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DEL.ICIO.USWashington dishonesty
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Face it: We’re in for four years of dishonesty in Washington, where an army of accountants, policy analysts and subject-experts will be required to examine the real story behind the campaign-style rhetoric.
We know already, for example, that the $838 billion “stimulus” bill is not about stimulus, but is instead about the pent-up demands for taxpayer-financed universal health care, about undoing welfare reform, about payoffs to ACORN and other Democratic constituencies and about throwing money at pet projects and causes.
Two or three other examples come from the day’s news. As a candidate, President Obama defined new offshore drilling as component of a national energy policy. On Tuesday, however, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that he’s putting the brakes on the Bush Administration’s plan to open more areas of the Atlantic and Pacific to exploration. He vows instead a “new way forward” that would capitalize on “the great potential for wind, wave and ocean tides.” Ah, yes. More boondoggles, less energy and when the economy recovers and world oil prices skyrocket, the U.S. will be no better prepared than it was when gas hit $4 a gallon. But, of course, liberals welcome $4 gas, since it’s an opportunity for the central government to expand regulation of our lives and of our automobile companies — “our” meaning those in Detroit that are essentially run by Washington bureaucrats.
The other story that reflects a dishonesty is the Obama Administration’s announcement that it’s reviewing the policy that prohibits the media from taking pictures of flag-draped coffins being returned to Dover Air Force Base in Deleware from Iraq and Afghanistan. Anti-war opponents wanted the photos to show the high cost of war in hopes of further alienating the country from the war. Their pretense is that showing the coffins “honors” the “fallen heroes.” It is absolute dishonesty. The sole reason activists on the left push for photos of the unloading of coffins is to advance their political agenda.
There’s a report, too, that while the nation’s attention was focused on the dishonest “stimulus” bill, a group of nine House members (eight Democrats and Ron Paul) slipped a bill called the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act to lift the ban on travel to Cuba that’s been in place since 1963. It furthermore prevents the President from being able to regulate travel to Cuba unless armed conflict is real or imminent.
There’s no indication yet that the administration has signed on, but the reality is that had this legislation been proposed in October, Democrats would have had no chance of carrying Florida.
This administration and its allies in Congress are beginning to look a whole lot more like the gang of old — old as in the party of George McGovern — than the party of change. Watch ‘em. Not what they say, but what they do.
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Comments
By Churchill's MOM
February 11, 2009 8:48 AM | Link to this
Here’s a bunch that need to go to jail, even taht idiot Dusty would agree.
Birth Control Pill That Promised Too Much By NATASHA SINGER Published: February 10, 2009 Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals has just introduced a new $20 million advertising campaign for Yaz, the most popular birth control pill in the United States.
An ad for Yaz, a birth control pill by Bayer, promoted its effectiveness against premenstrual symptoms.
An actress in new ads for Yaz says that some commercials were not clear, and that the F.D.A. “wants us to correct a few points.” But the television ads, now running during prime-time shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and on cable networks, are not typical spots promoting the benefits of a prescription drug. Instead, they warn that nobody should take Yaz hoping that it will also cure pimples or premenstrual syndrome.
As part of an unusual crackdown on deceptive consumer drug advertising, the Food and Drug Administration and the attorneys general of 27 states have required Bayer to run these new ads to correct previous Yaz marketing.
Regulators say the ads overstated the drug’s ability to improve women’s moods and clear up acne, while playing down its potential health risks. Under a settlement with the states, Bayer agreed last Friday to spend at least $20 million on the campaign and for the next six years to submit all Yaz ads for federal screening before they appear.
“You may have seen some Yaz commercials recently that were not clear,” an actress says in the new corrective television spot, as she looks into the camera. “The F.D.A. wants us to correct a few points in those ads.”
By Jeff
February 11, 2009 8:52 AM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten,
Dr. Paul has been right FAR more often than he’s been wrong, and just because 8 Democrats are supporting this doesn’t mean he is wrong here.
Liberty is NEVER the wrong choice.
If you don’t want to travel to Cuba, don’t. But don’t say that I CAN’T because you don’t WANT to.
As a side note: Cuban cigars really are nice, and once I’m in international waters again on Spring Break… cigars and margaritas at midnight on the back of the boat with the wife… reminiscent of the honeymoon!
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 11, 2009 8:55 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. Leftism is repugnant to normal people. When John Stuart Mill lived, socialism was a perfectly “honorable” ideology; by the 1920s, as the content of the ideology came to be understood by normal people, “socialism” became an epithet. The controllers then embraced the label “progressive,” borrowing from the last vestiges of goodwill not extinguished by Woodrow Wilson’s administration, but by 1944 Henry Wallace made that a dirty word. In a desperate grab for legitimacy, the leftists stole the long-honorable “liberal” label, to mask the big government intentions. By the time of Reagan, “Liberal” too was love that dare not speak its name.
In order to advance the agenda, leftists must disguise their intentions. The past three elected democrats pointedly campaigned on no agenda at all, but merely “change.” To the extent that any democrat claims a “mandate” for his evil intention, the democrat lies. Democrats run magnifying the people, Conservatives run advancing the ideas. Democrats are thus cult-oriented – ideas cannot be spoken and only mindless pep rallies matter – and Conservatives are boring, as the candidates are interchangeably advocating programs. Democrats thus attempt to “silence” dissent from people with ideas, as the leftist ideas always lose. Democrats insist on “unity,” as only a lock-step march to their control will permit their control.
On that theme Camille Paglia today has a couple of riffs condemning the resurgence of the Orwellian ”Fariness Doctrine.” “…Democrats have become arrogant elitists, speaking down in snide, condescending tones toward tradition-minded middle Americans whom they stereotype as rubes and buffoons….One of the nuggets I’ve gleaned from several radio sources is that Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has been in the aggressive forefront of the campaign to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, is married to Tom Athans, who works extensively with left-wing radio organizations and was once the executive vice-president of Air America, the liberal radio syndicate that, despite massive publicity from major media, has failed miserably to win a national audience. Stabenow’s outrageous conflict of interest has of course been largely ignored by the prestige press, which should have been demanding that she recuse herself from all political involvement with this issue.”
Peter Ferrara today reminds us how differently conservatives think, and how conservatives always claim a legitimate mandate:
“In 1980, amid a seriously dysfunctional economy, Reagan campaigned for president on an economic recovery program with four specific components.
“The first was across-the-board reductions in tax rates to provide incentives for saving, investment, entrepreneurship and work. The second component was deregulation to remove unnecessary costs on the economy. In today’s world, that would especially mean removing the onerous restrictions on energy production — allowing drilling offshore and onshore for oil and natural gas, revival of the nuclear power industry, and construction of more electric power plants.
“Third was the control of government spending. In 1981, Reagan forced through Congress not only his famed, historic tax cuts, but also a package of budget cuts close to 5% of the federal budget — equivalent to roughly $150 billion today. In constant dollars, nondefense discretionary spending declined by 14.4% from 1981 to 1982, and by 16.8% from 1981 to 1983. Moreover, in constant dollars, this nondefense discretionary spending never returned to its 1981 level for the rest of Reagan’s two terms. By 1988, this spending was still down 14.4% from its 1981 level in constant dollars.
“Even with the Reagan defense buildup, which helped win the Cold War, total federal spending declined to 21.2% of GDP in 1989 from 23.5% of GDP in 1983. That’s a real reduction of 10% in the size of government relative to the economy.
“The fourth component of the Reagan recovery plan was tight, anti-inflation monetary policy, which was spectacularly successful. Inflation was cut in half to 6.2% in 1982 from 13.2% in 1980, and cut in half again to 3.2% in 1983.
“We know such policies work because they turned around in just two years an economy far worse than today’s. We were suffering from multiyear, double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment, double-digit interest rates, declining incomes, and rising poverty. In fact, what we suffer with today is not the worst economy since the Great Depression, but the worst economy since Jimmy Carter — the last time liberals were dominant politically and intellectually.”
By lwwmm7
February 11, 2009 8:57 AM | Link to this
How dare you accuse the Chosen One of politics as usual!
By Bill Shipp
February 11, 2009 9:05 AM | Link to this
Gov. Sonny Perdue may turn out to be the luckiest governor in Georgia history.
His state is about to be handed billions of dollars in federal money to provide jobs for Georgia and cash for Georgians to spend.
The Barack Obama administration is passing this largesse along to Georgia, even though the state voted solidly against Obama for president and our senators vowed to oppose Obama’s stimulus package before they even knew the details. In other words, they were sort of like Sen. John Kerry. They were against stimulus packages, after they were for them.
In the sunset days of the Bush administration, Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss favored President Bush’s multibillion-dollar bailout for banks. No strings were attached, so several of the distressed banks bought other, even more distressed banks, handed out executive bonuses, threw huge parties and generally acted like hogs. One bank bought a brand-new executive jet plane and then returned the aircraft to the seller when public reaction showed signs of turning violent. The bank bailout was designed to help Wall Street help Main Street. After what happened to the bailout bucks, Teddy Roosevelt would have rolled over in his grave.
Back to my point about Perdue’s luck: Despite staunch opposition to Obama’s election as well as his legislation, Georgia is about to be handed a medium-sized slice of the Obama stimulus package.
If you were Perdue, how would you spend the federal windfall to generate jobs and make life better?
Try this list, although you may have a better one:
► Stop outsourcing state jobs to foreign countries. Hire Georgians to work in Georgia. If you can’t find Georgians for certain jobs (teachers of math, chemistry and physics), then hire other Americans. The cost may be slightly higher, but the benefits to our people are vast.
► Help cities and counties employ additional police officers and firefighters. Our population is growing, and so is our crime and violence rate.
► Build a modern, state-of-the-art flood-control system to relieve future floods and droughts. This time, do not use “flood money” to build bass-boat ramps.
► Extend and improve Georgia’s park properties. And on a related note: Pledge not to use insider information to acquire personal real estate. While you’re governor, do not take on any more moonlighting positions in real estate. Also: No more special tax dodges, OK? Don’t forget who you are. You are our governor. Government service was meant to be public service, not private opportunity.
► Fix roads and bridges, and do whatever you can for rapid transit.
► Hire additional teachers so you can reduce - instead of enlarge - class sizes.
► Let Georgians keep former Gov. Roy Barnes’ property tax cuts.
► Study the feasibility of building casinos in the boondocks to give our economy a real shot in the arm. Never mind the Bible-thumping against gaming, governor; we already have reckoned the high-water mark of your ethics.
► Expand the Medical College of Georgia. Build an annex in Athens. Train more nurses. Enhance more emergency rooms. Allow all hospitals and doctors to use computers to keep track of patients. In other words, do something - anything - to help our health care system. Anything, that is, except raise taxes on hospitals.
► Move the Corrections Department’s headquarters to the abandoned but beautiful Bessie Tift College in Forsyth.
► Let the state take charge of Grady Memorial Hospital, and order grumpy bank auditors to inspect the hospital’s books. Build more prison space. You’ll probably need it when the auditors finish.
► Underwrite an advertising campaign extolling the virtues of Georgia-made peanut butter. Be sure to say that salmonella is a rare side effect.
According to my calculator, we’re about out of money from Georgia’s share of the stimulus. Don’t worry. Another bailout will be rolling our way soon. Tell our senators to try treating Obama next time just like they did Bush, and Georgia might roll right out of this recession.
By Cliff
February 11, 2009 9:08 AM | Link to this
The fact is that both President George W. Bush and the Republican Party abandoned conservative principles. We shrank in 2006 and 2008 precisely because Republicans lost their compass and tried to outdo the Democrats. Bush’s stand on open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens, as well as urging the passage of the first bailout bill, was disastrous. Bush’s signing of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill angered many conservatives. The way congressional Republicans lined up to pass obscenely pork-laden bills was painful for Republicans to see.
We need to return to honest conservatism. We trust that Michael Steele, the former Maryland lieutenant governor elected recently as chairman of the Republican National Committee, will help guide the Republican Party back to the principles that helped to make this country great. We only pray it will not be too late.
By Davo
February 11, 2009 9:09 AM | Link to this
Morning Jim; although I suspect otherwise for you judging by your scattershot rant.
I sure miss the days when our energy policy was handled in secret with Darth Cheney in charge and Oilman George deciding where to drill; which was not in those areas. That bill was passed 4 days before W left office.
Your characterization of our fallen being tools of anti-war activists is cowardly and ignorant. People need to see the cost of war no matter which side of it they stand. As a journalist I would think you would understand that. What are you afraid of?
Exactly what is our beef with Cuba? Wake up! Nice touch calling out Ron Paul in that hit paragraph. It just affirms my belief that your no more conservative than a democrat.
Back to the wilderness with ya, JW.
By Ga Values
February 11, 2009 9:11 AM | Link to this
Bill Shipp 9:05 AM
“Let the state take charge of Grady Memorial Hospital, and order grumpy bank auditors to inspect the hospital’s books. Build more prison space. You’ll probably need it when the auditors finish.”
PRICELESS
By Redneck Convert
February 11, 2009 9:14 AM | Link to this
Well, this Bill Shipp said nary a word about putting more money into the Go Fish program, so his ideas go straight to the trash can. You can tell he don’t like rednecks. And it’s alot better for us GA folks to starve to death than support this Obama. He’s one of Those People, you know. I would say a few words about Raghead’s post today, but he writes so stiff and pointy-headed I can’t make sense of it. Have a good day everybody.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 11, 2009 9:19 AM | Link to this
Dear Redneck @ 9:14, fair critique. Here is a brilliant thinker showing us all how to do it, Dr. Williams today advocating a “do nothing” approach to the current economic discontent:
“In 1893, there was a depression; we got out of it without a stimulus package. There was a major recession of 1920-21; though sharp, it quickly reversed itself into what has been call the “Roaring Twenties.” In 1929, there was an economic downturn, most notably featured by the stock market collapse, after which came massive government intervention — you might call it the nation’s first stimulus package. President Hoover and Congress responded to what might have been a two- or three-year sharp downturn with many of the policies President Obama and Congress are urging today. They raised tariffs, propped up wage rates, bailed out farmers, banks and other businesses, and financed state relief efforts. When Roosevelt came to office, he became even more interventionist than Hoover and presided over protracted depression where the economy didn’t fully recover until 1946.”
By Big Bucks GOP
February 11, 2009 9:22 AM | Link to this
Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the nation’s wealthiest prep schools, told the Exeter community this week that its endowment — which held more than $1 billion at the end of 2007 — lost 21.8 percent in calendar 2008 and that it was instituting a series of budget adjustments.
By Churchill's MOM
February 11, 2009 9:24 AM | Link to this
Jim, those silly IT Guys hace the home page link screwed up AGAIN
By Peanut Man
February 11, 2009 9:26 AM | Link to this
How much money did Saxby Chambliss take from Peanut Corporation of America and what did they get for it?
By Good News
February 11, 2009 9:27 AM | Link to this
Muzak Holdings, the maker of background music heard in elevators, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday.
By Glenn
February 11, 2009 9:28 AM | Link to this
Hats off to Jim Wooten for this column he seemingly dashed off. The truth is, it takes years to tone your syntax, and years more to decide what not to say.
Bottom line is, unless you long for the embrace of government all around you and inside of you, root for the Republicans.
By Coded Message
February 11, 2009 9:41 AM | Link to this
We had a born-again president who heralded the Chosen One. (does that make W john the baptist)? Now we have a savior- based economy. Worse, more and more fat, aging baby boomer men are wearing the catholic-girl’s plaid skirt uniform. ( We’re gonna need a bigger uniform). I’d say the religious right is back!
A better title, Mr. Woo, of china, would have been, “Washington, Dishonestly.” An adverb instead of a noun sets up a structural nuance in the body from which a more entertaining slant can be achieved.
Allow me.
Washington, Dishonestly.
We did not elect a Muslim to the white house. We did not elect a socialist or a traitor, either. We elected a black man to the white house. I noted long ago that Obama never said anything of substance.. No successful candidate should ever fix his position too clearly, so I wasn’t alarmed. However, considering the cultural gap between me and the president, and the rise of alternate languages like Ebonics, and the resurrection of older code, like Gullah, I may have missed Obama’s message entirely. He may have been saying everything, just not in a language I could ever decipher. (One logarithmic step past Pig Latin, and I’m lost.)
But the black president knows what he meant. The Stimulus Package is the Rosetta Stone of the Obama Campaign Jive.
Have we been had? Are we to endure 4 years of this new vengeful, spendthrift spirit who seeks to overturn centuries of socio-economic injustices in America? Will we pay as this black president ensures that our poor minorities enjoy schools and hospitals? Schools and Hospitals? He sounds like the Hamas on the West Bank. They’re forever providing food and medicine and classrooms for homeless Palestinians. Hamas isn’t as bad as Hezbollah in Lebanon, but they’re not a model I want our White House to emulate.
If we can get through this 1000 or so days of MC Camelot, and manage to still have an economy from which to draw campaign contributions so that the silent middle class majority can enjoy the use of their own money again, then we’ll all look back on this administration and laugh. It was just a bump in the road to prosperity. Now, we’ve come to a fork in the road to representative democracy. We better take it. Honestly.
By Andy the Welcher
February 11, 2009 9:50 AM | Link to this
No, long winded and self gratuitive essays about nothing are repugnant to normal people.
But I get the sense that Rag hasn’t spent much time in the company of “joe-the-plumbers”.
“Joe’s” (as it were) are not as “verbose” as Rag tends to be, nor do “Joe’s” still fume over the Borking of the judicial midget Robert Bork, and man whos friend of the courts briefs (I believe it was in the Scooter Libby case) were recently deemed “amateurish”.
The quaint notion that all I believe in, flawed or no, is somehow correct, and all you believe in is “repugnant” is offensive at best.
All “you believe in” is why we’re here debating the “repugnant” policies being put forth. Rag and his ilk lost for a reason, and it’s on display each and every time Rag puts fingers to keyboard.
The government has grown and the constituion has been diminished over the last 8 years and Jim and Rag would like for these trends to continue? The rest of us “normal” folks out there (at least a clear majority of us “normal” folks) have passed judgement on the failed policies of the last 8 years.
It’s truly mind boggling to see how fast the rightwingnuts have reversed course and become part of the victim mentality. In a scant 3 weeks, Obama has not only failed, but failed spectacularly (according to the wingnuts), as well the party that didn’t meet a spending bill it didn’t like for 8 years, presided over a number of vetoes that can be counted on one’s fingers, and gave us the largest entitlement program in the last generation (but didn’t lift a finger to “fix” SS, as they promised in the 2000 elections and 2004 elections) now screams like a stuck pig over a bill and policy that was begun on thier watch, and blames Obama for a depression that W gave him.
Don’t bet with Andy because Andy’s a Welcher
ew
By Copyleft
February 11, 2009 10:00 AM | Link to this
“Face it: We’re in for four years of dishonesty in Washington”
A simple, three-word reply to Mr. Wooten that’s guaranteed to leave him speechless:
“Compared to what?”
By Coded Message
February 11, 2009 10:02 AM | Link to this
The Republicans are unanimous that Obama’s white house is a failure. Spun fool’s gold and self-fulfilling prophecies can turn on you in a second. All those in favor of labeling Obama as a failed presidency say aye……AYE!!!
all those opposed say NEH……….neh……
Voters call it a draw……..
By REPUBLICANS EVIL TIME IS UP
February 11, 2009 10:17 AM | Link to this
REMEMBER JIMBO WASHINGTON LYING AND DISHONESTY STARTED WITH THE NEO-NAZIS GOP,WHY IS IT THAT YOU CAN NEVER POINT OUT THE FACTS ON BOTH SIDES,THE GOP LIED ABOUT IRAQ HAVING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION,THEY LIED AND SAID THAT IRAQ WAS GOING TO ATTACK US,OUR GAS AND OIL WAS COMING FROM OVERSEAS,BUT WHEN HURRICANES CAME THE GOP JACKED THE PRICE OF GAS UP TO 4.00 A GALLON,PEOPLE ARE STILL LOSING THEIR JOBS,LOSING THEIR HOMES,AND CANT GET ANY STUDENT LOANS FOR COLLEGE,BUT THE HICKS HERE WILL BLAME CLINTON AND NOT BUSH,IT SEEMS THAT THESE REDNECKS ARE SO SMART THAT THEY ARE STUPID.
AT LEAST THE DEMOCRAPS SEEMS LIKE THEY ARE TRYING TO HELP THE AMERICAN PEOPLE,AND IT SEEMS THAT THE THE GOP AND THEIR REDNECK FOLLOWERS ARE MORE UNAMERICAN THAN ANYBODY IN THE COUNTRY WHICH SAYS THEY ARE THE ULTIMATE TRAITORS.
By Sally Thorndon
February 11, 2009 10:17 AM | Link to this
Coded Message @9:41: You truly are the best.
By Swami Dave
February 11, 2009 10:29 AM | Link to this
Welcher:
I understand your reflexive response to opposition, but you are pretty near to intellectual dishonesty in most all of your claims.
Most conservatives have not declared Obama’s presidency a “failure” just “a scant 3 weeks in”, but we have rightly voiced that his actions and his policy initiative so far presented are steps that have historically led to failure. There is a difference between “failed” and “engaging in activity that leads to failure”. Unfortunately, much like the President, you seem to realize that it is much easier to create a outlandish straw man against which to argue than address the rational questions and opposition to plans.
Interestingly, you and others keep pointing to the Medicare Prescription drug entitlement as evidence of hypocrisy on spending by conservatives. Were you to exhibit any intellectual honesty, you would acknowledge that it was a “moderate” piece of “bipartisan” legislation passed by President Bush and Congressional Democrats with the help of some moderate Republicans. Conservatives opposed the legislation on principle because it was another gross entitlement with little hope for financial control and it passed over many of our objections. Continuing to repeat the lie that conservatives are responsible for this legislation as some alleged evidence of hypocrisy is patently false.
Obama inherited an economy that was entering or in the midst of a recessionary period. However, it is again intellectual dishonesty to dispute that our financial situation has worsened after Obama’s election (likely due to market concerns about how his administration might govern) and gotten progressively worse as he has presented policies and legislation that do little to build economic growth.
Much to his (and all of you Democrats) chagrin, Obama gets to claim that things were not good when he arrived, but it is again patently false to pretend that it is not HIS actions and policies that have made things steadily worse.
-Swami Dave
By Dandy
February 11, 2009 10:48 AM | Link to this
From the botched swearing-in to the blazing-saddles-worthy dryness with which the GOP circled their wagons, the first 100 days are an unfolding disaster. For America.
It’s February 11th. Can we stop pretending the campaign’s not over yet?
Lets all take a collective breath and chill for a week or so. The more we ignore Obama, the more he’ll screw up, and then the voters will get the 411 and the momentum will be reversed.
But at least make your criticism make sense. The man hasn’t had to use the white house laundry room yet, or burn toast in the white house toaster, or bowl a few games. If this were 1960, would they let President Obama use the swimming pool? No, they wouldn’t. He could be president, in 1960, but black people cooties were still considered bio-terrorism.
So rejoice how far we’ve come since JFK.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 11, 2009 10:56 AM | Link to this
Jay Leno lines:
It looks like more than 13,000 people were caught up in that Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. You know what a Ponzi scheme is? That’s where you throw good money after bad, or as the government calls it, a stimulus package.
It came out today that the House Democratic Caucus spent $500,000 of taxpayer money for retreats at luxury resorts and spas — though Democrats say that the time was used for “strategic planning for the country.” Really? Then what’s the Capitol building for?
See, the whole theory behind this salary cap is if you’re not performing well, and you’re taking taxpayer money, then that should be reflected in lower wages. Of course, under that criteria, everybody in Congress should get like, what, two bucks an hour?
By Ga Values
February 11, 2009 11:13 AM | Link to this
Ragnar Danneskjöld 10:56 AM
How about Saxby’s golf trips on the Lobbyist, think we did not pay for that?
By Redneck Convert
February 11, 2009 11:16 AM | Link to this
Coded Message
I liked Mr. Wooten’s essay far better than yours. His effort was clear, concise, taut prose that made the point and then got out of the way. It certainly wasn’t carrying all the psycho-baggage that turned your thought into rant. Clearly some counseling for your negative self-image seems appropriate.
Call 1-800-Eat-Sh!t.
By Soothsayer
February 11, 2009 11:33 AM | Link to this
Take look at this chart
It helps to put the current “recession” into perspective.
By Redneck Convert
February 11, 2009 11:34 AM | Link to this
Well, I see somebody’s using my name at 11:16. You know it ain’t me. If it was me that last part would be 1-800-Eat-YouKnowWhat.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 11, 2009 11:37 AM | Link to this
Dear Redneck @ 11:16, the clever prose of Coded Message sounds of our old friend Glenn.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 11:40 AM | Link to this
Oh Oh WAY TO GO, JIM WOOTEN!! You are pulling no punches these days and it is a welcome sight! Obama is still in his election mode, tripping hippy hop down the steps of AirForce One and kissing old ladies on the cheeks with a hug..trying to keep the ol’ charisma going!
Meanwhile, as Wooten mentioned, Obama’s pet projects are pushed out by the ever fawning and fraud loaded Democrats in Congress. Sorry switches on regulations for offshore drilling to big bucks for Acorn, alternate energy projects and a “fix” for every underachiever in the country. The Stimulus package seems to be little more than FREEBIES FOR THE FAILURES PROGRAM. To quote Wooten: “We can expect four years of dishonesty!”
You got that right, Jim.
Ragnar had some good suggestions in the last paragraph of his 10:56. “See, the whole theory behind this salary cap is if you’re not performing well, and you’re taking taxpayer money, then that should be reflected in lower wages. Of course, under that criteria, everybody in Congress should get like, what, two bucks an hour?”
Right, Ragnar, Congress is now worth about two bucks an hour. At the rate Obama is going, he should work for free.
By Andy the Welcher
February 11, 2009 11:50 AM | Link to this
A nice Cheney retort.
Swami, your president and congress enacted and pounded through the medicare fiasco, it was a masterstroke of bipartisanship that was not to be repeated again during the remaining Bush years. It really matters not who voted for it, but who got it passed matters greatly. It never would’ve been possible had the Republicans not brought it up and herded it through. This was all done by your elected representatives and president. Then to show your collective conservative displeasure you all overwhelmingly voted for them all to have another go. Who’s displaying intellectual dishonesty here? You for trying to downplay the actions of pandering conservatives, or me for pointing it out?
It matters not that Liberal lawmakers were for it, that’s to be expected, the conservatives created it and made it happen, now the same folks who gave us the medicare debacle can’t seem to scream the words “entitlement” or “socialism” loud enough, or long enough. Intellectual dishonesty indeed.
And yes you are correct, I haven’t the slightest idea how “most” conservatives judge Obama, as there aren’t many true conservatives around here, just the 5 or 6 partisan trolls who have judged Obama’s tenure not only a failure, but a spectacular failure in a scant 3 weeks.
By deegee
February 11, 2009 11:52 AM | Link to this
Whoever leads in alternative, green energy research and production will own the 21st century.
Fossils that didn’t end up in our gas tank, or making room for Wooten:
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/atlanta/fernbank-dinosaur-exhibit/
By Steven Daedalus
February 11, 2009 11:52 AM | Link to this
Even if it were to happen, it still will not be as bad as the last eight years of absurdity that we endured during the Bush years.
By The Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 11:55 AM | Link to this
What happened at Bookman’s Q and A last night? They way the right sounds this morning, it must have been glorious.
By Peter
February 11, 2009 12:00 PM | Link to this
Jim……How can anyone spin this crap…
Face it: We’re in for four years of dishonesty in Washington, where an army of accountants, policy analysts and subject-experts will be required to examine the real story behind the campaign-style rhetoric.
After……… “Faulty Intelligence”……… “Mission Accomplished”…….plus “Cost Plus Contracts”…….
My…….You are so brain dead, you have forgotten the lies of the last 8 Years !
Spin till dizzy JIM ! SPIN SPIN SPIN !!!!!
By The Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 12:07 PM | Link to this
Dont forget Cheney’s fault-finding prediction of another 911 that is “inevitable” with an Obama white house.
He thinks we’re gonna be nuked soon and it will be the liberal’s fault. This sounds like the evangelical right’s “We deserved 911” remark shortly after 911.
are we 2 countries?
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 12:12 PM | Link to this
Andy the welcher:
Obama may have been in office three weeks but he is setting us up for a lifetime DEBT with this FREEBIES FOR FAILURES Stim Act.
deegee,
I suspect you know all about “fossils”. How are your creaky knees and aching hip bones?
Steven Daedalus,
Are you still going with the cut-n-runner white flag group?
President Bush valued freedom and continued ours and established that basis for two other countries. He knew there was something better than suggesting a cry baby cure for our country.
Blog Father,
Try to stay on subject. I know you posted something at Bookman’s you want us to read. Forget it. We let you play here all the time. Right, PoFo?
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 12:19 PM | Link to this
BlogFather of Scroll,
We are one America made of fools, frauds and a supporting class of sensible Americans. At the moment, it seems the fools have the upper hand in Congress and possibly the White House.
Cheney is no longer the Vice-President (in case you haven’t noticed). He is a very intelligent man and enjoys free speech just like the rest of us. What did you want him to say? Let’s have a tea party and invite the terrorists?
If you are looking for that, read Hillary and Obama. That sounds more like them.
By Tom
February 11, 2009 12:33 PM | Link to this
It amazes me how much in the revisionist past you all on the “right” are. You should really read some history about your presidents and your republican controlled legislatures, and perhaps you could open your minds to a realistic, factual picture of who did what. We don’t know if President Obama can get us out of this mess that was created by lies and lack of any control, but since we are where we are at, anything is better than nothing, unless it’s more of the same. Stop looking to place the blame on someone else for what you have created, and join us in the 21st century for a new approach to the ever changing world.
By Eric
February 11, 2009 12:37 PM | Link to this
Australia is on fire, but nowhere is info. to be found in today’s AJC. Is the AJC’s Nation/World coverage slipping? (sorry for off-topic, but nowhere else to mention this omission.)
By Jason
February 11, 2009 12:39 PM | Link to this
“Democrats have become arrogant elitists, speaking down in snide, condescending tones toward tradition-minded middle Americans whom they stereotype as rubes and buffoons…”
Sound like anyone here?
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 12:50 PM | Link to this
How the heck does anyone who has eyes and ears believe anything relating to what Mr. Wooten has written today.
How does he determine there will be four years of dishonesty from the Obama administration when you had a full 8 years of criminality from Dubya?
The Constitution was ignored and the economy was trampled upon to enrich friends and supporters of the criminal enterprise.
Is Mr. Wooten telling us the $1 Trillion dollars spent in Iraq was for building schools for the children? If that is true, how much should we use to build schools for OUR children?
What nonsense!
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 12:58 PM | Link to this
Dear Tom,
Why don’t you review the Democratic Congress during the last few Bush years? Talk about lies and roadblocks and sabotage, look at your dear Democrats. They not only voted for the war in Iraq, they then went “turncoat” and tried to undermine it. They said they supported the military by crying over pictures of coffins. They refused to accept the fact that Genral Petraeus led a successful “Surge”. They “drilled” the ambassador to Iraq with shrill innuendoes. What a bunch of self serving frauds!
I like a new support for the future but I want it HONEST! Don’t fill it with forgiven tax frauds and irresponsible “stimulus” packages. That is neither ethical nor helpful.
By Ga Values
February 11, 2009 12:59 PM | Link to this
Ragnar Danneskjöld 10:56 AM
Saxby had spent $113,949 through May of 2008, lots of golf trips. Here is the detail of Saxby’s trips & who paid for them. By the way he is a leader in trips taken.
http://www.opensecrets.org/travel/search_results.php?id=N00002685&memname=Saxby+Chambliss+%28R-Ga%29
By GA VALUES
February 11, 2009 1:08 PM | Link to this
Sissy Saxby didn’t say a word back in 2003 when Dick Cheney declared, “Deficits don’t matter.”
By The Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 1:08 PM | Link to this
Jackie, wooten is part of a large group of conservatives who are throwing spin against the walls to see what sticks. The right is reforming itself and it’s language.
They’ll eventually stumble across some spin that ditto heads will buy again.
Here’s what Wooten said today, translated into backwards baseball cap: What if, when the democrats estimated how much the Stimulus Package would cost us all, they forgot to convert 1970 money into dog years?
Vote no on the scooby snack package.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 1:09 PM | Link to this
Jackie,
You are off base and far from center as usual.
There are no criminal indictments of any kind against former President Bush because there was not crime. So you LIE!
You not only present nonsense, you cannot tell the truth. Please check your facts before expounding your hate theories here.
By Pol. Insider
February 11, 2009 1:11 PM | Link to this
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No doubt you’ve noticed that the U.S. Senate has passed a stimulus package on a vote of 61 to 37, with three Republicans supporting $838 billion measure.
As they indicated over the weekend, U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss voted against it, and issued a joint press release in explanation:
“This legislation is yet another example of Congress throwing money at the symptoms but not getting to the root of the problem,” Isakson said. “While there are some good provisions in this bill, it is primarily spending money on programs that should not be categorized as stimulus and will not do anything to help our economy. Funding studies of global warming or re-seeding the Capitol lawn aren’t going to stimulate anything.”
“Instead of focusing on three major issues - job creation, housing and compassion for Americans who have lost jobs through no fault of their own - to boost the economy, this bill has morphed into a bloated government giveaway,” said Chambliss. “The majority in Congress has been in runaway mode when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars. This legislation is yet another sign that Washington is more concerned with pet projects than with the welfare of taxpayers.”
In an interview with my AJC colleague Bob Keefe, Chambliss said he wished Obama well. “I hope it works. But if we get six to eight months down the road into this fall and we don’t see a major improvement in the economic conditions in this country,” he said, “we’re going to have all this money obligated out there.”
In their press release, the senators cited Isakson’s proposal for a $15,000 homebuyer credit, which remains in the bill. The Wall Street Journal has a short but intelligent analysis of the tax credit’s prospects:
It’s far from certain that the House will accept the Senate version, which includes far more generous credits. The House version would modify an existing $7,500 credit so that it wouldn’t have to be repaid, while the Senate goes much further by doubling the credit, removing income limits, and extending it to existing homeowners, from just first-time buyers.
The Senate version would also benefit more upper-middle income buyers. The current credit is refundable, which means that even those who pay little to no income tax could receive a government check, while the Senate credit is nonrefundable, so that buyers only stand to gain if they pay federal income taxes.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 1:15 PM | Link to this
Georgia Values,
Deficits don’t matter during wartime. That is what Cheney meant and that is what Congress approved. That was before Democrats took over Congress and forgot the country but not the party.
Saxby does support the country, and whole heartedly during war time.
By Ga Values
February 11, 2009 1:26 PM | Link to this
GA VALUES 1:08 PM
Great Post
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 1:27 PM | Link to this
Dear Blogfather of Scroll,
The only thing Republicans are throwing against the wall in Congress is the liberal liability of this Stimulus Bill. Call it a Stimulus (in 3 or 4 years) is like saying it might rain in 3 or 4 years so don’t worry about the drought while you wither.
NO dog biscuits for you, pup. Go chew on Bookman’s blog. He’ll tell you about his new and more entertaining lib’n’losers laughable lines assortment.
By Ga Values
February 11, 2009 1:42 PM | Link to this
Dusty 1:15 PM
That was GA VALUES not me but I think we are in 2 wars right now, Saxby is upset that Bo did not get enough ETHANOL subsidity in this latest taxpayer rip off. The simple facts are that the Democrats bought the cheapest votes, Saxby just asked for too much.
By Leon
February 11, 2009 1:42 PM | Link to this
Dusty, Saxby supports himself and himself only. With both his whole heart and his “trick knee”. Which is what you develop so you don’t have to mingle with those people when war time rolls around.
By williebkind
February 11, 2009 1:53 PM | Link to this
WHERE IS MY FRIGGING CHECK???
I
By williebkind
February 11, 2009 1:53 PM | Link to this
WHERE IS MY FRIGGING CHECK???
I am out of beer!!!
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 1:59 PM | Link to this
@Dusty,
As usual, your sheep mentality will jump off the cliff when one points out the obvious criminal and ethical activity of Dubya.
Did he not say that the military used water-boarding against at least 3 inmates at Gito? Those are HIS words, therefore, he has admitted to a war crime, SLOW-MOTION.
As for your contention relating to Dubya’s “protecting us from the terrorirst.” Please tell us who was Commander-In-Chief when the terrorist attack occurred?
Please explain how he shredded the Constitution relating to OUR rights.
I know these things may not fit into your rational thought process, but, they are facts that you can not explain away.
I would urge you to try. It makes for good comedy.
I would like for you to point out where any of my statements are not factual.
By williebkind
February 11, 2009 2:04 PM | Link to this
Do any of you know how hard it is to read this liberal stuff without a cold one? You guys make my head hurt.
I am ready to stimulate the economy at Bubba’s Bar and Grill but I NEED MY CHECK.
I want to go to the Dollar Store and get the kids a toy before I explain to them they are going to pay for all this.
Next election I am going to vote against all liberals and incumbents because they are holding out on my CHECK.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 2:05 PM | Link to this
Dear Values (whomever) and Leon,
Please give us a rundown of Democrats in Congress and tell me how many served during war time.
As to paying too much, you must have Saxby mixed up with your big Dem Guv Blogo. He was the one asking for the highest bidder in true liberal fashion. That is more Democratic action CHANGE i.e. go for the highest bidder.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 2:14 PM | Link to this
Dear Jackie,
Your usual incriminations are without any legal basis whatsoever. YOUR OPINION doesn’t cut it. There is NO crime.
What is “factual” to you is lies to those of us who do not observe everything Republican in a blind fog of hate. We are RATIONAL.
I suggest you contact the Justice Department with all your “evidence”. They need a few laughs now and then.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 11, 2009 2:16 PM | Link to this
Hope our conservative friends all saw the really funny, snarky line by Harvard economist Robert Barro, in an interview by the Atlantic:
Atlantic: And I take it from the Wall Street Journal piece you wrote last week … well, the piece is just specifically about measuring multipliers, but I take it that you are fairly skeptical in general that fiscal policy will boost aggregate demand.
Barro: Right. There’s a big difference between tax rate changes and things that look just like throwing money at people. Tax rate changes have actual incentive effects. And we have some experience with those actually working.
Atlantic: What would you say is the best empirical evidence there?
Barro: Well, you know, it worked to expand GDP for example in ‘63 and ‘64 with the Kennedy/Johnson cuts. And then Reagan twice in ‘81 and ‘83 and then in ‘86. And then the Bush 2003 tax-cutting program. Those all worked in the sense of promoting economic growth in a short time frame.
I’m the middle of a study where I am trying to estimate this overall, going back to 1913 — sort of constructing some measure of the overall effect of the tax rate at the margin, at the moment. I’m just looking at that now, actually …
Atlantic: You’re talking about the multiplier on a dollar of …
Barro: Well both things, but here I’m talking about the tax rate stuff. Get some measure of the effect of marginal tax rate that comes from the government — federal, state, local. And then you can see what it looks like going down or going up and how the economy responds. And then, in addition to that, the government might be spending more or less money on either military stuff or not on military stuff. And we can estimate that at the same time. With the government spending stuff, the clearest evidence is in wartime. It’s not that it’s the most pertinent, but it’s the clearest in terms of evidence because it’s the dominating evidence at those times, especially during the world wars.
Atlantic: Do you read Paul Krugman’s blog?
Barro: Just when he writes nasty individual comments that people forward.
Atlantic: Oh, well he wrote a series of posts saying he thought the World War II spending evidence was not good, for a variety of reasons, but I guess …
Barro: He said elsewhere that it was good and that it was what got us out of the depression. He just says whatever is convenient for his political argument. He doesn’t behave like an economist. And the guy has never done any work in Keynesian macroeconomics, which I actually did. He has never even done any work on that. His work is in trade stuff. He did excellent work, but it has nothing to do with what he’s writing about.
By mm
February 11, 2009 2:17 PM | Link to this
The only thing dishonest here is the rants of this columnist and his lab rat followers.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 11, 2009 2:20 PM | Link to this
Dear Jackie @ 1:59, “Please [Dusty] explain how he [Bush] shredded the Constitution relating to OUR rights. … I would like for you to point out where any of my statements are not factual.” Heck, forget factual, I’d like friend Dusty to point out where any of your statements are coherent.
By Silverchief
February 11, 2009 2:24 PM | Link to this
Hey Ragnar Danneskjöld, this is not the place to produce your new book, it’s blog session !!
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 2:27 PM | Link to this
@Ragnar,
As usual, a one-act clown trying to explain and defend the indefensible.
Have you found the bulbs for your blinking lights, clown?
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 2:33 PM | Link to this
@Dusty,
If my innuendos are not factual, why does the state of Vermont have a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Cheney relating to his activity?
You, apparently, do not read or understand what war crimes are and how they relate to signed treaties.
You do realize when we sign treaties, they become the law of this country.
Now, do you say that water-boarding is not a war crime when the USA executed a Japanese soldier for his water-boarding a prisoner-of-war during WWII.
Treaty is still intact and we have not withdrawn.
Care to explain those facts?
Secondly, get all the help you can from Ragnar, as he is a legal mind.
By Leon
February 11, 2009 2:43 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
Daniel Akaka, Jeff Bingaman, Thomas Carper, Christopher Dodd, Tom Harkins, Tim Johnson, Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Herb Kohl, Frank Lautenberg, Bill Nelson, Jim Webb.
Would you like fries with that STFU sandwich?
By Barry
February 11, 2009 2:43 PM | Link to this
I thought a Ponzi scheme was something cooked up by Pottsie and the Fonz to get dates for Richie and Ralph Malph.
Jackie - give it a rest. You’re just whining now, and it’s not attractive.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 11, 2009 2:44 PM | Link to this
Dear Chief @ 2:24, actually I’m using this facility as storage for my new musical comedy, My Fair Empty Suit. Or maybe Whinealot. I think Mad Magazine already did The Sound of Money, so that’s out. Or maybe one on the Obama appointees, Best Little Ho-House of Taxes.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 2:46 PM | Link to this
Dear Ragnar,2:20
YOU WANT ME TO FIND SOMETHING COHERENT IN JACKIE’S STATEMENT??
Is that fair? I just as soon look for the proverbial needle in the haystack and Jackie has a BIG haystack. Besides, there is a full moon in season and I dare not approach him too closely.
By Algonquin J. Calhoun
February 11, 2009 2:47 PM | Link to this
Face it: We’re in for four years of dishonesty in Washington.
Well jim, we’ll be prepared for it. We’ve just completed eight years with a leader who stole his job, desecrated the Constitution, spied on Americans in America, got us into a war for his own egotistical reasons and bankrupted the nation. Spare us! your indignation is as phony as your garbage scribblings!
By Leon
February 11, 2009 2:49 PM | Link to this
Oh yeah Dusty, I forgot Congressional Medal Of Honor recipient Daniel Inouye. What, not patriotic enough for you?
By JimboChrist UberShill can count to four
February 11, 2009 2:56 PM | Link to this
Four years of dishonesty?
The AJC would like to take time to congratulate Jim Wooten, better known as JimboChrist, UberShill on his admission to the Shill Hall of Fame.
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 2:56 PM | Link to this
@ Barry,
I think you too are making statements that have no relevance and meaning. Where is my whine?
@Dusty,
Typical of you, use your vast vocabulary to obfuscate while providing no substance to your argument or a rebuttal of my factual assertions.
Take your time in finding a suitable rejoinder.
By 1911A1
February 11, 2009 3:02 PM | Link to this
Regardless of the content of JW’s post today, the title says it all: “Washington Dishonesty.” Democrats are corrupt. So are Republicans. But, in calling politicians corrupt, I repeat myself.
What amazes me is all the partisan bleating. Everyone speaks as if their chosen affiliation holds a monopoly on virtue and claim that the opposition is the embodiment of evil.
Meanwhile, people keep sending the same crooks back to Congress again and again, all the while ceding incrementally more of their freedoms to these power-mad megalomaniacs - all the while mistakenly thinking the office of the President holds all the power and responsibility.
It doesn’t matter all that much who resides in the White House. Capitol Hill is where the power - and the problem - lies. That’s where we need to clean house (and Senate.)
By The Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 3:02 PM | Link to this
I do apologize for my shortcomings.
By Barry
February 11, 2009 3:04 PM | Link to this
Probably in the cupboard next to the gin and tequila. Where is your whine? Should I just copy and paste everything you’ve posted here? Heaven forbid I should stand with Dusty — she doesn’t need my help — but J.H.C. - it’s over, you won. How about showing a little class - or is that beyond your comprehension?
By Ga Values
February 11, 2009 3:09 PM | Link to this
Dusty 2:05 PM
Our 7 Real Republican Congressmen voted AGAINST the 1st Bailout Wall Street while Saxby and Johnny voted for it. Saxby got $2,500,000.00 from the the Bankers & Lawyer.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 3:13 PM | Link to this
Dear Leon @2:43
Out of 282 Democrats in the 110th Congress you can name 13 veterans? Great! Maybe the other 269 had knee problems like Saxby. You think??
Now, while I am away, tell us how many Republicans in the 110th served in the military.
I’ll be back in time to watch you feast on your blubber burger.
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 3:17 PM | Link to this
@Barry,
You may or may not stand with Dusty, it is not known.
However, your attempt at getting me to relieve Dusty of her “load” is admirable, but, one must consider Dusty has obligations to cease her attacks.
Not that I need to explain, but, my original post was not pointed at Dusty, but a general statement relating to Dubya and his activites. She attacked me and called me a liar.
Now, I do not have a problem in discussing any subject vigorously with anyone, but I will not be called names to allow someone to make their point.
Simple concept, don’t you think?
By The Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 3:20 PM | Link to this
That’s not exactly true, 1911. Folks’re simply hacking rushannity for the right and the left:
at least, that’s their intent, but the way most of the pudwits here come across is not so much demagogue and pedagogue.
Punditry explained: A pedagogue’s demagoguery filled with pedantic innuendo.
By Churchill's MOM
February 11, 2009 3:28 PM | Link to this
Jackie 3:17 PM
Dusty is not that sharp, it’s a waste of time to read her stuff.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 3:28 PM | Link to this
Oo lala, Jackie, I am out the door but…
LIAR! LIAR! House on fire!
Calling Bush a criminal makes Jackie a LIAR!
Not to mention it raises my ire!
Poor Jackie! His life is so dire!
Later…..
By Barry
February 11, 2009 3:29 PM | Link to this
Jackie - Sorry if “whiner” offends your delicate sensibilities. I’d ask again aboot showing a little class, but clearly that is beyond your revenge tinged mentality. If you can’t put up with the hyper-hyperbole that infests this little piece of the inter-goo-hoo-webnets, go bother Bookman.
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 3:33 PM | Link to this
@Barry,
Sorry, if you can not understand that I am not offended by “whiner” with my sensibilities not being that delicate.
I am offended, however, by your condescension. What you do think of that?
Secondly, I did not realize that you were the “blog police.”
By Leon
February 11, 2009 3:34 PM | Link to this
Dusty, If you care so much about this subject why do you tell us? (Those are just the Senators BTW, but you knew that I’m sure) You answer is 10 Senators which is not hard to find if you look. I’m sure none of them would be able to regale us with stories of derring-do like Raghead’s son, but my point is proved. You are a buffoon (buffoonette?) but you knew that as well I proffer.
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 3:37 PM | Link to this
@Barry,
I forget to say to you that your attempt to defend Dusty and her position is your choice.
Your attempt to denegrate me is nothing I will accept.
With that being said, please, “go play in the traffic.”
By Redneck Convert
February 11, 2009 3:48 PM | Link to this
Well, I see the librul Democrats and the three turncoat RINOs reached agreement on a stimulation bill. More of our tax money down the drain and lots of pork. This country’s going down the tubes fast.
Anybody know when my check’s coming? There’s this neat little tiller on sale at Home Depot and I need the money quick.
By Raggedisnott Dumbasadingosbunghole
February 11, 2009 4:02 PM | Link to this
Avast, children of the boards! Dare the leftists call out the hypocrisies of our Almighty, Woo-ten the Wootangulous, o He of the thundr’ous blasts from the colonic crevasses! I, Raggedisnott, say to you all this day: Keep heart, my driveling duncekins, for those who labor ‘neath the conservative mantle shall yet prevail! Yea, shall I, thine own worthy warrior, wax wordy upon the tendentious toadies of the Muslim-Monikered-Moor, who doth usurp the throne of our own McPalin the Incompetent! Verily, shall I prate pedantically the gospel of Ayn the Mediocress, at whose altar I first shrugged off my shame o’er the shriveled shortcomings of my scrotal sector. Know this, ye lefty licentiousnessists (aye, my capacity to contribute my creations to our lingual lexicography gratifies me no end), there shall be no quarter! Congregate we shall, my callows, to continuously cavil upon The Dark One’s deleterious demonstrations of deviant democracy! Hark upon my many, many, many, many, many words, my dithering disciples, and heed my gabbling grandiloquence, my bleating braggadocio, my rhetorical ramblings, my…whereof was I speaking? Ah, Barack the Barbarian, whose hosannaing hordes even now heave our comrades from their perches of power! It dismays me, children, aye, an I cannot even find comfort in the adipose embrace of mine spiritual concubines, Dusty and/or/including-but-not-limited to Jill/BS Aplenty, who kindly unstrop their feedbags to unctuously utter flattery and folderol, shoring me against the singeing assails visited upon me daily by those who see not the brilliance of my balderdashery. What to do, what to do? Perchance the legal profession of which I profess being a practitioner? Nay, my bellowing bovines, ‘tis far better for ye all that my intellect remain directed here, in this place, at this prodigal purveyor of progressive punditry, on this very blog, until there is appointed a worthy successor to our own Woo-tang the Woebetiding. Fear not, my flock, for I shall be bent, yea, forward and back, clutching mine calves in concentration, ever at the ready to faithfully flatulate forth the wankering winds of righteousness. Avaunt, ye lefties, reel before the roar of my Randy Aynus!
By Pedagogue's Demagoguery
February 11, 2009 4:20 PM | Link to this
!
By luangtom
February 11, 2009 4:21 PM | Link to this
They just came on the tube telling America that Congress had reached an agreement on the economic stimulus package. Senator Schumer, NY-D, testified prior to its approval, that US citizens do NOT care if the package contains pork-bill projects. He said we do not care if $30-million is within the package for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s district in CA to save mice. He said US citizens do not care if all of the little projects add up to $-billions. He said the Democrats were in control and they would get things rolling no matter what. Huh? Is this not why Congress is grilling CEO’s from banking and auto about their frivilous perks? They amount to pork in the budget of struggling industry and yet Congress condemns it and chastises them for it and then turns around and passes a package that contains $-billions in pork. There is something wrong with this picture, Dems and left-side believers………
By Pedagogue's Demagoguery
February 11, 2009 4:29 PM | Link to this
AL Jezeera just reported that Wall street closed higher after rallying on the news of the stimulus package. Castro said he’s pretty sure this is the bottom, and he’s long on cyclicals. Aminejihad shorted Oil, while Osama Bin Laden doubled down on margin with techs. Osama Bin Laden has had to hire an accountant after his “death to america, and you can two” autobiography has sold so many copies. “I dont know what to do with all that money. I need a book keeping infidel. Oy!”
Chavez is vacationing on the French Riviera. Bush is vacationing at a local water slide park. Cheney is hunting in Alaska. Palin is making deer jerky. and aw this piece stinks….
writers block is not pretty.
By GA VALUES
February 11, 2009 4:36 PM | Link to this
“We’re in for four years of dishonesty in Washington” - as opposed to the Golden Era of Truth that just ended!
Jim you are hilarious. When the AJC folds maybe you can try standup comedy.
By Pedagogue's Demagoguery
February 11, 2009 4:45 PM | Link to this
Washington, Dishonestly.
We did not elect a Muslim to the white house. We did not elect a socialist or a traitor, either. We elected a black man to the white house. I noted long ago that Obama never said anything of substance.. No successful candidate should ever fix his position too clearly, so I wasn’t alarmed. However, considering the cultural gap between me and the president, and the rise of alternate languages like Ebonics, and the resurrection of older code, like Gullah, I may have missed Obama’s message entirely. He may have been saying everything, just not in a language I could ever decipher. (One logarithmic step past Pig Latin, and I’m lost.)
But the black president knows what he meant. The Stimulus Package is the Rosetta Stone of the Obama Campaign Jive.
Have we been had? Are we to endure 4 years of this new vengeful, spendthrift spirit who seeks to overturn centuries of socio-economic injustices in America? Will we pay as this black president ensures that our poor minorities enjoy schools and hospitals? Schools and Hospitals? He sounds like the Hamas on the West Bank. They’re forever providing food and medicine and classrooms for homeless Palestinians. Hamas isn’t as bad as Hezbollah in Lebanon, but they’re not a model I want our White House to emulate.
If we can get through this 1000 or so days of MC Camelot, and manage to still have an economy from which to draw campaign contributions so that the silent middle class majority can enjoy the use of their own money again, then we’ll all look back on this administration and laugh. It was just a bump in the road to prosperity. Now, we’ve come to a fork in the road to representative democracy. We better take it. Honestly.
By SaveOurRepublic
February 11, 2009 4:59 PM | Link to this
As an avid supporter of Dr.Paul, I can honestly say he’s the closest thing to “Founding Father material” in DC. That being said, he’s not perfect, and I disagree with his calls to lift the Cuba trade embargo (allow U.S. travel, etc.). While he’s “wrong” (IMHO) on Cuba, he’s right on about 85-90% of his other positions (which firmly embrace the Constitution & limited federal government). If the Neocon infested GOP would embrace more real (paleo)conservative principles (instead of Machiavellian, Troyskyite, globalism), they’d have easily retained Congress & the White House!
P.S. - Dr.Paul isn’t a Neocon/globalist puppet, hence he was marginalized by the (controlled) “mainstream” media & Neocon propagandists like “Pawn Vanity” & “Bull O’Lielly”.
By Thumbed a plum did you?
February 11, 2009 5:05 PM | Link to this
That was a supreme masterpiece of a blog, Analchord. Supreme. You write better than any living writer, but that’s what I want to talk to you about. Nobody liked Mozart, and nobody likes you. Dont feel bad, they crucified Christ. What, the beatitudes weren’t enough? If Relativity wasn’t enough to make Einstein relax a little then the beatitudes were ultimately a disappointment to Christ.
What do you think?
By The Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 5:09 PM | Link to this
My mom likes me, and it wasn’t a blog. It was a tone poem, a genre i invented. It’s more music than observation. Just what sounds good AND looks good on the page, you know.
Are you a writer?
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 5:10 PM | Link to this
Well, once again I wish to thank our fine editor Jim Wooten for his STIMULATING writing today. It so STIMULATING that our Demo dabblers here had to go to the VA hospital to be DESTIMULATED. These poor guys were just recovering from Bush Derangement Syndrome and now Whacko! STIMULATION PSYCHOSIS!
But..I have decided to be ordinarily crooked and act like a Democrat. See? STIMULATED!
I have a pet project which will surely help my injured bank account full time. I plan to acquire a cute puppy and name him ACORN. I will train him to be a community organizer. He will know every fire plug and mark each one faithfully. He is going to be worth a billion at least. The STIMULATION package says so. Who says STIMULATION is not great and wonderful?? These Democrats are not ALL bad, just most of them.
So, good night, Jim Wooten. Thanks again for your insight and all those good things. It really is so nice to be a Republican with a clear conscience, isn’t it? I love it!
By @@
February 11, 2009 5:13 PM | Link to this
Jim, From day one, I’ve always given Obama credit for one thing…
he’s more slippery than a greased pig.
Serving up pulled pork sandwiches for his tailgaiters….Chicago style.
By skydog
February 11, 2009 5:17 PM | Link to this
Dusty = buffoonette I agree totally.
By Thumbed a plum did you?
February 11, 2009 5:20 PM | Link to this
I’m only a writer if I call myself one, you know that. Writing explained: “Quit reading. Think instead. Stay abreast of only the outlines of newstories, Otherwise you’ll panic and you cant write when you’re panicked.
Admit you’ll never make a penny in the stock market.
I remember when I was six and the nuns were three or four times taller than me and wore those habits. What a reality to grow into for six hours a day in elementary school. Those nuns in high school! . Most were superstar teachers and personalities. One or two took themselves too seriously and felt qualified to give penance like a priest would. When I graduated from high school, the doctors said it would be safer just to leave the rulers where the nuns had put them.
andilikedit!
fact: I almost married an ex-nun. A julie andrews look alike.
By Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 5:24 PM | Link to this
Did she have a moustache too?
By Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 5:35 PM | Link to this
Dusty is a member or close associate of the Publishing Powerhouse Cox Family. (only not so much rosebud as blowspud.)
ya gotta like that.
Anyway, this is what I’m talking about, Blogfather. This is exactly why nobody likes you: I opened my soul to you and you had to do material. No, she didn’t have a moustache. No, wait, she did, Oh, now I get you. My bad. Too bad I posted this before I got your drift. Now I get flamed?
Yeah, Catholicism left it’s mark on me. I wanted to be a priest too, but my parents acted so shocked when I told them that I gave up within 8 seconds, long before any c’ock could crow, so I was safe. Then my dad made me throw salt over my left shoulder for the next two weeks. Still don’t know what’s wrong with that man. Something must have happened in the big one. So, I’m forced not to question it. He’s 86. Mums 82. Her eyes are marginal. But otherwise…..
By GOP Big Bucks
February 11, 2009 5:41 PM | Link to this
Georgia lawmakers have spent the first weeks of the legislative session mostly wrangling over how to hack $2.2 billion from its spending plan, but they are still finding room for special tax breaks.
The House, on a 132-31 vote, approved a plan Tuesday to extend tax breaks to save Delta Air Lines Inc. and other air carriers about $25 million in state taxes on jet fuel each year. It is one of about a dozen measures this year seeking tax breaks for everything from aircraft parts to zoo expansions.
Supporters, including many Republican power brokers, say tax breaks are a proven way to attract new business and spur economic growth.
“It’s an important public policy statement we make,” House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter, an Alpharetta Republican, said as he pushed the jet fuel tax cut.
Critics contend that doling out such breaks — worth an estimated $250 million this year — is a bad idea because Georgia is facing a widening budget crunch.
“I understand that we have industries in our state that need some help, but we also have Georgians that need some help,” said Rep. David Lucas, D-Macon, who said he’s outraged lawmakers are considering tax cuts while state departments are being forced to furlough employees.
“I’m telling you, part of our problem has been us,” he said. “We’ve got the partisan politics, with talk about who is going to out-tax-break the other party.”
He joins a growing chorus of legislators and budget analysts who say the economic crisis should warrant freezing new tax breaks or, at the very least, force a review of each one.
“In light of a fiscal crisis we should put a moratorium on extending existing tax breaks or putting in new ones,” said Alan Essig of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, a nonpartisan watchdog. “And if we don’t do that, we should at least think about reducing the amount of a tax break.”
Some of the proposals would dole out breaks to families by renewing a popular back-to-school sales tax holiday. Others seek to encourage more conservation by offering special breaks for energy-efficient and water-efficient devices. Another tier aims to spur job growth by giving local zoos and aquariums an exemption on supplies for expansion.
Of the slew of measures before the House Ways & Means Committee, only a handful are aimed at suspending tax breaks.
The budget institute said Georgia is one of 11 states that don’t track the costs of the tax breaks each year.
“We pass these tax breaks, they’re on the books for years, but we never know exactly how much it costs,” said Sarah Beth Gehl, the institute’s deputy director. “And we never know if it’s doing what we intended it to do.”
By Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 5:42 PM | Link to this
Well, a good man’s got to know his limitations. Your father’s a good man is all.
I fell off of a haystack once, and just missed a pitchfork layin’ there where I fell. Then it was time to slaughter the chickens for dinner. The coolest thing a five year old could see in the fifties, was chickens getting the ax by an adroit drifter. The lawlessness of it all. The chickens amazing resiliency. The gravy.
.
By Dusty
February 11, 2009 5:43 PM | Link to this
BlogFather, Thumb Plum etc etc etc
Why don’t you stop talking to yourself, PoFo? You can find better company than that.
By Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 5:49 PM | Link to this
I was just seein’ who would be simple enough to swing at it.
I’m out.
By Blogfather of Scroll
February 11, 2009 5:59 PM | Link to this
I really hit one out of the park today further than ever before. I am the new conservative writer for the AJC.
It’s almost embarrassing. I mean do I accept any money? It wouldn’t be fair. They cant help themselves. They’re young. I shouldn’t take advantage.
By Zen Wizard
February 11, 2009 8:05 PM | Link to this
Freedom to travel to Cuba might be a good idea—ANYTHING for the airline and tourism industry right now.
Here’s an energy policy—Cuba will probably be the #3 producer of ethanol within a couple months.
Some good points on the $4-per gallon gas—as I recall, for a while there we didn’t have gas at ANY price.
By REPUBLICANS EVIL TIME IS UP
February 12, 2009 8:27 AM | Link to this
IM AMAZED AT ALL THESE GOP HICK COWARDS ON THESE BLOGS DEFENDING THEIR COWARD BELIEFS ABOUT WEAK LIBS BUT ITS FUNNY THAT THE SO-CALLED WEAK LIBS ARE THE ONES THAT GO AND SERVE IN THE MILITARY,ITS THE WEAK GOP REDNECK THAT STAYS IN THEIR TRAILOR PARK OR HIS MOUNTAIN HUT THAT SPEAKS ON SUPPORTING THE TROOPS LIKE ARMCHAIR CHICKENHAWKS,AT LEAST THE MEXICANS AND THE POOR BLACKS GO OFF AND DEFEND COUNTRY BEFORE YOU REDNECK COWARDS.
P.S.I GUESS THAT SINCE THE COWARD DIXIE SUPPORTERS LOST THE CIVIL WAR THEY ARE TOO SCARED TO GO OFF AND FIGHT AGAIN SINCE THE YANKEES BEAT THEY REDNECK A$$. YOU COWARD BUSH SUXBY AND PERDONT SUPPORTERS DESERVE WHAT YOU ARE GETTING,YOU COWARDS COMPLAIN ABOUT OBAMA TRYING TO FIX THE COUNTRY,BUT YOU FOOLS ARE HAPPY THAT REDNECK BUSH DESTROYED THE COUNTRY,WHEN YOU ARE BACKWARDS AND NO EDUCATION YOU CAN TELL BY THESE BLOGS HERE THAT THESE RACIST HERE IN GEORGIA ARE STILL BEHIND THE TIMES,THATS WHY WE ARE 50TH IN THE NATION,BEHIND ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI,ITS SAD THAT THOSE TWO STATES ARE SMARTER THAN THESE HICKS HERE IN GEORGIA.
By Timothy SASSCER
February 12, 2009 8:29 AM | Link to this
Re: Washington Dishonesty
There is no question that dependence on oil, foreign or domestic, is the vision of the past. The sooner we are able to use other sources of energy, the better. We have no right, and no need, to ‘remain comfortable’ while we look and research the new energy. Equally importantly, we have no right to further damage the environment Our oil based reasoning has long been unconcionable.
The photogaphing of military coffins is a political issue on both sides. Photographs of American casualties during the Vietnam war helped turn the tide of public opinion against our participation in that war. The public should be presented with all the facts, and allowed to make up their own minds. Anything less is manipulative.
Our policy towards (against) Cuba has been a ridiculous laghingstock for decades. Are we afraid their politics will taint ours? A beautiful country with a rich culture is being damaged by us for political reasons. Sure, their government has been catastrophically terrible since 1961, but we are actually supporting it by making it an ‘us’ against ‘them’ isse. We can be against the terrible Cuban government best by being completely for the Cuban people.
This country needs and deserves Universal Health Care. It is an abomination that we don’t have it. We should be honored to pay higher taxes to help our citizens.
By G'TOWN DUDE
February 12, 2009 8:54 AM | Link to this
Dang, Jim. When EXACTLY is your last day??
NATIONAL Health care SHOULD be what we are striving towards, not shooting at. It has been proven time and time again that it benefits the public, not just a handful of elitist who feel that they are entitled to a better system of healthcare than the rest of the public. THAT sir, is communism. The desires of a few that run roughshod over the populous.
As for the RECOVERY package, after 8 years of Bushism, Clinonism, and a host of other elected and appointed leaders who seem to think that this country was their oyster and went to Washington to fleece the country, approve of the shipping of jobs to foreign soil, trickle down, and WAR, you and the others like you, have the nerve, the gall, to continue this dialog of separatism and entitlement? Please. It sickens me that you and yours HOPE for the demise of this country. Oh, you’ll sit there and claim no, no, no it just would be a better idea if a Republican or a Conservative would have come up with this. Well guess what, Jim, your party’s idea have NOT worked. This is the long bomb with :02 left on the clock. This country’s leadership has been running a bad offense the entire game. President Obama IS the quarterback that is popular with the student body and he gets the call to throw the long ball. Now Wall Street, the Private Sector, Washington and the other components that go along with this, and YES, the world, has maneuver these obstacles and score the winning touchdown. We can’t punt. We can’t let time expire, and we can’t kick a field goal. Do you understand that, folks?? It’s that serious. I work in the market and what the President is telling you is true. You’re just used to be lied too. Look around you. Do you see the same amount of traffic on the roads here in Atlanta? Do you not see the numbers of jobless claims increasing 100 fold?? Are your heads in your collective Azzes?? Wake Up!!
By southern
February 12, 2009 9:24 AM | Link to this
How can 2 million blacks get into and out of Washington in two days when 4000,000 can’t get out of New Orleans with 4 day’s warning?
By Jackie
February 12, 2009 10:58 AM | Link to this
@Southern
Blacks were able to get into and out of Washington, DC for the inauguration because they were not poor and they were given access to move in and out freely.
You may not be aware, blacks and whites in New Orleans were restricted in their movements and required to go to the Superdome if the could not leave.
Many blacks and whites decided to ride out the storm.
Secondly, the only part of the city that flooded was the lower 9th ward. The airport and other major areas of the city remained clear.
Wonder why you did not volunteer your services in New Orleans or Washington, DC in the help of your fellow citizen?
By fed up
February 12, 2009 11:31 AM | Link to this
Whether a person is dem, repub or independent, most everyone in Washington is a crook. There’s plenty of blame to go around.
This government growth package will probably not work, I’m hopeful but at the same time doubtful. We’re all going to get a whopping $13.00 a week. BIG DEAL.
There was way too much BS built into it and unfortunately my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have to pay for this. It’s a shame what this country has come to (not just since 1-20-09) and where it’s heading.
By fed up
February 12, 2009 11:45 AM | Link to this
timsasscer I agree with 2 of your 4 points not necessarily your first point and definately not your last point. We do not need universal health care, have you looked into how that works, I should say doesn’t work, in other countries? If you want to pay higher taxes go for it, adopt a family that doesn’t have health insurance if you want. My family pays dearly for health insurance and more than enough already in taxes.