White House – Page 2 – Dakotans for Honesty in Politics

Truth Meter: Obama’s Feigned Concern over the Dangers of Ipods

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May 112010

In a May 9 commencement speech to graduates at Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, President Obama claimed that modern technology and social media are “putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.”

Great! Many HOPE that to be true, as both our country and democracy have been needing a new pressure – a pressure that would cause people to wake up and “smell the coffee” (as one of my old teachers would have put it). Our democracy has been spiraling out of control with Democrats and Republicans both having made decisions that put us on a financial train wreck. Modern technology and social media bring pressure by providing a level of transparency and public discourse never before possible in history. Many thank God for it.

Not so President Obama, although he made great use of modern technology and social media throughout his 2008 campaign. He told the graduates on Sunday,

“…meanwhile, you’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank that high on the truth meter.”

Let’s stop here. Truth meter? Obama is going to lecture US about truth? Does he sincerely believe that most of America still thinks he’s honest?

He goes on,

“And with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations – none of which I know how to work – (laughter) – information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it’s putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.”

WHAT?

– OK, first, he’s talking about a Truth meter, and inferring that that Truth is important…and then goes ahead and lies about his use of this horrid technology. CNN.com’s SciTech blog, John D. Sutter writes that during the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama told Rolling Stone his iPod contained songs by Bob Dylan, Jay-Z and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He also told the AP he has all Michael Jackson music “on my iPod.” He’s even given the Queen Elizabeth an Ipod (With…can you believe this?… his speeches programmed in. Talk about arrogant…) And his administration uses social media to push their agenda constantly. His Press Secretary made a big show of starting to use Twitter.

– Second…most of us feel that yes, indeed, modern technology HAS been a huge tool for empowerment and emancipation! Call Twitter, Blogs and other non-traditional media what you want, but I and many others are GRATEFUL for the ability to get news without having to depend on NBC, ABC or CBS.

– But third …wait, most of what he mentioned in the above list ARE …primarily tools used for…entertainment, right? Not information? So…what’s he talking about? Tools for entertainment aren’t putting pressure on the democracy…are they? Wait…there’s an ipod in England loaded with his speeches….right; an entertainment ipod which contains distracting information that doesn’t rank that high on the truth meter… exists.

No, this feigned concern over the dangers of ipods, etc. was a farce. He campaigned using social media, and his administration continues to use it heavily. This wasn’t about the dangers of modern technology. This was about the lamest attempt to quash dissent ever recorded. Obama can control a few of the major news sources, but he hasn’t been able to control what we text, tweet, and blog each other. And that’s what he hates, just as much as he hates the Tea Party.

Some think that this was his first volley in an attempt to control the Internet as well as dissenting news media. If it was, it was a very weak and ineffective volley. Needless to say, any attempt to circumvent the constitution and prevent people from freely communicating would only anger the public further. No matter what, they would continue to communicate by any means possible.

He might have wanted to give the appearance that he was trying to ”warn” America’s youth about the dangers of new technology, but for many of us, the actual warning we received is that he’s trying – ineffectively – to dampen trust in the myriad news sources that he can’t control.

Obama Swipes at Media, Says ‘Information’ Onslaught Pressuring ‘Democracy’

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/10/obama-targets-ipods-video-games-commencement-address/

ObamaCare: Don’t make me Sick

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Mar 222010

Thieves! I don’t have much money, but what little I have – Keep your hands off!

My Representative, Earl Pomeroy, voted FOR the passage of the Senate’s massive health insurance overhaul Sunday night. Among many of the onerous provisions that our country can’t afford:

– Children will be able to remain under their parents health coverage until they are 26.

– Insurance companies who participate in the government-run exchange will be allowed to provide for abortions. Many prolife orgs, including the National Right to Life, say that federal funds will be used for some of those abortions.

– In all, there will be a half a trillion in new taxes.

– The House “fixes” on the Senate bill raise taxes $50 Billion dollars more, as well as cut Medicare spending $66 billion more for a total of $523 billion.

– The $523 billion of money taken from Medicare will be used to pay for this new government program, including subsidies to help families with incomes up to $75,000 a year buy health insurance. $75,000 is NOT low income. I, for one, do not want my health needs to come before those of my elders – in particular, the vets who fought for our country and their wives.

– Estimates are that this legislation will expand the deficit by more than $660 billion dollars. So, not only are we neglecting the needs our elders, but we’ll be leaving our grandchildren with an impossible debt.

– The above are facts. There are rumors of much more to be frightened of.

Thanks Earl Pomeroy. I for one, will be voting for your opponent. You, too, Obama. You are no hero of mine.

The campaigns against all those that voted for this horrendous legislation must begin today, whether or not they even have an opponent yet.

I write this as a low income widow that has lived many years without Insurance. Having lived seven years in Canada and witnessed their abysmal care, I would rather have no insurance than to have our country and health care system ruined by Canadian style Obamacare.

These last few weeks, even listening to Obama go on and on with his rhetoric makes me sick to my stomach. Is it just me, or does he talk now with a sing song in his voice, as if he’s a Television Evangelist? Someone please tell him to stop. Please. It’s truly nauseating.

Michelle Obama and her News-Free Zone

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Feb 202010

Are you kidding me? In an interview with Mike Huckabee, Michelle Obama said she stays away from news because she wants to formulate her own opinions based on her “experiences.” Obama said she reads news clips from the headlines, “but I tend and I try to keep home kind of news-free zone.”

At this unusual time in American history – when more Americans are waking up to what’s going on in their government and getting involved, Queen Obama announces that her family home is a “News-Free” zone, because she prefers her own “experience” to those of her fellow citizens. She has no need for factual events going on with anyone else.

We teach our kids in school to stay on top of current events and we hold discussions with them in classrooms and at our dinner-tables. Adults gather at watercoolers, lunch tables, and townhall meetings to discuss news. Many turn to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media to stay informed. And wait – didn’t liberals mock Sarah Palin when she didn’t answer Katie Couric’s question about magazines she reads?

But not Michelle Obama. Forget about gathering information and researching facts. Her home is a “News-Free” zone and her personal experience is all that she needs.

Heaven knows that any news about what the country is actually thinking, doing, or saying is the last thing she wants to hear about.

“Let them eat cake” she may as well have said.

Never mind if her personal experience has been limited to Chicago, and she knows nothing about the experience of rural, non-black, or “less than elite” Americans.

Has she ever been on welfare? Has she ever slept in the projects? No?

What about an understanding of middle class America? She’s been living on the high end for a long time; enjoying the pay-offs that come with her husband’s social and political positions. Does she have any understanding of what it is like to work your fingers to the bone and still not be able to make ends meet? Or what it is like to keep a small family business in the black with today’s economy and taxes? No? Lived and worked in the rural bread basket of America; known people who gather for coffee in a small town cafe?

I’ve had experience with all those things, and it amazes me that Michelle Obama assumes she can have any understanding of what I or most other Americans are about. She’ll never understand the Tea Party if she’s going to depend solely on her personal “experiences” to formulate her opinions. But…maybe she doesn’t want to understand the Tea Party.

But what can we expect. This is no different then what any of the “progressive” elite are doing. They really don’t give a rip about the poor or middle class. Just like John Edwards, they don’t even like being around them. They feign concern, wailing about “all the poor that can’t afford Health insurance” simply because it makes good sound bites and gives an excuse for their dominating agenda.

But heaven forbid they spend any real time getting their hands dirty. You won’t see John Edwards or Michelle Obama wiping saliva off the chins of elderly with dementia, much less take the time to really hear what “Tea Partiers” are trying to say.

Lastly, as can be seen on twitter and other social sites – Americans react to news as a group. It’s actually part of who we are. Before the day is out, most of us know if someone of importance had passed away that day, or if there was a major tragedy a few states away. We talk about it with people at school, work and home. Part of the feeling of being “slapped” by her statement is …well, it’s the elitist attitude. Not only does it seem that she doesn’t care about facts, but it seems she doesn’t care to share in our community news, whether it be national joy or national agnst. We’re just not important to her.

Obama, Tireless Campaigner, Hires Plouffe to Snow Us Some More

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Jan 252010

Excuse me? Obama is in trouble for lying to the country, taking over banks and car companies, trying to push legislation down the people’s throats, mocking regular people for speaking up, staffing the White House with socialists and communists, and causing the Democratic Party to take a nose dive – and he responds, not by changing his direction, apologizing, or bringing in new, non-communist people to take crucial lead positions in the administration; he brings in his old campaign manager, David Plouffe. A political consultant? Are you kidding me?

Remember when it was noted that he was a master campaigner, but wouldn’t know how to run the country? So what is he doing now but continuing to campaign rather than run the country. That’s all he knows how to do – campaign – and that was noted long ago, as he’d gone from one campaign to another, climbing up the political ladder without ever accomplishing anything; barely spending a year in the US Senate before beginning his campaign for the presidency.

Now, again, it appears that the plan is to do some more campaigning rather than lead the country. It appears that he’s going to fix all his troubles by getting his campaign manager to come up with a plan to try to snow us – to tell us what they think we want to hear, rather than getting a crew around him that can devise an agenda that will work with our country and our people.

Why? Why would they respond to the Massachusetts election by hiring David Plouffe? Because they don’t plan on changing their current agenda. They plan to change how we perceive their agenda. Thus begins a new campaign. Brace yourselves for some fresh propaganda.

White House Tells Artists to Tell Country “What to do”

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Sep 222009

“You are the thought leaders,” the artists were told. “You are the ones that, if you create a piece of art or promote a piece of art or create a campaign for a company, and tell our country and our young people sort of what to do and what to be in to; and what’s cool and what’s not cool. And so I’m hoping that through this group and the goal of all this and the goal of this phone call, is through this group that we can create a stronger community amongst ourselves to get involved in things that we’re passionate about as we did during the campaign but continue to get involved in those things, to support some of the president’s initiatives, but also to do things that we are passionate about and to push the president and push his administration.” This from Michael Skolnik, political director for a hip-hop mogul.

“We’re going to need your help, and we’re going to come at you with some specific ‘asks’ here,” added Buffy Wicks, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. “But we know that you guys are ready for it and eager to participate, so one we want to thank you, and two, I hope you guys are ready.” The White House Office of Public Engagement, together with the NEA and “United We Serve,” an initiative created by President Obama, held this telephone conference in August with hand-picked artists from across the country.

They are the “thought leaders,” according to the White House, being directed to change our minds. They are the thought leaders, whose jobs are to tell us what to do and think.

How offensive is that? Who does this administration think they are: first telling hundreds of thousands of the American public – the elderly, veterans, young families, from all walks of life – that they are a “mob,” “astro-turf,” and “racists,” for speaking their minds, and now telling rappers and painters that the public is also so stupid that they will let artists tell them what they are supposed to think? And at our own (tax-payer) expense?

This administration appears to have no understanding of the American public. They seem to assume that Americans are lemmings, and any lemming that doesn’t follow must have something wrong with him.

This administration is way off in “left” field. Art inspires, but only when it touches what is already in the heart. In other words, the art that becomes popular only becomes so because it is reflecting what people are feeling. It is public passion that inspires art, not the other way around.

So in the current political climate, on a grass roots level, did you notice how quickly the picture of the President as a joker took off? Or the t-shirts with the words, “RIP Constitution”? Or the “I am the Mob” logos on twitter? Wow. Artists creating popular political art without the help or instruction of the government. Have you seen anything from the liberal side catch on like that recently on a grass roots level? Sure, during the campaign there were things that were meant to inspire the public, but there they were created as campaign tools and died as soon as the campaign was over. Heard any classrooms singing Obama songs lately?

AND for goodness sake – get off the bandwagon that any news station or host is leading the public. It is the public that is leading Fox News! Fox News is merely the megaphone for the thoughts and feelings of millions of Americans. It is currently the only station listening to the public and giving them the news they are looking for. I’ve EVEN heard people say that Bill O”reilly is becoming too soft! And yes – we know that Beck is a little silly – but he’s offering us documented information that no one else is willing to discuss. We don’t all draw his same conclusions, but we appreciate the information. When will it occur to the left that people choose to watch programs that reflect what’s already on their hearts – not the other way around? They are leaving MSM in droves because they know much NBC and ABC are only reporting what they are told to report.

The left is imbedded in the concept that they are able to bend minds. Thus the efforts to control what is taught in schools, push the “Fairness Doctrine,” and coax artists to support their agenda. What they forget is that throughout history, other countries attempting to control the thoughts and lives of their citizens have eventually failed at the effort. People push back. People inherently want freedom and independence. Ever heard of Solzhenitsyn? Or the underground churches in China? There were rebels even in Nazi Germany. It was for rebels like that that leaders created, at best, the re-education camps, at horrific worst, Gulags and even death camps. No! I’m not suggesting that’s where we are headed. All I am saying is that when the effort to bend people’s minds’ fails, a government must either push harder, or come to the realization that it just doesn’t work. So realize it right now. It doesn’t matter to me what you pay a rapper to sing, a painter to paint, a troll to twitter, or even how well articulated an Obama speech is. My experience and knowledge tell me it is wrong.Lisa Blogs at http://whitetrashvote.blogspot.com/

Cash for Clunkers Hurts Poor People

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Aug 012009

August 1st, 2009

The Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association has predicted that there will be a backlash to the “Cash for Clunkers” program. I agree, only it will come too late. “Cash for Clunkers” hurts lower income people, but no one has thought much about that yet – including the lower income people that voted for Obama.

Although I drive a 1994 Suburban, I wasn’t planning on doing the “Cash for Clunkers”. Gas guzzler that the Suburban is, it’s actually been nice for our size family, who are all too big to be sitting in the back seat of small five-seater cars anymore. And I can carry and move things.

But even if I wanted to get a more fuel efficient minivan, I can’t afford to participate in “Cash for Clunkers” program (more officially known as the CAR Allowance Rebate System or the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009.)

To participate, a person has to be buying a new car. Sure you get up to $4500 in a rebate, but you still have to have quite a bit of actual money in order to afford a new car. People of lower income don’t have the kind of money. But more importantly, because “Cash for Clunkers” merely replaces your trade-in value, the benefit of the program isn’t as great as many anticipate, and for the American taxpayer, it’s another program that they can’t afford. As nice as free money (ie: the rebate) sounds, American taxpayers can’t afford to be giving this money away. And low-income people, most especially, can’t afford to be helping pay for any more bailouts.So I just figured I’d hang onto my car for another dozen or more years, until it becomes valuable as an antique, because there won’t be any other cars of this time period around. Most will have been crushed. Maybe we’d fix it up and drive it in the parades!

But here’s when I realized the AAIA is right. Junk yards that crush the CARS program cars aren’t allowed to pull engines or certain other parts before they are crushed. Earlier this month, I made use of a junk yard twice – once for a radiator and once for an engine. I still need to put in an alternator. Will certain parts for older cars become harder – and more expensive – to get?When all is said and done – “Cash for Clunkers” benefits New Car Dealerships primarily, by increasing sales, and the upper and middle class possibly, but giving them an extra few hundred dollars. But it’s not good news at all for lower income people. We can’t afford a new car, and we won’t be able to continue fixing our older cars at an affordable price, if we can find the parts at all. This isn’t good. In fact, the Obama administration knew they were taking away our options to keep our vehicles running. They want our cars off the road, and they really don’t care how it affects those of us with very little money. The little guy isn’t a priority. Obama pretended to champion the little guy in order to get their vote, but it’s becoming more and more obvious that special interest – those that have received the bailout money and those industries he is choosing to socialize – are what he really champions. Politics as usual.

I’ll bet many of the people that voted for Obama haven’t even thought of this particular ramification yet. They’re still waiting for him to pay their mortgages and health insurance. The “Cash for Clunkers” program will be all done and over with, with most of the cars crushed, before the little guy realizes that the price of his used part just went up a whole lot.

What Gates’ “Teaching Moment” Taught Some of Us…

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Jul 272009

Professor Henry Louis Gates said he hoped his arrest by Crowley leads to greater sensitivity on racial profiling. He described it as a teaching moment, saying that he planned to use his arrest and jail experience as the basis of a documentary on racial profiling.

So what did we learn from the Gates arrest in Boston? For me, it confirmed my belief that many (not all) accusations of racism and racial profiling are excuses for beligerance when someone is in a situation they don’t like. For many others, the Boston incident taught them that some accusations of racism might be simple grandstanding and can be ignored.

My education along this line began twenty some years ago, when I first met the man that was to become my husband. I remember one incident in particular. I was paying for a meal at a chain restaurant. The cashier, before taking my check, asked me for some ID. I pulled out my driver’s license and showed it to her, and we went on our way.

Walking out the door, my to-be husband whispered to me that she wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t been standing behind me. He truly believed that the only reason she asked for my ID was because I was with a minority. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I knew that getting carded at a restaurant was nothing new for me. Sometimes they did it, sometimes they didn’t, but it had nothing to do with whether he was there or not. I scoffed at his assumption that it was all about him.

And we had other such “teaching moments” when he needed to learn that it wasn’t all about his skin. He needed to learn that some clerks are just tired or have bad days, just like he does, and if they scowl, it doesn’t mean that they are even thinking about him let alone hating him. I’m a person who falls into deep thought about various issues and I don’t always notice who is around me. If I am lost in my own thoughts, thinking about something difficult or emotional, it frequently shows on my face. It has nothing to do with who is in the room. There are many people in this world just like me. Not every scowl is racially motivated.

When I first met him and he attended a party at my Dad’s house, he gravitated after a short time to the garage and ate his meal out there. This wasn’t because anyone in the house had any animosity against him. It was a reaction born of his own insecurity.

Fortunately, my husband did learn from these teaching moments, and the older he got the more he began to relax around people of “non-color” and even enjoy himself. In his later years, he not only enjoyed people of all heritages, but he felt comfortable standing up and speaking to various politicians about the fallacy of race-based laws (such as ICWA). He even went to DC several times to speak to various Congressmen on issues.

This isn’t to say that we never experienced real racism. On a few isolated occasions, we ran up against the real thing. But now he could tell the difference.

Interestingly, it was because he relaxed and became comfortable with his own thoughts and voice that he himself began to be accused of being a racist by a state Human Rights Network. You see, he was a minority speaking against political correctness. That makes the Left very uncomfortable. They would rather that all minorities stay in neat little, controllable packages.

When he passed away five years ago, his birth family was surprised by the number of people of “non-color” that not only showed up at his funeral, but stood up and spoke of their admiration for him.

Perhaps Professor Gates has spent too much time in his ivory tower and needs to get out more.

Crowley Better Bring a Friend to that Beer Party

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Jul 262009

July 26th, 2009

So they’re supposed to sit down over a beer and come out all smiles? Come on, you know how it goes. Not one of the three has actually backed down from their positions, and there’s two of them and only one of Crowley. Anyone of us faced with that kind of situation wants to bring emotional support along.

Sergeant Crowley continues to assert that he didn’t do anything wrong and the entire Boston police force stands behind him, stating that everything he did was standard procedure. Further, Crowley, as it turns out, has for years been teaching cadets to avoid racial profiling. He knows that what he did that day was what he would have done in any home under the same circumstances.

Professor Gates, on the other hand, stated Friday evening in an email that he hoped the incident would bring “greater sensitivity on racial profiling,” even though no racial profiling apparently occurred. No apology was given by Gates for misunderstanding Crowley and jumping to conclusions.

Obama has also failed to apologize for his rush to judgment, saying that he only wishes he “calibrated those words differently.” In fact, he went on to say, “I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station.”

I’m sorry, but I do want the police to ask for identification if there is suspicion that someone doesn’t belong in my home. Even if it’s me that they are requesting ID from.

Now, I understand that Professor Gates had just returned from a long trip. I know that when I come home from a long trip, I am tired and crabby. It had to further aggravate him that when trying to get into his home to finally kick his shoes off and rest, the door was jammed. Topping off a long and tiring day, the police showed up and began questioning him. All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to bed, right? That’s all understandable. But none of it was Crowley’s fault and there is no indication that racial profiling occurred.

So now is the time to apologize to the men in blue who were just doing their jobs, and quit the grandstanding.

That all said, will there be humbling apologies over that beer? With both Gates and Obama, proud men that they are, still convinced that profiling occurred and Crowley knowing it hasn’t? his bounds? Not likely. No real apologies, but unfortunately, Crowley will probably feel pressure to suck up whatever spiel the White House wants to put on the beer fest, even if his stomach is turning. After all, the beer is supposed to end the fight, and they are all supposed to come out smiling. We’ve all been faced with similar situations. How can he say no without looking like a jerk?

More on Minority Civil Rights Issues at www.caicw.org
,Lisa

Health Crisis? Liberals Push More Nurses to Quit

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Jul 262009

July 26th, 2009

Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo, a nurse from Brooklyn, was forced to assist in an abortion last May. Her supervisors told her that it was a medical emergency, and that if she didn’t participate, she could lose her job. Turns out that there was no medical emergency. For Cenzon-DeCarlo, this was tantamount to murdering a baby, and she’s struggled with it emotionally and spiritually ever since.

And can you believe this? Liberal commentators are saying she shouldn’t have taken the job if she didn’t want to do the work.

Let me get this straight. Obama is all over the place complaining about a so-called health crisis, while at the same time, lefties commenting on the above article are saying things like, “if preforming termination of pregnacy is not you line of work then leave the job,” and “Don’t we file this one under “It comes with the job, toots?”

So…those of you that believe Cenzon-DeCarlo should have gotten another job: Do you honestly think that this nurse is the only one that doesn’t want to participate in abortions? Do you think there aren’t any doctors that feel the same way? Do you realize that a large number in the medical profession are Christians? If you are willing to mandate they participate, do you know how many people will walk off the job? Doesn’t matter if you don’t think it’s murder. The people that will walk away from the medical profession do.

I am a former RN. I left the field 16 years ago after I got tired of the way nurses were treated. For one example, I was told I couldn’t tell any of my staff if there was an AIDS patient on the floor due to “patient confidentiality.” My LPN’s and Nsg. Assts were allowed to know any other diagnosis. Patient confidentiality didn’t matter with any other disease. Aids was the only illness they weren’t allowed to know. This was on a unit where an AID’s patient was wiping his feces all over his bedroom walls. People that aren’t responsible for cleaning up that type of thing can say what they want. I stuck up for my staff.

That’s just one of many examples. I’m not the only nurse to walk away over such issues. Others have obviously stayed in the field. But mandating participation in abortions – that’s a major line to cross over.

If you want Canadian style Health Care, where the staff to patient ratio is a fraction of what it is in the states, keep up your rhetoric. Pay your medical professionals less, and tell them they don’t have any rights. Keep it up and see what happens. Then be happy with yourself when someone you love has to wait for days or weeks to get the medical care they need.

Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo is right to be upset and file suit. She wasn’t abandoning a patient. MT Sinai had plenty of time to find a replacement. Mt Sinai abandoned its staff. I hope she gets everything she is asking for. Hospitals should not be allowed to do that to people. Here in America, we still have Freedom of Religion. At least for now.
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