Saturday Night Live did it! They made fun of Obama. I haven’t watched the show in a long time, but I give them thumbs up on this one. Below is the link. Enjoy!
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/obama-address/1163263/
(You’ll have to cut and paste into your browser and it should work. I tried to do a live link, but it wouldn’t come up. Sorry.)
Lately, I have been watching a lot of news and now I think I am all news’d out. I am so done with the healthcare debate. I admit I still catch a peek just to see what’s going on, but I need to move on. I was thinking about what I could post as random thoughts are floating in my head. So in no order things that you probably don’t care about or maybe don’t even want to know.
1. I recently had a colonoscopy because of my Crohn’s disease. It was very painful. It took me about a week to recover.
2. Because of said colonoscopy, I am currently on Prednisone (a steroid). It makes me achy, but it also makes me hungry! The cravings are very strange. Usually I crave something sweet. Lately, I have been craving bologna and cheese sandwiches. I haven’t had a bologna and cheese sandwich in years. Now all of a sudden, it’s my lunch every day. All thanks to Prednisone.
3. I really like living here in New Mexico and especially the little town we live in. I do miss not having Target right down the street or Kohl’s a hop, skip and a jump away. I am surviving though and probably saving money, too.
4. I often times feel that I need to be teaching Baden more, but am learning that through every day interactions he is learning. Kids are amazing.
5. I think everybody should read Glenn Beck’s book, Common Sense. I will be doing another blog post about this because it is that good.
6. I subscribe to the National Review and the Weekly Standard. They are both political magazines with a conservative bend. I also get Reader’s Digest and a cooking magazine which I really enjoy reading, but I needed something entertaining so I am now a subscriber to Entertainment Weekly.
7. I decided to start subscribing to EW when I went to the movies last weekend and realized I had no idea what was coming out and I felt so out of it.
8. I was recently called to be the assistant den leader in Cub Scouts at church. I also received a second calling as a Relief Society teacher. I am not sure about Cub Scouts, but am way excited about RS.
9. If I ever get to build a house, I want radiant floor heating. We have tile flooring in our house and the tooties get chilly really fast.
10. I am excited about the upcoming BallonFest in ABQ.
11. I am really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with Bill’s sister and her family.
12. I am ultra excited to be spending Christmas with my parents for the first time in many, many years.
13. We have a ton of toys up in the loft, but the boys always want to play downstairs.
14. I am seriously considering making freezer meals so I don’t have to worry about what to cook each night. I really hate cooking dinner. Peanut butter and jelly, anyone?
15. I wish I was a better organizer.
16. I like Facebook mainly because of Bejeweled Blitz, but love blogging more. It’s my electronic journal.
17. Really need to be doing my transcribing work, but always find something better to do.
18. I am really proud of Jessica and all of her accomplishments. She is really growing at BYU.
19. Hopes that if my mother in law reads this, that she can make me some more dish towels that are so cute. hint, hint.
20. Really need to get back to work.
When President Obama spoke to a joint session of Congress, Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted out “You lie.’ when President Obama said that illegal immigrants will not get health care under Obamacare. Rep. Wilson apologized and President Obama accepted. That should be the end of the story. But oh no, Jimmy Carter and others on the left have cried racism. What a slap in the face not only to Mr. Wilson, but also to the American people. Do they really think we believe that what Mr. Wilson did was an act of racism. Jimmy Carter is from Georgia. Mr. Wilson is from South Carolina. Are all white southerners racist? Of course not, because if Jimmy Carter accused Joe Wilson of racism then he cannot be a racist, too. It is a shame that racism is even being brought up. This situation is over. An apology was given and it was accepted. I thought, even though I was not happy about Obama being elected, that maybe the issue of racism would be put to bed. Instead it is rearing its ugly head because Maureen Dowd and Jimmy Carter, Caucasians, have the nerve to even say it. I am a not a racist, however, under Jimmy Carter’s definition I guess I am. It is a shame that since President Obama has become president that if you exercise your right to free speech and oppose anything that Obama wants, then you are a racist. What is happening when we can’t even say how we feel without being branded a racist? Being labeled a racist is a very serious charge. It is not something to be taken lightly. I think Jimmy Carter needs to go back to his peanut farm, but before he heads back to Plains he needs to apologize to Joe Wilson and the American people.
9/11. What does that mean to you? Most people remember exactly what they were doing when they heard or saw the attacks on September 11th. It is like that with most major events in a person’s life. People from my parents’ generation remember what they were doing and where they were when they found out JFK had been assassinated. So you remember the who, where and how, but do you really remember. Every day that I read or hear about the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, I think of 9/11. Despite what the pundits say and how we shouldn’t be there, our military is fighting for those that lost their lives on 9/11. There is no other way around it. Every time I go through airport security or board an airplane, I think of 9/11. When I look at the Pentagon, I think of 9/11. When I see the empty New York City skyline without the Twin Towers, I think of 9/11. When I see an empty field, I think of 9/11. When I see a blue sky without a cloud in it, I think of 9/11. When I see firefighters or police officers, I think of 9/11. 9/11 is never far from my mind. It should be on the mind of every citizen of the United States. It is not a day we like to think about it or certainly relive, but we can never forget. We must remember.
President Obama gave his high stakes health care speech to a joint session of Congress last night. He is a good speaker, but that’s about it. He talks out of both sides of his mouth. He talked about those who have been spreading lies about the health care plan that has been on the table. He talked about death panels and “pulling the plug on grandma.” He said this is a lie. Well Obama hasn’t talked about “death panels” specifically, but with rationing care that’s what it could turn into. Imagine my mother who last April received a pacemaker. Would she have recieved that pacemaker under rationed care? My gut says probably not. My heart can’t even imagine the other possibility. Obama has talked about rationed care and deciding who gets a hip or other surgeries. So maybe the verbage is not the same, but the concept is the same. He talked about politicians who have gone around misrepresenting what is in the bill and he threatened those that do this. He said he would “call them out”. Well Mr. Obama, you need to be called out. Before being elected President, Obama was one of the most liberal senators. This continues as President. He does not work both sides of the aisle. He can say his plan is bi-partisan and he supports ideas that Senator John McCain and President George W. Bush have presented, but it is nothing but a granstand. He is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people once again. I certainly hope that as people watched last night that there was no foggy haze blowing in their homes as Obama spoke lulling them back into the haze of the election. His speech was suppose to be civil to the Congress, but his thinly failed jabs at conversatives were evident. I am not a big fan of Rush Limbaugh. He’s a little too coarse for me. However, I stand with him when he says ” I hope this president fails.” I hope he does fail on trying to ramrod his healthcare reform down the throats of the citizens of the United States. He says don’t worry, if you have insurance now. Nothing will change. That’s simply not true. He laid out all sorts of ideas that sound good, but when it comes down to it we, the people of the United States of America, will be paying for it. We need to continue the rallying cry, “We are mad as hell and we aren’t going to take it anymore.” Tell your senators and representatives how you feel. Don’t let Obama get away with this.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26969.html#ixzz0Qiaxg9O1
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26969.html#ixzz0Qiaxg9O1
Yesterday, President Obama held a townhall meeting in New Hampshire. This was by far the most tame townhall, but it is to be expected. There were plants in the audience asking questions and people just weren’t going to risk being frisked by the Secret Service. The best quote from the meeting came from President Obama.
“UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.”
Hmmm… isn’t the Post Office run by the government? Maybe he gets it. Private companies (i.e. private insurance) are doing good, but the government run agencies like the Post Office are losing money. It makes you stop and think.
“There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurancereform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”
Many of us were required to read George Orwell’s book, 1984, in school. It’s a disturbing book. Thoughtcrimes or facecrimes. People gone in the cover of night. Now this comparison my be a little overboard, but watching the news and seeing the Democrats and the Obama administration including President Obama lash out on ordinary American citizens that have every right to voice their opinions is making me wonder. What does Obama really want for this country? He was a community organizer, but obviously has no tolerance for those that organize themselves to stand up to what they don’t like. He wants it his way or no way. A quote from the book comes to mind. It’s harsh, but it makes you stop and think.
“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”
This quote struck me because it seems to be right in the Obama administration playbook. When the Democrats regained control of the Congress, I remember Nancy Pelosi coming out and saying we will not be like the Republicans. We will work together and make this country better. I have yet to see this happen. In my humble opinion, things are worse now that the Democrats are in control. They don’t care about us. What politician does? In a perfect world, I would hope all congressmen and women were like James Stewart’s Mr. Smith. I am sure there are a few congressmen and women that really do care and want the best for this country, but there are others like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Harry Reid, (the list goes on and on) that don’t care. They only care about themselves. What is happening in America today is exactly what needs to happen. We need to stand and let our voices be heard. Don’t be imitated. This is not George Orwell’s 1984 and don’t let them think they can get away with this.
Robert Gibbs is the press secretary for President Obama. He is a piece of work. When asked about the protests going on around the country about the health care reform that the administration is trying to ram through Congress, he said it was “manufactured anger.” What does that mean? Does he think it’s only Republicans are “manufacturing” this anger. No, people from all walks of life are angry. Obama’s popularity numbers are going down big time and no one wants government run health care. It’s about time people are waking up from the Obama induced haze that overcame most of the country during the election. Now people are seeing that he is trying to socialize every aspect of our country. That is not the United States of America, the land of the free. We have the can do spirit. Our ancestors were not given handouts and free stuff. They worked hard for everything they had. I can’t imagine what they would think if they were here today. It really irritates me that the protests that are springing up all over the country especially over the proposed health care bill are not being covered by the national media. People are mad and they have every right to be. The administration is trying to push these protests under the rug, but they will not go off into the night. Congress will be going on their summer recess soon and I can guarantee every congressman or woman will be getting an earful. Take the time to give your congressman or woman a call or email them. Let them know you know what is going on and you won’t stand for it. We, the people, must rise up and let Washington know that we know what is best for us. It’s time for us to take our country back.
I have never been a big fan of Dick Cheney, but now I like him. His likability numbers have gone way up in my book. Pres. Obama recently approved sensitive CIA papers documenting ‘enhanced interrogation’ to be released to the public. Finally a Republican called him on it and that man would be Dick Cheney. I always thought that the Bush administration should have defended itself, but they never did. Now, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove are out there saying wait a minute, this is what happened and why. I wonder if this would have happened before, would we have someone different in the White House? Yesterday, both the President and Dick Cheney spoke. Below is what they had to say about enhanced interrogation techniques and the release of classified information.
President Obama:
“I banned the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques by the United States of America. I know some have argued that brutal methods like water-boarding were necessary to keep us safe. I could not disagree more. As commander-in-chief, I see the intelligence, I bear responsibility for keeping this country safe and I reject the assertion that these are the most effective means of interrogation. What’s more, they undermine the rule of law.
“They alienate us in the world. They serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists, and increase the will of our enemies to fight us, while decreasing the will of others to work with America. They risk the lives of our troops by making it less likely that others will surrender to them in battle and more likely that Americans will be mistreated if they are captured. In short, they did not advance our war and counter-terrorism efforts — they undermined them, and that is why I ended them once and for all.”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney:
“I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program. The interrogations were used on hardened terrorists after other efforts failed. They were legal, essential, justified, successful and the right thing to do. The intelligence officers who questioned the terrorists can be proud of their work and proud of the results, because they prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people.
“Another term out there that slipped into the discussion is the notion that American interrogation practices were a “recruitment tool” for the enemy. On this theory, by the tough questioning of killers, we have supposedly fallen short of our own values. This recruitment-tool theory has become something of a mantra lately, including from the President himself. And after a familiar fashion, it excuses the violent and blames America for the evil that others do. It’s another version of that same old refrain from the Left, “We brought it on ourselves.”
“It is much closer to the truth that terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by, not by some alleged failure to do so. Nor are terrorists or those who see them as victims exactly the best judges of America’s moral standards, one way or the other.”
The Release of Classified Information
President Obama:
“The argument that somehow by releasing those memos, we are providing terrorists with information about how they will be interrogated is unfounded — we will not be interrogating terrorists using that approach, because that approach is now prohibited. In short, I released these memos because there was no overriding reason to protect them. And the ensuing debate has helped the American people better understand how these interrogation methods came to be authorized and used.
Former Vice President Cheney:
“Somehow, when the soul-searching was done and the veil was lifted on the policies of the Bush administration, the public was given less than half the truth. The released memos were carefully redacted to leave out references to what our government learned through the methods in question. Other memos, laying out specific terrorist plots that were averted, apparently were not even considered for release. For reasons the administration has yet to explain, they believe the public has a right to know the method of the questions, but not the content of the answers.”
I am so glad that finally someone has stood up and said enough is enough. Get the facts straight. We need more people blowing the whistle on this administration and stop the fawning that continues to happen in the media. Go, Cheney, Go!
Read more: “Full transcript: Dick Cheney’s speech to the American Enterprise Institute – Politico Staff – POLITICO.com” – http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22823_Page4.html#ixzz0GFscB6XS&A
President Obama,
I didn’t vote for you, but I love this country so I want things to go well during your time in office. So far, not so good. The economy seems to be turning around, but still no definite word on that yet. My biggest gripe is your constant campaigning. You’re the president now. You won. Do your job. Don’t go to Europe and apologize to them and say America is arrogant. What was that all about? Would you tell the doughboy in WWI or the solider that stormed the beach in Normandy during WWII that they are arrogant? I mean after all, they helped save Europe, particularly Britain and France, twice. Would you say that to a bunch of a veterans hanging out at the local VFW? I think not. What about the men and women who are now serving? Would you say to a crowd of Europeans, “Oh don’t worry about them, they are just arrogant.” They only work to keep peace in the world. Yes, that’s right — the world. You can’t please everyone, but don’t try to please the wrong people. Going to Europe and begging for forgiveness and then bowing to the Saudi king is just wrong. As the president of the United States, you don’t do that. Also stop blaming everything that doesn’t go your way on the past administration. It seems that you have more than once come out and said this shouldn’t have been done this way, but then later reverse your decision because oops, it was being done correctly and guess what — the administration before your’s was right. Your first 100 days in office are over. If Congress doesn’t vote the way you want, don’t blame it on the past administration. You own it now. You decided to close Guantanamo Bay not the former administration and just because Congress including many Democrats don’t want to fork over the money to close it, don’t blame anyone else but yourself. You need to get to work and stop campaigning. Instead of giving speeches that aren’t important, get in the Oval Office and get some things done. Instead of worrying about whether Fox News likes you or not, talk to the ordinary citizen and find out what is going on. I bet you would learn a lot. You said on the campaign trail you weren’t from Washington and you would change the town, but guess what you haven’t. You whine and belly ache like the rest of them. Get to work, Mr. President and do something good for once.