The SoapBoxers

As a mom, I am concerned about bullying. I went through it in junior high and high school but honestly, I think it made me the person I am. It gave me a bit of a thick skin so I can tolerate all of my critics (and I have plenty). And I’m not innocent in it all. I did a bit of bullying myself. I wouldn’t say I was a “Mean Girl” but there were times I wasn’t very nice. Here’s the deal, I grew out of it.

The “leaders” of our nation seem to play the role of worrying about bullying but they are taking part of it in the worst way. I think the leaders need to grow up, quit the bullying and just plain knock it off.

I am beyond annoyed with our leadership. As a mom, I wish I could give them all a time out. And Barack Obama thinks Americans should “eat your peas”? Whatever, dude.

The next day he yelled, “Don’t call my bluff” and stormed out of a meeting. Grow up, President. Put on your big boy pants and act like an adult. Quit being the bully. I’d expect this kind of behavior from my toddlers, not from the leader of the free world.

And it’s about the debt. Here’s the deal. It’s not the debt limit, it’s the spending. When you find your credit card is almost to max out, the sensible American doesn’t call the credit card company and ask them to increase their limit. They sit down and they figure out where they’re overspending. You don’t need Dave Ramsey to tell you that.

And then there’s the back and forth between Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Allen West, both representing Florida. She called him out on the House floor, calling into question his stance on Medicare during the debate over a spending cap and balanced budget bill before the House. She, of course, waiting until he was not able to defend himself to speak out.

So West sent her an email. The subject line of the email: “Unprofessional and Inappropriate Sophomoric Behavior from Wasserman-Schultz.” The e-mail said: “Look, Debbie, I understand that after I departed the House floor you directed your floor speech comments directly towards me. Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige. You are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up.”

I agree with him. What a cowardly chicken she is. To wait until he can’t defend himself and rail on him in front of the nation? That might fly in junior high but not on the floor of the House…and now she’s acting like the victim in it all? Grow up, sweetheart. Don’t write a check your tookus can’t cash. If you don’t want people to call you out on your actions, don’t act like a member of the “A” group who talks about people behind their back. It’s as simple as that.

It’s time for our leaders to start acting like leaders. They need to start acting like adults. No more talk of peas, bluffs and talking behind each other’s backs. Quit threatening to “take your ball and go home.” We voted you in to your current position to do a job. If bullying is all you’re willing to respond to, here’s a proposal, “DO YOUR JOB OR RISK LOSING IT.” How’s that for bullying? Do I have your attention now? Good. Get to work.

A funny thing happened on my way to getting to my column here this month, President Obama released his full form birth certificate. I was all ready to go with discussing the response to the Ryan budget when House members went back to their districts, and then this happened. Mind you I will get to that as well this week, but I thought my thoughts on this “revelation” deserved the top billing this time around.

Now the release of the long form version won’t change the minds of those almost half of Republicans that don’t believe that Obama was born in this country or likely the attitudes of the other almost quarter that pander to their cause with the I don’t know or we’ll take him at his word game. Mainly because the birth certificate that was already available was a legal document and they didn’t believe that one either.

No, they are likely to continue to believe that there was some conspiracy back then between the newly entered state of Hawaii, the hospital and the newspapers with this baby born in the early 60’s, to a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya. You knew obviously he was going to be President one day.

Or on the other hand the panderers like Speaker John of Orange will likely take similar suits to the ones they are already doing now. That is that the whole this is and always was the fault of President Obama. It is the usual mantra for the Republicans afterall. Really Crying Man? It’s the President’s fault that half your party are insane idiots. Yeah let’s see you continue to roll with that one.

Then there is what I feel the most disgusting response that the birther crowd has had with moving on to their next delegitimizing of the President conspiracy theory. How could a black man possibly be smart enough to go to Columbia and Harvard? How can he have written those books without help? Show us the transcripts? Prove you didn’t have a ghost writer for your novels Mr. Obama it that really is who you are? At least with this new conspiracy theory the birthers true reason existence is clearly defined, they just can’t stand that a black man was elected President and are moronic racists with nothing more than agenda of trying to find a way to delegitimize his election in their minds. However I would love for more than nothing for the Republicans in office to start panderering to the crowd on this issue as well as it is going to hurt them so much more.

It is pretty funny though that the ring leader or carnival barker have you of the birther nation, The Donald would question these things about the President. Afterall he did not write the books he has “written” in the past himself, and has also paid money to allow or people to be admitted to Ivy League schools that did not deserve to be there.

Though I’d love to see them continue on this course for my own entertainment and their demise, I find it sad and hurtful for our society. I am not taking a stance here for or against affirmative action, but that is not the exact point of the birther’s new “argument” here. It is that a non-white person could not ever have the qualification or intelligence to attend these schools over a white person so something must be fishy here. So now the President must prove with his transcripts from high school on to prove otherwise. Have we really gone so far back as a society that we need some sort of preface to prove the literacy and intelligence of a black man to a white audience to believe his worth? Then again they won’t believe anything you say Mr. President, so I wouldn’t grace this issue with any dignity and let the dig their own grave.

Bad Nuts of the Month:

HOUSE REPUBLICANS AND THE RYAN BUDGET

It has been quite amusing to see the House Republicans at their town halls after passing the Ryan, Path to Poverty budget try to defend it and their vote to their constituents. There has been some heated arguing, screaming and sometimes swearing, but I have not heard of threats of bodily harm or asking who is going to kill the President because of this at these town hall reactions. Nor is the outrage been entirely from the left or being bussed into the meetings with prewritten scripts to follow. Although I think the Republicans as whole will likely take Florida Rep. Allen West’s lead and only answer prescreened questions asked by a staffer and not a constituent and any dissent to his thoughts will be met with arrest. He obviously takes New York Rep. Mike Grimm’s view of representative democracy that your constituents you serve are only those who voted for you, well that and those like the Koch Brothers who line your pockets and campaign coffers. I am happy though that Harry Reid has decided to bring a vote on this budget to the Senate to allow for the Senate Republicans to join their House party members in defending this budget or pave their way to be teabagged in the primaries next time around.

EXXON MOBIL

Prior to announcing their 69% profit increase on Thursday, Exxon tied to play themselves as the victim in all of this. It’s not their fault they made a huge earnings increase for the fifth quarter in a row; it is the local station owners fault. Now I have worked plenty in gas stations while I was in college and it is not ever going to be their fault. As there are laws restraining just that and I know that gas stations make mere pennies of profit on each gallon and their profit comes from mark up on items in the store.

MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE

For some reason the overwhelmingly Democratic House in Massachusetts has decided that Scott Walker is a role model and passed their own bill stripping collective bargaining rights on healthcare for state workers. Granted they have Romneycare there and the Senate isn’t likely to take action on it there and the Governor has already said he will never sign such a bill if it did. So moot point aside it still deserves note for the stupidity of Massachusetts state Democrats to think it was a worthwhile issue.

Can you believe it’s almost that time again? You can’t escape it. Your TV will be buzzing with commercials ending with, I’m candidate x and I approved this message. Yard signs will soon be going up. There will be debate, drama, news articles and loads of political commentary.

In just 10 months, the candidates will descend on the state of Iowa hoping to win their party’s caucus. I can see it now, corndogs, funnel cakes, corn on the cob and anything else that the media can catch the candidates shoving down their throats. Don’t forget Ma and Pa Kettle giving their two cents as to why they like one candidate and not another.

So, I’ve seen some tweets and some news stories detailing who may or may not run. This will be phase 1 of the media bombardment. We’ve already heard that Nobama is going to run again. We have been presented with the likelihood that Newt Gingrich, Sara Palin, Michelle Bachmann and now Donald Trump may run. What I don’t understand though, who the hell is Becky Rusher? She’s 36 and she’s tired so she’s going to run for president. She is all over the board on issues but appears to be fairly Libertarian. Then there is Timothy Gay, the 43 year old disabled truck driver from Ohio. He and Rusher seem to be close on some issues and both are running as Independents. Be sure to send Gay a birthday wish, his DOB is April 8^th.

Two people I hope run for the GOP nomination are Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. Neither one will likely win the nomination but both will drive the liberals absolutely crazy! It will be fun to listen to the Angry Squirrel go off another one of his rants as we all imagine him duct taping his head back together following the frustration.

So, does Obama stand a chance of winning in 2012? Yes and no. I don’t believe anyone can beat him from the Democratic side, so I believe he WILL win the democratic seat for the election. I have some serious doubts about whether he can win the election though. It will certainly depend on who wins the Republican seat. Then again, if you put an organized, motivating and melodic Independent candidate like Becky Rusher on the ballot, I don’t think the D’s or the R’s stand a chance. I’m telling you, RINGER!

Looking at the Republican candidates, I don’t see anyone that is going to really motivate the masses though. Most all of the candidates are very polarizing. Think of the names and see what your reaction is. Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and the list goes on. Every one of those candidates will have big issues that will push some voters away from them. Romney is very likable to me, but he has some very liberal views and I have trouble with that as a conservative voter. Ron Paul is nuts, Mike Huckabee is hard to believe, Newt is very outspoken and he rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Palin and Bachmann, both are strong women and very attractive. I believe a lot of people are scared by those qualities. I for one would love to spend a weekend with them and talk politics. I’d love to be able to get in their heads and really see how they think, then write a blog about them. Hopefully, my opinion would not be what we see portrayed in today’s media.

I believe the front runner for the Republicans will likely be Newt. He has a lot of experience, he’s strong on the major areas of concern for conservatives and his resume is loaded. We won’t see any botched interviews with Katie Couric with him because he’s done this for years and is ready for questions.

The ultimate question that I see now is…If we see an Obama vs. Gingrich election, what will happen? I don’t think Obama can win. In 2008, there were far too many people that just couldn’t vote for John McCain. Many of my friends and relatives abstained just because they couldn’t stand McCain. I couldn’t stand McCain either, but my vote was one against Obama, not for McCain. Had everyone that normally votes for a conservative candidate voted, I believe the results would have been different. If the Republicans have an electable candidate this time, I believe the empty suit from Kenya will be packing his bags and taking on a trip to Pahk-ee-stahn (Pakistan).

So tell me, are you ready to caucus?

Squeaky…

A continuation of last year’s letter to Virginia

Dear Virginia,

You may be wondering if there really is an Obama Claus. You have been promised so much but think you haven’t seen any of it. Silly, Virginia. You should know better.

I know you were hoping that “Obama would pay your gas and mortgage.”  But your house is in foreclosure. You haven’t had to make a house payment in months though, right?

I know that you traded in your paid off car only for a car payment you couldn’t afford. But you have a nice car, right? Or has it been repossessed?

I know that you were hoping for health care for all … but have only seen your insurance rates go up and your favorite doctor has decided to retire. But you’ll see that it will be better. After all, we know better than you do.

Oh, Virginia. You hoped that the Government would come to your aid quickly after the horrible BP oil spill, only to find yourself with mounting bills and paperwork and paperwork, only to get a percentage of what you were promised. But it’s all BP’s fault. And all of that off shore drilling. Hey, let’s blame Sarah Palin … yeah. That’s it.

And taxes? Yes, Virginia. Unless Obama and crew pass the Bush tax cuts extension, you will find less in your paycheck and less at tax time. I know you were promised more take home, but Obama Claus needs that money. Besides, it’s all that horrible Bush’s fault for giving you more of your money in the first place.

It’s those crazy Tea Partiers. Yeah, that’s it. Those crazy people who didn’t like the way things were going got out and voted. Now nothing will get done for you, Virginia. People just didn’t give Obama Claus enough time to fix all of the things that the evil Bush messed up. It’s not Obama Claus’ fault. It’s the Tea Partiers.

You silly, silly girl. Don’t listen to Fox News. Keep the faith with Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. THEY know what is right for you. Just like Obama Claus. And remember, it’s all Bush’s fault.

Virginia, don’t you know that Obama Claus is highly educated? He attended Harvard, therefore is a billion times smarter than you. Don’t you know that? Of course you don’t. You should consider it enough for Christmas that such a wonderful, educated, African American is in charge. So rather than doubting what he’s promised, just be thankful he’s in there.

Last year I penned a “Things I Am Thankful For” article and I thought it would be fun to look back, see what I predicted and was thankful for then, and see if that still holds true today.

Last year I said, “I am thankful for my children. Two wonderful, healthy boys who were not “ruined” by my decision to breastfeed, delay solids until 6 months, baby wear and vaccinate. (I know, a crazy combination!)”  This year, I am thankful for my THREE wonderful, healthy boys. Unknown to me, I was already pregnant with our third child when I wrote that last year. I am still thankful for my children, and while three boys under 5 are quite a handful, I wouldn’t change anything.

I was thankful for my parents and my husband last year. I still am. I am also thankful that after the birth of our third son, my husband and I made the (difficult yet easy) decision for me to leave the corporate world and be a stay at home mom. While things are tight, I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world, either. I am also thankful that this year I am using my college degree while being a freelance writer at home (Suite101, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Mommy’s Recess). While calculating Pension was fun (yes, I know, I’m sick), it wasn’t what I thought I’d be doing with my degree in English. I get to do what I love while spending time with my boys. I am SO thankful for that.

And now on to the reason you love Crunchy. The Politics. Last year I said:

“I am thankful for 2010. This way we can give a nice retirement party to those who will vote for the healthcare bill.

I am thankful that 2012 is only 3 years away. I think Barack needs to spend a little more time in Chicago … as the FORMER President.”

Not to toot my own horn, but TOOT! TOOT! Did I call that one or what? Public option died and while the healthcare bill did pass, the people let their voice be heard and voted a lot of Legislators out. I wonder how all of those retirement parties are shaping up?

This year, I am thankful Americans are not allowing their Government to be hijacked by the uber libs. The House has been restored to Republican power and Crazy Pelosi has been demoted to Minority Leader (I still can’t believe they kept her in a power position). Next step, get the TSA agents under control. I am not a fan of the full body scans and I am against TSA agents depantsing the eldery and taking children into private rooms (without parents) while they stick their hand down the child’s pants. Being a TSA agent doesn’t give you the right to become a molester. Is this the punishment the American public is forced to take because we wouldn’t blindly accept the Administrations wishes? Not cool.

I am still thankful that the “Obamaworship” is WAY down. As of yesterday, only 26% of Americans Strongly Approve while 42% Strongly Disapprove. Finally people have decided that the grass isn’t greener.

I am thankful that President G.W. Bush is still a class act. While Obama has taken every chance to blame Bush, in a recent interview, Bush was asked if he approved of the job Obama was doing. He responded “President Obama has got plenty of critics and I’m just not going to be one.” Total class act. 

I am thankful that 2012 is only two years away. Palin, Gingrich, whoever it may be, will be better than “The Great Fingerpointer” we have in office now. That’s the kind of ‘change’ I’m ‘hoping’ for.

This Thanksgiving, keep in mind those less fortunate than us. But don’t feel too bad about the 64 Democrats who lost their seats (jobs) to Republicans. They brought it on themselves. I saw it coming a year ago. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Hopefully you don’t have to fly anywhere.

For the first time, President Obama is actually proposing an economic stimulus package which will provide some permanent benefit to the country, and everyone is condemning him. I am a fiscal conservative, so by nature I am opposed to government spending beyond the bare minimum (military, road, ports and courts). Starting three years ago and up until the beginning of September, every “stimulus” was simply spending with no true benefit.

First we bailed out the banks, then the automobile manufacturers. We threw a lot of money at states which resulted in a lot of signs telling us where the money was being spent, even though all of the projects were already underway before the money was approved.

Now for the first time, the President has proposed upgrading the country’s infrastructure. This means new projects on highways, railroads, seaports, airport, bridges and canals. The right claims this will just save the unions and only provide a single year of employment. The left claims that it is a waste to support the oil industry by encouraging more transportation. I feel that the President is correct. Infrastructure programs are beneficial long after the work is complete. Ask your grandparents about trying to get from Chicago to Los Angeles before the interstate system was completed or before jet aircraft and the building of O’Hare and LAX.

I also agree with the President’s decision to visit the Pentagon on September 11. I was shocked to hear that he was not going to ground zero, primarily because all of the news outlets made it sound like he was going golfing or something. The problem was he was not going to New York City, where these reporters are based. The Vice President was there, that should not be considered an insult. If we are to have the President physically attend every major remembrance, he would never have a chance to get anything else done.

Are the losses at ground zero somehow more important than the Pentagon? What about our losses at Pearl Harbor? The Northridge Earthquake? The San Francisco Earthquake of 1900? The Galveston Hurricane of 1901? The Gettysburg battle field? Should the President visit each of these sites on the appropriate anniversary?

He went to the Pentagon. He went to New Orleans. He even picked up a tar ball on the Gulf Coast. What is it that we want him to do? What can he actually do? He has been in office almost two years and New Orleans is still a mess. Does this become his fault?

We as Americans really need to think about what the President’s roll is. He is not a messiah, nor is he a pariah. He is a man, elected to be the executive of our government. He is to enforce the laws passed by congress and guide our foreign affairs. He can be a cheer leader, a consoler, even a lecturer, but he is not a rock star or super hero. I am more that willing to criticize any President’s policies, but to criticize every decision is to make a caricature out of yourself.

Editor’s note – I’d like to welcome the visitors from The Centsible Life.  If you want to get a good feel for what The Soap Boxers is all about, check out the archives.  We have more than 600 articles to choose from, on a wide range of topics.  Thanks for visiting.  Now, I’ll turn over the show to Squeaky, one of our political writers.  ~Kosmo

Barack Obama was elected as US President on November 4, 2008.  He was inaugurated on January 20, 2009.  For many people, that is a day that few will forget.  For many it’s as significant as the day that Reagan was shot, the day that the space shuttle Challenger exploded, the day we invaded Iraq and the day Saddam Hussein was captured.

For me, I keep thinking of the dates November 6, 2012 and January 20, 2013.  I hope that those dates will be equally as significant for me.  Why do I think of those dates?  November 6^th is the date of the next presidential election and January 20^th is the date that the next president will be inaugurated.  As a Libertarian/Conservative, I’m in political exile right now.  I don’t even know who will be running in the next election, but I hope for nearly anyone other than BO.  Would I like Hillary in the seat of President?  No, but she couldn’t do as much damage as BO. 

On January 25, 2010 Diane Sawyer’s interview with BO aired.  Here is a quote from BO:

“You know, I — I would say that when I — the one thing I’m clear about is that I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president. And I — and I believe that.”

I would tend to agree with BO.  I’d rather see him be a good one-term president too.  Hell, I’d just be happy if he were a good president.  Here are some of the items he has done that have rubbed me wrong:

1.  Healthcare reform.  It seems more like dismantling what is existing and putting the rest of it under his own thumb….more power, more pork, more government.
2. Cap and Trade.  Push the oil jobs out of the US; raise the price of electricity by forcing them off of coal burning.  We are experiencing a large electricity price increase already in Colorado because of this.  Two of my neighbors working in the oil/gas industry have moved to Canada to keep their jobs.
3. Employee Free Choice Act – Union garbage (IMO of course).  This takes away the anonymous vote on whether to unionize or not.  No pressure from the unions.
4. Auto maker bailout.  I should say government buy out of the auto makers.  After the last year I will buy a Ford as my next vehicle just because they were sustainable on their own.
5. FSA changes.  January 2011 over the counter (OTC) meds will no longer be able to be claimed on your FSA/HSA if you have one.  This will now be for prescription drugs only.
6. Tax increases.  No one making under $200,000/year will not pay a dime more in Federal Taxes. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation (part of Congress), that is a lie.
   • Breath Tax –  If you breath you MUST have medical insurance
   • Tax on Medical Devices – Medical devices will become a tax windfall for Obama’s money vats creating an additional $20 Billion in tax revenue.
   • Brand name drugs – prices will go up on these due to a new tax on non-generic drugs.  You thought those ADHD meds were expensive before, just wait.
   • Tax bases – The tax base for EVERY income range will increase at least 3%. (10% goes to 15%, 25% to 28%, 28% to 31%, 33% to 36% and 35% to 39.6%).
   • The marriage penalty tax is coming back.  A married couple making $75,000 will pay more in taxes than a single person making $75,000.
   • Capital Gains taxes increase from 15% to 20% and Dividends will increase from 15% to 39.6%.
   • Education – The deduction for tuition and fees is being eliminated.  Student loan interest is also not going to be deductible.
7. Love for the Unions.  On August 4, 2010 Obama thanked “all my brothers and sisters in the AFL-CIO” who have worked so hard to help get America’s economy back on track. (http://bit.ly/9PKmv1)  I understand American Pride and Made In the USA.  I don’t understand the need for unions though.  They have truly outlasted their usefulness and only do two things:  1. Increase the cost of producing items by inflating wages to the point of being ridiculous and 2. Encouraging mediocrity. That is what happens when every single worker gets the same pay raise regardless of performance. I prefer to stand on my own feet and let my work product determine what kind of pay increase I will receive.
8. Amnesty for illegal immigrants.  Maybe it’s the cold-hearted police officer in me, but how can we simply let 11-18 MILLION people that are here ILLEGALLY stay?  I was raised to obey the laws and not intentionally break them.  If I broke the laws or the rules I would pay the price.  There was not a simple, “That’s ok Squeaky, let’s reward you for hitting your sister by giving you ice cream”.  That is exactly what we’re preparing to do with the talk of amnesty.  The difference is that the ice cream will become free health care, college tuition, unemployment, etc.  I work with several people that moved here from India.  They have invested a great deal of time and money to become LEGAL citizens.  L-E-G-A-L.  I’m very proud of them for that and I’m happy to call them my friends.  Those that are illegal have no sympathy from me.

I could go on forever, but my soap box isn’t that comfortable.  For now, I keep hoping and praying that Obama will make some non-liberal decisions; but I’m not holding my breath.  I don’t know Obama so I can’t say that he is a good man or a bad man.  The only thing I have to judge him on are his political ideals.  He and I are polar opposites in that regard and for that reason I will probably never appreciate his work.  Like some of you, I’ll keep waiting for “change” on January 20, 2013.  For others, you will be hoping for a successful reelection bid for Obama.  Regardless, on November 6, 2012 I’ll be clinging to my religion, my family and my guns.  On that day I will vote my conservative, Christian, family values and that will NOT include a vote for Obama.

Squeaky…

Image source: http://iusbvision.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/voted-obama-embarrassed-yet-street-signs/

For someone who likes to speak as much as he does, one would think that a tragedy such as this could define his Presidency and he would jump at the opportunity. However, it took 58 days for Obama to meet with BP. It took 9 days after the incident for Obama to say a word. He didn’t give a hoot until his poll ratings started to suffer and the people in the Gulf started asking questions. And without his teleprompter, he’s been heard saying he is going “kick someone’s ass” and “make BP pay”. Obama please, you’re no Tony Soprano.

I recall when Katrina hit; there was outcry that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

Well, how about this. Barack Obama doesn’t care about white fisherman. The BP CEO just needs to stop talking to the media all together. His “little people” comment was quite unnecessary. And they wonder why our ancestors left their country.

People were outraged that Bush didn’t do enough. I’m pretty sure if he could have talked to the CEO of hurricanes, it wouldn’t have taken him 58 days to do it. Even James Carville has had enough…and he’s a Democratic strategist!

We are witnessing the demise of both the gulf coast and Obama’s presidency. What this crisis demands, what this country needs is LEADERSHIP. The time for action was last month—or two months ago.

Obama is just as qualified to stop this oil gusher as he is to be president of the United States. The job of President of the United States really shouldn’t have been left to someone who needed “on the job training”.

November cannot come soon enough. And I think a bumper sticker I saw last week was accurately correct. It read “Obama = Carter 2.0”. Maybe we can hope for a one termer come 2012.

In what I can only classify as a comedy of political missteps it appears that all within a month the Israeli and the American governments have managed to offend each other only to the delight of the terrorist world. The first offense came during Joe Biden’s visit a few weeks back when unfortunately just as he came to press for peace the Israeli government announced the approval for building of more settlements in East Jerusalem. As the US has shamefully given into the Arab demand that no negotiations will take place till the settlements are frozen this was a big slap in the face for Biden. It forced him to denounce the new settlements and off course provided a big “you see” moment for the Arabs.

Even being a pro Israel blogger I have to say that this move on the part of the Israeli government was anything but graceful. I don’t actually disagree with the move itself as I don’t see any reason that Israel should stop building settlements in Jerusalem but the timing of the announcement was terrible. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Biden that he was not aware of the announcement as it came from a district committee that makes these decisions. However, in my view this is an unacceptable answer as Israel is not so big that the Prime Minister should not be aware of an announcement that from a foreign relations standpoint would create this big of a reaction.

I will save my rant on why Israel should continue to build settlements but in general I don’t think due to its proximity to Jewish inhabitants and the utter craziness of splitting a city in half East Jerusalem will ever be the Palestinian capital as currently proposed. So I see no harm in building settlements there as Israel will never accept any two state solution where Jerusalem is not 100% under Israeli control.

In return for this insult, Joe called on his big brother, Obama, to ensure that next visit from Netanyahu would end in similar humiliation. The news I am reading and hearing is a bit fuzzy on the details but sounds like not only did Obama not arrange for the normal photo session that he has when meeting with a head of state but also he walked out of a meeting to go have dinner with his family. Not sure how much truth is in the story but the bottom line seems to be that Obama has no clue how to behave himself. Sticking up for Biden is one thing but even as president of the most powerful country you have to know how to act when you have guests.

I think both unfortunate incidents were probably blown out of proportion by the media and both only served to advance one cause which is the continued delay of any real peace talks. Not that I am convinced that peace talks would bring any real change but a public pissing contest to see who can out insult the other definitely brings no positive change. Don’t think I have ever written an article where the Arabs win at the end but in this case they were the only ones to benefit from this month’s political mishaps.

Welcome to the second edition of my rant that appears here once a month on The Soap Boxers. My first post was on Christmas Eve and now this my second is on my 32nd birthday. So Happy Birthday to me and let us move on to the main topic of this months rant, The State of the Union.

Now I am not one for taking too much out of speeches like this and would rather just see the results of what is said happen, but last night’s address was a quite telling and interesting one. For one if one were just to glance upon it and not have any knowledge that the President was a Democrat, the tone of most of the speech was more conservative in nature. Remorse for deficit spending, praising cutting taxes, planned cuts in further taxes, and freezes in spending. Wow this is that socialism all the teabaggers have been all up in arms about? Anyways, let’s break down a few components addressed on the night.

Bank Bailouts:

I think this was a big populist piece of the speech that needed to be said and in the end really made the Republican party look by their reaction on the surface what they really are loud mouthed, hypocritical corporate tools. Bailouts were bad, needed to be done, most of the money has been returned and the rest is in the works to be returned through charging the banks a fee is the topic from the speech in a nutshell. It was the last part I am referring to that appeared on the surface to paint the Party of No for what they really are and not the populist voice they are trying to use.

The right side of the aisle sat in silenced with grumbling faces and muttering to each other as the President stated that the rest of the money would be returned through charging the banks a fee. It was one of many points on the evening where the President put the opposite party on notice on the night.

SCOTUS Decision:

The one almost “You Lie” moment of tonight’s speech came as the President addressed last week’s decision in the Supreme Court that allows Corporations no restrictions upon advertising for or against or donation to candidates for office.

When the President stated that this decision was wrong and opened the gates to corporate interests both domestic and foreign to control our electoral process, Justice Alito was seen shaking his head and mouthing that is not true. With all do respect to Justice Alito it is entirely true. The decision allows corporations to no loner have restrictions on the amount of money they can spend for a candidate for office and they are also allowed to run their own ads for or against a candidate any time they wish. Thus turning our elected officials into nothing more than corporate prostitutes.

Now I am not naive, corporate interests have dominated Washington and local elected offices as well for many many years and that was not going to end regardless. However this decision basically means corporations can basically buy their own candidates to run for office that will run solely on putting their interests first and the actual interests of their constituents last. Welcome to the Corporate States of America in 2010. Now the President did state that he wanted to see Congress address this, but honestly without a change in the makeup of the court I don’t see anything being able to stick with the wording of the majority opinion in this case.

“Politics as Usual”:

One moment I really enjoyed was when the President talked about even in light of recent election of the 41st no vote on everything the Democrats still had one of their highest majorities in congress in decades and basically told them to grow a pair and get things done for the American people. Then on the other hand told the Republicans if they want to sit there and block and delay ever single thing that comes before Congress then they need to own up to it themselves and they are the sole reason that nothing is getting done.

Bipartisanship is a two way street, not where one party completely stands their ground while the other makes every concession they can just to continue to have the other side say, well that is not good enough still. Should be interesting to see how this unfolds by the midterm elections. Will the Democrats actually gain the muster to just bear down and things done on their own? Hopefully so. Will the Republicans decide that their actions of doing nothing be seen in that light finally and decide to actually do the job of elected office and actually doing something? Probably not, but I can always hope.

Job Creation:

I would have liked to seen a more laid out point of job creation. It was a nice start in what was laid out, but the approximate 30 million jobs to be created is just a minor repair to the damage that has been done, but then again it is only the forecast for the upcoming year.  [Editor’s note: I’m verifying the 30 million figure with Angry Squirrel]

Student Loans:

Being a person paying off student loans it was a nice thing to hear about increasing Pell Grants, creating further tax credits and also the provision to forgive student loan debt after a certain period of time.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell:

I wish it would have been done as promised in the first year in office, but better late than never guess. I’ll believe it when I actually see it, but the repeal of this insane and useless policy will be a great day when it comes. A recent report from NPR stating that 1/3 of women in the U.S. Military are raped while in the military is just one of the many more things threatening to the morale and discipline of the armed forces then the sexual preference of your fellow officer.

Well those are just a few of the points I will touch on from the speech, all in all it was a nice speech with some actual meat to it in proposals. Might not be entirely memorable down the line but for his first State of the Union address it was done well.

Now for a monthly tradition to start for my posts, The “Bad Nuts of the Month”. Our trained squirrels are busy each month figuring out the good ones from the bad, and the worst three nuts will be placed on display here before they go where where all the bad nuts go, down the garbage chute.

Bad Nut #1: Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh on the Haiti Earthquake

The evangelical christians’ equivalent to the Pope and El Rushbo the Cracker Drug Addict were really off base on the disaster in Haiti. Robertson stated that the Haitians got what they deserved and this was some sort of wrath for a deal they supposedly made with the devil to gain their independence from France long ago. Rush on the other hand stated that people should not give a dime or a minute of their time to help the Haitian people as it would only be playing into Obama’s hands in garnering respect form the light and dark skinned blacks in this country.

Then again nothing out of either of these two guys mouths really shocks me, but they are a couple of the worst nuts of the month. Rush would also make the list for his comments about Obama attacking Jews because he is going after the banks comments, but there is no need to list the same person more than once on the list.

Bad Nut #2: James O’Keefe and Friends

I guess the joke’s on James O’Keefe, the officials in Mary Landrieu’s offices were not gullible to believe he was actually a phone repairman as the idiots at the ACORN offices were to fall for him actually being a pimp. Now after entering the offices on Federal property under false pretenses to perform a felony O’Keefe and his buddies are now going to be facing some mandatory federal prison time.

Bad Nut #3: South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer.

One of the frontrunners for the Republican nomination in the next gubernatorial race in the state as well, Bauer stated that aid to the needy should be cut for some very interesting reasons. Me paraphrasing it does not do the idiocy of the man justice so I’ll just put the quotes from him on this issue in full context.

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better. You see, for the first time in the history of this country, we’ve got more people voting for a living than we do working for a living.”

He then goes on to rant about requiring parents to take drug tests and if they don’t pass then their children don’t deserve anything from the state at all because of that and that parents should be required to attend every PTO meeting or school event or you shouldn’t receive any benefits and that we should take away the huge monetary draw public assistance is (LMAO) by reducing benefits the more children you have.