The fact is that this speech had no meat to it.  There was nothing worthwhile in it post the honoring of Congresswoman Giffords.  He maybe addressed the actual state of the country three-quarters through, but even then nobody believed that everything is going according to plan.  Maybe after the amazing speech in Tucson we all had too high of expectations, but we can expect great speeched from “the Orator.”  And what is this nonsense about the highlight of the speech being Sputnik?  Seriously, I thought it was the most detrimental part of his speech towards his agenda.  What resulted from Sputnik was the forward thinking of private industry.  The government did not give us the moon landing….private industry did.  Private industry was driven to research and manufacture what was needed, thanks to President John F. Kennedy’s (the last good Democrat) policies that gave the private sector initiative and rewards.  President Obama called for freezing spending while touting new programs he wants to start or expand.  Where I am from we call that hypocrisy.

I find it ridiculous that anyone could possibly believe a word he said the other night.   The fact is that he has made all those promises before and has had two years to at least attempt to keep them….and he hasn’t.  The speech was not on the state of the union.  No, this speech was about what empty promises he will give us if elected again in 2012.  This was the first official-unofficial campaign speech for 2012, and if this is a sign of what is to come than it is going to be a good year for Republicans yet again.

As for the responses…..

What can I say about Paul Ryan, except that he should have been Speaker of the House.  His rebuttal said exactly what needed to be said.  We don’t have time to try spending freezes.  America is in trouble.  During President George W. Bush’s Presidency we should have addressed the deficit, but now we HAVE to.  This isn’t game, and it is not about what is liberal and what is conservative.  It is about what America must do to restore its power in the world, and remain what Reagan called the shining city on the hill.  The best Republican response to the freeze I have heard was when your car is accelerating towards a cliff, you don’t put on cruise control….you hit the brakes.  Couldn’t have said it better myself.

And what can I say about Michelle Bachmann…While I am glad that she was allowed to speak after the State of the Union, I have to ask why her?  Of all the tea party candidates why her?  Having the Tea Party represented is a very good idea in that it  shows there is another group that is going to hold Republicans accountable.  We cannot return to the “Democrat-lite” that Republicans were under Bush.  And I also want to know who setting up the technology, because you should always, always be sure that even if you are reading your speech right of the paper you should at least look like you are looking at the camera!  And the charts were a little over the top….but then again so is Bachmann…

The State of the Union was not worth watching.  So if you were cooler than me and had better things to do (like going to that banjo concert with Grandma, or attending that lecture on how to efficiently use the school library), then do not worry because you did not miss anything.  Obama spent half of the more than an hour speech attempting to convince the American people, that he hasn’t been President for two years.  He made promises that completely contradicted each other.   Finally he campaigned for 2012.  This “meatless” campaign speech very briefly addressed the state of the country, and left many people such as myself feeling like those old ladies in the 1984 Wendy’s commercial.

Mr. President….”WHERE’S THE BEEF?”

Back when talk first began about the Ground Zero mosque, I knew that things would soon get out of hand.  I knew people would try to force the builders to halt the development and I knew that certain American Muslims would scream “bigotry” and “anti-Islam sentiment.”  The United States has a Constitution.  Our government is to heed this Constitution under all circumstances (arguably the government has not done so well at this in the least) to protect the rights of all its citizens.  This Constitution does not allow for the government to come in and stop a religious organization from building what they want or where they want.  If this Imam and his people want to build a mosque so close to Ground Zero they have every God-given American right to do so!  There is nothing anyone can do about it!  I find it funny that many of the people who are so venomously against this mosque are the same people who claim to “fight for the Constitution.”  It is hypocrisy in it most blatant form.  Now that being said, I think building a mosque so close to Ground Zero is a terribly bad idea and one of the dumbest things this Imam and his supporters could possibly think to do. You don’t think that this is a blatant attempt to stir up controversy and take a stab at the American people?  It is completely insensitive to even discuss building a mosque at an area still scarred by Islamic extremism.  I find it very odd that a group that calls for increased sensitivity to Muslim concerns and needs would be so incredibly insensitive.  We must respect the sensitivities of Muslims in America, but so must American sensitivities be respected by Muslims in America.  It is a two way street.

Moving on to the equally idiotic decision to call for the burning of Korans in Florida.  Again, this pastor is rightfully protected under the United States Constitution to do whatever he wants to the Koran.  And again, I think this is one of the dumbest things this pastor and his supporters could decide to do.  After whining and complaining about the insensitivities of the Ground Zero mosque supporters, these people go and do something so completely insensitive.  If a Muslim group decided they were going to have a Bible burning on Christmas, these same people would be spitting fire.  Again, if we expect Muslims to be sensitive to non-Muslims, than we have to be sensitive towards them.  I know the concept of two-way streets are a hard concept when so many cities have so many one-way streets, but really it’s easy enough.

What irritated me the most about both of these situations was the complete double standard that was set by both sides of the issue and the Obama administration.  People who were crying foul at the insensitivity of the mosque and demanded that people be more sympathetic to their wishes, were vehement supporters of something that did just the opposite of what they were demanding only weeks before.  The people who were the most adamant supporters of the utterly insensitive mosque, were the first ones flying off the handle about the planned Koran burnings.  If they only knew how dumb they looked.  The Imam who is so in support of the mosque goes on national television and claims that the burning of the Korans will cause the Arab communities to “explode” (his words not mine……probably not the best choice of words).  But his support of the mosque didn’t cause Americans to do the same?  You can anger non-Muslims, but non Muslims better not cross you?

The Obama Administration made the right choice in not trying to force the mosque supporters from building (although their reasoning behind it was a little out of tune), but they set such an incredible double standard with the Florida pastor.  When the mosque fiasco arose, the administration practically shrugged off the whole incident.  But when the pastor down in Florida plans his little barbecue, now it is a “national security threat?”  The administration talks about calling the pastor to Washington to “talk?”  What made the two events so different that they had to be handled in such drastically different ways?

These double standards on everyone’s part are unacceptable.  The Constitution does not provide more liberty for one party over another.  It provides a balance that we must use to weigh all issues independently.  It requires that we look at and treat both of these instances with the same light and in doing so we will see them for what they really are……incredibly dumb, insensitive decisions fully protected under the United States Constitution.  So everyone cool down.  Take a step back.  Think for yourselves for once and the country will thank you for it in the future .

If Massachusetts was a big enough blow to the President that he actually begins to avidly pursue some of the things he proclaimed last night, then he might be moving more towards a more centrist policy.  I hope Washington becomes more bipartisan and less corrupt.  I hope Obama begins to give tax cuts.  I hope Obama gets rid of or greatly lowers the Capital Gains Tax.  I hope I am wrong in thinking that none of the things I agreed with from the speech last night will actually happen, but looking at the past year of his administration,  I am not counting on it.

The American people have an anger about the growth of the deficit because they’re not getting anything for it. … If somebody has the idea that the percentage of GDP of what our national debt is will go up a bit, but they will now — and their neighbors and their children — will have jobs, I think they could absorb that, and then we ride it out and bring money in,” she said. “But I think if anybody is asking the public, ‘Would you rather have a job or the percentage of GDP of our national debt would go up a little bit?’ I think that everybody wants a job.

The deficit of the U.S. Government reached an astounding $1.4 trillion the past fiscal year.  When is it enough.  If it wasn’t so devastating to the future of this country, the spending tirade in Washington would be laughable.  It WOULD be laughable that the U.S. is $12 trillion in debt.  It WOULD be laughable that as we are going bankrupt, Democrats develop new spending every month, with no look to increasing income.  It WOULD be laughable that Democrats ignore public outcries, claim that they know better than voters, and spend, spend, spend.  It WOULD be laughable that while our economy still suffers after the first stimulus package, they speak of firing up a new one.  It WOULD be laughable that while the economy continues to suffer and people keep losing jobs, the Democrats claim that the first stimulus has been successful.  It WOULD be laughable…..but it is not!  It is scary, and it is ludicrous.  It is not laughable that they are ignoring the future effects of their actions.  It is not laughable that our children and grandchildren have a lifetime of government debt in their future.  It is not laughable that we will soon no longer be working for our own profit, but to pay off our debts (in other words, slave labor).  How long will we, the American people, stand by and watch Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama take our money and flush it down the toilet?  I can do that myself thank you.  I don’t need to pay them to do it for me.

The simple fact that this second stimulus is being considered is a blow to the opinions of the American people.  With all the outcry from the first stimulus, government-run healthcare, and other reckless spending, these “voices of the people” (insert sarcasm here), are ignoring these cries.  They claim to know better than the American people.  They think us ignorant and confused.  But we are aware.  We are very aware and in 2010, they will also be made aware.  They will be made aware that we do hold their job security in the palm of our hands, and when they ignore us for their own power grabs, agendas, or plain stupidity, we will give them their pink slips.  Then, they will understand what they have done to so many over the two years.

The Ownership Society is what America needs to try to find its way back towards.  President Bush tried to implement this, but did a very poor job in doing so.  The absolute failure of which was the first round of bailouts in late 2008.  As long as the executives believe the money will be there to bail them out, they will treat it like it is not their own.  As the United States moves towards a Nanny State, the people are feeling less inclined to move out of the holes they are in.  Every human being has the right to survive.  Not every human has the right to luxury.  When the government gives luxuries, or anything more than necessity, the lives people create are not their own.  They do not feel motivated to treat their lives as if they were to obtain those luxuries.  They become dependent on society, rather than their own will.  Now, this is not limited to a certain sect of the population.  Almost all of us, if placed in the situation, would find ourselves drowning in the welfare system.  It provides only the means for an individual to become stuck in the quicksand of social welfares.  It is far too easy, and the system is broken.  The welfare system can be adapted to a Ownership Society.  A system that will provide the way out of the quicksand permanently, rather than giving only a short breather before tossing people back in, will be the end to the growing income gap the United States is seeing.  A strong, nanny welfare state sucks people into a system of which only a few can escape.  Give the people a stake, and they will fight.  Keep government out, and let the American people run the economy.

Finally, I want to leave you all with something I heard from a prominent minister in the Chicago area.  I hear him speak at an event one night, and what he said seemed the perfect analogy to why, as moral beings, we must oppose the Nanny/Socialist state.  Picture American citizens as rocks at the bottom of a fast flowing river.  The river rushes over them, grinding them down until they are nothing more than sand.  The nanny state would attempt to save them by picking up the rocks, drying them off with a golden threaded towel……and then throwing them back into the river.  The state would then work against itself for an eternity.  What we are called to do as the moral beings we are, is to move the river; to stop the system from turning the American citizens into sand that gets carried away never to be found again.  The nanny state is not Christian, but manipulative.

• Spending over budget
• Compulsive Buying
• It’s a chronic problem
• Hiding the problem
• A viscous circle
• Impaired relationships
• Clear Consequences
• Shopping or spending money as a result of feeling angry, depressed, anxious, or lonely
• Having arguments with others about one’s shopping habits
• Feeling lost without credit cards — actually going into withdrawal without them
• Buying items on credit, rather than with cash
• Describing a rush or a feeling of euphoria with spending
• Feeling guilty, ashamed, or embarrassed after a spending spree
• Lying about how much money was spent. For instance, owning up to buying something, but lying about how much it actually cost
• Thinking obsessively about money
• Spending a lot of time juggling accounts or bills to accommodate spending

Now the thing to remember is that people who have this disease, only have to exhibit a few of these symptoms in order for it to be confirmed.  Let us go through the ones they seem to suffer from, and you will see that they definitely suffer from this condition and deserve our sympathy.

Spending over Budget: this is an obvious one, that only needs an explanation of the national debt of $11,893,668,881,089.01 (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np)

Compulsive Buying: Pork Amendments.  When a bill comes to the House or Senate, it may be completely legitimate.  But due to the disease, our poor congressmen and women cannot defeat the “compulsion” to attach amendments onto the bill for pork barrel projects, such as the “Bridge to Nowhere” or other billions upon billions of dollars on unnecessary projects.  This could also apply for the representatives’ compulsion to spend money on everything that comes to their attention.

It’s a Chronic Problem: For decades our debt has been adding up, and not since the Clinton years has their been a balanced budget.  Spending increased significantly since and under the recent Congress and President has increased budget spending and the deficit by seemingly mythical numbers, with no signs of stopping.

Hiding the Problem: Our representatives know they have a problem, and so they try to marginalize or completely hide the spending.  For example, I will use the current healthcare debate.  With the announcement of each new proposed bill costing between 800-900 billion dollars that will be no cost to the public, but then offer no real numbers for how they will account for the aforementioned spending.  Also, there was the attempt to hide some parts of the bills in other bills to hide the true cost.

A Vicious Circle: It is sad to say that the massive amount of debt we have, has been answered by more massive spending “in order to stop the debt.”  When the economy began to collapse in late 2008-present, the answer to the problem has been to spend more money to solve the problem.  This has only added to our debt, causing talk of another stimulus package that will put us yet even further into debt.  This is the vicious cycle.

Impaired Relationships: Many of the relationships of our government have been hurt by their addiction.  On the domestic level, the constituents have all but lost respect for our representatives.  They are ignoring the voices of these constituents, and claiming they superior knowledge in order to allow for their spending habits.  This has caused a major rift between the constituents and their representatives.  On an international level, some of the strongest allies of our government have also expressed concern over the massive spending.  Our representatives ignore these concerns and continue to feed the addiction, in turn hurting foreign relationships.  They also lose a lot of once hard-earned respect our nation once had amongst foreign powers.

Clear Consequences: This national debt has clear consequences.  Utter failure.  The overspending of our representatives will destroy our country, unless they can be cured and drastically change the direction of the debt in this country.

The next three points in the above list do not completely apply (although the arguments over spending habits is arguable).  So on to the next on the list….

Buying Items on Credit, Rather than with Cast: Apparently that is what the Chinese are for…..

Describing a Rush or a Feeling of Euphoria While Spending: The spenders always smile when the President signs that spending into effect, I mean, Nancy Pelosi always has that euphoric look and cheesy smile on her face.

Our representatives show no remorse or guilt for spending the money that they are.  Therefore, this symptom is not present.

Lying About How Much Money was Spent: see Hiding the Problem. Also, putting a price tag on a bill that turns out costing much more when put into effect.

As you can see, our representative exhibit at least 10/16 of these symptoms.  That is more than enough to point to a spending addiction, which is a disease that we must cure.  It also seems to be infectious, as many representatives who enter into the government without this addiction, eventually become addicted to the spending.  We must make the effort to reach out to our representatives and offer them the counseling they need to recover from their disease.  It is not their fault, and therefore we must give them our sympathy…it’s just the way of government.

Dick Cheney gave some interesting information, that as I write this has not been discredited by the Obama administration.  Cheney said that during the transition period, the administrations met about Afghanistan.  The Bush administration went over the policy that they had come up with and the Obama administration liked it.  They decided to use it, and then asked that the Bush administration keep all that information secret.  So the time has come for the Obama administration to “pony up” and stop the blame game.  He will have to start answering for his own decisions, and stop blaming Bush.  Now the man he has placed in charge in Afghanistan has requested more troops, and states that if he does not get those troops we will lose in Afghanistan.  While our men and women are fighting a losing battle, Obama is pandering to the left of his party and taking weeks and months to come up with a strategy before sending the troops.

Rahm Emanuel has claimed that sending the requested troops without making a decision, would be irresponsible because sending more troops would be setting us down a certain path.  Senator John Kerry stated that giving in to the request before the elections in Afghanistan were decided would be irresponsible.  I state that not giving in to the request of your appointed General and listening to lobbyists and the far left of your party for weeks, all while the lives of our men and women are being put on the line is absolutely irresponsible, and in fact it is unforgivable.  This is a perfect example of politicians playing politics with the lives of our friends and families.  With military conflict, I believe it is a must to do what is necessary for victory or not use it at all, or in this case get out.  But we can not do that either.  To get up and leave now would be completely ignorant of what the Taliban will do if they were allowed to regain political power.  This is the same “party” who has one of the worst human rights records in the world.  For those of us who have seen the movie “Kite Runner,” and even more so for those of us that have personally seen or experienced it, the Taliban has the amount of evil capability in them as the Nazi party x10.  From child sex slave trafficking, to opium production, to intense sharia law, and of course their treating of women as worse than dogs, the Taliban cannot be left to do as they please with the very weak political system that has been established under the presence of the United States.  Our leaving would leave Afghanistan with a tragic civil war, the end of which would begin a time period of massive human rights violations not seen since Kosovo.

Obama needs to send the troops and resources his Generals require in order to keep safe the lives of Americans that are in Afghanistan.  Then, he can make his decision about a new plan.  I pray that President Obama will stop playing politics with lives of our brothers and sisters, and that he will do what is right, rather than what will keep him in good position with the left of his party.  That or pull them all out and prepare for the coming storm.  Although I do not support pulling the troops completely out at this point, it would be better than putting American forces at unnecessary risk, while playing with the bureaucracy.

In the Republican Party, I will look at whom thus far seems to be the front runners.  The candidates that seem to be standing out are Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Sarah Palin.

Mitt Romney has been doing a lot of traveling promoting his political action committee (PAC), “Free and Strong America.”  Many people in 2008 felt uneasy about his becoming pro-life and pro-marriage, and didn’t trust that these changes were   pure of heart.  Yet, with the help of his PAC he has traveled the country promoting and supporting conservative candidates.  There is still much skepticism,and dare I say vile rejection, from the “Evangelical Right” that Romney is a pro-life candidate.  Romney is a business and economic “demi-god.”  He took the corrupt, near bankrupt Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 and took it from what was certain to be debt for Utah into a $50 million dollar surplus.  His other success stories include Staples and Dominoes.

Mike Huckabee has the perfect platform to have his voice heard:  The Fox News Channel.  His weekend talk show is quite popular and rightfully so.  His new take on news programming is refreshing from the live audience to his playing with the guest band on his bass guitar.  In the 2008 election, Huckabee became the candidate of the Christian Right, and not many else.  He was the social conservative candidate versus a fiscal conservative candidate.  His views on  immigration and his social health programs were widely criticized and caused him much strife in gaining the support of the “Libertarian Conservatives.”  Learning from his mistakes, Huckabee, while still advocating his Christian Conservative principles, has shifted the focus from his social political thought to his fiscal political thought.  Huckabee knows how to fill a room with laughter.  He is a real stand up guy, who when talking can make you feel at ease.

Sarah Palin has also stood out as a possible presidential candidate in 2012.  Sarah Palin gets most of her support due to her intense celebrity status in the Republican Party.  While I do not question her intelligence, drive, ethics, or clout, unless something changes in the next three years (which it could), Sarah Palin as the nominee would be the key to another Obama victory.  She MUST become more policy oriented in her speeches, and less the politician of one-liners.  She has a lot of redeeming to do, due to the botched 2008 election.

In the Democratic Party, it may seem like their choice is already made and that Obama is the definite candidate.  It most likely is, but I would not be surprised to see a member of his administration running against him in the primary.  A recent poll shows that Hillary Clinton has a higher approval rating than Barrack Obama at this point.  Clinton’s run for the presidency also was ended on wobbly terms.  She did not seem real ready to give up her fight.  Clinton hungers for the presidency, and unless something changes I could see her being Obama’s opponent in the primary.

The 2012 elections will be here before we know it.  At this time, I already have made my choice on who I believe, so far, to be the best choice for the Republican candidate for President.  With fiscal responsibility being completely ignored, and the economy suffering the way it is, it is obvious that Mitt Romney should be our choice for 2012.  The issue of the times is the economy and fiscal responsibility.  Although, his social positions may be shaky, I have to put those concerns aside and vote for the man who I first most believe can save our country and the economy.  Not only will he be the best we have to offer, he is the candidate who will be able to get us a victory.  I fear that Huckabee will bring a view that voting for him is voting for a specific religious agenda, rather than the conservative platform he promotes.  Needless to say, with two of these three candidates I feel proud to be a Republican.  These rising stars and possible future leaders of the party, proclaim what we as Republicans need to stand up for.  2012 here we come!  But first…..2010!

“…if you watch even its not even their commentators, but a lot of their news program. It’s really not news, it’s pushing a point of view and the bigger thing is that other news organizations like yours, ought not to treat them that way…”

Now, why the sudden attacks on Fox News?  Why slap the hand of Fox News while patting the backs of the other news organizations?  The fact of the matter is that the Obama administration despises criticism of all kinds from anyone.  Who is the one news organization that has asked the tough questions and committed the real investigative journalism?  Glenn Beck has nearly single-handedly forced the democrats to vote to cut funding from ACORN, and forced the resignation of Van Jones as “Green Czar.”  This is when the most volatile attacks began.  The attacks and the strong counter attacks to criticisms arise from the sense of arrogance that seems to flow from this administration.  We seem to get the persona from the administration that they know better than everyone else on what we want, and they just cannot understand why people disagree.  Not since President Nixon has America seen such disdain from a President towards one media outlet.  Nixon once sent a memo to all his administration stating that they were to offer no interviews or information to the New York Times.  And we all know what happened to him.  Already, there has been, unexpectedly to the Obama adminstration, a backlash to the war on Fox News.  Correspondents from CNN and ABC have already begun to criticize the attacks.  While many left leaning journalists, bloggers, etc. disagree with Fox News, they utterly are disgusted by a President who attempts to shut down a news organization.  Yet, the administration shows no signs of letting up.  Fox News was recently told by the administration that they will receive no interviews from Obama till at least  2010.  This is a war they are destined to lose, but they are going to fight it to no avail.  This war is their quagmire.  Fox News is the most watched news network in the country and the “conflict” is only contributing to a rise in their viewership.  I think that Chris Wallace sums it up perfectly when he says the Obama administration is, “the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my 30 years in Washington.”