Live Blogging During Obama's State of the Union Speech

I'll be blogging live as President Obama gives his first official state of the union speech tonight in Washington, DC.

Reports are that he'll push overturning "don't ask, don't tell", that he'll focus on jobs and the economy, and address other pressing issues such as national security and health care as well.

Check back for updates...

I wonder how many times he'll mention himself tonight after this spectacle of self importance and narcissism.

The worst of the storm has passed Obama says? Why is unemployment rising then? The economy has hardly improved for average Americans even if the stock market has risen since December 2008 (before he was president).

Obama knows the people's anxieties? Except on taxes, health care, and terrorism apparently.

Pettiness and shouting... like Obama making fun of Scott Brown's truck. Yeah thanks.

Hope and change still. Although, there's far less of that now thanks to the lack of accomplishments in his first year. No major legislation, save for a stimulus to bail out Obama and Geitner's buddies on Wall Street which infuriates the average hard working tax payer.

Obama hated the bailout? Then why's he pushing for another "stimulus" (i.e. slush fund) that he's now calling a "jobs bill". Jobs bills cut taxes and reduce government, any jobs bill from this President and Congress will do neither.

9:20pm Now we're into the class warfare argument. Pitting Wall St. against main street. Wow, hope & change in action. Anti-business rhetoric won't create jobs.

Made health care 65% cheaper? Really. I'd like to see the stats on that. No, he did not cut taxes, he gave a 1 time rebate. The tax rates didn't change at all, if anything they'll go up thanks to the central planner in chief.

9:25pm Savings jobs doesn't count if you're already a public employee. Those jobs never go away. The recovery act can't account for anything, except for bogus jobs in non-existent congressional districts. What a farce this is. Citing one business in AZ or PA means nothing. Tens of thousands of jobs are disappearing each month because of this Alinsky-ite Prez.

Jobs will be #1 focus in 2010. What took you so long to wake up? The problem is that Obama has never had a real job and doesn't know how to create any. First cheer from the GOP for Obama saying business creates jobs. Wow, what a genius.

9:30pm - Obama proposes taking re-paid funds to give to small businesses. How on earth will that take place? More redistribution.

A small business tax credit. Actually a good idea. I would support that. Eliminate all capital gains on small businesses, actually a common sense idea. But why not eliminate all capital gains taxes across the board so America is on an equal plane with China which has no capital gains tax at all.

The scariest thing the government can say, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." No thanks, cut taxes and get out of the way.

9:35pm The last decade had unemployment of 5% approx for almost 8 years. Hardly a lost decade. The only thing lost was the opportunity to shrink the darn government.

Obama doesn't understand that America never goes on hold. The government can't re-vamp economies. China and India have advanced because they've begun to embrace capitalism, Obama is doing the opposite.

Obama bashes lobbyists, but won't disclose how many work in his administration. How transparent.

Obama wants to build nuke plans and open up drilling for oil and gas? Ha, I'll believe it when I see it. Start by shutting down the EPA and DOE.

Subsidies for green energy... paid for by the taxpayers of course to encourage "green" energy.

The nation that leads the green energy economy will lead the global economy? I doubt it, what proof is there in that? That's purely empty rhetoric. You can't build an economy on solar panels and windmills. The sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow. So, I agree that we do need more nuke plants.

9:40pm

Trade agreement with Columbia? Like the one you opposed? Then get a treaty signed and send it to the senate.

The best anti-poverty program is a good education. No argument from me. So let's open up more charter schools. Better to get rid of the Department of Education to let states manage their schools as was done until Jimmy Carter stepped in and created a whole new level of bureaucracy.

"Let's take that money..." should be Obama's motto. Some things are not the government's to take, but hey, who cares about the Constitution. All debt forgiven after 10 years? Well, what if you have $100K in debt? This is ridiculous. None of this is feasible unless taxpayers pay off loans for students.

9:45pm

Back to health care. We need reform, yes. But not a government health care takeover.

Expand care, mandate treatment, regulate everything and bring down costs. Right. Only a bureaucrat could believe that.

It's not about Obama making a good explanation of his plan. It's about Americans who want the freedom to choose the care they want, not getting it from some DMV bureaucrat who tells them what they are or are not eligible for. The more he beats this dead horse, the more the Dems will sink in the polls. Keep going Mr. President.

And now he wants bi-partisanship. Thanks. Too bad he shut out the GOP before. He is so out of touch he thinks the job was close, but it was far from being resolved. Clueless. Obama's reform would increase the deficit exponentially.

Obama, looking backwards again instead of forwards. Blame, blame, blame... try leading.

9:50pm

Steps to pay for the bailout, here we go: freeze government spending for 3 years. Love it. Won't happen though. Social security, medicare exempt. Discretionary spending frozen, he will enforce by veto. I'll believe it when I see it.

Obama says 20 billion in saving for next year with a 1 trillion deficit, so 2%? Chump change.

A fiscal commission, to go with the not so good jobs committee? I eagerly wait for the amazing results that are sure to follow.

Restore the pay as you go law? Won't work. Government is a Leviathan. If only Obama had once worked a real job where meeting pay-roll mattered.

Quite the joke to be talking about "the same tired battles" and "bipartisanship" when he keeps criticizing Bush. Common sense doesn't exist in the Democratic Party of today. American doubt government because it always screws things up: CRA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc. The government the people deserve is much, much, much smaller.

10pm

Obama criticizes a SC ruling expanding free speech. Wow. Not sure if a President has ever done that before during a State of the Union speech.

Publishing all ear-mark request online would be a good idea. No problem with that. But Mr. Transparency doesn't walk the walk, just ask CSPAN.

Calling for bipartisanship again, but he'll blame Bush again before this is over. Obama is talking about a perpetual campaign? This from the guy who brought his teleprompter to an elementary school. Republicans stand in the way of socialism. Nothing wrong with that.

Schumer, Reid, and Durbin rose and clapped for Obama saying that well qualified candidates for appointments shouldn't be held up with senate confirmation. What a joke, recall Rogers-Brown, Bork, Alito, and Roberts. Obama won't change any tone, his tone is divisive, partisan, and extreme.

10:05pm

So much empty rhetoric. There's very few meaningful words that will ever be remembered in Obama's speeches. What did he say after denouncing Wright, or in Cairo, or Berlin? I can't remember and I read or watched all of them.

All combat troops out of Iraq by August? Well, hopefully the government can hold and not collapse. If it did, Obama would let it fail I'm sure.

Here comes the end of don't ask don't tell...

10:10pm

"Prosecute 2 wars"... that could be misinterpreted in light of KSM.

Arms control won't necessarily make America safer. Fewer nukes could actually make a nuclear war more possible, because it could then be "winnable".

Gay soldiers, just what America needs to fight radical jihadists.

10:15pm

America is not great because it had faith in big institutions. It is great precisely because it was skeptical of power that infests big institutions and especially in government.

I wish Obama would quit, then American recovery could really begin.

Summary

Obama gave a well delivered but forgettable speech, as usual. There will be few, if any, words or lines that are remembered. And again, Obama's rhetoric doesn't match his actions. He appeals for bipartisanship while pointing fingers at the GOP for being obstructionist. He wants to move forward while looking back and blaming Bush. He stuck with his socialist big ideas: health care, cap and trade, etc.

He can point the finger at Washington, but he embodies Washington with his partisan, insider style.

Newt: How to Run a Positive Campaign in 2010

The GOP's idea man presents a way forward for 2010.

Obama Care Dies, Socialism Stifled

Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted today that the Democrats no longer have the votes to pass Obama's plan for health care reform ( read takeover). There were no GOP additions to the House of Representatives in special elections, but the victory by Scott Brown is a game changer whether Obama admits it or not. And for now, Americans can breathe a sigh of relief that the central planners have been stymied for now. They will be back though...

The "progressives" or "liberals" are always in favour of progressively bigger government, progressively higher taxes, progressively less freedom and are generally illiberal in the views on public policy.

Pelosi says now that there's no rush, but that hardly seemed the case just a few weeks ago when the Dems were scrambling to pass anything to give Obama his "victory" in time for the state of the union speech. It seems that many on the left are not grasping the public backlash against larger government. A more accurate reflection is that people want government to work better, but not grow bigger. The size of the deficit is freaking out many average Americans who realize that just as they are in deep trouble if they're over-mortgaged, the government cannot outlive its means forever either.

The people want a growing economy and job creation, but the Community Organizer in chief has no idea how to do either, partly because he's never worked in the real world (i.e. private sector) where making payroll isn't always easy and selling products or services determines whether you survive or fail.

Obama's latest move to further regulate banks will only result in less wealth creation and more red tape. US banks will be at a disadvantage to others around the world who are permitted offer more services. Capital flows to areas of least resistance, as in less regulation and tax. Until the American government decides it wants to help make its companies more competitive on a global scale, don't expect that unemployment number to change much.

To Prorogue or Not to Prorogue

The recent prorogation is one that has divided the country, undoubtedly. Despite the historical precedent to do so, some Canadians feel deprived of their right to watch Question Period during the Olympics. Yes, I too will miss CPAC's stellar coverage of parliamentary proceedings, particularly the senate special committee meetings on aging (it's real, click on it) and the House rules committee.

However, may I humbly suggest that if Prime Minister Harper had continued with business as usual, the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, CBC, CTV, and the rest of the media that hates all-things-conservative, would have insisted that Harper is trying to shove things through parliament while the country was distracted with the Olympics... "HOW UNDEMOCRATIC" they would yell, "he's PM Atilla" they would cry.

Yawn.

Yes, you know you can envision the headline: "Harper rams through gun registry law while nation focused on VANOG", or something of the like. Never mind that the Libs shut down parliament after the Somalia affair and dismissed an entire regiment with proud tradition of the Canadian forces. Oops, yeah awkward, let's avoid that one.

And the Libs (and some Dippers) can't complain about Harper's prorogue as being undemocratic considering they've stalled, delayed, and opposed every single effort at Senate reform since 1867, so spare me the overblown rhetoric.

Thoughts on Brown-Coakley

Tomorrow's shocking senate race in Massachusetts was never supposed to be a race. It was supposed to be a sure thing, a shew-in, a guaranteed pick-up for the Dems, a matter of formality. But this is America, and despite what Obama may think, America is exceptional. America is exceptional, not in the way that France or Greece is, but because America disdains nobility, title, and dynasty.

The few exceptions in American history are aberrations rather than a matter of course, unlike so many European nations where one's circumstance in birth determines one's status in life. You would think that Obama, of all people, would recognize that from his humble beginnings.

So what does the race between the previously unknown state senator Scott Brown and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley really mean in the grand scheme of things? Democrats are angry at Coakley for running a bad campaign, and anyone who calls Kurt Schilling a Yankee fan has made a major, colossal gaffe that would make even Joe Biden blush.

But Coakley isn't losing because of her own missteps, she's losing badly because she's wholeheartedly embraced Obama's far-left, socialist agenda that has continually enlarged government to the detriment of the private sector, freedom, capitalism, and individual rights. Throughout their history, Americans don't like being told what to do or how to do it. If an individual's actions aren't hurting anyone else, Americans don't like being told they can't do something. Telling them they have to pay into a system they don't get a say in makes them even more angry, as the British well know. After all, their founding document proclaims the right to pursue happiness, not as defined by government, but as each individual defines it unto himself.

The good people of Massachusetts, in their bluest of blue states, have health care already (thanks to moderate Gov. Mitt Romney). They don't see why they should now incur additional costs for the sake of other states and to fund corrupt deals such as the one made with Senator Nelson and the other with Sen. Landrieu, not to mention the incredibly unfair deal with the SEIU and other unions to exempt similar plans for the mere fact that one person may belong to a union while those not so attached will be taxed for their health care plan labelled as "Cadillac" by the all knowing, enlightened Obama administration.

But the fact that Americans could be thrown in jail for not wanting to participate in the health care system is most repugnant. This extension of the state's tentacles into the lives of the people is unprecedented and in conflict with America's origins. Freedom is experienced apart from government, not at the behest of it. And it's not the same as car insurance. You don't have to buy a car, but you do have to breathe.

Americans have always rejected socialism and centralized government control. It is this aversion that has set them apart from other nations over the course of history. American rugged individualism, self sufficiency, and self dependence has made it unique in the western world, and of any civilization. It is this natural distrust of government that has made America the world power that it is.

Obama has exhibited class warfare rhetoric and an undeniable tendency towards central planning which causes revulsion in average Americans (the kind that David Brooks and elitists just disdain), even those in Massachusetts. The Democrats have drifted so far to the left that they are willing to stomp the wishes of the people they claim to represent for the sake of their ideology. Indeed, they have begun to resemble the central planners they adamantly claimed to be so different from during the Cold War despite their obvious collectivist leanings.

Scott Brown may well prove that the seat he's running for does not belong to the Kennedy's, or the Democrats, but to the people of Massachusetts. I hope he's right, democracy would be well served.

Gingrich Lays Out Stategy on Economy, National Security, and Government

In what sounds like a stump speech for a possible presidential run, Newt Gingrich laid out his ideas on national security, the economy, and what America needs to do to rebuild its leadership role in the world to the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, NC. The 45 minute speech is available HERE.

Gingrich is well aware of the necessity and challenge that competing with India and China will be in the future. He is also harshly critical of the Obama administration and the endless bureaucratic non-sense that has unfolded since he came to power. From the "stimulus", to the KSM trial, to the underwear bomber, the administration has chosen paths in conflict with common sense and traditional American values.

The MA senate race is showing that even the bluest of blue states are having buyers' remorse with Obama. Obama promised change. Voters thought he was going to change the way Washington worked, not try to change what they believed.

Government Screws Up, People Pay the Price

Its amazing at how the government continues to blunder multiple issues from airline security to health care and yet a large segment of the population is ever willing to entrust more power to the government to regulate every aspect of our lives.

Consider that multiple attacks by air from 9/11 onwards have been thwarted by average citizens with the courage to stand up to terrorists aboard planes attempting to crash them into government buildings or blow them up with show and underwear bombs.

And what is the result of these heroic actions by the people? We're punished with ridiculous rules at the airport enforced by incompetent government employees that humiliate grandmothers, toddlers, and the disabled.

We are so paralyzed by political correctness that common sense is entirely absent from our domestic national security practices. The government refuses to acknowledge that 99% of the threats from terrorism stem from young, Muslim males with ties to radical mosques and counties, and who frequently have "Mohammad" somewhere in their name. Of course not all Muslims are terrorists, but Muslims also need to come to the realization that a problem exists in their midst and the more they do to neutralize it, the easier things will be for everyone. In short, it's time to start profiling.

This is not a conservative or liberal problem, this is a civilizational problem. I fear we're slowly committing civilizational suicide for lack of common sense and reason. Let's not forget, it was reason and logic that gave birth to Western Civilization's achievements.

Harper's Prorogue is Good for Democracy

The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, CBC, and other left-wing media outlets are decrying Prime Minister Harper's decision to prorogue parliament. Their claim is that his move is undemocratic because it prevents the government from debating key issues of the day.

I appeal to those who prefer less government when I say that Harper's move is good for democracy. Allow me to explain...

Whenever government acts, by passing laws or regulations, those laws inevitably restrict individuals, groups, or entities from acting in a certain way or force people to act in a certain manner. Government cannot act without the threat of coercion. Government is, inevitably and unavoidably, an instrument of violence. The threat of violence underpins every government action. If it did not then armies, police, guards, and secret services would be unnecessary.

Since government cannot do anything for the next few months, the people of Canada will be free from any further restrictions on their every day choices and actions. The new scanners in airports will never come about because of a government act anyway, it will be an administrative decision by unelected bureaucrats deciding what we can or can't take on an airplane, so the issue is basically moot.

However, I thank Mr. Harper for making it possible for the government to do virtually nothing in the coming months. We should be protesting for more prorogues, term limits, and a part-time legislature.

The less the government tries to "help" me or spread my income around, the better.

Obama's Pants - Fully on Fire

I think it's time for all the pseudo-conservatives, Blogging Tories (you know who you are), RINOs, and other people normally in possession of common sense to come clean and repent of their support for Obama. I mean after watching the clip below, you've gotta feel a little jaded over B-O now.



Even CBS is saying that Obama flat-out broke his promise to be transparent. Obama really had no choice after making sweetheart deals with "Big Pharma" and insurance companies. It turned out that despite his talk, Obama found willing allies in his plan to turn a lot of private insurers into Fannie Mae look-a-likes. And why not, look how well the CEO's of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have done.

Not only that, Obama is now breaking his word on not raising taxes. We know how that turned out for Mr. George H.W. Bush... But a 1 term Obama would be good for freedom, America, and ultimately the world.

Not only are Obama's plans for health care an affront to individual freedom, they run directly counter to the fundamental values upon which America was founded: freedom from government rather dependence upon it.

And who suffers for Obama's outright socialism? The American people. Unemployment remains sky high, the economy is barely recovering, the stimulus is proven nothing more than a Democratic Party-ACORN slush fund, while freedom is eroded, and national security is jeopardized.

Obama is more concerned with closing Gitmo than growing the economy. He's more worried about giving terrorists Miranda rights than defending America. He's more concerned about making a legacy for himself in coercive government health care than making America a beacon of freedom and prosperity.

Obama's words don't match his deeds, he's a true practitioner of Alinsky's methods after teaching them for many years.

Obama is bad for freedom, bad for prosperity, and bad for America. Despite this, America will survive in spite of Obama, rather than because of anything positive he's done.

To the Obama supporters with buyers' remorse, it's not too late. At least, not yet.