May 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending unsustainable, warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.
We cant keep on just borrowing from China, Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our childrens future with more and more debt.
Holders of U.S. debt will eventually get tired of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. It will have a dampening effect on our economy.
The president pledged to work with Congress to shore up entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare and said he was confident that the House and Senate would pass health-care overhaul bills by August.
Most of what is driving us into debt is health care, so we have to drive down costs, he said.
#2
Obama also said....in Turkey : "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."
I found this very interesting.
Do you know the Preamble for your state? . .
Be sure to read the message at the bottom!
Alabama 1901, Preamble
We the people of the State of Alabama , invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following
Constitution..
Alaska 1956, Preamble We, the people of Alaska , grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land.
Arizona 1911, Preamble We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution...
Arkansas 1874, Preamble We, the people of the State of Arkansas, grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of choosing our own form
of government...
California 1879, Preamble We, the People of the State of California , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom...
Colorado 1876, Preamble We, the people of Colorado , with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of Universe...
Connecticut 1818, Preamble. The People of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good Providence of God in permitting them to
enjoy.
Delaware 1897, Preamble Through Divine Goodness all men have, by nature, the rights of worshipping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences...
Florida 1885, Preamble We, the people of the State of Florida, grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, establish this Constitution...
Georgia 1777, Preamble We, the people of Georgia , relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish
this Constitution...
#3
It is amazing to me to watch the increasingly obvious way Zero simply lies to our face. He says what polling and focus groups have parsed as the most popular language regarding any issue, and then acts as if he is reading from something written by Trotsky or Lenin and following that playbook. I am increasingly convinced he is executing a "Social Justice" agenda embraced deeply in his intellectual and educational beliefs and that he and fellow traveller Rahm simply plan to squeeze the bourgeoise until they scream, and then claim racism and squeeze some more. If they can feed enough ACORN registered voters who simply vote for the guy that gives them some of what others have earned, and do it in the next four years effectively, they will have secured the country permanently under one-party rule till the husk is sucked dry.
Absent massive, vocal and threatening dissent by those of us who actually still believe in American Exceptionalism and the core ideals of our Constitution (the real ones, not the inferred ones), we are in an accelerating political death spiral whose end state is violence.....
I never actually believed we would be on this slippery a slope, or so quickly. The sloth and ignorance of my generation and my childrens stands guilty of letting so much of this slip away while we were pursuing petty bullshit and material plenty. For that, we need to apologize to our grandchildren!
#4
Besoeker, none of those listed refer to Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit, those two uniquely Christian aspects of God. Nor do they refer to any religion. The God they refer to could as easily be the Divine Watchmaker so beloved of 18th century deists.
One year after Maryland instituted a special tax on millionaires, the number of millionaires, according to tax records, has dropped from about 3,000 to about 2,000.
The Baltimore Sun: "Taxes collected from those returns as of last month have declined by roughly $100 million."
The local Chamber of Commerce argues that it's because the millionaires are moving away to Virginia and Pennsylvania (easier in Maryland than in some other states, since it's so small). State officials say it's too early to tell. Uh-huh.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/14/2009 11:11 ||
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#2
Refuge in PA will be short lived. Don't know if I trust VA either.
Posted by: regular joe ||
05/14/2009 12:28 Comments ||
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#3
The rich can ALWAYS find a haven, be it Monaco or Switzerland or the Bahamas or the halls of congress. Don't be a bit surprised when this is written into the federal tax code......along with opt outs for the politically connected.
One out of every four ballots requested by military personnel and other Americans living overseas for the 2008 election may have gone uncounted, according to findings being released at a Senate hearing Wednesday.
Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, said the study, while providing only a snapshot of voting patterns, "is enough to show that the balloting process for service members is clearly in need of an overhaul." The committee, working with the Congressional Research Service, surveyed election offices in seven states with high numbers of military personnel: California, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.
It said that of 441,000 absentee ballots requested by eligible voters living abroad - mainly active-duty and reserve troops - more than 98,000 were "lost" ballots that were mailed out but never received by election officials. Taking into account 13,500 ballots that were rejected for such reasons as a missing signature or failure to notarize, one-quarter of those requesting a ballot were disenfranchised. The study found that an additional 11,000 ballots were returned as undeliverable.
Schumer's office said that because a person living abroad must request the absentee ballot and show a clear intention to vote, voter negligence is not thought to be a major factor. Rather, the New York Democrat said in a statement, there is a chronic problem of military voters being sent a ballot without sufficient time to complete it and send it back. He cited estimates that a ballot can take up to 13 days to reach an overseas voter.
#1
"Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, said the study, while providing only a snapshot of voting patterns, "is enough to show that the balloting process for service members is clearly in need of an overhaul as long as it'll benefit the Democratic candidate."
There. Fixed that for ya.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/14/2009 5:53 Comments ||
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#2
One-fourth of overseas votes go uncounted because overseas votes are majority Republican and poll workers are majority Democrat.
#4
Rather, the New York Democrat said in a statement, there is a chronic problem of military voters being sent a ballot without sufficient time to complete it and send it back.
And just what party consistently and deliberately challenges names, such as 'Green' candidates, and initiatives on the ballot to insure that a ballot in important and critical election isn't printed and distributed till the turn around is below the feasible return level? /rhetorical question
Disenfranchising voters in the military was the very first act of the Gore campaign challenge in Florida in 2000.
#5
"Ever take a look at the demographics of a US Army Postal Company?"
Besoeker: I had the misfortune of an up close look-see after a bunch of Christmas items to be mailed were irretrievably lost, ie: never received on the other end.
My inquiring mind wanted to know what had happened so the initially sweetly worded conversation with postal staff turned into "where in the ham slice did all that stuff go?
Turns out it was just sitting under a mountain of other people's (probably "lost" stuff) in the corner. Demographic of workers: pregnant soldiers and soldiers who smoked weed on a daily basis and refused to shave. Not to point the finger at the pregnant soldiers who valiantly were still working and had problems with lifting heavy boxes.
So here's a thought: don't assign pregnant women who can't lift heavy packages to a detail that requires heavy lifting. Oversight at the Postal Company was in short supply, as was available manpower. Basically, with a war going on, postal efficiency gets shuffled to the bottom of the pile of priorities, unfortunately.
Here's a possible solution! Each Div, Bde, TF, Bn, has assiged Univ Voting Assistance Officers (UAVOs). Make that officer manifest Snuffies sealed ballot and envelope on a DA Form 200 and choggie the ballots and DA Form 200 over to an airfield and a USAF Defense Courier Service flight back to CONUS for appropriate onward movement, mailing, etc. Failing that, pouch it out through the US Embassy. Having the UVAO collect them up and mail them via priority US Postal is yet another option. Make someone sign for it!
#7
I saw this story yesterday, sent the link to my inner circle, with the Subject; "Ya, no sh**"
I live in Europe, and my ballot was thrown out in the last election. I haven't been as enraged as I was the day that I got notice that my ballot was being set aside, because some lawyer had raised an objection because I hadn't lived in the state of Missouri since 2000 (ergo, maybe I was voting somewhere else).
They gave me options to prove my bonafides, but I just happened to be in ICU at the time (almost bled to death because of a internal hemorrhage last year), I couldn't contest it. Once I got notice of the contesting of the ballot, it was too late for snail-mail options.
My state ended up swinging on 800 (counted) votes in the last election. Out of millions cast.
If I can't exercise my rights as a citizen, and trust that the vote is a valid one, what's the fraking point?
#8
I just had a horrible thought (And I hope I'm wrong) are republicans sent to the fighting and dems to "Safe" jobs(Mess cook, supply, etc).
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/14/2009 14:53 Comments ||
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#9
RJ - there was no billet more safely in the rear with the gear, than mine as a USAF broadcaster - and I voted generally as an independent/libertarian/republican.
My daughter, as a USMC field wireman felt that she ought to be totally apolitical, and did not vote at all as a matter of principle. Make of that what you will...
#10
Not exactly what I meant, Sgt Mom, were you a registered anything? (I'm not)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/14/2009 17:28 Comments ||
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#11
Personally I think ballots should be split into two ballots. National and state. The national part of the ballot could be mailed in separately, would be simple scantron style, and would simply be President, and Senator/Congress from the state in question.
Bills, initiatives and state positions could go on the second ballot.
Every state should institute such a scheme to avoid long counts and embarrassment on the Florida scale. Absentee ballots would be an easy way to start.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
