Cleo's Mom

PattyGreen - with regard to Chicago and the Olympics and your criticism that Obama was rallying for his home town (read: America) - this is what then Pres. Bush said about it in Jan. 2008: January, 2008 President George W. Bush: I want to thank the members of the 2016 Chicago bid to get the Olympics. Listen, Mr. Mayor, you and your committee have put together a great plan. It’s a plan that will make America proud. They say that the Olympics will come to Chicago if we’re fortunate enough to be selected, but really it’s coming to America, and I can’t think of a better city to represent the United States than Chicago. This is a well thought out venue. There will be — the athletes will be taken care of. People who will be coming from around the world will find this good city has got fantastic accommodations, great restaurants. It will be safe. And so I — this country supports your bid, strongly. And our hope is that the judges will take a good look at Chicago and select Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. He must have been in collusion with Obama back then predicting that Obama would win and this would be good for Obama's hometown. Geez - again NO credibilty PG!!!

You're absolutely right, BJean. The republicans really have no one to run. Sarah Palin? Please! She would be a gift to the democrats. Maybe Sen. John Kyl who said he didn't want maternity care in health insurance because HE didn't need it. Or "you lie" Joe Wilson. Or maybe the family values CA rep who resigned when he accidently spoke into an open mike about his sexual affair with a lobbyist that involved spanking. Or maybe Ensign or Sanford. Or perhaps Bobby Jindal who thought it was a waste of money to monitor volcanoes (are you listening Sarah Palin?) or best of all - whacko Michelle Bachman - who thinks there's a commie under every rock. These vocal minorities didn't vote for Obama and wouldn't vote for him in 2012 either. Organized by Dick Armey and Glenn Beck, these people jumped at an opportunity to bash a president they already hated. They have no credibility because the same things they criticize Obama for - bush did and nary a peep out of them then.

The selection of cities in contention for the 2016 Olympics was determined long before Obama became president. HE didn't select Chicago - it was selected long ago as one of many world cities considered. He didn't do anything that leaders of other countries in contention for the Olympics didn't do. They went to Copenhagen to plug their country. President Obama did the same to champion our country. I am proud that he did this. I am pro-America and wanted the Olympics here. So what country did you root for to get the Olympics? Brazil? Shame on those who cheered when Chicago wasn't selected. How anti-American that was. It had nothing to do with anything but a hatred of Obama. rush limbaugh had two speeches prepared for the day after Rio was selected - one for if Chicago was selected and one for if it wasn't. Both portrayed Pres. Obama in a bad light. And shame on glenn beck for being giddy for Chicago losing. As for SNL - it's a comedy show. It is a non- discriminatory basher of everyone. It makes fun of anyone about anything. Don't put too much stock into it. Did you enjoy it for the 8 years it bashed bush? Pres. Obama inherited a HUGE mess from bush who didn't deal well, or at all, with many of our problems. He started the two costly wars, he started the bail out of the banks, he put Gitmo into effect, he ignored global warming and becoming energy independent. He ignored the need for financial (wall street) regulations. And health care - well he said people can just go to the ER. Now that President Obama has tackled each of these issues I have heard criticism of him for taking on too much. And there is also criticism for him not having accomplished much. So, he's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't and he's only been in office less than 9 months. People are impatient and unfair. And then there are those who just hate President Obama and are using any excuse to attack him. They are very transparent.

My nutritionist said those dinners are fine - we are allowed 2400 mg of sodium a day. Even if you ate two of those dinners in a day they would probably have less sodium than that. Her program promoted those low-calorie, low fat diet dinners. But every nutritionist is different and everyone has to decide what is best for them.

When we got out of the depression as a result of World War II spending - that spending amounted to 40% of the Gross Domestic Product. I hope you don't think we just had that kind of money "lying around" - it was borrowed. And as a country, we survived this. The stimulus under Pres. Obama amounts to about 4%-6% of the GDP.

Yes, I support President Obama and his agenda. The federal government is my government and NO, I don't think that we the people would be able to provide most, if any, of the services listed. And the Grand Canyon is part of the NATIONAL Park Service, so federal funds are used for the upkeep of this park. Please contact your state and local governments and send them this list and ask them what would make it possible for them to provide these services to its people without federal help. Or contact the Chamber of Commerce and ask them how private business could provide these things again without federal help. Then let us all on here know what they say. I look forward to hearing their answers. You're the one who lives in la la land. Hey people - which of the following are you going to provide for yourself without federal help? :frown: Roads & Highways US Railway system Social Security Medicare/Medicaid SCHIP Military Public Water & Sewer Services

In this link he said that we don't consider ourselves a christian nation or a jewish nation or a muslim nation. And we don't. And that changes the meaning from just saying that he said we don't consider ourselves a christian nation. So again, you were distorting and misrepresenting. AND I AM CALLING YOU OUT ABOUT IT. Now, since you hate/distrust the federal government so much, I am sure you will have no problem signing the TEABAGGER SOCIALIST-FREE PURITY PLEDGE: Daily Kos: State of the Nation It's over 2 pages of things the federal government provides for the betterment and welfare of a civilized society that you would have to give up. But since you find it all too intrusive and overstepping anyway, you should have no problem renouncing all of it.

In the link you provided President Obama said that the people (us) of the United States don't consider us a chrisitan or muslim or jewish nation. Your original post said that Pres. Obama says that we are not a christian nation. Again, you are misrepresenting what he said. STOP YOUR DISTORTIONS!!!! All of us need to call out those who spread lies, distortions, misrepresentations, and hate. That's what the swift boaters did. I will not allow this to happen. It is my duty as a patritotic american.

Here's the video: Obama "not just a Christian nation" // Current And I'm calling you out Patty for leaving out the important word "JUST" when Pres. Obama says we are no longer JUST a christian nation... and he is correct. We are not. You need to admit that you misrepresented what he said. It makes all the difference. Quit perpetuating internet lies from the extremist right wingnuts like Glenn Beck, et al.

I've already posted the video which shows President Obama saying: The United States in not JUST a christian nation.... But as I've said before, some people don't let facts stand in the way of their beliefs. They just keep repeating lies because in the past this tactic has worked. We progressives have to fight hard against these swift boat tactics and take back our country from these extreme fringe right wingnuts.

Thanks, BJean, for your kind words. That is great that you have such a good relationship with your grandchildren. And twin grandsons. What a surprise that must have been. As a mom, I'm sure you know, you always worry about your kids, so I am hoping that the pregnancy and baby both do fine. Thanks again.

Thank you. Since my husband died 4 years ago and both kids got married I have been very lonely but now this gives me new purpose and something to help plan for and look forward to. I am very excited. Thanks again.

Thank you. Paying taxes is the price we pay for living in a civilized society. We have taxes with representation. We can tell our reps what we want our taxes used for. I'm not happy with the amount used for wars. Or bloated military budgets. And I am okay with helping the least among us. Welfare reform limits people to 3 years. Most of those who receive government aid are white, rural and poor. Many are in that position not through their own fault but because of circumstances. A farmer with a failed crop, someone who loses their job. People without health insurance who lose their homes due to bankruptcy from medical bills. There are many reasons people get to a position where they need help. They are not all lazy, blood sucking leeches, as has been portrayed. It is too easy to portray them that way. Now, if we want people to go from government aid programs to productive workers, then we need to support those pathways to get there - Job training, daycare subsidies, good public transportation to get to jobs, low cost housing subsidies, etc.. So, yes, I am okay with my tax dollars helping people in need, largely because the biggest benefactors are children who are hurting through no fault of their own. Don't punish the children because in some cases their parents made bad choices in life. And I also support charities. I have sponsored 4 children from Save the Children, I give to food banks, and children's hospital for free care.

You're welcome, BJean. Nothing can bring me down, though, because I just found out I'm going to be a grandma for the first time. My daughter is pregnant. I don't think my feet have touched the ground yet. So, I am in a very up mood. But I won't go so far as to say certain people won't try my patience. LOL.

I understand BJean. You've heard the saying that the bible can be used to support or deny any position, so I submit this: If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10 NSRV Happy are those who are concerned for the poor; the Lord will help them when they are in trouble. Psalm 41:1 TEV If you refuse to listen to the cry of the poor, your own cry will not be heard. Proverbs 21:13 TEV God always keeps His promises; he judges in favor of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. Psalm 146:6-7 TEV What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead. James 2:14-17 NRSV Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Defend the rights of the poor and needy, Proverbs 31:8-9 NSRV Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Isaiah 1:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deed. Proverbs 19:17 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:9-11 "For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.' Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? And the King will tell them, 'I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'" Matthew 25:31-40 NLT More… When you gather your crops and fail to bring in some of the grain that you have cut, do not go back for it; for it is to be left for the foreigners, orphans and widows...When you have gathered your grapes once, do not go back over the vines a second time; the grapes that are left are for the foreigners, orphans and widows. Never forget that you were slaves in Egypt; that is why I have given you this command. Deuteronomy 24:19-22 TEV ...do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor... Zechariah 7:10 RSV “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?'” Micah 6:8 Jesus said to him "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Matthew 19:21 RSV "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:13 RSV "Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me." Luke 18:22 KJV Begin using your hands for honest work, and then give generously to others in need. Ephesians 4:28 NLT "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." 1 Timothy 6:18-19 Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us. James 1:27 NLT

conservativesarealwayswrong - Why conservatives are always WRONG Keeping perspective for perplexed progressives

That statement is wrong on so many levels. First, bush never said invading Iraq was for their oil (but not many believed this). Second - if that is true, then why did our gas go up to $4/gallon last year? Third, we were told that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the Iraqi war. I'm still laughing over that one. Fourth, if our economy depends on Iraqi's oil, or it's "toast" - then all the more reason to support Obama's clean, green renewable energy plans, increased fuel efficiency for cars and less dependence on foreign oil. Fifth - what other countries should we send our soldiers into so that 4000+ can die for their oil?

I minded the spending on the Iraqi war by bush and his costly tax cuts for the wealthy because both were unnecessary. The spending Obama is doing is necessary to tackle the tough problems that need to be addressed. I actually supported* Hillary Clinton in the primary and then Obama when he won the nomination. I supported both because I wanted a democrat in the White House and I don't give a rat's patooty about the personality of either. * When I say supported I mean I worked for their campaigns - canvassing, phone banks, etc..

Why would you think that Obama wanted those things when he never said THAT during his campaign? He talked about universal health care and he also said he supported a single payer plan (which is a public option). Tort reform is just a distraction from the real issues of healthcare reform. It represents such a very small percentage of healthcare costs as to just be a red herring by those who oppose Obama. Texas has tort reform and healthcare costs have risen.

I think that's proof that the majority of Americans like President Obama, they just don't agree with his vision of healthcare reform as it now stands. Actually, they elected Obama to reform healthcare with a public option or provide universal healthcare and his stance now is what it was when he was a candidate - actually if anything, it has moderated. So, I don't think it's the pro-universal healthcare, pro-public option people who voted for him who now disagree with him. It's not like it comes as a big surprise that he wanted to reform healthcare.

So, when they say something you agree with, they are being truthful, but when they say something you don't agree with, they are lying. I think that sums up your perspective. Very interesting! And revealing.

I call my senators (both democrats) and congressman (republican) almost every week. They hear from me and I tell them I will be watching their vote. I just had a letter to the editor published a few weeks ago criticizing said congressman and his sham of a healthcare town hall forum. The letters in my paper are running in favor of Obama and healthcare reform with the public option. So, someone caught ACORN in a gotcha moment. Those who committed this scandal deserved to be fired. If Obama hadn't been involved with ACORN, you wouldn't even be hearing about it. Conservatives believe that they have hit upon a winning formula for such attacks as the one on ACORN - mobilize people to dig up dirt, pump it up on talk radio and tv and then demand that Congress do something about it. bush had a bunch of czars, too, so what? Oh, that's right, it's Obama now, so it matters. And if the republicans have enough time on their hand to dig up dirt -then I urge them to go back and investigate the bush administration - there was enough dirt there to convict the entire adminstration. That should keep them busy. But no, wait, they weren't interested in digging up dirt when they were wallowing in it under bush. But now with Obama, well that's a different story. All this outrage is so PHONEY. PHONEY, PHONEY, PHONEY. From the birthers To those who think his speech to students had a hidden agenda To those who think he wants the government to take control of everything Or that Obama is a muslim or a socialist or a communist It's all about one thing - their hatred of Obama and their desire to see him fail so that his presidency will fail and the pathetic republicans and their angry, hate-filled, sour grapes followers can have something to Celebrate. They've said it - the senator who wants the failure of healthcare to be Obama's waterloo or the people who say bury Obamacare with Kennedy. Or "I didn't come armed - this time" None of these people - the elected ones or their followers - care about improving this country or helping to solve problems. They just won't accept Obama as their president and they have one goal and one goal only and that is to take down Obama. Period.

Exactly right, BJean. Many who were moderate in the republican party switched to independent before the 2008 election, leaving the composition of the republican party decidedly extreme right wing. That's all who's left of the republican senators. And the republican party became a localized party too - to the south. So, they are extreme and localized. No surprise that the congressman who shouted "You lie" was from the south. And before it was revealed who did it, Wilson's wife asked him who the idiot was who yelled that. :thumbup: So, when you have a group that has grown smaller in numbers and geographically smaller, then you have to yell louder to get heard. That's what is happening.

Join Date: Sep 2008 Age: 48 Posts: 1,494 City: Naugatuck State: CT Re: First Lady now requires 26 servants permalink Quote: Originally Posted by Cleo's Mom What he is - is a president who finally has the guts to address the problems left over from other presidents who didn't address them. It is always easier to kick the can down the street to the next guy. Obama had to do something for the economy. He had to do something to keep the banks from failing. This is why he was elected. While painful, the money used to keep the banks and insurance companies from failing kept us from a full fledged depression. If he had done nothing, then you'd see people taking to the streets complaining that unemployment was 20%, maybe half of mortgages going into default, many more businesses going out of business, etc.. And you know this for sure,... how?... That could not be predicted. Economists make predictions all the time. That's their job. Where have you been? And Obama didn't make this decision in a vacuum - he had economic advisors. The stimulus put money in people's pocket in the way of tax cuts plus money to get projects going and to save and create jobs - which it did (about one million). Every penny you borrow must be paid back with interest. Noone has ever been able to stable their finances by spending some more. We are all in the situation we're in because we spent beyond our means. Whenever a person spends more than he takes in, he will need to suffer the consequences by doing without for a while till he gets his finances stabilized. Yet, this is the American Way: Spend, spend and spend some more! The jobs that the stimulus created didn't do squat. Most of them were shortlived or temporary jobs and then most were government jobs.(more of which we don't need) What did bush ask the American people to do without to finance the Iraqi war? Oh that's right - he didn't - he just gave the biggest tax cut in history to the wealthy. I'm still waiting for it to trickle down. Every headline that I see says that it is working and the recession is ending. Had Obama not infused the money into the economy we would be in a depression. This isn't my opinion, it is supported by economists whose expertise monitors this. If we went into a depression for a time and the people had to do without for a while in order to rebound, what's wrong with that? Have you not studied history and the depression that took 10 years to get out of? You want people to suffer for 10 years? I don't think throwing more people into poverty, the emergency room, on medicare and into Soup kitchens is the answer. Talk about heartless!!! Instead, we must suffer the other way and not us only, but our children, grand children and great grandchildren when it must be repaid! The non-partisan budget office said that healthcare could REDUCE the federal deficit by $49 billion over 10 years. That's right, reduce it. Fairyland dreaming! When has the government ever run a program that actually made money??!! Yeah right If this office had said it would increase the deficit you would suddenly give them credit.

What he is - is a president who finally has the guts to address the problems left over from other presidents who didn't address them. It is always easier to kick the can down the street to the next guy. Obama had to do something for the economy. He had to do something to keep the banks from failing. This is why he was elected. While painful, the money used to keep the banks and insurance companies from failing kept us from a full fledged depression. If he had done nothing, then you'd see people taking to the streets complaining that unemployment was 20%, maybe half of mortgages going into default, many more businesses going out of business, etc.. The stimulus put money in people's pocket in the way of tax cuts plus money to get projects going and to save and create jobs - which it did (about one million). Every headline that I see says that it is working and the recession is ending. Had Obama not infused the money into the economy we would be in a depression. This isn't my opinion, it is supported by economists whose expertise monitors this. The non-partisan budget office said that healthcare could REDUCE the federal deficit by $49 billion over 10 years. That's right, reduce it. If we don't do healthcare our deficit will increase and additional burdens will be put on medicare and medicaid. The right wing, who never voted for Obama, and many of whom do not consider him a legitimate president (birthers, etc) were quiet during the honeymoon period of Obama. Nothing was to be gained then by their irrational opinions. But when congress recessed for August and held town hall meeting, well they finally found the forum they were waiting for. It snowballed from there. They organized, with the help of Dick Armey and Freedom Watch among others, their hate fueled by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. They relished the media attention and their lies playing on people's fears were perpetuated. Some people who won't take the time to understand the facts are understandably fearful when the vocal extremists are getting all the media attention. But I think the tide will turn. Those of us who support Obama are organizing with planned events. We did it to get Obama elected, we will do it now to support healthcare reform, clean energy, etc.. People are already tiring of the radical extremists on the right with signs that have nothing to do with spending and everything to do with hatred of Obama like: Zoos have an african lion and the white house has a lyin' african.