The Challenges of Obama's New Administration

The Obama administration hit the ground running attacking the issues he promised to address in his campaign. His policies have been ambitious and wide ranging. He has promoted stem cell research, changed military policy honoring those who have died and returned to Dover, shut down the unconstitutional prison at Gitmo and ceased cross state raids into states that support medical marijuana. I agree with all of these policies and each could support a full article on their own. Obama has also passed a stimulus plan, that included many of the things the American people wanted, but failed to stop financial institutions from taking advantage of bail out funds. But those who don't support Obama would like to blame everything that is happening now squarely on him. Rush Limbaugh has been the most outspoken critic; however, he is so biased that his opinion is only hurting his cause. He publicly stated that he wants the Obama administration to fail, after telling people they should forget about Al Gore winning an election that Bush stole and support their president. Rush Limbaugh called Americans "angry peasants" rising up in regards to AIG bonuses and our government "communists" for threatening to tax those bonuses. Rush can keep alienating the American population all he wants. He can also hide in his windowless studio sucking back pain pills and pretending he has a finger on the pulse of America. He is a lost and very sad man driven by his sponsors without any sense of who he is because he will always be in the closet. I support Obama's attempts to bring America's government back to the people. I believe the programs that will build a new infrastructure for this country are vital to our recovery. I disagree with bailing out failed businesses. AIG should have been broken up just like they did with WaMu. The AIG business model failed and should not be supported.
In addition to battling greedy business people and moronic talk radio show hosts, Obama's administration has much more pressing problems in the world theater. Afghanistan is becoming a larger problem on a daily basis, and it is a conflict that has no foreseeable resolution. Russia has bribed neighboring countries to shut down American bases and terminate our leases. Essentially forcing us to deal with the Russins themselves. In addition, Russia has publicly stated that they are going to undergo a massive rearming. North Korea has joined in by reopening their nuclear program and threatening to test launch advanced missles. Iran was quick to test Obama as well and just had a spy drone shot down over Iraq. Iran has been testing missles and reportedly has the materials to make a nuclear bomb. These are the most important tasks for Obama. This is his true job. Bin Laden is still out there and recently called for the overthrow of the Somalian president. My biggest crticism of Obama at this point is that he may be biting off more than he can chew all at once. I truly hope that we as a nation can overcome the challenges that are here and on the horizon.

Release the Hounds!

Officials in California have ordered that the prison system reduce its population by 58,000 inmates over the next few years. Of course, the governator Arnold protests this move because of the danger being released back onto the streets. That said, Arnold has been crying about the economic problems in California ever since he took office and he has only allowed things to get worse. The California prison system has an estimated 175,000 inmates. It costs the state about $35,000 per year to take care of each one of these prisoners. So lets forget about the overcrowding and health issues to the prisoners. Instead lets do the math. 58,000 less prisoners would decrease state spending by over 2 billion dollars. Instead, Arnold is going to cut state workers to save that money. Lets see how he explains his rationalization for keeping a pot dealer in prison rather than paying the police officer on the street. I'm not saying that releasing a bunch of murderers is a good idea, but if you can save thousands of jobs by letting a few petty criminals go, suck it up and do it. California is such a joke. Only there can an illegal immigrant get a freaking driving license. No offense, as soon as an illegal immigrant came through a government door they should get shipped right back over the border. California sucks. Say what you will about Philly, but the national average is 1 in about 650 homes are being foreclosed on nationwide. That number is about 1 in every 1100 homes in the Philadelphia region. Califonians and New Yorkers are transient populations. They come and go with no sense of pride or community. But people from Philly tend to stay here. We have pride in our home. So we may act like assholes with attitudes, but that is just because we are better than everybody else. Philly rules, the governator is a joke. I think we should send all prisoners to California. We'll make it just like Australia for the Brits. We'll keep the nice parts of North Cali. Let the criminals have LA and the desert! Actually, we can give away most of Texas as well. I just have to figure out how to move the entire city of Austin to a cooler state. P rules!

Congrats Washington, Now Everyone Wants A Bailout!

Larry Flynt (the publisher of Hustler) and Steve Francis (the creator of Girls Gone Wild) are asking Washington for a 5 Billion dollar bailout for the porn industry. Awesome. They claim that the slumping economy has reduced DVD sales. I'm sorry dirt bags, people aren't buying your DVDs because they can get all the porn they want online, on demand and they can do so privately. The music industry had to adapt, so should porn. Steve Francis should not be granted this kind of publicity or have an audience with congress after seducing underage girls with drugs and alcohol. I mean, if you have all that money, don't you think you might hold yourself to a higher standard. This guy shoots crappy video of girls dancing and masterbating. It doesn't even qualify as a porno because typically they at least have some plot. Pornos have characters like the candy striper chick and the pizza delivery guy. Even magazines tell you a story or let you know what the girls likes or something. Girls Gone Wild sucks. Washington needs to put an end to the parade of industries seeking bailouts. Handing money to failed businesses is not capitalism and its not communism or socialism either, its stupidity. Larry Flynt should be happy he made as much money as he has. If you want to help out of work porn stars, start an escort service. Its not like the industry has a plan. There is only so much you can do with the penis and vagina and I'm pretty sure that all the possibilities have been explored and filmed. So why do we need to spend 5 billion dollars to hear a girl fake an orgasm. Not to mention porn is cruel. At first you have a girl sitting by herself. She starts to play downstairs and she becomes your girlfriend for a minute. Then some cable guy comes in and fucks your girlfriend.

Who Throws A Shoe?

I am no longer angry, so I haven't been writing.  Today I don't write out of anger.  Today I write because I watched George Bush dodge a shoe.  When I heard about it I had this vision of a shoe flying slow motion towards W.  But no, this guy fired this thing at him pretty fast.  I'm impressed with how quickly he moved and popped back up.  Pretty athletic that W.  Evidently throwing shoes is a form of great disrespect in Iraq.  All I know is if someone throws a shoe at me he is gonna eat a brick rocket in return.  From now on all conferences should be held Japanese style...no shoes!  Break out your stank ass feet and breathe the goodness.  I'll tell you one thing, I'd rather get hit with one of my shoes than get a nose full of one of my socks.  My feet smell like a fat girls thong after eating a clove of garlic and a cardio workout.  You want a form of torture, people will tell you everything after getting a face full of that.  Did this guy have anything else to throw?  Maybe a watch?  Cell?  Stress ball?  Did this guy spend time throwing his shoes at a target?  I think I am going to create an infomercial workout video in which ninjas demonstrate proper shoe tossing techniques.  Personally I'd like to see a shoe toss that curves upwards to kick a guy in the junk from a distance.  I am a black belt in the art of the low blow.  I bust balls.

Automakers Failed to Get 25 Billion, Now They Want 36 Billion!

I love how government works. When the bail out bill failed, it was restructured with a bunch of lame incentives and renamed the "rescue" bill. Of course, the new bill which was significantly worse passed. Now US automakers hope to cash in on the same move. Originally automakers flew in on private jets and presented a half assed business plan that just asked for a 25 billion dollars with little explanation of how that money would be spent. Congress turned them away and told them to come back with a plan detailing the use of the funds. Now the automakers have returned to Washington without their private jets but want 36 billion dollars. What a joke. Ford already said that they can survive without a loan as long as the recession doesn't last more than 3 years. So Ford seems OK. That leaves the geniuses at GM looking like the real morons they are. GM used to be the symbol for American quality. Now they are the laughing stock of the auto industry. Instead of pushing new cars with potential such as the Chevy Volt and Camaro, GM has tried to push massive Hybrid versions of gas guzzling trucks like the Escalade and a new convertible version of the $100,000 Hummer. Great business plan guys. GM deserves to suffer. Why should the American people foot the bill for GM's pajama party with oil companies? While I disagreed with the bail out bill, bailing out the auto companies is even worse. If America is supposed to stand for capitalism than giving handouts to failed businesses is counter productive. Let a new enterpreneur start a new company with a business model appropriate for the challenges that lie ahead. Until I see a Hybrid Camaro or can buy (not lease) a Volt, GM can go ahead and close up shop. Somebody build a freaking sporty hybrid please! Even if Toyota would just make one that looked cool I'd be all over it. For now I'm buying an electric scooter and putting turn signals on it. Either that or my left middle finger pointing left signals a left turn. My left middle finger pointing straight up means I'm turing right, in addition to telling whoever is in back of me to F-off.

Admitting When You are Wrong

I had a great discussion on Thanksgiving with an economist regarding the recent market crash and rescue bill.  Originally I had assumed that because of the massive influx of new money that inflation was going to skyrocket.  What I did not count on was that the rest of the world was so heavily invested in the United States that when we crashed so did they.  It really demonstrates that we have created at least a form of a world economy.  While the people and goods don't move freely, money can.  The credit crisis resulted because of a stop in this flow of money.  It didn't just cripple Wall Street, it crashed markets everywhere.  I had originally blamed Bush for doing this intentionally to raise the price of oil.  In the long run prices will go back up, but for now the slow down in the economy has been enough to lower demand for oil.  Now if we can get some of those alternative fuels and fuel efficient technologies growing we can put an even bigger dent in that demand.  Here is an idea for anyone working for an American car company, write a business plan on how you are going to create the fuel efficient cars we want and you will get your government handout.  If Tesla can build a roadster that can go 0-60 in 3.9 running on computer batteries, American car manufacturers can build one that can go 0-60 in 6 seconds and look like an attractive car (not like the bitch ass Toyotas or Hondas).  At least Ford has the Escape.  The Escalade Hybrid doesn't count GM.  That thing still eats more gas than a regular car.  Stop playing social games with oil companies and develop the cars we want.  Stop adding more horsepower to every engine and add fuel economy.  For years car companies have been able to harness more and more power from a drop of fuel, but instead of using this to increase efficiency, now we have 4 cylinder cars with over 200 horsepower.  If you take away the horsepower and increase the fuel economy the same car could probably get 60 miles to a gallon with a little over 100 horsepower.  GM needs to admit they were wrong for scraping EV-1 electric car programs in favor of snuggling up with Hummer a decade ago.  Where is the Volt?  GM is going to go bankrupt before you ever release it.  Thanks for not pushing the Camaro to market either.  GM has to be the slowest changing corporation in the world.  The Challenger is out and the new Mustang has been out for a couple of years.  GM keeps putting the Camaro in movies and giving them away to celebrities (Hamels got one after the World Series).  How about getting the car to the consumer you morons.  I kind of hope GM fails.  I say this because it will open up the market for a new American car manufacturer that will take us into the future rather than hold us in the past.  Here is an idea guys, make a hybrid Camaro.  I will buy that.  How about Ford?  Can you guys make a hybrid Mustang Convertible?  Until the car companies come up with some plans like these, not one cent of tax payer money should be wasted on these corporate relics.

 

America Demands Change

The 2008 vote is over and the American people have spoken loud and clear. We need change. I was impressed by John McCain's speech. The real John McCain returned and I am happy about that because he is an important figure in American politics. But America has been going the wrong way for a long time and we needed to change course. We cannot continue to fight two wars while big corporations ship jobs overseas. Our economy was in recession before the financial crisis, but no one would admit it. I predicted the market would crash as early as March. Maybe the red states haven't felt the pinch, but my home town of Philadelphia has seen a decline of nearly 10%. Other big cities feel the same pain. While farmers might not think these problems affect them, who do they think uses the products they produce? America must restore the middle class. This election wasn't about handouts to lazy people, this election was about rewarding those who go to work for 40 hours rather than collecting on investments that produce profits by cutting domestic jobs. This election is a challenge to the oil companies that they will not rule the people forever using money and fear. This election is a challenge to health care providers that would abandon those who need coverage the most. Not all people who have preconditions can help it. Cancer isn't something that people wish for. If the government is going to support nuclear energy, it also must support health care for those who will suffer from it. George Bush is the worst president of our century. 2 recessions, 2 wars and a failed economy lead to Obama's election. There was nothing McCain could have done not to mention details have been surfacing that Palin didn't know Africa was a continent! How in the world could we have had someone so ignorant near such a position of power? Well, America voted and Obama won. This isn't because Obama was black, it was because he was the best man for the job regardless of color. Congratulations to Obama and to America.