Gee, when then Prezident Bush used to land in Los Alamitos, he always took the short drive over to my place to find out how I was doing and to see if I had any suggestions on how to run the country.

NOT!

What part of "you pay for access" do people not get? The people who attend these events PAY to get access to the Prrez and his people. They aren't advisers, but they get a nice photo that they can display in their office to show that they are "power players".

In a land where the highest court in the land said money equals speech and that corporations are people, these "people" are "speaking" to the boss. It has been that way since I remember, just now the courts have said that the corruption doesn't have to be behind closed doors anymore.

Yes . . . Getting off his ass to greet bystanders would have been really nice, but he couldn't smell any money so he avoided them like the plague. Guess Mr. President who spends so much time running around campaigning in Air Force One and vacationing every week at the expense of taxpayers - forgot that those bystanders and people standing on the street VOTE too.

What an idiot we have for a "President"

Sheryl, I got stuck outside the JFTB once after Bush landed there. There were tons of people lining Lexington (the street leading into the base) and his motorcade just wizzed right past them all at 30MPH. Where was he going? A fundraiser in Century City.

You guys really have to get over the "one rule for us another for them" mentality.

What Obama is doing now is not all that different than what Bush did in the fourth year of his first term, or Clinton in the fourth year of his first term.

You want change from politics as usual? Then fight for public financing of all campaigns.

Right now you have multi-millionaire and tax didger Mitt self financing. And Santorium and Newt each have billionaire backers who have bought them off. I have no idea how Paul is still playing (but not being able to buy an election may be why he hasn't won a primary yet). Obama is playing the game the way Clinton and Bush did (and I haven't checked, but my guess is that it goes all the way back to Reagan or even before that). Would you prefer if he onbly sold out to one billionaire like Newt and Santorium?

So, let's stop whining about what he is doing and holding him to some silly double standard. He's not doing anything differently than the two before him did.

met00
What a piece of work... you!!! The route Bo took avoided the demonstrators.

met00
U gotta move on dude. Bush is long gone. U gotta think now and the future.
Like now there are no jobs for millions. Like now there is class warfare.
Like now the justice dept. supplies guns to the cartels. Like now there is no border security. Like now Bo wants a mosque at the 9/11 site. Like this clown needs to be deposed or there is no future for the American economy or it;s people.

Yep, I remember when Bush and Cheney went to breakfast at a Santa Ana mission with the homeless. Wow, those were the days.

[end sarcasm]

met00
You live in the past.
When campaigning Bo shook hands and held babies. He went to poorer areas.
He promised change. Well he gave that. Look in your pocket and you will see the bills are missing.

So what are ya trying to say? You're a little unhappy????

to quote the lady would would be queen... you betchya!

The problem is that "the other side" is plain bat-poop crazy.

Okay. Let's look at the record.

1) Stimulus. Far too little, watered down by useless tax breaks. See Krugman and Stiglitz for why it was too little and how the tax breaks didn't stimulate anything.
2) TARP (under Bush) paid off the bankers and AIG 100 cents on the dollar paid off Goldman-Sacks (under Bush and Obama)
3) Health care bill has NOTHING to create economic competition and reduce costs (the option for purchasing medicare for anyone would have done that - ie: a public option) Single payer does reduce costs and that.what we got won't. But at least now per-existing conditions are covered.
4) Do I need to provide the charts that show that defiicts go down under Democrats and rise under the GOP?
5) Do you want to discuss the Bush tax cuts that Bush said would create jobs? And the fact that every month Obama has been in office the job picture has gotten better?

I don't like the fact that Obama sold out almost every progressive issue either 100% or by a large percentage. But the reality is, his policies have been to the right of Saint Reagan and far from what progressives want, and even then, overall have been good for the country (or better than the course we were on). Remember, Saint Reagan lowered taxes once, and then raised the 11 times. The key was the lowering was on the 1% and the raising was on the 99%. He was the King of the transfer of wealth to the 1%.

metoo: 1. The stimulus money was wasted: FAILURE!
2. TARP; Bush; stability to the markets brought on by the subprime crisis, birthed by the Community Reinvestment Act (Carter) and subsequently modified to guarantee bad loans. Cost to the Treasury about $19b BUT it was modified by Obama to aid the auto industry (UNIONS), which it was NOT intended. Bush 1/Obama 0.
3. Health Care; government takeover of healthcare and FORCED participation by every US Citizen (except illegal aliens who get it for free….). FAILURE for FREE societies!
4. Charts under Obama vs Bush; sure, Oh yeah, don’t provide any deficit info on Clinton, because Gingrich caused the spending reductions, and also not under Reagan as his stimulus spending actually WORKED!
5. Bush tax cuts; due to the ATTACK on the USA and US at war. For 2001-07, the economy had 52 straight months of job growth. Unemployment was 5-6% for the same period. We should be so lucky.
Reagan; Hey, that was 25years ago! Give it up; don’t relive the past according to the present. If you’re a 99%er, take a hard look at Obama; he’s for the 1% but he talks the 99% lingo. Actions speak louder than words. If you read any book this year, read Road to Serfdom, it may enlighten you on where the Progressive ideas lead. I’m not saying that I have all the answers (I might even vote for Paul!). I’m saying that Obama is NOT the answer unless you want more of the same, or worse!

Again, I am NOT an Obama supporter.

In answer to your (1) I say view this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6088811219/
In answer to your (2) it really is nice to see the GOP and it's sycophants rooting for the failure of a major manufacturing sector.
In answer to (3), the US has great healthcare for the wealthy. Mediocre for the middle class and absolute crap for the poor. The best healthcare in the world comes from countries that have universal coverage. As for the lie of "government death panels" the real ones are the actuaries who work for the for-profit insurance industry and deny coverage based on costs, no mater what your doctor says.
On to (4)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6088811201/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6089355018/
http://jimcgreevy.com/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart.html

As a progressive I agree that Obama is not the answer. But the alternatives are a hell of a lot worse.

Met00; so (1) in Jan 08 unemployment was about 5.8% and you’re saying that this chart says it’s a whole lot better now at 8.5%? Was this chart really made by sponge bob? (2) who’s rooting? I want everyone to succeed! If they go bk from bad management, it’s not business of govt to bail them out (you should really examine your thought process…). (3) Where in the Constitution does it say that the govt will provide healthcare? And if it’s so bad for the poor, then why do the poor illegal immigrants come to the USA? Cuba has healthcare, but I’d rather be poor in the USA than go there. If what you say is true, then all the poor should move to the countries with healthcare, if that is what they want….you’re not making sense unless you are a socialist.(4) there are lies, damn lies, and then charts like these…give me a break, my IQ is in the double digits…Hey! It’s been nice conversing with you. I wish you all the best!

(1) What part of the chart did you miss? The steady decline in jobs during Bush's term? Or the turn around that started in Obama's term? Maybe you missed the sharp jump after the stimulus as the job market stopped hemorrhaging jobs. Or the continued growth in employment that the stimulus maintained? Now imagine if that stimulus was what Krugman and Stiglitz said we needed instead of half of it, and then 20% of it in a useless tax cut.

(2) Well, the GOP and it's supporters are. Remember it was the GOP leadership that said their number one job was to make Obama a one term President. Not fix the economy. Not invest in job creation. Nope, just make sure nothing gets better so Obama won't get reelected.

(3) It doesn't say that we will provide education to all the people, protective police and fire services and many other services that are a public good in the Constitution. Your point?

(3 again) State sponsored single payer reduces costs for business as well as reducing costs for healthcare in general. It's actually a public good, much like education, police and fire services, etc.

(4) Facts really bother you. It sucks that reality has a liberal bent. Enjoy Faux News.

One Citizen
Forget that loser. He knows not what he says.... He lives in the past.
If Bo would keep the jet and security people at home instead of flying around with his relatives on our dollar we could cut the deficit, fund the poor and bring the economy back to neutral. Those jet rides cost a fortune.
Hussein is out to destroy the country. Until you accept that nothing makes sense. NO ONE could screw things up the way he has UNLESS it was intentional...
How do you put a women in charge of negotiating with the Mus lim Arabs.
They hate women. There wives cannot drive. No education. 5 steps behind the men. Covered from head to toe and he appoints Hillary to negotiate for the U.S.?
I see met00 is now playing the race card. Took him a while. That happens when the debate does not go his way. Might ask him how Barrack got elected if everything was racial..lol lol

Amen.

Really, it seems to me that the nanny state would be one where a woman doesn't have the right to have her health insurance provide her with contraception because her employer doesn't want to. Or if she chooses to have an abortion, totally legal medical procedure, she must fist have a "Vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent" (that's what the GOP is pushing for in VA).

Of course the NUT CASES who try to make these laws don't do it for the nanny state, they do it because in their confused wool minds they think the United States is a Christian country and they believe they have a not just a right, but a duty to legislate their faith (may I suggest a reading of the Treaty Of Tripoli to see how false that was according to the founding fathers). The sad part is that these same yahoos also believe in Rand (which is at total odds of the message of Christ, but they seem to be able to say that they believe in both... go figure).

As for "giving him 4 more years". I would have preferred a progressive. I have a choice of Republican-lite or the nutcase brigade. Both my choices, as a progressive, suck. Since one is not bat-poop insane and the others are, it's really a no brainer to vote for the one who is least offensive.

Metoo; The argument is whether people have a “right” to healthcare. I don’t believe they do, so they can do whatever they want to pay for as long as they don’t hurt another person. Oops..I define a person from conception until death, so there’s the problem, but they can pay for what they want as long as they follow the law. If they want ME to pay for it, then I would want the procedure to follow rules that I agree to. I’ll fight any law to the contrary.
Kudos for finding the Treaty of Tripoli, but your interpretation is wanting. The treaty simply specifies that the US is not BOUND by Christian doctrine; it simply espouses religious freedom, which the Constitution bears out.
The FACTS show that the USA was founded on Christian-Judeo principles (among others) and there is nothing wrong in using these principles as a basis for interpreting the Constitution and the future of the USA. Have a great tomorrow!

The argument is whether healthcare as a public good is beneficial to society. It benefits business. It benefits the recipients. It lowers the cost of care. All this has been proven time and time again. It is no more a right than the right to education, the right to police protection, the right to fire services, the right to public parks and open spaces. Is it to the public good? That is the question. And the answer is, yes.

The fact is that this is NOT a Christian Country. No mater what the Christian Taliban say. It is NOT founded on the fantasy mythology book called "the Bible" (either new or old testaments) and more than it was founded on Greek or Norse mythology. It was founded on the educated writings of people like Aristotle, Plato, Rousseau. Get over it. If you want to go to a country where they founded governments based on mythology, go to the Middle East. The founding fathers created a secular country, get over it.

Momiee
You have it totally right. Congratulations.

It was the Bush Administration who set light bulb standards not Obama. It was the Bush Administration that started down the road on Solyndra.

Free abortions and Free contraception? No, covered health care for women so they have the choice, which is none of our business, it should be between them and their doctor. As for educating undocumented workers? He did not inact that LAW either!

Insurance mandates was originally a Republican idea, McCain pushed it, it was in Dole care. Most of what is in "Obamacare" was what Republicans wanted in health care reform during the Clinton administration.

The amnesia is close to insanity. The lack history is appalling.

Actually, California is a creditor state as we pay more in Federal Taxes than we get back. Which may be part of the overall problem with the system.

Unlike your fantasy of what Progressive Democrats want (food stamps and unemployment) we actually want a few things that YOU may actually want.

We want the President to create a CCC/WPA program which invests in infrastructure projects and creates jobs (and trains people for these jobs). We want the government to support green energy by offering 50% payment and 50% on no interest loans to anyone who solars their home with 100% US manufactured parts (more jobs [construction], and a boost to US solar manufacturing - and more jobs there). We support a program where employers are NOT responsible for providing healthcare, but it is universally available for purchase from the government (open medicare for public purchase) thereby making employment in the US more attractive and world competitive. And most of us support returning to the tax system of Republican President Dwight D Eisenhower, with an adjustment of all dollar figures for inflation.

See some of us progressives actually understand that we live in a consumer-based economy and that trickle down has failed for the last 40 years and it's time to go back to what worked. Trickle up. Invest in education. Invest in creating jobs and training people for those jobs. Invest in the public good. And of course tax the 1% at fair progressive tax rates.

Last night on tv ch. 2 they showed the food stamp people selling them in the grocery store parking lot for cash. That way they can buy other staples like booze, cigarettes and drugs. Now I am not against cigarettes as I have stock in those companies but the food stamp president makes me sick.

Bet if I go back and look at Bush's 4th year first term I will find that he was out doing exactly what Obama is doing. It's what they do to get another four more years. It's not an Obama thing, or a Bush thing. It's a politician thing. And if you want to stop it, make all elections publicly financed and get rid of the money in politics.

Good luck with that.

jollygirl
After 3 yrs. plus in office the positive signs of unemployment are representing the many who have given up on getting a job. That is why the 8.3% unemployed looks better.
Maybe you can tell me where 275,000 were hired from last months figures???
Solyndra? Army? Postal service? Government?

Thanks.

As a progressive I am extremely disappointed in the quality of the current administration. On the other hand, the other side is promoting the crazy to the point that they are so out of touch with reality that is scares me.

We have a large number of challenges and opportunities, and yes I do wish that a progressive came forward and primaried Obama. But that didn't happen so I am stuck with a President that is to the right of Reagan, no mater what progressive platitudes he utters, or a mulch-millionaire who thinks he hit a triple when he was born on third base and two blivot's who have sold out to personal billionaires, or a libertarian who doesn't believe that government should fund the public good and that survival of the fittest is the best government policy.

All in all, my choices suck, so I am left looking at who is the least worse, and it's the guy who is policy-wise, just to the right of Saint Reagan.

If you need me to tell you these last 3 1/2 years has produced nothing but strife then I cannot help you. You are a lost person. Vote for Bo.

@bobo

I am replying just once to your many posts since none shine any light. Your hatred for Obama is noted. Your use of his middle name is noted. You inability to deal with facts is noted. You may now return to your masters at Faux News and tell them that you beat up on a progressive in the hope that they will reward you.

You may want to forget the policies that got us here. You may want to forget the "class war" what he been going on since 1980 and pretend that it started with the Occupy movement. But most people can look at history and realize that Reagan's big tax cut lowered taxes for the 1% by 60% and his 11 tax increases increased taxes for the 99%. We can chart the changes in policy that created the current economic climate over the last 40 years. We can read David Stockman's book and see that the class war started way before now, and now the people on the losing side are finally getting sick of it and fighting back.

So, off to the dust bin of trolls with you, and enjoy the unbalanced propaganda that is Faux.

As One Citizen shows in his comments, there are those that are willing to say that the government of this country was founded on mythology as it's base. Even when presented with detailed evidence that shows that they are wrong, they continue to cling to this false belief system.

This Christian Taliban can't believe in the great freedom that doesn't place everyone under their mythological big daddy role model. And we as a society are poorer for it.

What does Bush have to say about this????

PBC
Let's take the facts one at a time. That should help you understand things, hopefully.
Yes or no will further simplify your response.
Is it a fact that for the FIRST time in this country's history that the credit rating has been lowered?
Plz.... Yes or No?

Oblamer the Robin Hood President. Rob from the rich (keep most for themselves), throw crumbs to the poor, gut the middle class with a black hole of endless taxes. Liberal media rambles for weeks trying to explain away what he just said. Smokes his cigs while worrying about our health. The United Greece States of America.

Ah Tonto, wondering where you were. You never miss a chance to bash Obama. Factless as ever I see.

In the last 4 years taxes for those making under $120K/yr have gone down. Yep, down. Must suck for you to see the "middle class" paying less under a Democrat.

Unfortunately, during the same time taxes for the wealthy have not gone up thanks to a GOP that feels a deep seated need to keep the 1% paying less than ever. Additionally, for corporations taxes are also still at historic lows.

Now, I have asked you this before. Republican President Dwight D Eisenhower had a tax code I would like to see returned to. Explain to all the good folk on Patch why we shouldn't return to the 1956 tax code of Dwight D Eisenhower with the income numbers adjusted for inflation?

Will I get the same silence I got the last time you refused to explain why returning to the 1956 tax code with inflation adjustments of DDE would be a bad thing for the country?

[pin drop]

Property tax, sales tax, fuel tax, excise tax, social security tax, medicare tax, 3000 pages of Oblamer care tax, sin tax, fees, fines, auto registration, toll roads, luxury tax, death tax, business license, employment taxes, transportation tax, on and on and on .. and oh yes..income tax.... communications tax, pet license, parking fees, court costs,how much should i go on.......I'll just make it simple....the RICH don't pay their fair share.

In all fairness met00........I thank President Robin Hood for the meager crumbs he threw out to make it look like he is a HUGE! tax cutter :)

{frying pan drop}

From 1940 to 1980 we had working class growth and a better standard of living for more and more Americans. We funded R&D and were the world leaders in manufacturing and technology. We generally had lower unemployment and income equality. Economically it was a golden age in America.

From 1980 to 2008 we have had the exact reverse.

You want to forget the past and continue with a process that has made it worse for the working class.

Like a fly that keeps on bumping into a closed window, you continue to do the same thing and follow the same path that has led to your failure rather then learn from history and return to a system that worked.

When someone points out the difference between the failed policies of the last 30+ years and the successful policies of the 40 before that, you have a hissy fit and whine.

Get over it bobo. Read Stockman's book. You were sold a bill of goods, and you bought it. You followed the sign that said this way to egress and you aren't aware that you have been mislead, because you like to think that you are smarter than that. Well you're not. So enjoy the three dollar bills and go back to Faux where they will make you even less aware of reality.

I only have a few moments to pull myself away from Fox News met00. but..... alot of States have income tax too....of course that only the RICH don't pay their fair share :)

Bo Bo, met00 still can't figure out why his check bounced when he still has checks left in his checkbook :) Pres Robin Hood will throw him some crumbs he thinks.

Tonto
If you bring up details one by one regarding this administration met00 cannot answer the question. If you throw two questions at him at once he goes back into history avoiding those questions.
I tried to make it easy for him and PBC but to no avail.
This is the first time in history that the U.S. credit rating has been lowered. True
or false.

Tonto
Met00 has given all his money to the poor. That is why the checks are no good in the book. Between him and Bo they are forming a socialist society. The only problem is they want us to join.... lol

PBC
Very good reply. YES, it is.
Now for the 2nd question. Again I will use the YES or NO phrase so that you may handle the question without asking another question or embellishing on it.
Isn't it true that the U.S. deficit is the highest it has ever been in history?
Remember yes or no???

Why are you playing this game with bobo the clown?

If I ignore what got us here I too can blame the guy holding the bag when the feces hit the fan.

Bobo, do you still beat your husband? That's a yes or no question! Bobo are you still molesting young boys? That's a yes or no question!

See how easy it is to set up a yes or no question that is bogus on it's face?

So, if you ignore all history, which bobo likes to do, and then frame the question to get the answer you want it's amazing, but you get the yes/no answer. Unfortunately for bobo most people don't watch and regurgitate Faux News talking points and can use the more than two active brain cells that they have to see that the facts belay his warped perception of GOP/Teaparty fantasy.

I just broke away from Fox Truth channel to say Oblamer promised jobs galore and he had a majority congress to do ANYTHING they wanted. But after shoving the health rape down everyones throat they got spoked as they were getting booted out of office. Now the stock market is near 1000 points behind all time high under bush and the band is playing. You see business is picking up.....in anticipation of Oblamer getting the BOOT :)

Great tonto-ism's of history...

If the economy doesn't improve it is Obama's fault because he's a Socialist-Communist-Marxist-Muslum incompetent who needs to be replaced.

If the economy starts to recover it is because business is expecting the Socialist-Communist-Marxist-Muslum incompetent to be booted out of office.

Therefore...

Tails the GOP/Faux meme wins
and
Heads Obama loses.

When you rig the game don't think everyone is as stupid as you are and won't notice it.

Well met00, Oblamer had it rigged with his majority congress for two years. So why no shangra-la he promised? Communist / muslim....you are probably correct. I don't think the glorious stock market will go over Bush's 14,000 mark though. Robin Hod may come trough for you. I wouldn't expect more then a few meager crumbs though :)

met00
O.K. Everything you say is true. I blame Bush. I blame Eisenhower. I blame everyone you want to blame.
Now where is the CHANGE?

met00
Quit calling Tonto stupid, stupid!

PBC
As I follow the stock market EVERY day I will tell you why we are at record profitability. 1st it is because of the high unemployment numbers. The less employees you have the more profits.
2nd. Industries have slimmed down due to the pull back in quantities of merchandise being able to afford. If your not working we can lower the on hand inventories.
3rd. Less taxes are paid because less goods are moving. Bad for the economy but better for companies.
I will say this is a thank you to BO... He is about as worthless as you can get.
Corporate greed is deplorable as you indicate and I agree. So what did Bo do about it? Billion dollar bailouts.
You say Bo has been ham stringed. NO. He uses executive orders to get around congress but only when he wants to. We might just get rid of congress and save the money. Worthless. Or if that is to hard of a change to accomplish then let them stay home and mail them their checks. Bo can take over. He has done it already...

Wait and see if they tell about his teenage babysitter he knocked up. Greatest whore President of all time. Icon to wacko liberals :)

Two thoroughly political creatures baptized into the blood sport with their eyes open. Has there ever been a stronger or more explicit Presidential partnership than that of Bill and Hill?

Hillary comes off oddly sympathetic in part one - and not as the long-suffering wife of a philanderer. She is one multi-faceted wench, me thinks.

The extreme variety of "looks" (hair, clothes, glasses, attitudes) she cycles through is fascinating in itself. She can't help being evocative, it would seem.

Even though I don't like her concept of the "global village", I hear she would be better than the puppet.

tiny, the "it takes a village to raise a child" theme, the Clinton Global Initiative foundation, or? How come?

Is part 2 where Bill has the intern do him and he did not know it was called sex?
Must be a Democrat or a liar!

I don't know, does this seem regressive?

http://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hillaryclintontakesavillage.htm

btw, part one (covering 50 years) was more satisfying (as a movie) than part two (covering 4!)

"It Takes a Village" is a book by her emphasizing is takes a whole community to raise children - obvious, and that's what a city and nation is for. Dole countered that it takes a family to raise a child - typical political stuff. The saying "It takes a village" comes from a common African proverb about children being as much part of the community as the family.

But, this global village term means also the shrinking world from the electronic communications media, thereby making the world like a single village. But except for the communications media the term village kind of advocates a less developed world as the norm whereby supporting 7 billion people with in a more developed way of life isn't conjured up with the term.

So, the community values of a literal village derive from its small scale and the physical proximity/intimacy the villagers enjoy.

Electronic communications media "shrink" space and time virtually, but the physical scale of the world remains the same, and its "villagers" are still remote.

Virtual proximity/intimacy is not the same as the physical intimacy of walking the same paths, drawing from the same well, breaking bread together, and the community values are discrete.

I guess "village" is just a warm metaphor to lay over what amounts (essentially) to a chilly neural network. Eh? :-)

Wonder what you think the 1% might think of the term global village?

Global? Probably an aphrodisiac. Increasingly so as the heir gets more rare, I expect.

We know from historical studies like Sleeping Beauty that the peasants are not allowed spinning on distaff or spindle by the 1%, and instead must knit by hand only.

Perhaps The Lady should be knitting?

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
-Emma Lazarus, 1883

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/10/28/the-125th-anniversary-of-the-statue-of-liberty/5059/

history
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR4_wjjYe5A&feature=b-vrec

Swell clip, tiny. Life is rich.