obama
Ninety. No, wait - 89.
Friday, November 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
A letter from one Professor Robert P. Watson of Lynn University has been making its rounds on the Interwebs today. It’s titled “90 Accomplishments of President Obama Which The Media Fails To Report.” It’s a mouthful, but it’s worth it.
See the whole letter here.
Before we go any further, let’s figure out who this Robert Watson is. According to his Wikipedia page, Watson is a Democrat - big surprise there. We also see that he’s in favour of universal healthcare and strengthening environment protections - again, two big plans for Obama during his term in office. So basically, we need to take what the good professor says, with a grain of salt.
Still. Let’s take a look at some of the more interesting “accomplishments” on the list:
10. Limits on lobbyist’s access to the White House
11. Limits on White House aides working for lobbyists after their tenure in the administration
The big bow
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Obama bowed. He bent his body at the waist and directed his eyes to the floor, whilst holding another man’s hand.
OUTRAGE! SCANDAL! TABOO! PERVERSION! TERRORISM! Er, sorry. Got carried away. But that’s the general consensus in Washington right now:
“…it’s not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one,” says “Smarmy” Bill Kristol.
“It’s ugly. I don’t want to see it,” says Bill Bennett.
“I puked everywhere, immediately upon viewing it,” says… uh, generic right-winger…? Okay, made that one up, too. But you get the picture. The Conservatives are up in arms over this apparent cuckolding of the Commander-in-Chief.
Nevermind that the man Obama is bowing to is Emperior Akihito of Japan. Nevermind that an Obama official has stated that the president was “just following protocol.” Nevermind that the bow is, according to Wikipedia, a “gesture of respect” and not a mark of inferiority in any way.
What exactly would his opponents have him do? Beat up the Emperor on sight to establish his dominance? My feeling is that no matter how Obama greeted the Emperor, there would have been a problem.
How about a kiss on the cheek? This is a fairly formal gesture popular all over the world. It’s a greeting as well as a show of friendship and respect.
…buuuut it sure is feminine. We’d hate to look inferior to Japan (because we all know that femininity = inferiority!) Next!
Oh, what about a Anjali mudra? That’s an Indian greeting or show of respect which involves one sandwiching their hands together and raising them up to the greetee.
…too weird. Too foreign. Too… Asian. Next!
Fist bump? Too informal.
High five? Nothing to celebrate!
Hug? Too creepy.
Hat-tipping? What is this, the 1910’s?
Bottomline: it’s a bow, it’s not sacrilege.
Health care reform bill clears first hurdle (most Americans still unable to spell “hurdle”)
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
In what has been a brutal war of rhetoric and mudslinging, Obama has scored the first major blow of the health care reform battle. On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed the health care bill. From there, it will go to be voted on in the Senate, and finally signed by Obama himself.
Look (WARNING: VENTURING INTO OPINION TERRITORY! ABORT! ABORT!), let’s take a reeeeally basic look at this whole “debate.”
11:15 - restate my assumptions.
1. America is the most advanced (culturally, technologically, scientifically, financially, militarily) country in the world without some form of universal health care.
2. The United States of America has fifty million uninsured, the highest per capita medical costs and millions pushed into bankruptcy… over medical bills.
3. America may not have universal health care, but Iraq and Afghanistan do… and it’s paid for by the American government.
4. I’ve got a bunch more, but I really want to skip right to the all-too-obvious conclusion.
Therefore: America’s health care system is retarded. I tried to come up with some clever analogies, some witty ways of saying it… but c’mon. Why try to reinvent the wheel?
I mean…! Ahhh…! Exasperated exhalation…!
What kills me is the resistance to clearly necessary change. Well, necessary if America wants to avoid some sort of “Escape From L.A.” wasteland scenario in the next 20 years. The Glenn Beck morons, the 9/12′ers, the Teabaggers* and, most recently, the anti-abortionists - all, in some way or another, possessing reasons to oppose this bill.
UGHHHH. How can something so fundamentally, basically, reasonably “right” like keeping people alive and not dead, be such an issue of contest? I have a theory: Fox News is including in their broadcasts, accidentally or not, an extremely rare frequency that unlocks certain, long-dormant areas of the brain. The areas that, when stimulated, gave our Neanderthal ancestors the urge to wrestle dinosaurs**.
Listen, I get the feeling that reading over my past few posts might paint me as a stubbornly steadfast Obama fanboy That ain’t the case, Slim. The guy’s a politician - he fucks up all the time:
He lies.
He breaks promises.
HE SMOKED CANNABIS, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!
He’s got his shortcomings just like every other politician out there. He’s no messiah; he’s no JFK; he’s just a politician.
…who happens to get it right kinda often.
*Sorry, I think I may have listed the same group three times.
**It’s their fantasy; I’m just playing along.
Obama starts breaking kneecaps
Friday, October 23rd, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Badass.
So the government gives out a whole heap of money to “bail out” sinking companies. And the government says, “okay, I’m giving you this money now, but I want it back soon. Comprende, mon frere?”
What’s the first thing those sinking companies do with taxpayers’ money? They throw parties! “PHEW! We’re saved!” They give enormous bonuses to the very people who got them into this trouble in the first place! Look, you know the story. I’m not talking about the unbelievable injustices committed by companies like Goldman Sachs in the wake of this government bailout. I’m talking about today.
It’s a year later.
Knock knock, Citigroup. Knock knock, AIG. Obama’s at the door, politely asking for his money back.
Knock knock, Bank of America. Knock knock, General Motors. What’s that? You don’t have that money yet?
“Well,” says Big Bad Barack, “let me help you find some of it.”
And off comes the polished presidential loafers and on go the Chicago loan shark shitkickin’ stompers.
Check this out: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJYVn5B5q1AY
From Bloomberg.com: The Obama administration will order seven companies that received the most government assistance to cut salaries of top executives by 90 percent on average, a person familiar with the situation said.
That will affect roughly 175 top executives’ salaries, so says TheHill.com (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/64445-bernanke-has-obamas-back-on-wall-st-pay).
After months of public anger over the outrageous mishandling of tax payer money by Wall Street, the Obama administration has taken some action. This also comes in the wake of the Treasury’s special master of compensation Kenneth Feinberg’s recently submitted proposal to create a new regulatory body to govern consumer financial products like home loans and credit cards. Not since the Great Depression has America as a whole been more rallied against corporate America like it is today. Looks like those cries of outrage have finally reached some ears in the White House.
Say what you want about Obama - just do NOT be late with the man’s money.
New direction for this blog
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
I’ll be restarting this blog to tackle a new issue, as per one of my university classes: Obama’s presidency. More specifically, I’m going to looking at whether or not he’s doing the job he said he would, and the job that we, the western world, expect him to do. It’s a pretty broad topic, I’ll admit. But I think you’ll find that the entries and the links to other articles/blog entries that I post paint a pretty specific picture of the most famous man in the world.
Is the man often satirically hailed as the Second Coming of Christ actually bringing change to Washington? Or is he falling into the presidential trap of pandering to special interests and effecting no substantial change at all?
Take, for interest, Obama’s latest escapades:
Lobbyists Stew After Being Bounced from Boards
Seems that the sheriff is in town and he’s not taking kindly to no strangers. The gist of the article is that Obama’s decided to limit access to federal advisory meetings by lobbyists, ie. representatives of the special interests. That means that a rep from the Philip Morris Tobacco Company might no longer have a cushy, comfy seat at the table the next time the FDA sits down for a chat.
That’s big news! Take a look at a quote from the article:
Barack Obama ’s drive to limit influence-peddling in Washington, could affect hundreds of lobbyists who serve on the panels, which were created by Congress in the 1970s to provide private-sector advice to the government.
“Private-sector advice to the government.” Now, I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m a member of the private sector. And you probably are, too. But massive corporations and their reps? Companies that have more world-wide influence than our very own government? Something feels a bit wrong when including them in “the private sector,” like including a wolf in a poorly-covering sheep’s costume in the “lamb club.”
Seems to me that these ultra-influential, mega-rich companies have been abusing their position and the wording of any legislation that allows them to sit in on federal advisory meetings since the 70’s. And Obama’s no slouch; he gets that. So out they go, out of the meeting rooms so that Congress can get some real work done without being tempted by a dollar bill on a fish hook.
Good for you, Obama. Obama pros - 1, Obama cons - 0.