishonest about it and, therefore, are not too big to fail either. On the bright side, we do try and right our wrongs, but the significant black marks - the treatment of the Indians, the too long complacency about slavery and the A-bomb falling on Japan to name the most obvious ones - is giving me pause that we might just be fooling ourselves that we deserve anything better than what we are getting. I'm scaring myself actually because I'm sounding a little too much like Rev. Wright. But, right now, this is exactly how I feel. And I'm usually the epitomy of optimism.

Keep positive! Love your neighbors, take care of each other and unlike the last 8 years, please care!
GO BARACK!!!!!!

In the real world..........

WASHINGTON (AFP)— Iran's crackdown on protests prodded President Barack Obama into his most explicit warning yet to Tehran, while narrowing the options for his engagement strategy.

Obama has until now trod a delicate line, balancing sympathy with protestors against a desire to not give the Iranian government a chance to paint dissenters as treasonous tools of a hated foreign power.

As scenes of bleeding protestors in Tehran, openly challenging supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, filled US television news shows, Obama Saturday directly addressed Iranian leaders.

His statement blended moral, political and religious imagery, but stuck to his principle of not "meddling" in Iranian affairs, despite increasing pressure from domestic critics demanding a tougher tone.

"The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching," Obama said in a written statement.

"We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people.

Rick wrote:

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Keep positive! Love your neighbors, take care of each other and unlike the last 8 years, please care!
GO BARACK!!!!!!

You don't have to worry about me. I see a much bigger picture and know it's not just about this country. My leader is not of this world and love is His only policy.

But you kind of missed the point. I think we have come to this point because of complacency and being dishonest with ourselves about our own history. "This point" meaning not a good place. And if it all comes crashing down because of who we elected and why and their polices, then maybe we shouldn't be too surprised.

Of course, there's always hope and that's a good thing.

mom of two wrote:

This is off the subject, but people need to know how crazy things are in California. Paul Rodriguez, the comedian, is speaking out on a desperate situation. 80,000 people will lose their jobs, America will be more dependent on other countries for food, and part of America's best farm land will be destroyed. Why? Because a two inch minnow was put on the endangered species list. Our own government has cut off the water supply to farmers in the Central valley area. Some experts say it will not even save the minnow to take these insane measures. I love animals but at some point, we must put people, food and jobs first.

I saw this too. What I don't understand is why there isn't another lake or pond or something where this species can thrive and why don't they put enough of them there to do so?

This is a prime example of common sense gone amok.

Lynn wrote:

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I guess Walpin isn't the only IG that has been fired. There has been a firing of one other IG and now maybe a 3rd.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworl...

No one questions or sheds a bad light on the supreme leader. Off with their heads!

carol wrote:

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The "loser" comment wasn't really necessary. I would never have said that to your face, so I should not have said it here. The anonymity of posting makes it easier to say what we normally wouldn't. But the rest still stands.

Mister Tibbs, this was for you.

carol wrote:

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No one questions or sheds a bad light on the supreme leader. Off with their heads!

Carol, these are political appointments and the political balance has shifted. Nothing unusual although in at least one case procedure was not followed. If you want to see the insanity involved in "political appointments" take a good look at what's been happening in our once lovely state.

Realtime wrote:

<quoted text>Carol, these are political appointments and the political balance has shifted. Nothing unusual although in at least one case procedure was not followed. If you want to see the insanity involved in "political appointments" take a good look at what's been happening in our once lovely state.

Like I said, maybe we shouldn't be too surprised that corruption has become an acceptable evil in every aspect of our lives and abounds in every corner of politics as well. We have become much too full of ourselves and much too complacent and most often take everything we've been given for granted. We've misused opportunities to show what we're really made of and what we really stand for throughout our history. So, why should the corruption in our state be any different?

Realtime wrote:

<quoted text>Carol, these are political appointments and the political balance has shifted. Nothing unusual although in at least one case procedure was not followed. If you want to see the insanity involved in "political appointments" take a good look at what's been happening in our once lovely state.

And you know, Realtime, that if Bush had fired just one person illegally, it would be the frenzy of every MSM source in this country ad nauseum. The left would be calling for his head on a stick. You know it as much as I do. Yet, Obama can casually do the same and fire not just one person illegally but three apparently and not one word by anyone in the MSM except Fox News. It has nothing to do with political balance but everything to do with corrupted politics.

carol wrote:

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Like I said, maybe we shouldn't be too surprised that corruption has become an acceptable evil in every aspect of our lives and abounds in every corner of politics as well. We have become much too full of ourselves and much too complacent and most often take everything we've been given for granted. We've misused opportunities to show what we're really made of and what we really stand for throughout our history. So, why should the corruption in our state be any different?

Carol, I explained once that I had been in the halls of congress seeking help for veterans and that it's quite an enlightening experience. Back then it was pretty easy, if you could get an appointment with one senator or congressman, you could raid the offices of 4 or 5 more before security escorted you out. Today that sort of citizen lobbying can't be done, Homeland Security has given the elected insulation from the public. Biden saw our group, I think it was during his freshman year, and he represented a chemical state (DuPont) which took guts. Tunney from California saw us, then met us at a bar where we all had too many cocktails. Mostly though we talked to nerdy looking guy's with degrees from Wesleyan colleges who took notes while nodding. That's quite a culture they've got going on and for the most part, WE DON'T COUNT!

Realtime wrote:

<quoted text>Carol, I explained once that I had been in the halls of congress seeking help for veterans and that it's quite an enlightening experience. Back then it was pretty easy, if you could get an appointment with one senator or congressman, you could raid the offices of 4 or 5 more before security escorted you out. Today that sort of citizen lobbying can't be done, Homeland Security has given the elected insulation from the public. Biden saw our group, I think it was during his freshman year, and he represented a chemical state (DuPont) which took guts. Tunney from California saw us, then met us at a bar where we all had too many cocktails. Mostly though we talked to nerdy looking guy's with degrees from Wesleyan colleges who took notes while nodding. That's quite a culture they've got going on and for the most part, WE DON'T COUNT!

I know this is going to get a little too personal, but my dad was thrown in a hole in a POW camp in the Phillipines during WWII without knowing how long he would be there or if he would ever eat again. He commented to the military doctors after his liberation when he was back in the states that the fear of starving to death was the most powerful fear than anything. He had been beaten on numerous occasions and was near starvation anyway when the POWs were liberated just from having been there in the camps for three years.

The sacrifices made by those who came to rescue him and the other POWs is a selfless testament to what we stand for as Americans. It's something that is deeply engrained in me.

But the atomic bombs dropped on innocent civilians to stop that war is something I will never be able to reconcile - even if it meant my dad not being rescued or my not even being born - for as long as I live.

The sacrifices he and so many made comes from a kind of spirit that I hope we all still have somewhere deep down.

But we seem to have somehow forgotten from where that source comes or it has faded in the harsh light of political greed and power struggles. That spirit doesn't come from the government or from any political party. It doesn't even come from within ourselves. It comes from somewhere or from something that is even greater than ourselves.

It's sometimes hard for me to reconcile the blotches on our history that have not been addressed or reconciled properly and the heroics of self-sacrifice for a greater cause in light of these glaring blotches.

We only have the cause of freedom. It's the only thing that is worth fighting for and the only thing that defines us. Anything other than that, and we become nothing more than another country trying to save itself from itself.

Sorry to be so Emo. Don't know what's gotten into me today.