Ah, the sweet smell of Socialism in the morning. Is it just me, or do you think the Democrats are still lying?While taxes in Obama-land are climbing, federal spending is skyrocketing. The Heritage Foundation reports that 2009 per-household spending will reach $33,932, a full $8,000 more than last year. In fact, spending has grown so much that estimates place the 2009 budge deficit at $1.845 trillion, far more than the pre-recession average of $100 billion to $400 billion. While part of the payout is temporary -- a recessionary reaction, so to speak -- thanks to the president's 2010 budget, the expense explosion is staking its claim as permanent, with a 10-year annual budget deficit projection of nearly $1 trillion.
Of course, the administration thrives on emphasizing it "inherited" this fiscal fiasco in the form of a $1.3 trillion deficit, but as NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard notes, last year, then-Senator Obama voted "yes" on the 2009 budget, containing $3.1 trillion in federal spending and a projected $400 billion deficit. A few months later, Senators Obama, Biden and Clinton supported $700 billion in TARP spending. Once president, Obama signed the $787 billion "stimu-less" bill, and promptly gave the nod to $410 billion in additional FY2009 spending. An unwelcome "inheritance?" As Sheppard points out, "Tough to claim you inherited something you voted for, isn't it?"
Any of you going to the Town Hall meetings with Democrats at the helm, or apologetic Republicrats, should not expect anything but pablum talking points. Go and show your support for a private sector run health reform, but don't expect to sway the elected officials. These people have no interest at all in hearing what you have to say. They don't even participate in the programs they pass for you to suffer with. They have their own cush system, more in keeping with their high position in life. Remember their names and vote them out as soon as they come up for re-election.
Peggy Noonan - "You are terrifying us." ...
The passions of the protesters, on the other hand, are not a surprise. They hired a man to represent them in Washington. They give him a big office, a huge staff and the power to tell people what to do. They give him a car and a driver, sometimes a security detail, and a special pin showing he’s a congressman. And all they ask in return is that he see to their interests and not terrify them too much. Really, that’s all people ask. Expectations are very low. What the protesters are saying is, “You are terrifying us.”
What has been most unsettling is not the congressmen’s surprise but a hard new tone that emerged this week. The leftosphere and the liberal commentariat charged that the town-hall meetings weren’t authentic, the crowds were ginned up by insurance companies, lobbyists and the Republican National Committee. But you can’t get people to leave their homes and go to a meeting with a congressman (of all people) unless they are engaged to the point of passion. And what tends to agitate people most is the idea of loss—loss of money hard earned, loss of autonomy, loss of the few things that work in a great sweeping away of those that don’t.
People are not automatons. They show up only if they care.
"According to 5 U.S.C. § 552a, United States agencies, including the Executive Office of the President, shall 'maintain no record describing how any individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute or by the individual about whom the record is maintained or unless pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity.'"
This applies to all those who exercise their liberties granted under the U. S. Constitution. Keep blogging, commenting, and attending the meetings.
Nobody is perfect. I'm a nobody. Therefore I am perfect. Anon.
