Obama - "I want to see us export more jobs!"

In a speech yesterday, President Obama pulled a vice-president Biden when he said, "I want to see us export more jobs!"

As Pee Wee Herman might have said, "I meant to do that."

What is it with the left and their insistence that their boy or girl is always the "smartest person EVAH?" Real-world evidence doesn't exactly prove it, but then again, we aren't dealing with practical people, are we?

Rep Mike Kelly Gets a Standing Ovation on House Floor

I guess today is Speech Day. Here's another good one about the cost of federal red tape from Representative Mike Kelly. Note the chants of "USA! USA!" at the end.



(h/t to The Blaze.)

C. L. Bryant with Your Morning Motivation

Here's one of the best speeches you'll hear all morning. It's C. L. Bryant at FreePAC.

Pardon my weak link-fu, elst I'd show it here (Moar Coffee).

Click here for the video from The Right Scoop.

Enjoy.

What's Love Got to Do With It?

Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech. Someone in the crowd shouted, "We love you." Obama's response was this.



Love? I don't think that word applies here.

You have tried this before. The Stimulus Bill didn't work. In fact, it worked in reverse. We're much worse off as a result of it. And now you want to try it again?

Mr. President, you can't wave your sceptre and create jobs. Jobs are the natural result of a free market economy. You seem insistent upon remaking our economy into something that's not an economy. You contend that the Republican controlled Congress wants to deny you a political victory.

Here's the truth: A victory for you is a loss for the nation. You got virtually everything you wanted with the willing help of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for the first two years of your presidency. And the nation is suffering mightily as a result.

It's not that we don't love you as a person: we don't love what you're doing. That is the important difference.

You have criticized the overwhelming majority of the country. You have criticized conservatives, Tea Partiers, Republicans, doctors, corporate jet owners, businesspeople, and average Americans, whom you called "bitter clingers." You have called us "the enemy" more than once. And your actions have proven it more than once. Every action, every regulation, every mandate you have approved is doing nothing but crippling our country in every way imaginable.

And now you want us to love you, when you clearly don't love us? You should understand that this "love" thingy works both ways.

Mr. President, it appears that, judging by your words and actions, you don't love America.

The Washington Post Examines Obama’s Recent Ohio Speech and Finds, um, Discrepancies

This is kind of old, since it’s from last week. I’m from Alabama, what can I say?

Anyway, as you may know, President Obama gave a speech at an automotive plant that makes Jeeps. He was rather proud of his perceived “rescue” of the American auto industry, and this speech seemed to be little more than him patting himself on the back.

I hope he didn’t hurt himself.

As our economy continues its downward slide, Obama has seen fit not to actually do anything to improve it, but he does speechify quite a bit. It’s like he’s a cheerleader for the opposing team on the wrong sideline.

His administration is solely responsible for our economy now. Obama was elected primarily on Bush-bashing, trodding on the well-prepared ground of the media and its’ relentless attacks on Bush. But after two and a half years of continuing downturn, it’s painfully evident that he’s not making things any better. Nor does he intend to.

There is no question that we have in Obama the most virulently anti-business president in our history. His hostility has been well documented. He never misses an opportunity to paint all business owners as greedy vampires, eager to drain the lifeblood of the nation. Never mind that he’s the beneficiary of massive amounts of money from various large companies who greased his palm and are now the recipients of large government contracts. Think General Electric.

I’ve already poked many holes in Obama’s anti-American agenda. But, last week, a major newspaper, the Washington Post, decided to try their hand at some real, live, journalism by doing a bit of fact checking on Obama’s speech. Glenn Kessler does a stellar job of examining the inconsistencies and fabrications in the President’s speech.

Normally, one must go to a blog to get this level of accuracy, but here the Post seems to be attempting to actually report in a factual manner. Wow, what a concept. Who knew that a major news outlet would even consider printing anything more than a transcript of a presidential speech, much less do some actual reporting of, *gasp*, fact?

All snark aside, it’s really nice to read. I present a few choice quotes to remind you of how it once was done. They come out of the gate with this…

“What we found is one of the most misleading collections of assertions we have seen in a short presidential speech. Virtually every claim by the president regarding the auto industry needs an asterisk, just like the fine print in that too-good-to-be-true car loan.”

OK, that’s pretty good. I like it when somebody else does my fisking for me. See the second sentence above. It gets better…

“Let’s look at the claims in the order in which the president said them.


“Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency — and it repaid that money six years ahead of schedule. And this week, we reached a deal to sell our remaining stake. That means soon, Chrysler will be 100 percent in private hands.”


Wow, “every dime and more” sounds like such a bargain. Not only did Chrysler pay back the loan, with interest — but the company paid back even more than they owed. Isn’t America great or what?


Not so fast. The president snuck in the weasel words “during my presidency” in his statement. What does that mean?”

Whoa, there, Nelly. Did I just read the words “weasel” and “Obama” in the same article from a prominent newspaper? That has to be a first. Truly Pulitzer Prize worthy.

It gets better…

Obama said this:

“In the year before I was President, this industry lost more than 400,000 jobs, and two great American companies, Chrysler and GM, stood on the brink of collapse. Now, we had a few options. We could have done what a lot of folks in Washington thought we should do — nothing.”

To which the Post responds…

“This is quite a straw man — that many people wanted to do nothing. It was never so black and white. The debate was over the right course to take in the bankruptcy process.


The Wall Street Journal published Monday an interesting conservative critique of the government’s intervention by David Skeel, a law professor at University of Pennsylvania. Skeel says that the revival of the auto industry “is a very encouraging development,” but “to claim that the car companies would have collapsed if the government hadn’t intervened in the way it did, and to suggest that the intervention came at very little cost, is a dangerous misreading of our recent history.””

More truth? What is this world coming to, its senses?

You know, there actually were a few in Washington then that remembered why we have bankruptcy laws.

“We do not read Boehner’s quote that way; in this 2009 comment, he is questioning the administration’s approach while saying, “The success of our automotive industry is critical.”Shelby and Kyl in 2008 were protesting the use of taxpayer funds by Bush to delay a bankruptcy filing; they preferred immediately putting the companies through the bankruptcy process.


It will be up to historians to decide what the best solution would have been for taxpayers and the auto industry. We can understand why the president wants to portray himself as making a lonely and tough decision. But the debate was not either/or, [but] rather what was the best policy to bring the automakers back to financial health.”

In hindsight, what happened was that Obama, instead of letting our system work, intervened and skirted the normal course of action for companies in financial trouble, which is to file bankruptcy. Obama couldn’t allow this because it would have permitted GM and Chrysler to renegotiate contracts with the unions. And as we all know, unions are among the biggest block of Obama’s supporters. If you’re a stockholder in GM or Chrysler, you know you were screwed.

It’s heartening to see a major newspaper actually do its job these days. Obama's speech received three our of a possible four Pinocchios.

To quote the Blogfather, read the whole thing.

Obama’s Political Cowboy Poetry

Ignoring a seriously depressed economy, four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline and a ten percent inflation rate, President Obama took to the campaign trail in Texas yesterday to talk up immigration reform and talk down to Republicans, conservatives, and anyone else who dares to think that we should actually enforce our existing immigration laws.

Here’s a sample:

The president said “we have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. But even though we’ve answered these concerns, I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They’ll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They’ll say we need a higher fence to support reform. Maybe they’ll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat. They’ll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That’s politics.”

No, Mr. President, that’s smug condescension on your part, which I guess passes for politics to you. We’re still waiting for you to get serious about enforcement. We wonder why you aren’t stopping the flood of illegals across our Mexican border. We wonder why you’re intent upon suing the state of Arizona to stop their recently passed illegal immigration law that closely mirrors the federal law you refuse to enforce.  Jake Tapper does a bit of fact-checking Obama's speech here.

We wonder why there are signs like this anywhere in America.

(H/T to Great Satan Inc.)

We wonder why we tolerate the environmental destruction that those illegals cause. Why aren’t the greenies outraged at the 225 tons of trash they left behind in 2010? The 13.5 tons of tires? The 77 vehicles abandoned and removed?

How about the fact that Phoenix, AZ is now one of the world’s most dangerous cities due to the high and rising number of kidnappings by drug cartels? Janet Napolitano recently stated that the Mexican border is safe. I guess since she can’t see it from her office window in Washington, she thinks it is. Pinal County Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu begs to disagree, in front of a Congressional committee no less.

Not to mention the potential for terrorists to cross into America unnoticed. This alone should be sufficient cause to secure our southern border, especially now that known terrorist groups are established in Mexican border towns.

President Obama is more than happy to confuse legal and illegal immigration for political purposes, and he’s not alone in using that tactic.

Fox News notes,

“…Obama is pitching his immigration argument to the larger public, refining it in a way that goes to Americans' pocketbook concerns. White House officials say Obama will emphasize the economic value of reforming immigration laws, noting that immigrants account for a substantial share of business start-ups and patent applications, among other things -- activities that create jobs for everyone.”

Those are legal immigrants, with whom no one has a beef. If you want to come to America and do so through our traditional (and legal) method of application, then we welcome you as we always have. It’s those who enter this country illegally without regard for our laws that we’re concerned about. Illegals working under cover and for less wages impact our economy negatively, displacing American workers. It’s no coincidence that Mexico’s second greatest source of national income (behind oil revenues) is from illegals in America. Count in the states that strangely give public benefits to illegals and the costs outweigh any benefits.

We don’t need immigration reform. We already have a pathway to citizenship, but to hear the President and many others speak, we don’t.

And if the Democrats or Obama thought for a minute that any of these illegals they want to give amnesty to might vote Republican, they’d be the first ones to close the Mexican border.

You can hang your ten-gallon hat on that, pardner.

Poets, Priests, and Politicians, Part II – Those Word Thingys

I like to observe things. Life, people, pretty women (especially BackwardsGirl), squirrels, lizards, hot cars, motorcycles, and bright, shiny objects. I have to stay away from those last ones, though, they’re really pretty.

Really, really, pretty.

Oh, I left out politics and the practitioners of that dark art. There is a wide chasm between reality and what goes on inside the head of the typical politician. The more leftward they lean, the greater the chasm.

Of particular note is the way they use language to disguise their intentions. New York Senator Chuck Schumer showed us how this works when he inadvertently instructed his party cohorts to describe any attempts by Republicans to cut the budget as “extreme.” Inadvertently, since he didn’t think anyone else was listening besides his party-mates.

“I always use the word extreme,” Schumer told Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Barbara Boxer of California, Benjamin Cardin and Thomas R. Carper of Delaware, according to New York Times reporter Jennifer Steinhauer, who was on the call without Schumer knowing it. “That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week.”

It’s too bad they didn’t instruct him to just tell the truth, or to get to work cutting this bloated beast of a deficit down to a manageable size so our grandkids can have a future. He seems to follow marching orders well; he just doesn’t take them from the people he’s supposed to, namely his constituents.

But I digress.

That example was pretty blatant, but it proves that there are some folks in Washington who are willing to twist and distort the English language so they can increase their power and control over us. That’s standard operating procedure and it’s done on a regular basis by those on the left.

That twisting and distortion can also be rather subtle. In fact, it works better when it’s done that way.

I had a conversation a few years back with a friend when I noted that machinists weren’t held in very high regard by the general public anymore. I said it was because the public never heard the word “machinist” without also hearing the words “union” and “strike.” Since that phrase came out of me without thinking about it, a little light bulb went on.

That’s how it’s done.

It doesn’t need to be an outright lie to be effective. A grand lie works as well as a small one. There are subtle variations that can be just as effective.

So, why am I telling you this? You may already know how it’s done. You may also not know. If so, then just consider this an affirmation. If not, or if you know someone who seems susceptible to suggestion, you can help them by pointing this out.

You see, there’s a propensity for us humans to automatically accept any information as true. This binary acceptance of anything is also our undoing. Skepticism is a very healthy thing to have in your mental toolkit these days, especially when it comes to politics. That old adage, “Don’t believe anything you read and only half of what you hear” is a good yardstick. That might be backwards, but hey, it’s what I do.

Still, one must develop an ability to decode any statement coming from a politician. Plain language isn’t their strong point, and many statements can mean something entirely different than at first blush.

Take this for example. I’ve linked to it before, but it’s good and bears repeating: Health Care Words to Use and Avoid.

Use the term “quality, affordable health care” instead of “universal health care.”

Say "giving people control or peace of mind” instead of “public health care for all.”

Here’s my favorite: use “guaranteed” instead of “required.”

Or, “bovine-based, organic growth enhancer” instead of “bullshit.”

But also be on the lookout for those descriptors used together such as “extreme right-wing.” After a while, you could drop the word “extreme” and just use the word “right-wing” and the word “extreme” becomes implied. Repetition is the key. It works. Many times, too well. How many lefties have you talked to who could repeat, verbatim, certain talking points, but when countered with facts, fall apart into a blithering heap of name-calling and invectives?

There’s a verbal war going on out there.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Fisking Obama’s Speech on “Energy Security”

President Obama gave a speech yesterday to the Hoyas of Georgetown University on the subject of energy. Since I haven’t fully examined all the nuances and subtleties contained in one of his speeches in a while, I thought I’d have a bit of fun today.

Understand that this isn’t hard to do. Dear Leader is still being trained while on the job: basically, what we hear is his childlike wonder at discovering things for the very first time. Community organizing is so hard, rousing that rabble leaves so little time to fully comprehend just what it is that your railing against.

We sympathize, we really do. It’s just so precious watching a President take his very first steps…

After the shout-outs and a recap of the news, He Begins.

“In an economy that relies so heavily on oil, rising prices at the pump affect everybody -- workers, farmers, truck drivers, restaurant owners, students who are lucky enough to have a car. (Laughter.) Businesses see rising prices at the pump hurt their bottom line. Families feel the pinch when they fill up their tank. And for Americans that are already struggling to get by, a hike in gas prices really makes their lives that much harder. It hurts.”

Which makes your campaign pledge to “make everybody’s utility bills necessarily skyrocket” so poignant.

“If you're somebody who works in a relatively low-wage job and you've got to commute to work, it takes up a big chunk of your income. You may not be able to buy as many groceries. You may have to cut back on medicines in order to fill up the gas tank. So this is something that everybody is affected by.”

Or, Barry Discovers Economics.

Then comes the by-now mandatory dig at the Tea Party…

“Now, here's the thing -- we have been down this road before. Remember, it was just three years ago that gas prices topped $4 a gallon. I remember because I was in the middle of a presidential campaign. Working folks certainly remember because it hit a lot of people pretty hard. And because we were at the height of political season, you had all kinds of slogans and gimmicks and outraged politicians -- they were waving their three-point plans for $2 a gallon gas. You remember that -- "drill, baby, drill"-- and we were going through all that. (Laughter.) And none of it was really going to do anything to solve the problem. There was a lot of hue and cry, a lot of fulminating and hand-wringing, but nothing actually happened. Imagine that in Washington. (Laughter.)”

Wow, this really takes me back to the days when a practical energy policy wasn’t mocked or derided. How time flies.

“The truth is, none of these gimmicks, none of these slogans made a bit of difference.”

The reason why none of it was really going to do anything to solve it is because we’re prevented from harvesting our rich natural resources by you and your Progressive cronies and your belief in the Global Warming Monster.

“Politicians of every stripe have promised energy independence, but that promise has so far gone unmet.”

We know. We’re still waiting.

“The United States of America cannot afford to bet our long-term prosperity, our long-term security on a resource that will eventually run out, and even before it runs out will get more and more expensive to extract from the ground.”

Um, we’re finding new oil reserves pretty regularly, and in places where we didn’t expect to find large populations of compressed dinosaurs, like the bottom of the ocean.

“But our best opportunities to enhance our energy security can be found in our own backyard -- because we boast one critical, renewable resource that the rest of the world can't match: American ingenuity. American ingenuity, American know-how.”

The world breathless awaits the first flight of the first ingenuity-powered jumbo jet.

“To make ourselves more secure, to control our energy future, we're going to have to harness all of that ingenuity. It's a task we won't be finished with by the end of my presidency, or even by the end of the next presidency. But if we continue the work that we've already begun over the last two years, we won't just spark new jobs, industries and innovations -- we will leave your generation and future generations with a country that is safer, that is healthier, and that's more prosperous.”

Will we be using something like that Ghostbusters capturing thingy? Also, continuing the work you’ve done over the past two years will only insure more poverty, more folks on food stamps, more rising debt and more malaise. We’d be better off with the ghosts.

“So today, my administration is releasing a Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future that outlines a comprehensive national energy policy, one that we've been pursuing since the day I took office. And cutting our oil dependence by a third is part of that plan.”

Doubtless, your illegal drilling moratorium is part of that grand Blueprint?

“This begins by continuing to increase America's oil supply. Even for those of you who are interested in seeing a reduction in our dependence on fossil fuels -- and I know how passionate young people are about issues like climate change -- the fact of the matter is, is that for quite some time, America is going to be still dependent on oil in making its economy work.”

Barry discovers physics. The cuteness, it hurts.

“Moreover, we're actually pushing the oil industry to take advantage of the opportunities that they've already got. Right now the industry holds tens of millions of acres of leases where they're not producing a single drop. They're just sitting on supplies of American energy that are ready to be tapped. That's why part of our plan is to provide new and better incentives that promote rapid, responsible development of these resources.”

No, they’re sitting on land that has yet to be explored. There’s no guarantee that there’s any oil there. Those evil oil companies are merely complying with yet another burdensome regulatory system, one that adds to the cost of production and higher gas prices and is responsible for our increasing national trade imbalance.

OK, now it’s time to sing “Big Yellow Taxi.” Everyone please stand up and put your hand over your heart. In the key of “E,” one, two, three, four…

“I give out this statistic all the time, and forgive me for repeating it again: America holds about 2 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. What that means is, is that even if we drilled every drop of oil out of every single one of the reserves that we possess -- offshore and onshore -- it still wouldn't be enough to meet our long-term needs. We consume about 25 percent of the world's oil. We only have 2 percent of the reserves. Even if we doubled U.S. oil production, we're still really short.”

Yeah, we’re the world’s biggest consumer of energy. But you never say what we do with all that energy, like developing life-saving drugs and medical procedures, or finding new ways to produce energy. Stuff like that.

“Now, another substitute for oil that holds tremendous promise is renewable biofuels -- not just ethanol, but biofuels made from things like switchgrass and wood chips and biomass. If anybody doubts the potential of these fuels, consider Brazil. As I said, I was just there last week.”

Yeah, with two billion of our tax dollars we can’t afford, so they can increase their oil production. By the way, Barry, how is George Soros’ Petrobras stock doing these days?

“Half of Brazil's vehicles can run on biofuels -- half of their fleet of automobiles can run on biofuels instead of petroleum. Just last week, our Air Force -- our own Air Force -- used an advanced biofuel blend to fly a Raptor 22 -- an F-22 Raptor faster than the speed of sound. Think about that. I mean, if an F-22 Raptor can fly at the speed of -- faster than the speed of sound on biomass, then I know the old beater that you've got, that you're driving around in -- (laughter) -- can probably do so, too. There's no reason why we can't have our cars do the same.”

No reason other than the fact that ethanol is far less efficient than gasoline and eats up old fuel systems that weren’t designed for it. And that we’re using food for fuel, driving up the cost of everything we use corn for, like beef, corn syrup, cereal, and all that. We have a global food shortage, too. Those two factors couldn’t possibly be connected, now could they?

“Now, we went through 30 years where we didn't raise fuel efficiency standards on cars. And part of what happened in the U.S. auto industry was because oil appeared relatively cheap, the U.S. auto industry decided we're just going to make our money on SUVs, and we're not going to worry about fuel efficiency. Thirty years of lost time when it comes to technology that could improve the efficiency of cars.”

Which thirty years are you referring to? The last thirty have seen more and more emission and mileage standards imposed than the previous thirty. Cars got smaller and accidents became much more dangerous as a result. There’s a real sense of safety that comes from being surrounded by large sections of sheet metal, as any soccer mom will tell you.

“This summer, we're going to propose the first-ever fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks. And this fall, we'll announce the next round of fuel standards for cars that builds on what we've already done.”

Oh boy! A Smart Truck! It won’t be able to haul anything, but it gets great mileage. 0-60 in two days!

“We've also made historic investments in high-speed rail and mass transit, because part of making our transportation sector cleaner and more efficient involves offering all Americans, whether they are urban, suburban, or rural, the choice to be mobile without having to get in a car and pay for gas.”

You might want to ask the Japanese about all that high-speed rail and how mass transit in the wake of the power outages, doesn’t run. How are you going to feed your family if you can’t get to the grocery store?

“Still, there are few breakthroughs as promising for increasing fuel efficiency and reducing our dependence on oil as electric vehicles. Soon after I took office, I set a goal of having one million electric vehicles on our roads by 2015. We've created incentives for American companies to develop these vehicles, and for Americans who want them to buy them.”

You liked them so much, you bought took over the company.

“And for those of you who are wondering what that means, the thing that's been holding back electric vehicles is the battery that stores that electricity, that energy. And the more efficient, the more lightweight we can make those batteries, the easier it is to manufacture those cars at a competitive price.”

Right now, trial lawyers are licking their lips in anticipation of the first accident where one of those batteries explodes. Good times await.

“Now, one other thing about electric cars -- and you don't need to talk to Chu about this -- it turns out electric cars run on electricity.”

Had you not told me, Mr. President, I never would have known. You, Sir, surely rank amongst the finest minds this country has ever produced, like Einstein, Marconi, and Tesla.

“Today, our homes and businesses consume 40 percent of the energy that we use, and it costs us billions of dollars in energy bills. Manufacturers that require large amounts of energy to make their products, they're challenged by rising energy costs. And so you can't separate the issue of oil dependence from the issue of how we are producing generally -- more energy generally.”

“The nice thing about energy efficiency is we already have the technology. We don't have to create something new. We just have to help businesses and homeowners put in place the installation, the energy-efficient windows, the energy-efficient lighting. They'll get their money back. You will save money on your electricity bill that pays for those improvements that you made, but a lot of people may not have the money up front, and so we've got to give them some incentives to do that.”

Hmm, that sounds like Cash for Caulkers. Funny thing about that is that when utility companies see reduced demand, they raise their rates. It’s almost like they’re running on a razor-thin profit, or something.

“So a clean energy standard will help drive private investment in innovation. But I want to make this point: Government funding will still be critical. Over the past two years, the historic investments my administration has made in clean and renewable energy research and technology have helped private sector companies grow and hire hundreds of thousands of new workers.”

Yup, workers who were promptly laid off when the subsidies ran out and the companies closed.

“I've visited gleaming new solar arrays that are among the largest in the world. I've tested an electric vehicle fresh off the assembly line. I mean, I didn't really test it -- I was able to drive like five feet before Secret Service said to stop.”

Sooo, it’s not just the country that doesn’t trust you to operate complex machinery…

“Unfortunately, some folks want to cut critical investments in clean energy. They want to cut our research and development into new technologies. They're shortchanging the resources necessary even to promptly issue new permits for offshore drilling. These cuts would eliminate thousands of private sector jobs; it would terminate scientists and engineers; it would end fellowships for researchers, some who may be here at Georgetown, graduate students and other talent that we desperately need to get into this area in the 21st century. That doesn't make sense.”

We are so glad you finally understand that. It certainly makes no sense to pump billions of tax dollars we don’t have into immature technologies that have yet to prove themselves in the marketplace. Private sector jobs that depend on government subsidies aren’t really private sector jobs.

Wait! I think we’re about to hear Little Barry’s first words. It’ll be nice not to hear him babble anymore…

“God bless you. God bless the United States of America.”

Don’t you feel proud?

Ronald Reagan Reminds Us We’ve Yet to Tame Big Government

While over at Ace of Spades yesterday, I watched Ronald Reagan’s stirring speech from 1964 entitled “A Time for Choosing.” I hadn’t heard it in several years. I was struck by the number of issues he addressed that we have yet to resolve. In case you haven’t heard it lately, here it is,



Nearly all of the problems he mentioned are still with us today. Problems such as deficit spending and high federal debt, inflation, war, apathy, a ruling elite who believe they can control our personal lives better that we can, and the fragility of freedom (under attack from all sides, but mostly from inside Washington), serve to remind us that we have fallen far from the political ideals of our Founders.

At the same time, Mr. Reagan also reminded us of our exceptionalism. The concepts of self-rule, individual responsibility and freedom prick our senses to reawaken us to our destiny and our purpose, to the greatness that we are today in real danger of losing.

Free-market capitalism was under attack then, as now. Well-meaning but misguided social scientists seek to impose their vision of a mankind perfected upon our society, as if we were somehow incapable of correcting our mistakes, as if the average American was some sort of animal, growling and pawing in search of prey when all we really want is to provide for ourselves and our families a comfortable living in peace with our neighbors. He points out the still popular but grossly inaccurate opinion held by leftists that capitalism is a zero-sum game where the one who benefits robs the less fortunate of their money. Or as he put it, “We have so many people who can’t see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one.”

Today, as in 1964, there are those that feel our Constitution is outmoded, an anachronism due to its age and language, indecipherable, limiting, nothing more than a relic to be viewed in a museum much like the bones of a prehistoric beast.

Like a wild beast, Mr. Reagan cited government programs that grow far beyond their original intentions to spring from their confinements and wreak havoc where there was none, outliving their usefulness (if there ever was any) to devour the private sector’s initiative and energy. “The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.”

In a rare dose of reality coming from a campaign speech, Mr. Reagan asks if, since government seeks to solve all the ills of society, shouldn’t they be reading us the score showing how well they’re doing? Indeed, after all the billions spent to cure poverty and the grand promises made by those who propose program after program, how is it that record numbers of Americans are now forced to live in poverty today? “Shouldn’t they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help?”

Fraud, waste and abuse of government systems were addressed in his speech, along with the demonization of those who seek to clean it up. He summed up what passes for liberal thought today, even as it was back then. “They say we’re always against things, never for anything. The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant, it’s that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Social Security was in financial trouble then as now. Imagine the scorn heaped upon someone who would dare suggest that there was a private sector way to provide for retirement years, or that the system itself was insolvent and in need of reform.

Reagan excoriated planned inflation, the same type that we’re seeing today couched in the benign title of the “quantitative easing” of our monetary supply. Whatever it’s called, the results are the same: a carefully planned reduction in our standard of living through the printing of more money in order to try to balance Washington’s books in the absence of getting the economy going again.

The failure of a corrupt United Nations that seeks to blunt American interests at every turn, the exploding numbers of public sector employees, the erosion of once-sacrosanct individual property rights by an overreaching and out-of-control court that focuses on Constitutional case law instead of what it actually says, it's all there.

Nothing has changed. We’re still in a struggle to maintain our freedom against government.

We miss you, Mr. Reagan, and pray that your words will persevere, to renew the spirit of freedom we so desperately need today to liberate us from our own special tyranny, that of progressivism.

Reality-Challenged President Addresses Union Crowd on Labor Day

President Obama took time from his busy golfing schedule to address a hand-picked, cheering throng of union members in Milwaukee yesterday. In his speech, he displayed his continued befuddlement about how the real world in general, and business in specific, operates.

He sprang into action immediately, continuing his demonization of  evil American business,

...some on Wall Street took reckless risks and cut corners to turn huge profits, while working Americans were fighting harder and harder just to stay afloat.

Huge profits? Does he mean that despicable corporate average of around 7 percent profit? How dare those evil corporations make money!! Bastages, all!

He then proceeds to relate all of his knowledge of the job market,

It was through my grandparents' experience that I was brought up to believe that anything is possible in America. But they also knew the feeling when that opportunity is pulled out from under you. They would tell me about seeing their fathers or uncles losing jobs during the depression; how it wasn't just the loss of a paycheck that stung. It was the blow to their dignity; their sense of self-worth. I'll bet a lot of us have seen people changed after a long bout of unemployment; how it can wear down even the strongest spirits.

So my grandparents taught me early on that a job is about more than a paycheck, as important as that is. A job is about waking up every day with a sense of purpose, and going to bed each night fulfilled. A job is about meeting your responsibilities to yourself, to your family, to your community.

What's missing in that tale? Just any of his own experience in a real-world job, that's all. His grandparents had to tell him what jobs were all about. I'll bet it sounded like a bedtime story. He retains that child-like sense of wonderment until this day. How charming.

And the question is, how do we create the same kind of middle class opportunity my grandparents' generation came home to? How do we build our economy on the same kind of strong, stable foundation for growth?

That's simple, Mr. President. Take every policy you and the corrupt progressives who run Congress propose and do the exact opposite. See, that wasn't hard, now was it?

Now it's time for a little conservative-bashing thrown in with all that economic wonderment.

Well, anyone who thinks we can move this economy forward with a few doing well at the top, hoping it'll trickle down to working folks running faster and faster just to keep up – they just haven't studied our history. We didn't become the most prosperous country in the world by rewarding greed and recklessness. We didn't come this far by letting special interests run wild. We didn't do it by just gambling and chasing paper profits on Wall Street.

We saw what you did there, Barry. That was a not-so-subtle swipe at Ronaldus Magnus, whose fiscal policies just happened to result in the largest peacetime expansion of our economy on record. And Sir, could you, just once, stop regarding any and all profit as being greedy and reckless? It's really getting old, in addition to being false. You're only showing your ignorance about the profits that a growing number of retired Americans rely on for their incomes via their retirement accounts.

He does , however, get really, really close to a fact in his speech,

We did it by producing goods we could sell; we did it with sweat and effort and innovation.

Uh huh, all without the interference of government. You're getting warmer...

That's why we're investing in growth industries like clean energy and manufacturing. Because we want to see the solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars of tomorrow manufactured here. We don't just want to buy stuff made elsewhere; we want to grow our exports so the world buys products that say “Made in America.”

Growth industries? Sorry Barry, those products have been on the market for over thirty years now. If they made sense, wouldn't they be enjoying some success by now? Government subsidies for those items don't count. And, just so you know, we have a proven method of producing clean energy in nuclear power, but you and your radical environmentalist friends have worked tirelessly to make sure we haven't built a plant in a generation. You just got cold again.

When the naysayers said we should just let the American auto industry vanish and take hundreds of thousands of jobs down with it, we said we'd stand by them if they made the tough choices necessary to compete once again – and today, that industry is on the way back.

Here we go again. Mr. President, we have this legal thingy called "bankruptcy", maybe you've heard of it. Oh, wait, that's right, I keep forgetting you've never held a real job, with real people with real children depending on you providing them real paychecks every week. You were busy organizing communitites. My bad. Anyway, this thing called "bankruptcy" would have allowed these evil car companies to renegotiate their contracts with unions, which I'm sure all your union boss buddies would have been kinda angry at you for. I understand. It's much better for our tax money to prop up their outrageous pay than the free market, you know, the money we stand to lose when GM makes it's next IPO.

Anyway, boys and girls, it's now time to get back to his second favorite sport after golf: bashing Republicans,

But there are some folks in Washington who see things differently. When it comes to just about everything we've done to strengthen the middle class and rebuild our economy, almost every Republican in Congress said no. Even where we usually agree, they say no. They think it's better to score political points before an election than actually solve problems. So they said no to help for small businesses. No to middle-class tax cuts. No to unemployment insurance. No to clean energy jobs. No to making college affordable. No to reforming Wall Street. Even as we speak, these guys are saying no to cutting more taxes for small business owners. I mean, come on! Remember when our campaign slogan was “Yes We Can?” These guys are running on “No, We Can't,” and proud of it. Really inspiring, huh?

To steal a line from our old friend, Ted Kennedy: what is it about working men and women that they find so offensive?

And ol' Teddy held how many jobs in his life? He had almost as much business experience as you. And also never mind that your party has held the majority in Congress ever since your election. That means that your buddies over there didn't need any votes from Republicans to pass your bills. You thought we forgot all that, didn't you?
 

Bottom line is, these guys refuse to give up on the economic philosophy they peddled for most of the last decade.

OK, I'll give you some style points for finding a new way to blame your predecessor for our current woes. That was done with flair, but the level of difficulty is still too low to score accurately.

So basically, they're betting that between now and November, you'll come down with a case of amnesia. They think you'll forget what their agenda did to this country. They think you'll just believe that they've changed. These are the folks whose policies helped devastate our middle class and drive our economy into a ditch. And now they're asking you for the keys back.

Um, no, I don't think we'll forget those horrible days of 4.7% unemployment despite two active wars following a brazen attack by radical Islamists on American soil. And what's this obsession of yours with cars? Why don't we time you as you change a tire? And no, you can't call a tow truck.

He wraps it up,

We can restore the American Dream and deliver it safely to our children. That's how we built the last American century. That's how we'll build the next. We don't believe in the words “No, we can't.” We are Americans, and in times of great challenge, we push forward with an unyielding faith that we can. Yes, we can. Thank you, God Bless You and the work you do, and God Bless the United States of America.

Well, at least he got that last sentence correct.

We should thank him for that.