President Barack Obama’s campaign expects to raise tens of millions of dollars less this summer than it did in the spring because negotiations over the nation’s debt limit forced Obama to cancel several fundraisers.
Obama’s campaign said Wednesday it canceled or postponed 10 fundraisers involving the president, Vice President Joe Biden andWhite House chief of staff Bill Daley in the past month because of the debt talks, scrubbing events in California, New York and elsewhere.
Only weeks after the president’s campaign reported collecting a combined $86 million with the Democratic National Committee, Obama’s team is trying to lower expectations about its fundraising juggernaut while signaling to its army of volunteers and activists that they need to fill the void.
[link]
See author page
Poor Obama? Guys, Boehner the “Cry baby” had it in his power to neuter Obama and the liberals, yet he threw his lot-and the Republican Party’s-in with Obama and the liberals.
I see there is no intellectual honesty here.
Sigh.
But continue with the “Republicans Good-Democrats Bad” diatribe. It’s entertaining to me.
@Ivan:
The article linked, Ivan, has not one thing that leads someone to believe that “Republicans Good-Democrats Bad”. It is simply an article on Obama and his fundraising, or lack of it. How you can come up with the conclusion you did is beyond me, and probably everyone else who read that article.
Looks like “poor Obama” is going to have to get used to campaigning for himself….by himself.
But partying is his favorite thing to do anyway, right?
Read more: http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-653-655-861-12688
Read more: http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-653-655-861-12692
Read more: http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-653-655-861-12693
Read more: http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-653-655-861-12678
Boy, america is really going down the toilet. While politicians squabble, the country continues to fall apart. The roads need fixing, the bridges are falling down, the airports are not fit for purpose. What a mess.
@Henry Cuttlefish:
But the federal employee pensions are OK.
We had such bad curbs that. when we were making fence post holes filled with concrete I created cheap molds around the cracked, broken curbs and simply fixed about 7 awful spots myself.
It looks terrible but it conserves water from draining off and down the street.
In an alley we have to drive to park our cars were a bunch of potholes.
We often fill them with quick set concrete.
When it rains new ones open up in the old asphalt.
If we waited for the government to do it our cars’ alignments would pay a higher price.
Hi nan. It’s so sad, specially as I was brought up tp believe america was the best and brightest country on the planet.
I guess the debt crisis really interfered with his campaining. No wonder he hurried and signed because he didn’t want it to interrupt his big night tonight….How can you go and celebrate knowing that the country is suffering he could care less about this country he has had one big party after another we should be used to that by now…He should be ashamed of himself. I guess the rich are ok when they are donating to him………..
I wonder how many of the liberal “obama girls’ who voted for him or may blindly do it again actually have ANY memories of the past. WHO …was Clinton’s pointman to ramrod N.A.F.T.A. thru Congress in 1993……..when Perot (remember him (and his running mate) were the real “change” we needed. That WHO was RAHM EMANUEL who later became Obama’s Chief-of-Staff! Obama for Jobs???? ….my ass! Who passed the “retroactive” (yeh retroactive – remember??) TAX Increase in 1993??? Yeah Clinton, the DEMOCRATIC Congress, and Emanuel! WHEN are you dipstick democrats gonna wake up?????
Hello david,
I think it’s gone beyond the point of partisan politics now. If america can’t pull together, it’s going to end up like greece,but with less history
Obama should be toast; the only thing which can save him is a lackluster GOP slate.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gop-savior-2012-20110804,0,4818542.story
So, I’m just curious. How about a Flopping Aces straw poll. Who’s your dream candidate, guys?
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
I’ll play Larry. My dream candidate is Sarah Palin. Of all the possible candidates, and this includes any possible primary challengers for Obama, she has the best administrative record of all of them.
@John: Do you think she (Palin) could actually win?
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
I’m at work, so no time to go into a lengthy answer.
The short answer, at least for me, is that I believe that she can. My only hope is that she actually run for the Presidency.
@Nan G:
Nan, I am responding to your comment about federal pensions. I work for the government and started over 35 years ago as a GS-3 clerk typist. I have worked very hard over the years to get to the position I now hold. I am always hearing that govt workers don’t work hard, but I have also been in private industry and the same type of people reside there too. As an aside, I do not work on the hill as the people that work for and around the administration are not the typical federal govt worker.
Long story short the ex convinced me to switch to the federal employees system from the CSRS because it was better for our family. yes at the time it was. (this is important later in my explanation) I contribute 11% of my salary to my thrift savings plan. There used to be a 5% contribution by my employer but has ceased. Incidentally if anyone wonders how the government has been run the last few months it is because the federal employees 401K were ‘robbed’. Yes on paper I have money in my TSP, however in reality it has been stolen. My salary has been frozen for three years and I am making the supposition they mean the COLA cost of living increase. Actually since the last one was 1 -1/2% I don’t really think I am losing much. I ran the numbers on my retirement a couple of years ago. I didn’t count social security and have never counted that in my retirement plans. Regardless in the retirement there is a $500 supplement until you get to age 62. I was informed that after 62 that stops and you can either apply for SS with a huge decrease in payment or just kiss that money good bye. O.k. my retirement before taxes not counting the SS, was $1700.00 a month. So that is $2200 before taxes. Then I get to roll over my TSP, that is if by the time I retire it will have been repaid. I can only hope that I can roll it over and get hmmmm 2% a month interest (and I am guessing high based on what I have observed). Out of that $2200 comes my health insurance and the rest of the taxes. If I am in the lowest tax bracket counting all of the other acronyms I contribute my tax home pay will be about $1800 a month give or take. I will have worked over 35 years for $1800 a month. That is not a lot of money for government work (as they say). Now if I was still in the CSRS I would have been able to have retired with over 50% of my high three. However for the last 20+ years federal employees have not had the luxury of using CSRS since it was abolished in the 80s.
Now if you want to talk about congressmen and senators once they get tenure they get ALL of the perks after retirement plus 100% of their salary. If you want to talk about government workers who make too much money this is the place you want to go.
I realize that my response has nothing to do with your comment but how I reacted to your comment. I guess I just get tired of people (whoever they are) to put all government workers in the same barrel. Again there are many people in the private sector who aren’t worth the powder to blow them to hell.
So Larry, do you have a “Dream Candidate” for the Democrat ticket?
Canada is at 30% of debt to GDP. Alberta is supporting Canada with its Black Gold and Tar Sands. In my opinion, Calgary is the cleanest most beautiful city in the world, despite Leftist propaganda against producing $1oo/barrel crude in Alberta. It’s a good thing we avoid that prosperity and let other countries take advantage of the tremendous opportunities of $100/crude.
The Democrats should look a little harder for a suitable candidate. One that is more interested in being an American rather than a citizen of the world.
US debt shot up $238 billion to reach 100 percent of gross domestic project after the government’s debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures showed Wednesday.
Treasury borrowing jumped Tuesday, the data showed, immediately after President Barack Obama signed into law an increase in the debt ceiling as the country’s spending commitments reached a breaking point and it threatened to default on its debt.
The new borrowing took total public debt to $14.58 trillion, over end-2010 GDP of $14.53 trillion, and putting it in a league with highly indebted countries like Italy and Belgium.
Public debt subject to the official debt limit — a slightly tighter definition — was $14.53 trillion as of the end of Tuesday, rising from the previous official cap of $14.29 trillion a day earlier.
Treasury had used extraordinary measures to hold under the $14.29 trillion cap since reaching it on May 16, while politicians battled over it and over addressing the country’s bloating deficit.
The official limit was hiked $400 billion on Tuesday and will be increased in stages over the next 18 months.
The last time US debt topped the size of its annual economy was in 1947 just after World War II. By 1981 it had fallen to 32.5 percent.
Ratings agencies have warned the country to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio quickly or facing losing its coveted AAA debt rating.
Moody’s said Tuesday that the government needed to stabilize the ratio at 73 percent by 2015 “to ensure that the long-run fiscal trajectory remains compatible with a AAA rating.”
@disenchanted:
I can identify with you, disenchanted.
Hubby was a gov’t worker for many years.
But the women’s movement on campus meant he was going to be phased out in preference of a female in the late 1970’s.
So he quit before qualifying for retirement in the system.
Gov’t workers sure are at the mercy of the waves of fashion.
When he left a whole bunch of males were forced out.
@Skook: Good question. Given my ‘druthers, I’d have Barack make a gracious and memorable speech, noting the current political polarization, and stating that the nation would be best served, at this moment in time, by a fresh choice of Presidential candidates, and that he (Barack) was, therefore, stepping aside in 2012.
My favored Dem candidate would then be NY governor Andrew Cuomo. Were Palin really to be the GOP candidate, another good Democratic opponent would then be Michigan’s ex-governor, Jennifer Granholm, currently a UC Berkeley law professor.
P.S. I just re-read Granholm’s bio. She was born in Canada and her family moved to the USA when she was 4 years old. So she’s not eligible. That explains why she’s never been mentioned at a potential Presidential candidate (she’d make a terrific candidate, otherwise). That leaves me with Cuomo.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
I’ll play too Larry.
Like JG, I am a Palin fan. Of course, she’s not in at the moment.
Also really like Marco Rubio. Not running though.
I also like Paul Ryan… He’s not in either. Ryan really disappointed me with his support of the debt deal earlier this week though.
Love Allen West. Not running as of now.
Love the chutzpah of Chris Christie, but not all of his policy ideas… Alas, he’s not in the mix either.
So…. who is my dream candidate? Still don’t know really.
Now a question for you. Do you plan to vote for Obama again? Or will you venture over to the dark side and vote for one of our peeps?
@Aye. I’d seriously consider voting for Romney. I think he’s a closet RINO, who’d move as close to the center as he could get away with. He’d immediately be thinking about 2016, and he’d be out for number one (himself), which would drag him in my political direction, just as Obama has moved as far to the center as he could get away with. I’d vote for Obama over Palin and other real conservatives, though. Some sort of intractable personality disorder, on my part, probably.
– Larry W/HB
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Heh.
Come on over to the dark side Larry…. we won’t tell anyone.
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Larry I already made my predictions a while back, Perry and Bachman, but I’ve since slightly adjusted it:
The ticket IMO that could win (not necessarily my pick), is Perry and Rubio (maybe even Perry/Palin or Bachman). Perry for no other reason than the fact he knows how to create jobs (common sense), deregulate, low taxes, anti litigation laws. Texas is an interesting model. Despite the above mentioned, the legislators only meet once every 2 years if I’m not mistaken.
That said, that’s a mighty “social conservative” ticket for many of the Republicans who merely “tolerate” the social conservatives. On the other hand, “anyone but Obama.” Whoever it is, there has to be a tea party component and a Latino component. Perry/Rubio can make that winning ticket.
Larry so glad you agree that Obama needs to be toast.
That said, the insatiable thirst for power being what it is, I still predict the dems will run Hillary, as far-fetched as it might seem.
And don’t forget Trump, the “spoiler” who I believe was in for Hillary from day one.
Skookum I TOTALLY agree with you about Calgary. I’m a huge fan of Western Canada, go there often; my favorite drive in the world is the Canadian Ice Fields and the loop from Calgary/Banff to Vancouver, and of course, the breath taking Lake Louise.
Larry, why is a RINO preferred over a Conservative?
Have you evolved into a Centrist from a Liberal?
In a sentence what is it that you dislike about Palin?
I have evolved, the Republican Party will need to purge its ranks before they can count on me again. I am a fiscal Conservative for the rest of my life.
Larry, do you have more faith in the leaders of academia than in the leaders of industry for directing the country?
Do you feel the Berkeley professor has a superior intellect and thus indicates the potential for superior leadership?
Not to put you on the spot, but it is important to understand the philosophy of the opposition; those with limited cerebral function are of little consequence in regard to the philosophical questions and that is why I am asking you.
Patricia, you hang out in some beautiful places. I will be making that run in reverse in a day or two. That Coquahala is a beautiful highway, more so if its not winter and the semis aren’t sliding backwards down the mountain towards you. That can make an old Grizzly hunter nervous.
My daughter just bought a small ranch near Golden, another on of the most beautiful places in the world. The Kicking Horse River, Salmon Arm, Kamloops, its all great country to see and the winters are fairly mild compared to Northern BC and the Yukon.
My relatives are hyperventilating over $1,630/ounce gold, but if the Obama economy continues to tank they expect $2,000 to $3,000 gold by the end of the year. I’ve worked in the gold extraction room and carried buckets of gold that I could barely lift off the ground. I am a big man and fairly strong, a five gallon bucket of $2,500/ounce gold is a lot of money. Too funny!
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Larry your top pick for Cuomo is most interesting owing to the fact of your much outspoken disapproval of “gay marriage” (of which you have written much). I’m curious as to why you don’t see the “disconnect” from the bad judgement of gay marraige to the same man you would happily want running the country?
I guess that’s the big diffrence in the way of thinking of conservatives vs libs. To a conservative, a “sell out” (as in Coumos case of signing in gay marriage), is a sell out, and tells us all that we need to know about a man, character always being king. On the same note, the biggest predictor of Obama crashing and burning, when it all boiled down, was his obvious lack of character, now clearly on display for all to witness.
On a related note, I realize that through out history, we often seem to think we live in the “worst of times.” Regardless if that’s the case for our times, as it stands now, our financial collapse is inevetiable. If there was ever a case to be made for character in a president, it will be our next one, considering the high probability that we will financially collapse. Everyone should be asking the question, “Who would we trust most with the money when we default?”
@Skookum:
Cool Skookum. Send us a picture! 🙂
@Skookum: # 24,
“My relatives are hyperventilating over $1,630/ounce gold, but if the Obama economy continues to tank they expect $2,000 to $3,000 gold by the end of the year. I’ve worked in the gold extraction room and carried buckets of gold that I could barely lift off the ground.”
Skook, . . . . boy are you in the right place at the right time. Perhaps you can get paid in “kind.”
The world sees only 2 safe havens right now – the U.S. $ &. Gold, with a few crumbs thrown for good luck @ the Canadian Dollar. As SNAFU’d as the U.S. economy is right now, it’s still the safest place to invest the loose change in. Gold long ago stopped being perceived as a commodity.
. . . . Keep digging that stuff up!
And on that AAA rating, . . . It will drop so that higher interest can be imposed, but it will not be a reflection of anything changing, or new, or news. The total debt is at play, in U.S. $s , which are shrinking in value ever so slowly. China and goons like Putin may be pissed but they can’t do anything about it. Even Putin’s gang sees the U.S. as a safe haven compared to the gangsterism he’s running out of Moscow.
IMG00300-20100701-2252.jpg
The creek off my right elbow is the Klondike, a few miles upstream and off the tributaries are the richest gold fields in the world. At one time during the last century t was estimated that one third of all the gold in circulation came from that river. The river to my back is the Yukon, there is an island in the middle. The town is Dawson City, population 3,000.
The Yukon also has gold, but the yields aren’t as good. I staked a claim on the Indian River last year. It’s a hard country, lots of moose and Grizzly. The permafrost is ten to twenty feet. It’s not a country for weaklings and it doesn’t give up the gold easily.
Indians can now buy alcohol and stay in town after dark. Dawson City is a Progressive town.
Subject: Gold Mania in the Yukon – NYTimes.com
@Pat: re: Cuomo and gay marriage. There’s no such thing as the perfect politician.
You know who else backs gay marriage? Dick Cheney.
I’ve voted, in several elections, for conservative/libertarian Dana Rohrabacher (my US Congressman). On many issues, I’m in complete disagreement with his positions. But he’s the most effective politician I know with regard to security of the Ports of Long Beach/Los Angeles, which is probably my number one political issue. Plus, he’s very accessible. He has monthly telephone call ins and there’s no problem getting on line with him (I did so once, and I discussed Port Security with him). He employs a physician who’s job it is to help Dana’s constituents with Medicare problems (one of the great things about Medicare is all the avenues open to beneficiaries to resolve problems, including at the level of their congressman). He’s a strong proponent of federally supported research into alternative energy, even though he’s a drill baby drill sort of a guy. Plus, he’s a surfer and I trust him to take care of my ocean. So I overlook a lot of his doctrinal shortcomings. Dana, you may remember, got his big break as a principal speechwriter for Ronald Reagan.
Cuomo is analogous to Rohrabacher. Some good. Some not so good. On the whole, though, someone I could support.
@Skook: What’s wrong with Palin, vis a vis Granholm? Well, for starters, Granholm served out both of her terms of elected office and worked hard and effectively for the state of Michigan, during a period of very hard times. She was fiscally responsible, and eliminated an existing $14 billion budget deficit — which was much larger than that of California’s much ballyhooed problem, adjusted for the relative size of each state’s economy. By the end of her term, Michigan was drowning in problems, but this was the result of national issues beyond her control. Over the course of her two terms in office, she did a great job, in my opinion, in very tough circumstances. Much tougher than the circumstances which Palin faced (and walked away from) in Alaska.
Beyond that are the different politics of the two women. Leaving aside the social issues (on which I really don’t choose my candidates, because these issues tend to be more symbolic than substantive), I’m of the opinion that fixing our debt problem is going to require tax increases. I’ve been concerned about the debt since the early 90s.
My biggest problem with Palin is what is developing into my biggest problem with Obama. Both are polarizing figures, at a time when I think that political polarization is creating a cold war version of the civil war in this country. It’s gotten so that it’s impossible to discuss political issues with friends, family, and co-workers, without having some assurance in advance that the parties involved in the conversation share the same views. It didn’t used to be this way. People respected the fact that other people were entitled to their views and the fact that they had contrarian views didn’t make them bad people. Not anymore, and the fabric of the nation has suffered because of it, in my opinion.
Palin’s a poster woman for fostering the concept that people with honest differences of opinion are not countrymen, but enemies.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
Skook, in the event that someone suggests against holding some of that gold colored stuff, send them this link. Some of the pictures are surprising – so many . . . . 1000 pictures worth 1 word
That heavier, shiny stuff will ALWAYS have some value.
Larry,
Looking at Dana Rohrabacher on the issues I can see why you might disagree with him far more than you’d agree with him.
http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Dana_Rohrabacher.htm
Note the handy-dandy graphic at the bottom of the page.
He’s to the RIGHT of Sarah Palin!
Compare Andrew Cuomo’s.
And also the graphic on his dad, Mario Cuomo.
@Nan: Great resource (your link)! Thanks. At the level of my congressman, all politics is local. He’s working to keep me from being vaporized and/or radiated by terrorists and he runs a great office for providing services to his constituents. Plus, he’s accessible to the common man (e.g. me) in his district, even when said common man is a registered Dem. The guy does his job for his constituents. He does an honest day’s work and seems to relish being a local congressman, as opposed to a state level or national politician. Plus, I like the guy. So he’s gotten my vote in four of the last 6 elections, including the last two.
I don’t base my vote on a check list of how they voted on issues. Voting is simple. Heck, I could vote. Actually working for and being responsive to the voters in one’s district is what it’s mostly about, at the level of the US congress, in my opinion.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
On The Issues.org USED to be a great site.
They have not kept it current.
How sad.
Maybe they are waiting for a new election cycle.
I hope either they, or someone else of equal fairness, puts together newer quotes on current nominees and candidates.
Larry, there is no doubt that Palin and Obama are polarizing personalities. There are some glaring differences; Obama had a friendly sympathetic press, Palin had an antagonistic press. The reaction of the public for Obama was a gradual rejection of an ever increasing demographic: for Palin, there was an immediate visceral rejection by the Left. A rejection that was bewildering for much of the Center and the Right, because there seemed to be so title to base those feelings. If Obama’s rejection by the public would have been immediate and seemingly emotional, there would have been an unending cacophony of calls of racism. No he has earned his public’s reaction honestly over an extended period of time with enough of a rational conjecture to make the calls of racism tedious at best.
Palin didn’t have the luxury of failing on the merits of performance; nay, her rejection by the public was immediate and laced with emotion. Her denouncement by the press has been so relentless, many Conservatives are reluctant to have her run because they think she cannot win.
It’s a sad testament to the power of the press, to think they direct and control so much of our public opinion.
@ Larry
I’ll play too.
I would love to see Allen West enter the race. I don’t think he will though. He does seem pretty open to a VP slot though.
Rick Perry is my preferred candidate right now, but he’s not in it officially. If he doesn’t get in the race, I’m probably going to have to choose between Bachman and Ron Paul. I know a lot of folks don’t like Paul, especially when it comes to defense, but I tend to lean a little libertarian and a lot of what he says makes sense.
Larry As a Dem living south of you in San Clemente I echo your “politics is local” I disagree with most all of my Conservative Rep. Ken Calvert’s positions. However he has personally helped my family and therefore got my vote in 2010.
On the national scene I’ve been predicting a Romney/Rubio Repub. ticket on this blog for over 3 months.I MIGHT vote for them over BHO. Would vote BHO over any other current Repub. candidates. Would like to see Biden replaced by Cuomo who like his DAD is a great voice in the Dem. Party.
Happy birthday obe, the Dow is down 350 points. Today.
I’d forgotten about Ron Paul. My number one issue, at the Presidential level, is which candidate is closer to a Fortress America military policy as opposed to a World Cop military philosophy.
I’ve felt this way since getting inadvertently getting pelted by water balloons and a tomato, when I was just a curious bystander at an anti-Vietnam War rally on the Quadrangle of the University of Louisville, as a new freshman on campus, in September, 1965. At the time, I knew nothing of the war, but I was appalled by the hecklers who came out to disrupt the rally, which included a list of thoughtful speakers. It was a university campus. I wanted to learn something. We are supposed to have the rights of free speech and free assembly, yet this was being denied to the students who organized the rally.
One of the other non-participating spectators at the rally who was appalled was a young Presbyterian minister named Synghman Rhee, who was a campus chaplain. His father had been murdered by the North Korean communists. But he was even more pro-American ideals than he was anti-Communist. He took the microphone and asked the crowd to respect the rights of free speech and assembly. He ended up getting pelted himself. After it broke up, I followed him back to his office and apologized on behalf of the unruly crowd. That was the birth of Larry the Liberal. I’ve been against every single war of choice which the USA has elected to pursue, ever since. So Ron Paul would be an entirely acceptable Commander in Chief, for me.
Actually, rather than a liberal, I’d classify myself as a compassionate and pragmatic libertarian. A compassionate libertarian agrees with the concept of safety nets. A pragmatic libertarian understands that there actually are a very few things (e.g. national and local public safety, infrastructure, environmental protection, basic research, and health care) which are better organized and administered at the national level by government than by laissez faire market forces.
Biggest drawback to Ron Paul is his age. Too many people his age begin to develop Alzheimer’s over the following 5 year period.
As an aside, the above-mentioned Rev Synghman Rhee later officiated at my wedding, the day before Neal Armstrong first stepped down onto lunar soil. 42 years ago. Time flies.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
@openid.aol.com/runnswim: Biggest drawback to Ron Paul is his age. Too many people his age begin to develop Alzheimer’s over the following 5 year period.
——————
I’d have other issues with Ron Paul than his risk to get Alzheimer’s.
Ron Paul is 76.
People age 75-79 go from 2.8%-6.6% rate of Alzheimer’s.
(Not very high.)
Even after that, at ages 80-84 (when his 8 possible years as President would be ending) the numbers rise slowly from 6.6% to 11.1% of the population being diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s.
(Still not very high.)
If you reach age 90 you have almost a 1-in-4 chance of having the disease.
So, it is NOT that big a deal at Ron Paul’s age now.
@nan: You are talking about overt, flagrant disease. There’s a lot of mental deterioration which precedes the emergence of the full blown disease. I have a bigger problem with an 80 year old President than I do with a 62 year old airline pilot, and I have problems with both. – Larry W/HB
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Agist!
@Nan (#42): I didn’t use to be an agist, until I got old and realized that almost nothing works as well as it used to work. Started with presbyopia, at about age 41, and it’s been sliding downhill, ever since. – Larry W/HB
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Please do not remind people of what they have to look forward to. It’s hard enough getting to 40 and realizing that you are not invincible, like one believes when they are in their 20’s. God does us a service, I believe, by allowing our bodies to fail as we get older. Can you imagine someone with the experience of a 60-80 year old, and the vitality of a 25 year old? Scary!
37 freakin’ fundraisers already.
“apologized on behalf of the unruly crowd”
Tell us, Larry, did you ever follow any soldier and apologize to them for how they were treated when they returned from Vietnam? Did you ever apologize for the “unruly” crowds that called them “baby killer?”
And perhaps you could kindly point out all those “safety nets” that the Founders envisioned? I would really be interested in knowing about them, and how they felt that it was legal to take one man’s earnings at the point of the IRS gun to give to another man.
You agree with the concept that theft, if done by governments, is fine, as long as it sooths your progressive feelings.
@retire: I worked at three different VA Hospitals, including the last one (Long Beach) for an 8 year stretch. I treated all the veterans with the utmost respect and provided them with the quality care which they deserved. One of them (a B-52 pilot who became paraplegic in a crash) became my personal friend: he took my wife and I out for a restaurant dinner and we had him over for a home cooked meal. What was both interesting and disheartening was the caste system which existed, wherein the WWII vets would frequently speak in disrespectful tones about their Vietnam War younger cousins.
I didn’t serve in the armed services. I had a draft eligible 1A classification 1969-1970, but I had a 253 lottery number and wasn’t given a draft notice. My brother had a lottery number of 12 and received his induction notice on Christmas eve, 1971. Later on, I was in the Public Health Service. I’m eligible for many veterans benefits, although I’ve never claimed any.
Had I ever been present at an occasion where a Vietnam War soldier was disrespected by an unruly crowd, I would certainly have apologized on behalf of these misguided people. However, I was never present at such an occasion and therefore never had an occasion to apologize for such an occurrence.
There is ample Constitutional authority for the social safety net programs in place; some of which I strongly support and others of which I feel are misguided.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Larry there is a considerable difference between Cuomo, as gov. of NY, a bellwether state signing in gay marriage than Dick Cheney, a father of a gay daughter.
Once again, you contradict yourself by reminding us that you take social issues as “symbolic.” If that is truly the case, than it flattens your entire (and IMO, very good), argument against gay marriage.
Buy hey, most Republicians don’t take social issues seriously, which IMO, is the genesis of our entire current problem. It all starts with social issues/character. We wouldn’t have any or most of today’s problems if the decision makers were people who truly cared about people, not as useful idiots or for relection purposes, but with respect to each other with a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Instead we have “entitlement enslavement.”
@Pat: Gay marriage is a single issue. Out of scores of other issues. Here are my arguments against gay marriage: link
It’s an important issue, but there are a great many other issues to consider, as well. I personally don’t have social litmus tests. I don’t support every issue for every politician for whom I vote. I voted for Jerry Brown, yet I am totally opposed to public unions. I voted for Dana Rohrabacher, yet I am totally opposed to a balanced budget amendment. With Cuomo, it’s more of the same.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
Happy Birthday obama, DOW down 500. Anyone that works for a living and supports these progs from the lowest political level on up, may as well poke themselves in the eye with a sharp stick.