Obama: 6 month report card

[metalix1021]

Well there is catch 22 how you gonna pay all thoes teachers that kinda money???? Your property taxes will sky rocket.

Well, my views get a little out there with this....such as complete privitazation of education...

But, I do think that we could have fewer teachers if they were all of high caliber.

Go ask a few teachers how much crap they have to go do, to be able to teach what ever their subject matter is. Lately if you are not teaching the right political view with it you are on a black list. History and science in particular

and that sucks. Big time. The good ones do go through a lot of crap.

My mom is a middle school science teacher (who is very good at her job and works 14 hour days 6 days a week during the school years) and this yea they have to really push the Human induced GW/Climate change BS. Shes not going to do it but thats what the district is pushing them to do.

Good for your mom, she is one of the few. I'm sure she will get crap for it.

She has her masters in Early childhood education and a minor in chem, with almost 30 years experience and makes less than 40k a year in a city of over 1 million people.

Just having the degrees isnt enough. Nor is experience. I'm sure many PhD teachers who have been teaching a long time are not good ones.

Again, I do have a respect for good teachers. They work hard and deserve good pay.

[Hallen]

You gotta the love the young Republicans and old koot reactionaries who spend their days spitting the GOP venom and then go to bed at night praying that the Obama administration's stimulus plan succeeds so the youngsters can get work for the Wall Street players after college and the codgers can see their retirement account stocks in the S&P 500 go back up :roll:

Nothing wrong with being critical of the current stimulus plan, but nobody wants to go back to the $250 stimulus check "solution" and I don't recall any politicians campaigning on a 'let's do nothing about the economy" platform. Just like no one declared "mission accomplished" on the economy after a scant six months, how could you call it a failure already either.

I'm glad you love me, but seriously, reactionaries? Oh, right, spout fact and cursing stupidity is reactionary because it doesn't follow party line, right, I get it now.

I don't pray that the Obama plan will work, that would be futile. It won't work. What I pray for is that it won't cause too much more damage. If a politician had run on "let's do nothing about the economy" I would have been inclined to vote for them because as I said before, the government can't do much of anything but hurt the economy by doing things. Reducing taxes simply reduces the damage that the government does.

And making a joke about old codgers hoping for their retirement accounts to go back up is petty. There are retirees in very bad shape right now because of this recession. They have seen their life's savings dwindle as the buying power of their fixed income has become less and less because of government interventionism in the markets. I know people personally who were planning on retiring in a year or two who now say they will probably need to work another 10 years. (how does that help the job possibilities for you young ones out there, hmmmm?)

Just wait until you are an old codger and have finally learned something of the world and realize that all of this pie in the sky rationalizing doesn't get you anything. When they come to tax away all of your savings and tell you that it is OK because the Godvernment will give you a small pension (the same as the guy down the street who hasn't worked a day in his life) so it's OK, then you may finally realize that those young republicans and reactionary old codgers were actually right. But by then it will be too late.

People as a whole don't seem to learn. So many noobs think they know a better way. They fall for all the hype and promises and don't learn the difference between fact and dreams until they are too deep in the hole to get out. They don't realize that those dreams that were spoon fed to them by the liberals were designed to do just that, make them beholden to the Godvernment.

Government is a necessary EVIL. It is not a platform for society or societal change. It is simply there to provide a controllable structure to defend our country and our people. That's it. Trying to make it more than that is a disaster.

[robrez]

The job market and retirement accounts are not a joking matter. In your haste to get all crotchety and shake you fist and call me sonny you missed the simple point that, for better or worse, and quite infortunately in some case, young and old are all vested in these institutions that have benefitted from the stimulus plan. Some bite their to tounges and hope for the best despite their politcal principals while others spout and course and maybe even do something about. That's what I love. It makes our country great and keeps it strong.

I'm glad you love me, but seriously, reactionaries? Oh, right, spout fact and cursing stupidity is reactionary because it doesn't follow party line, right, I get it now.

I don't pray that the Obama plan will work, that would be futile. It won't work. What I pray for is that it won't cause too much more damage. If a politician had run on "let's do nothing about the economy" I would have been inclined to vote for them because as I said before, the government can't do much of anything but hurt the economy by doing things. Reducing taxes simply reduces the damage that the government does.

And making a joke about old codgers hoping for their retirement accounts to go back up is petty. There are retirees in very bad shape right now because of this recession. They have seen their life's savings dwindle as the buying power of their fixed income has become less and less because of government interventionism in the markets. I know people personally who were planning on retiring in a year or two who now say they will probably need to work another 10 years. (how does that help the job possibilities for you young ones out there, hmmmm?)

Just wait until you are an old codger and have finally learned something of the world and realize that all of this pie in the sky rationalizing doesn't get you anything. When they come to tax away all of your savings and tell you that it is OK because the Godvernment will give you a small pension (the same as the guy down the street who hasn't worked a day in his life) so it's OK, then you may finally realize that those young republicans and reactionary old codgers were actually right. But by then it will be too late.

People as a whole don't seem to learn. So many noobs think they know a better way. They fall for all the hype and promises and don't learn the difference between fact and dreams until they are too deep in the hole to get out. They don't realize that those dreams that were spoon fed to them by the liberals were designed to do just that, make them beholden to the Godvernment.

Government is a necessary EVIL. It is not a platform for society or societal change. It is simply there to provide a controllable structure to defend our country and our people. That's it. Trying to make it more than that is a disaster.

[Vedubin01]

This is the beginning of the end!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/02/ED7E192A9L.DTL

Erase the cowardice
Monday, August 3, 2009

Don't bother looking for the California Assembly's roll-call record of one of the most contentious issues of the budget revisions: the plan to open new offshore oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast for the first time in 40 years. It's not there.

The July 24 vote on AB23 (28 yes, 43 no, 8 not voting) has been officially expunged - erased as if it never happened.

This purge of voting records is unacceptable in a representative democracy. Not a single one of the 80 Assembly members rose to object when the motion to expunge was made by Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont.

"The whole thing seems to me rather Orwellian," Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, author of the oil-drilling bill, said Friday in a phone interview. "It does strike me as trying to take an inconvenient historical fact and shoving it down the memory hole."

Republicans suspect the move was made on behalf of Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista, who supposedly did not want a roll call when the defeat of the measure became apparent. Democrats insist the purge was for the benefit of Republican leader Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo, whose vote for the oil-drilling plan as part of the budget deal was not likely to play well in his coastal district.

The bottom line is that the Democrats control the Assembly, and thus bear the ultimate responsibility for this anti-democratic whitewash. DeVore said Republicans did not object to the move because they recognized the futility of trying to win a procedural vote in a Democrat-dominated house.

However, DeVore did manage to grab a printout of the real-time vote tally before the record was expunged. The Sierra Club, which vehemently opposed the drilling plan, also posted a recap of the roll call on its Web site, highlighting the votes of specific legislators.

The erasure of recorded votes is not unheard of in the Assembly, but it's most common during late-night sessions, when fewer journalists and activists are paying attention. This vote occurred in midafternoon, and was broadcast live on the California Channel, where anyone could follow the red and green lights next to members' names during the roll call.

"I don't know what they were trying to accomplish," DeVore said. "It's not like Al Gore hadn't invented the Internet yet or we didn't have instant replay.

"This isn't like 1955, when you could control information."

What they did produce was further evidence of why Californians are so disenchanted with the level of ethics and competence demonstrated by their elected representatives in Sacramento. A poll released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California showed that legislators' approval rating sank to a record-low 17 percent.

Now that dismal number is one inconvenient historical fact they cannot expunge.
THE ROLL CALL Assembly Bill 23 What they didn't want you to see

The July 24 Assembly vote on opening new oil drilling:
YES (28)

Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia
Joel Anderson, R-Alpine
Juan Arambula, independent-Fresno
Bill Berryhill, R-Modesto
Tom Berryhill, R-Ceres
Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo
Charles Calderon, D-Whittier
Connie Conway, R-Tulare
Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley
Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine
Mike Duvall, R-Yorba Linda
Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands
Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield
Ted Gaines, R-Roseville
Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad
Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford
Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills
Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore
Stephen Knight, R-Palmdale
Dan Logue, R-Linda
Jeff Miller, R-Corona
Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert
Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks
Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber
Jim Silva, R-Huntington Beach
Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita
Van Tran, R-Costa Mesa
Mike Villines, R-Clovis

NO (43)
Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco
Jim Beall, D-San Jose
Robert Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills
Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica
Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo
Anna Marie Caballero, D-Salinas
Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto
Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata
Joe Coto, D-San Jose
Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate
Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles
Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park
Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa
Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles
Paul Fong, D-Sunnyvale
Felipe Fuentes, D-Sylmar
Warren Furutani, D-Gardena
Cathleen Galgiani, D-Livingston
Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley
Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo
Alyson Huber, D-El Dorado Hills
Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael
Dave Jones, D-Sacramento
Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank
Ted Lieu, D-Torrance
Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach
Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco
Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia
William Monning, D-Santa Cruz
Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara
John Perez, D-Los Angeles
Manuel Perez, D-Coachella
Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena
Ira Ruskin, D-Redwood City
Mary Salas, D-Chula Vista
Lori Saldana, D-San Diego
Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley
Audra Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks
Sandré Swanson, D-Alameda
Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch
Norma Torres, D-Pomona
Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont
Mariko Yamana, D-Davis

NOT VOTING (8)
Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista
Marty Block, D-San Diego
Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles
Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego
Isadore Hall, D-Compton
Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point
Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina
Jose Solorio, D-Anaheim

Other games they play

–– They take walks: Over the years, The Chronicle editorial page has documented many cases in which consumer and environmental bills have died when a potentially decisive number of members fail to vote - knowing that "taking a walk" has the same effect as a "no" vote.

–– They "add on" votes: Yes, a legislator who failed to vote while the issue is in doubt can "add on" a yes or no vote after a bill is passed or defeated - as long as it does not change the outcome. The legislative record available to the public ( www.leginfo.com) does not reveal which votes are add-ons.

–– They change their votes: Believe it or not, legislators are allowed to change their votes from yes to no - and vice versa - for several hours after a bill is passed or defeated. And they do, without leaving footprints on the record available to the public.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/03/ED7E192A9L.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle

[Vedubin01]

and still going.....

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

Again with the thuggish intimidation gutter tactics

[Hellabad]

Linda Douglass is about to be pwned. She brought a pillow to a knife fight.

[Vedubin01]

As if her other Gulfstreams are not good enough....

Pelosi orders 3 Gulfstream Jets for Her Private use at $ 180 Million

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_19/news/37552-1.html

Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for
traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a
possible bailout of their companies.

But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel:
At the end of July, the House approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force
to buy three elite Gulfstream jets for ferrying top government officials and
Members of Congress.

The Air Force had asked for one Gulfstream 550 jet (price tag: about $65
million) as part of an ongoing upgrade of its passenger air service.

But the House Appropriations Committee, at its own initiative, added to the
2010 Defense appropriations bill another $132 million for two more airplanes
and specified that they be assigned to the D.C.-area units that carry
Members of Congress, military brass and top government officials.

Because the Appropriations Committee viewed the additional aircraft as an
expansion of an existing Defense Department program, it did not treat the
money for two more planes as an earmark, and the legislation does not
disclose which Member had requested the additional money.

An Appropriations Committee staffer said the military was already planning
to replace its passenger fleet, and the committee "looked at the request and
decided they should speed up the replacement."

The Gulfstream G550 is a luxury business jet, which the company advertises
as featuring long-range flight capacity that "easily links Washington, D.C.,
with Dubai, London with Singapore and Tokyo with Paris." The company's
promotional materials say, "The cabin aboard the G550 combines productivity
with exceptional comfort. It features up to four distinct living areas,
three temperature zones, a choice of 12 floor plan configurations with
seating for up to 18 passengers."

The version Gulfstream sells to the military is reconfigured for the
government with modest accommodations, not the luxury version sold to
private customers, said a source familiar with the planes.

Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) had submitted a request to the Appropriations
Committee for a $70 million earmark for one airplane on behalf of
Georgia-based Gulfstream, and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) lists the airplane
as one of the earmarks that he was asked to request, though his office said
he never made the request to the Appropriations Committee.

"The committee saw fit to fund it at that level" without Kingston's
involvement, his spokesman said.

Bishop's office did not return several calls requesting comment for this
story.

Air Force spokesman Vincent King told Roll Call: "This line item provides
funding to purchase C-37 aircraft. The C-37 is the military variant of the
commercial Gulfstream 550 executive jet. C-37s provide executive airlift for
senior U.S. government officials including Congress and combatant
commanders."

The language of the appropriations bill specifies that of the three
aircraft, the Air Force will provide "one aircraft each for the 201st
Airlift Squadron and the 89th Airlift Wing." Both are based out of Andrews
Air Force Base in Maryland.

File Photo

The House passed a Defense spending bill late last month that included
nearly $200 million for three Gulfstream G550 jets and specified that two
planes be assigned to units that routinely transport Members of Congress and
government officials.
The 89th Airlift Wing provides "global Special Air Mission (SAM) airlift,
logistics, aerial port and communications for the President, Vice President,
Combat Commanders, senior leaders and the global mobility system," according
to the Andrews Web site.

King told Roll Call, "the 201st Airlift Squadron provides short-notice
worldwide transportation for the executive branch, Congressional Members,
Department of Defense officials and high-ranking U.S. and foreign
dignitaries."

An Armed Forces Press Service news story from 2004 said that the 201st
counted "U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert [R-Ill.] and [then-Senate
Armed Services Chairman] John Warner [R-Va.] among its frequent flyers."

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said if Congress
wants to buy new jets for the comfort of top government officials, "I think
that all needs to be justified on the merits. ... Certainly, lawmakers can
fly - and many do fly - coach and business class." While there may be
reasons for flying on top-notch private jets, "it shouldn't just be squeezed
into the bill."

Ellis said the airplanes are also part of a larger trend for the
Appropriations Committee to simply decide that big-ticket items are program
increases, not earmarks, so they require less public disclosure.

"The more that you push for transparency, the more of this stuff goes
underneath the carpet," Ellis said. While Congress has established new rules
requiring greater transparency for earmarks, the Appropriations Committee is
"the judge, jury and executioner over what is an earmark and what isn't and
how much information we get."

But military analysts said the private jets, despite the high price tag, may
be worth the money because of the security and efficiency they provide to
high-ranking public officials.

Loren Thompson, defense analyst at the conservative Lexington Institute,
said, "In the case of the VIP transport for the executive branch, you can
easily explain the cost [of private travel] in terms of the risk of somebody
being taken hostage or having their time wasted when a critical decision is
pending."

Thompson pointed out that the cost of the plane would be peanuts compared to
the cost to the nation if a top official were taken hostage or harmed taking
a commercial flight to a dangerous region of the world.

But Thompson also said that logic "applies to the top members of the
executive branch more than it applies to the Member from the 13th district
of Illinois."

John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense information Web site,
said military officials "need a long-range airplane - and [it's] better to
fly them on a small one than a big one."

Pike said it is unreasonable to expect a three-star general and a staff of
five people to attend meetings around the world with several stops in
far-flung locales while traveling on commercial airlines.

[Vedubin01]

Top Cybersecurity Aide At White House Resigns

The White House's senior aide on cybersecurity has decided to resign following delays in the appointment of a coordinator to spearhead the government's efforts to protect the nation's computer networks.


Melissa E. Hathaway, who also served as a cybersecurity aide during the Bush administration, had been a contender for the position of cybersecurity coordinator. But in an interview Monday, she said she had withdrawn her application.


"I wasn't willing to continue to wait any longer, because I'm not empowered right now to continue to drive the change," she said. "I've concluded that I can do more now from a different role," most likely in the private sector.


Hathaway noted that it has been two months since President Obama made a highly acclaimed speech on the importance of cybersecurity and pledged to "personally" select a cybersecurity coordinator.


A colleague close to Hathaway said she had become dismayed by the delay in the appointment. The colleague, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that Hathaway had "the sense that this was very political, that she has been too closely tied to the Bush administration."


Industry officials have voiced frustration at the White House's inability to fill the job. One former government official said 30 people have been interviewed for the position.


.


.


.

[Hallen]

The job market and retirement accounts are not a joking matter. In your haste to get all crotchety and shake you fist and call me sonny you missed the simple point that, for better or worse, and quite infortunately in some case, young and old are all vested in these institutions that have benefitted from the stimulus plan. Some bite their to tounges and hope for the best despite their politcal principals while others spout and course and maybe even do something about. That's what I love. It makes our country great and keeps it strong.

No, not really.

First, a technical issue, it was Tarp money that was used to bail out companies, not the "stimulus" bill. The stimulus bill is pretty much all government programs and almost none of that money has really hit the streets yet or had any impact whatsoever. (Of course the mid-term effects will not be pretty, but that's a different story)

Secondly, most people have their retirement funds very well diversified with mutual funds and other investments. They are generally track the overall market level, and are not directly affected by individual stock prices. So the bailout of specific financial institutions really had little to no effect on those said retirement accounts. What retirees have to look forward too is high inflation caused by the stimulus bill and they don't need to bite their tongues while being thankful for it because it has nothing to do with their actual retirement accounts. It isn't helping them at all, it's hurting them by making the real value of their money go down(whether they think it is helping or not).

Yes, America's system of give and take and compromise in our political process can be seen as great. Unfortunately, that process doesn't exist right now because the Democrats control it all. There is no give and take. It's a straight ramrod deal that can and does ignore the minority completely.

I would argue that it is really just a checks and balances system that keeps government from doing too much or becoming too powerful more than it is part of America's greatness. America's greatness comes from the people, not the government. (Whoops, since the dem's have complete control, there goes that check and balance system)


And Vedubin, what the hell do all those posts have to do with this thread?

[Vedubin01]

did you read them? Probably not. These are things happening while the Big "O" is on watch. As the topic states, how would you grade Obama in the first 6 months? Other than while on his watch, States are now erasing historical votes... spending $180 million for Pelozi to have 3 more Gulfstreams as the deficit continues to climb to new astronomical highs. As if the ones she currently uses is that bad. And people resigning from their post because of the false promises and lack of commitment. There a lot of people here that speak with a half truths and misinformation. I rather allow my views to be expressed by fact or fact until proven wrong.

[E30 Cabrio]

[Alkasquawlik]

They could be spending that $200 million on better things than new luxury jets.
I'm sure those Gulfstream G4s and G5s are really outdated now...

It boggles my mind how the government can keep spending money on a whim on unneccessary things when we are so mired in debt. Any rational person can see that it's not the right thing to do.

[Hallen]

did you read them? Probably not. These are things happening while the Big "O" is on watch. As the topic states, how would you grade Obama in the first 6 months? Other than while on his watch, States are now erasing historical votes... spending $180 million for Pelozi to have 3 more Gulfstreams as the deficit continues to climb to new astronomical highs. As if the ones she currently uses is that bad. And people resigning from their post because of the false promises and lack of commitment. There a lot of people here that speak with a half truths and misinformation. I rather allow my views to be expressed by fact or fact until proven wrong.

Of course I read them. I still don't see what the CA legislature has to do with Obama other than it is more Democrat Stupidity.

The second two are topic relevant, but my point was why post up the entire article?

Make a point, post a link. :)

[joshh]

And it wont be getting any better.

They could be spending that $200 million on better things than new luxury jets.
I'm sure those Gulfstream G4s and G5s are really outdated now...

It boggles my mind how the government can keep spending money on a whim on unneccessary things when we are so mired in debt. Any rational person can see that it's not the right thing to do.

I totally agree. If you really look at what they spend much of our money on, it's straight out financial irregularities.

[Wiglaf]

I totally agree. If you really look at what they spend much of our money on, it's straight out financial irregularities.

I wouldn't harp on the spending too much, it's no worse than before.