It's not an easy thing to take -- being betrayed. The Party of "free markets" and small government has managed to royally mess up both.
I have been betrayed, indeed. The party of "free markets" did it, too. They spent freely; concerned more about staying in power, using earmarks to buy favors; they too often caved to Democrat political correctness (TSA being a glowing example); Bush caved to incompetent perfumed princes disguised as G.O.s until General Keane and General Petraeus, with the fervent pressure of Sen McCain insisted on a change in strategy aka "surge". it worked, even BHO admits. While I don't like with his domestic chicanery, McCain will not betray this country at war, as BHO surely will with inexperience and stupidity.
The Dems, however, have for 75 years betrayed us in every bit of the Constitution, its promise of free markets, free minds and individualism. They have visited imperial powers of government on us, absconded with our property with taxation, taken our self-respect with welfare programs and made us dependents of their overweening state; interfered with our right to bear arms; dictated our choices in nearly every sphere of enterprise; and dictated our morals just as surely as the Religious Right, forcing diktats as free abortion, the gay agenda, school curriculum. With a never-ending regulatory regime, they have presumed to be smarter than the very people who built our marvelous economy, ruining it. Witness the current crisis, where pols like Dodd and Frank, while paying off political allies, have blown up the banking system. I actually believed that lying buffoon Clinton when he said, "the era of big government is over". Betrayed again.
So, yes, I have been betrayed by a political class that works only for its own reelection. I hope the American public has not been blinded by the empty promises and hollow speeches of a charlatan from Chicago. They will be punished for their gullibility, if they are. Hope is not audacious, it is not a strategy, it is empty words from Jeremiah Wright who would damn America.
Are we all aboard the USS Ship of Fools? Makes me wonder!
The first time I read this quote, I thought it was dangerously true. Then I really started pondering it and thought how would this apply to our own lives/careers? Let's look at it again to see how absurd it is.
You couldn't get a job at McDonalds and become district manager after 143 days of experience. You couldn't become chief of surgery after 143 days of experience of being a surgeon. You couldn't get a job as a teacher and be the superintendent after 143 days of experience. You couldn't join the military and become a colonel after a 143 days of experience.
You couldn't get a job as a reporter and become the nightly news anchor after 143 days of experience.
BUT....
'From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working. After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln,FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan. 143 days?
We all have to start somewhere. The senate is a good start, but after 143 days, that's all it is - a start.
AND, strangely, a large sector of the American public seems to feel comfortable with this and campaigning for him.
We wouldn't accept this in our own line of work, yet some are OK with this for the President of the United States of America?
Come on folks, we are not voting for the next American Idol.
Ref Shadow Stats-are you guys suicidal yet or just trying to lower expectations should BHO wins and needs to produce a miracle in 09? Those "stats" are not to be believed. Basically, zero growth since '91, including the "it's the economy, stupid" Clinton boom years, Dems are so proud of. And somehow, the entire corporate profits, which showed double-digit growth on tax returns, disappeared. The current misery index is about 26% according to Wiliams, higher than the Carter years and Depression-level like; it is bad at about 10% but not twice-plus that.
Williams is clearly a typical web writer with an agenda.
Parabellum-too true. GTF would sign off as full performance an ATCO with 143 days experience? BHO offers nothing but pleasant BS.
If you think this is the next Depression-Dodd-Frank will go down in history like Smoot-Hawley did. Yes, they were isolationist Republicans who betrayed America by looking ever inward.
I have a bad feeling that many of those thirsting for 'change' and thinking they will get it through an Obama victory in November will have their wishes granted - in spades (perhaps an unfortunate phrase to use in the circumstances – but definitely no pun intended).They’ll certainly get change, but perhaps not in quite the way they are hoping for.
What I've noticed about him is that he consistently says absolutely nothing substantive so incredibly well. His delivery - of damn near nothing you can ever put your finger on - is as polished and slick as any speaker I've ever come across before. He's up there with Churchill in his oratory - but Churchill usually actually said something in his speeches. Obama just spouts platitudes - beautifully, I'll accept, but all too often, they have absolutely no substance.
The scary thing about the possibility of an Obama victory is the absolutely huge risk of a far bigger war(s) resulting from it, quite possibly from a totally unexpected quarter that none of us have even thought of at this point in time. Many world leaders, quite correctly sensing his inexperience, will be tempted to test his mettle. (Mr Putin, no longer [yeah, right!] a world leader, comes immediately to mind, but let's not forget the funny little fat fella in northern Asia or a whole bevy of bearded gentlemen, some of whom don't even have a country to call home – yet). If he folds in his first (or tenth) such test, US interests will suffer - at a time the US can't afford to lose anything. But if he stands up to any such test, he may well have to actually draw - and actually shoot - his proverbial six gun to prove he's not the easy mark he appears to be.
And if he backs down in the first such test, (which many would say he's already promised he will do - in withdrawing from Iraq), or his second or his third, he's going to have to up the ante considerably when he decides his line in the sand, whatever that may be, has been crossed.
International politics bears remarkably close parallels to that part of the school yard that was out of sight of the teachers, where brute force and the bullies reigned, and (mixing my metaphors just a little bit) Barak Obama is very much the 97 pound weakling with the pocket full of lunch money that many of those bullies would dearly love to take.
If he gets in, I think we're all in for 'interesting times', if not quite like the times many who will vote for him think they're going to be.
Location: not the @r$& end of the earth but can see it from here.
Posts: 319
galaxy flyer
Gf the alternate data maybe posted with an agenda but the "official" numbers are utter rubbish.The fact that you yourself noted the clinton years also look bad maybe shows he is not biased against one or the other just biased against bull*&^ and rubbery numbers to suit the administration of the time.
As I've stated before I'm neither dem or rep.I am against giving any govt or administration support with one eye closed.If BO wins I maybe back here in 4 yrs bemoaning his admin.If they mess it up fire them, period.
My view with the reps is they do not deserve another chance at running the show.Thats not saying JM is not a bad candidate , clearly he is good man.
That said this maybe one election where losing maybe a blessing in disguise cos whoever wins needs to make himself very unpopular by making some truly hard decisions.The country has lived beyond its means for too long.
And what exactly has McCain or Palin stated that had any substance? That he was -ex Navy therefore knew "what was right"? That she lived near Russia therefore new foreign policy? There will be no substance in any campaign as they are all having to play to an electorate.
As for experience, GWB is a prime example of plenty of experience combined with utter ignorance. I'd vote for a 143 day Obama ahead of him any day, and I don't expect McCain/Palin to be any better.
GTF would sign off as full performance an ATCO with 143 days experience?
Just can't help yourself can you GF ? Open mouth, insert foot.
I was told I'd be an FPL in 2 years and 2 days from being hired. Figure it all up -- the days off, classroom instead of working traffic etc and you'd probably be lucky to get 143 days experience out of it.
Of course, Reagan lied about that too. I was ready (and so were a lot of other people) but the FAA changed the rules and made us all wait another 6 months or so. That was probably the most significant event in controllers deciding to form a new union.
Oh well, it serves you right for trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Obama was first sworn in on January 4, 2005. That's enough to make people question his level of experience right there. But no, y'all have to go and make up some stupid statistic -- 143 days.
That sends people like me looking for information and I wind up reading things like this:
Take a look at who's number 10 -- John McCain. He entered the Senate in 1987. He started in the House in 1982. Takes your pick -- 21 years or 26 years and Obama has nearly caught up to him in -- ahem -- 143 days ?
Oh, and let's not forget that McCain got whooped for President by the guy that will most likely go down in history as the worst President -- ever. And Obama beat the Clintons -- supposedly the best politicians in the country -- on his first try.
What do you think ? Do you think the Kid is ready ? If he was a controller I'd say sign him off. He's ready.
The U.S. spends nearly 10 times as much as our nearest "competitor." Of course, the last guy we hired has ground down the people that make it all go. Multiple tours, stop-loss, etc.
If you want to be fearful of something, take a look at the economy. We have to pay for that $583 billion somehow.
It is quite interesting (totally boring to be more precise) to read all of the thousands of words being strewn across the pages of this thread.
As if much of it really mattered.
I mean to say who cares what "who" called "who" and for why.
I am a total outsider, but after watching the debate, or slanging match or whatever you want to call it, between McCain and Obama, you would have to be pretty hamstrung by your beliefs, pretty stupid, or pretty desperate to believe that an old guy like McCain could ever do anything for your country.
Surely with such a enormous geographical area and such an enormously educated population, the Republican party could have come up with somone better than that.
Is he perhaps a sacrificial lamb ?
No, I doubt that unless there is some of the jiggery-pokery and slight of hand that was present during the first election of GWB, Obama is going to sail home.
Surely that must be obvious to even the most hard bitten Republican.
Jack Cafferty's little rant might be mistaken for an endorsement of Sarah Palin when lined up alongside this: YouTube - Bill Maher | "David Blaine Thinks McCain's Stunt Was Lame" (Bill Maher starts into SP about half way into the clip.) I saw the interview (and posted my comments about it earlier). I have to agree with his assessment: she was nothing short of a disaster in her answers about her foreign relations "experience". Even the most dyed in the wool Republican must have been (and still are?) cringing.
I didn't make up a "stupid statistic" the calendar and BHO did! Somehow, just 143 days after entering the Senate, he thinks he can be President. And so far, he has come close and may, in fact, be right. Using your FP controller analogy, subtract days off, travel, the fact the Senate only works 3 days a week and BHO didn't have 70 days experience, but I'll stick with 143 plus his days campaigning since, which took him away from any Senate work.
I've read his website and, damned, if I can find any ideas that aren't Democrat cant since 1972. He'll restore Clinton-era taxes, which aren't new and, probably really a marginal change in the wrong direction. He has no plan to confront the yawning Social Security/Medicare funding gap ($53 trillion, TRILLION at the end of 2008) Read the Coming Generational Storm Coming Generational Storm, if you want a primary source. Current credit crunch; beyond claiming it is all the Republican's fault-NOT one suggestion, just let the Democrat caucus work it out. Domestic ideas-he has platitudes. He is blithely committing us to a nasty face-off with the Russians by endorsing further enlargement of NATO. As Wiley says, the international thugs are judging him for a reenactment of the Cuban Missile Crisis. And I cannot find ANYTHING in his background, resume, friends and associates (Rev Wright, Ayers, Daley) to indicate ANYTHING other than a conventional Democrat pol. SHOW ME SOMETHING beyond smooth talk. And I'm laughing at 11th most powerful Senator--read the criteria, he has no legislative record, no seniority, just SIZZLE which is a criteria, believe it or not.
Hat tip to Wiley
The epitaph for Republicans will be:
They betrayed their Principles in the hope of keeping Power, and now have neither Principles nor Power
The Dems mantra:
Their only Principle was Power and, sticking by their Principle they got Power
Surely that must be obvious to even the most hard bitten Republican.
Is is El G. Which, of course, is the reason McCain won the primary. He's as "liberal" as you can get and still be a Republican (including maybe the guy from New Hampshire.) The right side of the Republican Party has been so discredited they wouldn't stand a chance in a general election.
McCain is the Republican's best hope but that isn't saying much.
Linear Mode
