Snarky Mama loves Cher. I don't get it, but hey, I also have some music picks that are puzzling. So I say, whatever floats your boat. I credit Cher with giving my mother the following quote (which I've heard countless times in my life): "Big crowd at the crazy house".
Well friends, that's how I feel about Washington. Big crowd at the crazy house? No doubt!
I am beginning to believe there is very little "Change We Can Believe In", as far as politics are concerned. And NO, I am not being negative. This is our reality! I don't know exactly how to make it better, but you can rest assured, I work on thoughts and ideas every single day. Negativity would be b*t**ing and moaning about things. Whining and not doing my part to improve our country. I'm trying, I really am. I send emails. I make phone calls. And I won't stop, even when it feels as though my efforts are in vain.
Snarky says: "YES WE CAN...BELIEVE IN POLITICS AS USUAL!"
The latest "more of the same" is found below, from an AP article by Andrew Taylor.
In proposing only modest changes in how lawmakers finance their pet projects, President Barack Obama tossed aside a golden opportunity to work with Sen. John McCain. Instead, the president stood foursquare with his Democratic allies, the people he needs most to advance his ambitious agenda.
McCain is the top sponsor of a proposal to give the president more power to cut spending from bills project by project, a kind of line-item veto lite called "expedited rescission" that's been around since the early 1990s. But when it came to discussing how to deal with so-called earmarks on Wednesday, Obama had nothing to say about McCain's idea.
Little wonder. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid don't like it. And a fleeting alliance with McCain isn't as important as good relations with those who regulate the flow of legislation in Congress.
Just Tuesday, Obama's budget director said Obama would probably support legislation introduced by McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to award Obama the beefed-up rescission powers. "The president during his campaign spoke about a line-item veto that would need to be done in a constitutionally valid way," said White House budget chief Peter Orszag. "Enhanced rescission powers are also a possibility."
Asked about the idea last month, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama would "love to take that for a test drive."
My how things changed between Tuesday and Wednesday. From "test drive" to no drive in just one day. Why? Keep reading.....
On Wednesday, during a meeting in which Obama's earmark proposal was finalized, the president sided with the old-school Democrats. They view expedited rescissions — both the House and Senate would vote on whether to accept a recommended list of cuts shortly after receiving it — as an intrusion into the prerogatives of Congress.
The White House has signaled that Obama will use the existing rescissions process to identify waste in the just-enacted omnibus bill and send it to Congress. But Democratic leaders could ignore the missive; under McCain's legislation a vote would be guaranteed.
We will continue to do business as usual in Washington regarding earmarks," McCain said. "The president could have resolved this issue in one statement — no more unauthorized pork-barrel projects — and pledged to use his veto pen to stop them. This is an opportunity missed."
In his comments on earmarks Wednesday, Obama sounded more like a defender of earmarks than a critic. "Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts, and that's why I've opposed their outright elimination," he said.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
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17 comments:
I wonder if voters of Obama realize the damage that has been done in the last month and a half compared to the last 5 decades. I guess change it what they wanted and change is what they got. I also wonder if any of them regret making that choice. I'd have to wonder what they think they will get for it.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, wasn't it O'bama who repeatedly said something like (this is for the Captain) "I (pause) oppose (longer pause) uh, (extremely long pause) earmarks"...geez, I can't remember HOW MANY times during the campaign!
I have said it before, Snarky B. really does have the majority of the political genes in our gene pool. I have thoughts, I have opinions, but I have never really been a "political activist." Snarky will tell you, too much of that kind of thinking makes me nervous. I want to be involved, I want to speak out, but in some ways, I am WAY too cynical... I expect the worst of mankind to somehow slither its way out of most politicians...(I said MOST)I think they get very comfortable in the spotlight, recognizing that things like "change" come at the high price of attempting to swim upstream in the cesspool downstream flow. In other ways, I am just too battle weary...so, I do what I can, my conscience won't allow me to do nothing, even when I feel nothing would accomplish about the same. But the cynicism and the desire to do something create this "tornadic" event inside me with all the conflict...so, typically..I retreat, take cover and pray the storm will soon blow over.
However, this new "America" is scary...very scary!
At first, I tried not to worry about O'Bama SO much...I tried to be positive, I really did. BUT then, reality seems to be slapping me with every stroke of his pen!
He really, really is going to destroy in moments, what it took years to build! Kind of like when you were a kid and you worked for hours and hours building your "fort" with lincoln logs and tinker toys (I know, I know...I'm old, but you get the point!)and then some little twit kid comes along and knocks it all down.
I mean just give the man a "pen" and he is a "lethal weapon." Seriously, is there "pensaholic" rehab???? Will somebody, please take the "freakin' pens" out of the man's hand?!?!?
Hey, Snarky...we need a bumper sticker with him holding a pen and the caption reads: "Everybody duck...he's got pen!" (yep, I'm laughing...I can so see it in my head)!
Bottom line, I believe "CHANGE" has come to the White House...instead of just floating in the cesspool, he just changed it up with a little backstroke, but he's still up to his "ears" the muck.
After all said and done, O'bama really is all "ears!"
AND, I DO LOVE CHER!!!!! Big Crowd at this Crazy House..rocks on!
Mom, tell me about the (') in O'Bama......
I just hope there comes a point when the masses (used to be called "voters") wake up from the mind-altering Obama fantasy and smell the coffee. (And I hope that happens before the majority of them are already on the dole with a bias toward keeping things as they are!)
My argument is not so much with Obama, to tell the truth, as to the "not based in reality" reaction to him and his policies. There is no magic fix for our problems, and there is no magic fixer. That is why we need to work together, both parties using way more of their smarts and way less of their personal agendas. Too many Americans, both citizens and their representatives, are mindlessly putting their stamps of approval on everything he does. (And boy, he is doing way too much of everything to do anything very well. Is he ADHD, or what?) But I digress. The point is that we're running scared, and a "superhero" looks far too appealing just now. How long will it take for people to take this guy off his pedestal and get real?
Final rant: I really have an issue with earmarks and entitlements. All this "scratching of each other's backs" is no more than a waste of taxpayer money, which is inexcusable and unpatriotic, especially at a time like this. Honestly, I used to be an avid watcher/reader of the news and politics. Lately, I just get a quick update and then turn off the tv or recycle the newspaper. I can't dwell on it for long or it's too disturbing.
My main hope is the American people. I just have to trust them that they will figure out what's up and vote for change. (hmmmm, where have I heard THAT before?)
*sigh*
Oops...forgot one more thing that makes me crazy, and that is the Obama hero worship thing in the media. Rather than debate real policy choices in an unbiased manner, they are just erecting and paying homage to a big Obama idol in the "town square."
Geez.
For one day I would love to walk on the shoes of a democrat (different from democrack), someone with principles and morality who agrees with all this. Then maybe I could understand the hype and the worship and the herd mentality. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any of those democrats left. So who's supprting him? The lazy, the indolent, the stupid. Maybe I need to invoke Alec Baldwin and move to Canada to avoid the ruckus. Oh, wait a minute. This is global this time. There's no escape anywhere.
So now what?
snarky, did i see you offering guns to children over on sue's blog!!!???!!!
;-)
p.s.
my family thinks i voted for obama. remember that post? i was proud to be an american that day, i still am. i'm just sayin' was it that misleading? ok good, i wanted it to be;-) but not necessarily to that extent, lol. is this funny? i'm wanting it to sound funny, but i'm not sure it's going to come off that way in this comment.
Wait...you mean he's not Irish!?!?!? :)
It just the way I say it..."Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...Bama! You know like Ohhhhhhhh.....crap!... I don't know why...makes me laugh!
Rather than turn off the news because it's too disturbing, I think it's having the opposite effect on me: I can't get enough. I click from network to Fox to CNBC to...well, you get the idea. It's like a morbid, frightening fascination - a bad dream I hope we'll all wake up from. And then I get hungry and go to the Food Network. I don't know what to do about us nationally. I'm trying to concentrate on what's going on in California, and work up from there.
p.s. Not to mention.. on the campaign trail he always joked, "Obama, without the apostrophe." I just thought since he has backpeddled on most everything else, maybe he was just kidding about that, too! :)
For me, kind of sort of the problem is with Obama. He is like the pied piper of a socialistic agenda, in reality. As a whole, people respond to the leader(s). Think about it...whether it is politics, religion, clubs, teams, most every "party" of people, as a whole, will echo what they hear being preached.
With Obama's enticing rhetoric, he drew the "masses" (amen, Sue). The masses were drawn to him b/c he was selling, as you said, fantasy.
I still feel that if Obama had taken office, moved with thought, caution, and without knee-jerk reactions to "make a statement" but with a sincere effort to unite the country....things would look a little different for the future.
I believe he is intelligent, charismatic, well educated, and is symbolic of the "American Dream." Therefore, my problem is with him...for those very reasons, the fact he did re-write history, he did reach what many people thought was unreachable...he has been given much and much is required.
That is where he fails my "leader integrity litmus test."
He could use those strengths, gifts, and talents to move this country in a direction of personal responsibility, financial prosperity, and unity that we have definitely lost as a nation. He, as the most politically powerful man in the free world, elected by the people could have truly chosen "CHANGE." But, as Snarky said....More of the same.
I believe for this leader, his being President is far more about him than it ever was or is about us.
And besides, he couldn't have been Irish...the Irish go down fighting for what they believe in! So there!
(seriously, y'all know I'm kidding, don't you!)
Politics as usual! When you get right down to it, the 2 major parties have very few differences. Both want or to want to keep power and influence and spend more and more money.
The parties keep us loyal right or left by a few polarizing issues that they parade around as battle dress.
We seriously need term limits for all elected officials...
As a girl who lives down in Australia I really can't contribute too much to this.
I pray for America. I pray for Obama too. For at the end of the day... we are all children of God and that includes Obama.
My love to you Natalie. I love your blog....love love love it!
Thank you sweet Carly! I love you!
We need prayers, and knowing what I know about you...you have a hotline! :)
I pray for Obama too. I even pray for Pelosi and Reid...can you believe it people, I do! Carly is right on, everyone needs prayers.
So this in not about your post, but I just read your comment on my blog, and cried. Can I give you a hug? I'm sorry you are going through this difficult time with your daughter and hope that things get better soon. Until then, never fail to see the miracle. : )
Love it...
"big crowd at the crazy house". That's how I felt when I visited some relatives this weekend! :-)
There seems to be much of this going on. Not my pick, but I had hoped my concerns would be proven wrong and we would all be pleasantly surprised. Not happening so far . . .
I find it interesting how defensive Obama gets - he might want to listen more than defend- there just might be something there, in the concern of others.
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