Say Anything Blog

Pat Buchanan Writes:

Full of hubris in 1965, Lyndon Johnson had seized his moment. He had launched a Great Society that would outdo his beloved patron FDR. He would dispatch 500,000 troops to Vietnam to “bring the coonskin home on the wall” and create a “Great Society on the Mekong.” Those were heady days of “guns-and-butter.”

LBJ was riding on what he mistook for a mandate for change.

Why did LBJ fail? He overloaded the circuits. He tried to do it all. He misread a national desire for continuity after Kennedy’s death as a mandate for a lunge to the left and a great leap forward with the largest expansion of government since the New Deal.

It’s obvious to any casual political observer that Barack Hussein Obama is ignoring the lessons of history and is determined to eclipse LBJ as the worst president in US history, which may come as a relief to Jimmy Carter, if that fool ever paid enough attention.

History never repeats itself exactly. But Barack Obama is making the same mistakes today that LBJ made in 1965.

As full of hubris as LBJ was in 1965, BHO plows recklessly ahead.

He has ordered 17,000 more U.S. troops into Afghanistan, as the situation deteriorates and the NATO allies pull out. He has no exit strategy. He has read a repudiation of George Bush as a mandate for a government seizure of wealth and power that exceeds anything attempted in the Great Society.

BHO will preside over spending that will only be half covered by taxes and will have to print or borrow the rest. Yet he is still determined to run a deficit four times as large as Bush and has called to tax the successful into oblivion to pay for his expansion on LBJ’s Great Society theme.

In spite of a global recession BHO is determined to run an industry killing cap-and-trade scheme to head off a global warming crisis many scientists believe is a hoax. In addition BHO is going to cure cancer, eliminate paralysis, and provide free college and health care to anyone inside the US Border, legal or not.

Obama is misreading the election returns. When America voted to cancel the White House lease of Mr. Bush, it did not vote Barack Obama a blank check.
By misinterpreting his mandate, Obama has accomplished something John McCain could not — unite the Republican Party and instill in it a new esprit de corps. For the Obama budget is an insult to the core belief of the party — that free people, not coercive government, should shape the character of society.

It now falls to us to sweep this buffoon out of office as soon as possible and save our country, if there is anything left to save.

Q. Has any country EVER spent it’s way out of a recession?

A. no

Q. Historically has massive government spending made the recessions worse?

A. Yes

From Linda Chavez’ Feb. 27, 2009 Article

Creators Syndicate – Hubris is the word that comes to mind as I listen to President Obama lay out his plan to rescue the economy, create 4 million jobs, halve the deficit in four years, and give quality health care to every American. The man has big ambitions and an even bigger ego. It has been one of the most troubling aspects of his character as it has emerged on the national scene in the last two years. He seems, almost literally, to believe he walks on water. No one — no matter how talented — could accomplish a fraction of what Obama has planned in a good economy, much less the weakened one we have right now. Worse, he thinks he can do this simply by taxing the rich, a fantasy only someone who knows nothing about human behavior, much less the U.S. tax system, could possibly believe.

This is what the president has planned in the health care arena: $634 billion as a down payment on a new system that would provide insurance to those uninsured Americans, about 47 million people at last count. Sounds great — except when you consider who is going to pay for it. About half the money, the White House claims, will come from tax increases on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, those earning $250,000 a year or more, and savings from already existing health programs. But the math doesn’t add up. There simply aren’t enough rich people to pay for the Democrats’ plans, even if the president could figure out a scheme to confiscate every penny the rich now earn.

As the Wall Street Journal editors pointed out Feb. 26, 2009, the roughly 3.8 million income tax filers who had more than $200,000 in adjusted gross income (the IRS doesn’t break it down at the $250,000 level) paid $522 billion in income taxes, about 62 percent of all taxes paid in 2006. And if the taxman simply took every dime earned by those in the very top group — $500,000 and above — it would pay for about one year’s worth of free health insurance for the uninsured.

But there’d be no rich people left for a second or third or fourth year of such a scheme. We’ve seen this kind of plan before, in Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China — free health care, yes, but of universally lousy quality and living standards for everyone that would make the poorest Americans look rich by comparison.

I’m not suggesting President Obama is a communist, but he is a utopian — and that’s the danger. He wants to create a perfect society in which the state takes care of everyone in need. It sounds wonderful — but the road to economic ruin and loss of liberty is paved by well-meaning men with good intentions.

The rich — as liberals like to call them — are the people in this society who earn enough to invest and create jobs so that all the rest of us can live decently. A couple earning $50,000 a year with two kids doesn’t have money left over after paying the bills to invest in the stock market or even hire one part-time worker at minimum wage.

Small and medium-size businesses create most of the jobs in our economy, and the people who start and run those businesses are the very taxpayers Obama is targeting. He says he’s going to cut the deductions these people take on their tax returns by about 20 percent — which means they’ll have less to pay their employees and less incentive to hire new ones.

And the worst part of Obama’s plan is that it will actually increase the deficit, not halve it as he promises. When individuals have disincentives to earn more money because Uncle Sam will take more of every extra penny they earn, they do the natural thing: They cut back on work. And when they earn less, they pay less in taxes. Obama’s plan will mean a rush to the bottom — where government incentives give the biggest rewards to those who produce the least. Pretty soon there won’t be anyone to foot the bill.

Maybe if President Obama had spent time in the real economy, not simply as the recipient of government or nonprofit paychecks his whole life, he’d be a little less confident in his utopian plans.

Linda Chavez is the author of “An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal.” To find out more about Linda Chavez, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at http://www.creators.com.

LONDON TIMES REPORT ON IRAQ .......

The London Times reports…
What do you bet that when our troops all get sent home that our new President is going to take all the credit???? Ready for a shock?  Below is an article from the London Times about our military. Interesting, it is!
Our media coverage is shameful!

Winning Isn’t News!!

By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY

(Iraq: What would happen if the U.S.  won a war but the media didn’t tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we’ve defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq.
London’s Sunday Times called it ‘the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.’ A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has in over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare.
We can thank President Bush’s surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering. We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.

Al-Qaida’s loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province, which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there. Now, in ‘Operation Lion’s Roar’ the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended. Sunday Times (London) reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.
Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government has achieved ‘satisfactory’ progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks ‘a big change for the better from a year ago.’ Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad, an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.

But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, ‘the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks ‘that signaled political progress.’ The war in Iraq has been turned around 180 degrees both militarily and politically because President Bush stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don’t seem to consider this historic event a big story.

The reason you haven’t seen this on American television or read about it in the American press is simple—journalism is ‘dead’ in this country. They are controlled by Liberal Democrats who would rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successful Republican-initiated response to 9/11. Media probably were holding until after coronation of BHO in order to give BHO the credit. God bless our troops, God bless President Bush and God bless the U.S.A.

Some of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, a little over
60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO)
with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just
outside Roswell , New Mexico . This is a well known incident that many
say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other federal
agencies and organizations.

        However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of
April 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people
were born:

        Albert A. Gore, Jr.

        Hillary Rodham

        John F. Kerry

        William J. Clinton

        Howard Dean

        Nancy Pelosi

        Dianne Feinstein

        Charles E. Schumer

        Barbara Boxer

        See what happens when aliens breed with sheep? 

        I certainly hope this bit of information clears up a lot of
things for you.

        It did for me.

        No wonder they support the bill to help illegal aliens!

        Now You Know.

Alan Keyes: Obama an “Abomination”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqkMfToY9Pk&feature=related

Alan Keyes: Obama an “Abomination”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqkMfToY9Pk&feature=related

# 11. Titanic - $150 Million

The sinking of the Titanic is possibly the most famous accident in the world. But it barely makes our list of top 10 most expensive. On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage and was considered to be the most luxurious ocean liner ever built. Over 1,500 people lost their lives when the ship ran into an iceberg and sunk in frigid waters. The ship cost $7 million to build ($150 million in today ’ s dollars).
# 10. Tanker Truck vs Bridge - $358 Million
On August 26, 2004, a car collided with a tanker truck containing 32,000 liters of fuel on the Wiehltal Bridge in Germany . The tanker crashed through the guardrail and fell 90 feet off the A4 Autobahn resulting in a huge explosion and fire which destroyed the load-bearing ability of the bridge. Temporary repairs cost $40 million and the cost to replace the bridge is estimated at $318 Million.
# 9. MetroLink Crash - $500 Million
On September 12, 2008, in what was one of the worst train crashes in California history, 25 people were killed when a Metrolink commuter train crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in Los Angeles . It is thought that the Metrolink train may have run through a red signal while the conductor was busy text messaging.. Wrongful death lawsuits are expected to cause $500 million in losses for Metrolink.

# 8. B-2 Bomber Crash - $1.4 Billion
Here we have our first billion dollar accident (and we ’ re only #7 on the list). This B-2 stealth bomber crashed shortly after taking off from an air base in Guam on February 23, 2008. Investigators blamed distorted data in the flight control computers caused by moisture in the system. This resulted in the aircraft making a sudden nose-up move which made the B-2 stall and crash. This was 1 of only 21 ever built and was the most expensive aviation accident in history. Both pilots were able to eject to safety.

# 7. Exxon Valdez - $2.5 Billion
The Exxon Valdez oil spill was not a large one in relation to the world ’ s biggest oil spills, but it was a costly one due to the remote location of Prince William Sound (accessible only by helicopter and boat). On March 24, 1989, 10.8 million gallons of oil was spilled when the ship ’ s master, Joseph Hazelwood, left the controls and the ship crashed into a Reef. The cleanup cost Exxon $2.5 billion.

# 6. Piper Alpha Oil Rig - $3.4 Billion
The world ’ s worst off-shore oil disaster. At one time, it was the world ’ s single largest oil producer, spewing out 317,000 barrels of oil per day. On July 6, 1988, as part of routine maintenance, technicians removed and checked safety valves which were essential in preventing dangerous build-up of liquid gas. There were 100 identical safety valves which were checked. Unfortunately, the technicians made a mistake and forgot to replace one of them. At 10 PM that same night, a technician pressed a start button for the liquid gas pumps and the world ’ s most expensive oil rig accident was set in motion.
Within 2 hours, the 300 foot platform was engulfed in flames. It eventually collapsed, killing 167 workers and resulting in $3.4 Billion in damages.

# 5. Challenger Explosion - $5.5 Billion
The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds after takeoff due on January 28, 1986 due to a faulty O-ring. It failed to seal one of the joints, allowing pressurized gas to reach the outside. This in turn caused the external tank to dump its payload of liquid hydrogen causing a massive explosion. The cost of replacing the Space Shuttle was $2 billion in 1986 ($4.5 billion in today ’ s dollars). The cost of investigation, problem correction, and replacement of lost equipment cost $450 million from 1986-1987 ($1 Billion in today ’ s dollars).

# 4. Prestige Oil Spill - $12 Billion
On November 13, 2002, the Prestige oil tanker was carrying 77,000 tons of heavy fuel oil when one of its twelve tanks burst during a storm off Galicia , Spain . Fearing that the ship would sink, the captain called for help from Spanish rescue workers, expecting them to take the ship into harbour. However, pressure from local authorities forced the captain to steer the ship away from the coast. The captain tried to get help from the French and Portuguese authorities, but they too ordered the ship away from their shores. The storm eventually took its toll on the ship resulting in the tanker splitting in half and releasing 20 million gallons oil into the sea.
According to a report by the Pontevedra Economist Board, the total cleanup cost $12 billion.

# 3. Space Shuttle Columbia - $13 Billion
The Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space worthy shuttle in NASA ’ s orbital fleet. It was destroyed during re-entry over Texas on February 1, 2003 after a hole was punctured in one of the wings during launch 16 days earlier. The original cost of the shuttle was $2 Billion in 1978. That comes out to $6.3 Billion in today ’ s dollars. $500 million was spent on the investigation, making it the costliest aircraft accident investigation in history. The search and recovery of debris cost $300 million.
In the end, the total cost of the accident (not including replacement of the shuttle) came out to $13 Billion according to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics..

# 2. Chernobyl - $200 Billion
On April 26, 1986, the world witnessed the costliest accident in history. The Chernobyl disaster has been called the biggest socio-economic catastrophe in peacetime history. 50% of the area of Ukraine is in some way contaminated. Over 200,000 people had to be evacuated and resettled while 1.7 million people were directly affected by the disaster. The death toll attributed to Chernobyl , including people who died from cancer years later, is estimated at 125,000. The total costs including cleanup, resettlement, and compensation to victims has been estimated to be roughly $200 Billion. The cost of a new steel shelter for the Chernobyl nuclear plant will cost $2 billion alone. The accident was officially attributed to power plant operators who violated plant procedures and were ignorant of the safety requirements needed.

  # 1. 2008 Presidential Election- $800 Billion in the first two months…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nJ7LM3iyNg