An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for October 2009
It’s Friday Afternoon, Must Be Bad News
Obama team makes it official: Budget deficit hits record. By a lot.
The Obama administration has released new deficit numbers, and they are not pretty.
The deficit for Fiscal Year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, came in at a record $1.42 trillion, more than triple the record set just last year.
In addition, future deficits are currently projected to total $9.1 trillion in the coming decade.
I can hear it now….it’s all Bush’s fault! Um…. Bush hasn’t been in office for nearly 10 months now. When is everything going to stop being his fault?
Republicans cited record deficits as another reason to oppose Obama’s health care plan and other big projects. “No more spending money we don’t have,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., countered that, “today’s figures are a result of the policies of the Bush Administration, along with the cost of actions needed to address the recession and prevent even deeper economic problems.”
A year ago, as the financial crisis hit and the Bush administration prepared massive bailout plans, the deficit was $455 billion.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Bush seriously screwed up with the first bailout BS. It sure didn’t help the economic situation. No, all it did was open the door to more of the same. Bush should have let those companies he was supposedly trying to aid fall flat on their over bloated faces.
“This year’s deficit is lower than we had projected earlier this year, in part because we are managing to repair the financial system at a lower cost to taxpayers,” said a statement from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. “But future deficits are too high, and the President is committed to working with Congress to bring them down to a sustainable level as the economy recovers.”
Lower? Gee, how comforting. If the POTUS was serious about working with Congress, he’d be working with ALL members of Congress and not just the ones kissing his….. ring. The Democrats may have a majority, for now, but they aren’t the only elected officials in D.C. Shutting out the other party doesn’t make him, or the Dem “leadership”, look very mature, or wise. It actually makes them appear like petulant children.
One thing to remember: They are spending the money. YOU are paying the bills. Just think of it this way…someone stole all your credit cards, has access to your checkbook, and has gone on a massive spending spree. They’re having a high ol’ time, and you are living in a cardboard box, paying for it.
One Of God’s Many Miracles
As you might know, friend and fellow blogger, Texas Fred‘s family has had quite a time of it lately. His daughter Lisa was extremely ill, and they nearly lost her. Her son, Carson, was born 11 weeks early, and spent way too much time hooked up to wires and such. He’s now still 3 weeks early from his supposed arrival date, and what an amazing difference.
Presenting Master Carson, 8 weeks old!
Gracious sakes, what a major cutie! Thanks goodness he doesn’t take after that old bog dwelling grandpa of his! 
How I Spent My Morning
Covered in kittens! They’ve now decided to go exploring, so I have hands free. Criminy!
It’s pretty nippy out in the garage today, so I thought I’d bring ‘em in since they will be picked over this afternoon and I needed to treat their ears. I didn’t want to stand out there in my jammies in the cold, y’know! So, I fed them, put the drops in their ears, sat down to browse the web, and within 15 minutes, I had 3 small overly affectionate kitten climbing all over me. Yay me. 
Do I look like a momma cat?
Eventually, they decided it was time to check out the digs. Poor Mr Spot has NO idea what to do with himself. He actually seems afraid of the tiny little furballs.
I think the Mr is kind of partial to this one, who was named Three by the vet yesterday. You know, as in Kitten 1, 2, and 3. Hence…..Three.
Obviously, if we do keep her, we’ll have to come up with a new name.
I kind of like this little guy. 
He’s a leaner. Stand there for more than 2 seconds, and he’s leaning against ya. Not rubbing, leaning. I thought dogs did that?
Didn’t take ‘em long to find the toys, did it. Well, we do tend to spray them with catnip, so I guess they are catnip junkies too.
So, anyway, this is why I haven’t posted anything this morning, just in case you are wondering. And even if ya weren’t.
This Just BEGGED To Be Swiped!
Actually, there are a LOT of original ‘toons over there at Christmas Ghost that should be swiped, but I do refrain. But this one? No restraint.
Bingo!
PROOF….Sanity No Longer Required
With an approval rating of just 13% and 27%, is it really such a good idea to intrude further into peoples lives? I mean seriously.
When no one is watching you on the idjit box, you can say the most ridiculous, and offensive, things possible, but it does get out.
After the story of the little boy came out, we’ve all heard about another school district that has gone off the deep end. It’s quite obvious that sanity is no longer needed to go into public education.
Once more, someone is taking the word of an alarmist as fact, even if there are no real facts to back them up. What would be so wrong with a warmer planet? Longer growing seasons come to mind.
Even most of the Nobel committee thought this year’s recipient was a joke!
The left can make up crap, and the REAL racists will run with it.
And of course, now there is this:
Republicans Fail to Bock Transfer of Gitmo Detainees
Republicans in the House have lost a bid to block the transfer of any detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison to the United States.
Instead, the House stood by a Democratic plan to allow suspected enemy combatants held at Guantanamo to be shipped to U.S. soil only to be prosecuted for their suspected crimes. President Obama has ordered the facility closed in January but has yet to offer a plan to accomplish that.
Democratic leaders had to push hard to win the 193-24 vote because many lawmakers see political danger in voting to move detainees from Guantanamo.
The Guantanamo restrictions were attached by House-Senate negotiators on a $42.8 billion homeland security appropriations bill.
There are 435 members of the House. Where were the other 218???
Remember This Guy…..
…..the next time you decide to have “just ONE more”!
H/T: Richie via FB
Taxpayer Funded Baby Murder
I’m not a one issue voter. I tried to look at ALL issues that are of concern to me, but I gotta tell ya, abortion is one of those issues that is right at the top of my list. The Foundry has been covering it fairly well with regards to the so called ‘health care reform’ fiasco. This morning is no exception.
Obamacare Forces You to Fund Abortions
But what about the Hyde amendment mentioned by the White House reporter? Is the Hyde amendment not the law of the land? No, it is not even a statute. First passed in 1976 by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) as a rider to the Health and Human Services appropriations bill, the Hyde amendment must be passed again every year as part of the HHS appropriations bill and even then it only applies to current HHS programs. The Hyde amendment would do nothing to stop Obamacare from funding abortions and all the versions of Obamacare passed by Congressional committees so far do exactly that.
Conservatives introduced amendments in all five committee markups (three in the House and two in the Senate) that would have specifically prohibited federal funds from being used to cover abortion. None of them passed. Worse, the “compromise” the White House has adopted is an amendment sponsored by Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) who has a 100% pro-abortion voting record according to the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). Not only does the Capps amendment allow for federal money to subsidize abortions in private plans and mandate federal funding for abortions in the public option (this according to FactCheck.org), it also requires that at least one insurance plan cover abortion in every geographical region in the country.
It’s fairly safe to say, if Gibbs is burbling, he’s gargling male bovine excrement. And when he’s repeating Obamanisms, it’s a sure bet!
I’m not doing a copy and paste this morning. Go, read the entire thing for yourselves, plus all the links and ‘quick hits’.
Senate to Troops: Screw You
I cannot even begin to tell you how much this pisses me off.
Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.
Among the 778 such projects, known as earmarks, packed into the bill: $25 million for a new World War II museum at the University of New Orleans and $20 million to launch an educational institute named after the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat.
While earmarks are hardly new in Washington, “in 30 years on Capitol Hill, I never saw Congress mangle the defense budget as badly as this year,” said Winslow Wheeler, a former Senate staffer who worked on defense funding and oversight for both Republicans and Democrats. He is now a senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information, an independent research organization.
Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, called the transfer of funds from Pentagon operations and maintenance “a disgrace.”
“The Senate is putting favorable headlines back home above our men and women fighting on the front lines,” he said in a statement.
Mr. Wheeler said that senators took most of the cash for the projects from the “operations and maintenance” or O&M accounts.
“These are the accounts that pay for troop training, repairs, spares and supplies for vehicles, weapons, ships and planes, food and fuel,” Mr. Wheeler said.
Excuse me??? Are they serious?? Soooo…lemme get this straight. They are taking funds away from the men and women who are proudly serving this great country, and using them for pet projects so they can get headlines and pat themselves on the back? Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
I simply don’t understand what is happening to this country. We have elected officials who are so far in their own little world, they are putting our troops at risk. This is not the country I grew up in, nor is it the country I want my child to grow up in. 2010 cannot come soon enough for me…we need to get these POS OUT!!!
Environazis Destroy
Environmental Swine
by Mike Adams
My friend Mary wrote the other day to tell me of her grandfather’s dilemma. He’s involved in important litigation aimed at saving his farm, his family business, and hundreds of agricultural jobs in North Carolina. His problems have been produced by a series of unfortunate events. Among them is a radical environmental movement that cares more about trees and fish than it does about human beings.
The Bunting family business was started in the 1950s by brothers C.B. and Duck Bunting. It’s a tough business that requires 365 days of work per year. C.B. and his sons still leave the family Christmas Day lunch every year to help load hogs and do other chores around the farm. C.B. is 84 years old but he still physically corrals the hogs into the truck. The work is not just strenuous. It’s dangerous, too.
Cancer Sucks
I have a lot of favorite bloggers. Unfortunately, I don’t get to read them all on a daily basis. If y’all think I spend too much time on this confounded contraption now, if I tried to check daily, I’d never sleep….and I like my sleep. When I went to one of my faves this evening, Support Your Local Gunfighter, moseying through the last couple of days worth of posts, I found this:
Well, I was never one for suspense, so here goes:
I have skin cancer. More specifically, I have basal cell carcinoma.
The good news is that basal cell is usually non-fatal, and less dangerous than melanoma. The bad news is that it is still cancer, and I will have to have surgery to get it all removed from my left temple. That should be a lot of fun, since the surgery is set for November 25th, the day before Thanksgiving.
According to the dermatologist, the surgeon will remover a layer of skin, and examine it for cancer cells. That will continue until all of the cancerous skin is removed. Unfortunately, I have a very high chance of recurrence, so as the doc told me, “Your beach days are over.” I have to use sunscreen every time I am out in the sun and I’ll have to wear a baseball cap or other such head covering.
To say this news sucks is an understatement! I just want Wyatt to know that I will be praying for him, and his family. I hope you all will too.
Ann on A Few Of Obama’s Problems
Natural-Born Losers
by Ann Coulter
The question of whether President Obama should send more troops to Afghanistan misses the point.
What Obama really needs to do is: Invent a time machine, go back to the 2008 presidential campaign and not say, over and over and over again, that Afghanistan was a “war of necessity” while the war in Iraq was a “war of choice.” (Oh, and as long as you’re back there, ditch Van Jones, Valerie Jarrett and that gay “school safety” czar.)
The most important part of warfare is picking your battlefield, and President Bush picked Iraq for a reason.
Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan attacked us on 9/11 — or the dozen other times American embassies, barracks and buildings came under jihadist onslaught since Jimmy Carter presided over “regime change” in Iran in 1979. Both countries — and others — gave succor to terrorists who had attacked the U.S. repeatedly, and would do so again.
In The Company Of The ONE
We know that “safe schools czar” and “Queering Elementary Education” essayist Kevin Jennings failed to oppose homosexual man-boy relationships and that science czar John Holdren has written, without objection, that “laws requiring compulsory abortion could be sustained under the existing Constitution.” We know that one-time Health and Human Services secretary nominee Tom Daschle had to withdraw because of a failure to pay his taxes. But what has not been adequately tallied is how many of President Obama’s nominees and appointees are radical or just plain embarrassing.
When radicalism and ethical shortcomings reach such a critical mass, it’s time to broadcast the dishonor roll. Therefore, in addition to Mr. Jennings, Mr. Holdren and Mr. Daschle, please consider the ramifications of an administration manned by the likes of the following.
Read the rest here.
I have said it before (as have many others), and I will say it again…. A man is known by the company he keeps. It’s an old adage, and it’s quite applicable in the current political atmosphere.
It’s getting more and more difficult to even watch the news, or read online news without feeling disgust. I’ve always been an optimistic person. I make negative jokes, but on the inside, I’ve always believed that there will be a positive outcome. I’m not finding that to be the case anymore. Yes, we could make a complete turnaround, but it’s going to take a lot of work on the part of people who still believe in the U.S. to get up off their butts (me included) to get it done.
I’ve watched what I once believed was the greatest country in the world, start a slow decline 40 years ago, to where we are at this point in time. Pedophiles being defended. Homosexuality seems mainstream. Stealing and lying is a way of life. And no one seems to care. Why? Why is that what I was taught was wrong is now just ‘every day life’?
Contrary to what many on the left would like to believe, I, for one, don’t actually hate Obama, the person. Getting close, but not actual hate. What I hate are Obama, the POTUS, his policies, and the damage he has done in a short 9 months time. I don’t have a problem with the color of his skin, don’t give a flyin’ flip! I have SERIOUS problems with the color of his agenda…..RED (that’s communist for the ignorant/”progressive” out there). The appointment of such reprehensible persons to positions of authority, answerable only to the president, does not bode well for this nation’s future.
I do believe it is possible to retake our country from the extremists, but I do not believe it will be just through our votes. When it comes right down to it, we can go to the polls each election day, but the choices we have been give over the years are NOT the candidates we actually need to have on the ballot. How many times have we seen the best candidates get left by the way side because of party politics (in fighting, it’s not their ‘time’, go along to get along, etc.). We can’t allow this to continue. We, as Americans, MUST retake our political process. We must not allow companies, lobbyist, or even newspapers to choose who we want to see in leadership positions.
A Real Interesting Read
Just a snippet:
Do you have a “right” to medical care? Is medical care free? Does it grow on trees? If you don’t pay for your own medical care, do you have a “right” to get medical care at other peoples’ expense? Do you have a “right” to have other people forced to pay for your medical care?
Let us walk through this important question to the clear answer.
What are “rights”? Where do rights come from? Are rights unalienable gifts from God? Are rights inherent to our nature as humans? Is the Bill of Rights (the first 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution) or the 14th Amendment the source of our rights? Or, are “rights” entitlements to stuff paid for by other people?
Please, go read the whole post. It’s worth your time.
Senate Doctors
Off the top of my head, I’d say that a great many people who occupy space in both sides of the Capital building, are nothing but a waste of oxygen.
Knee jerk reaction: If I were an insurance company, with the way things are going right now, I’d shut my doors. If they don’t add TORT reform to this piece of crap bill that doesn’t exist, what is the point? The reason it costs so bloomin’ much to buy health insurance is because of lawsuits, no across state line competition, and hospitals are compelled to treat the common cold of illegals. That’s the simplistic version. Obviously, it’s a lot more complicated than that. When the government got into the health care business, it all went to hell in a hand basket. As with everything else, they screwed it up!
Best thing for them to do…..GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY! Just my 2 cents.
