Term Limits for Congress

If you believe as I do, and as our founding fathers did, that our congressmen and woemn were meant to be citizen legislators rather than career politicians take the time to sign the petition at the website below (you need not supply all of the personal contact information in order for your signature to be counted):

http://www.termlimits.org/content.asp?admin=Y&contentid=28

I don't believe that congressmen and senators were meant to be individuals who hold onto the job for 20, 30, sometimes 40 years. In that time they become detached from their local constituents and act for national lobbyists and interest groups rather than the citizens they were elected to represent. They forget where they came from and become corrupted by power and influence. A 2-term (12-year) limit for Senators would go a long way in blocking some of that. Term limits are a HUGE part of the answer to our problems. Please sign the petition.

Connect the Dots

I'm going to lay out what's happening with this oil spill. Remember, Rahm Emmanuel said a long time ago that you "can't let a crisis go to waste." He explained what he meant by that is that during a crisis you "can do things that you otherwise wouldn't be able to." So what does the administration want to do on the backdrop of this oil spill that otherwise would be politically impossible? Comprehensive energy policy. Well, that's what they're going to call it. It's really cap and trade or in layman's terms cut off oil even in the absence of a viable alternative. You'll remember Obama saying during the campaign that he wants to "drive [the coal industry] out of business." Do you think he's any friendlier towards oil? So they've got their crisis, now to take advantage to push through their destructive agenda.

He's already put a 6-month moratorium on US drilling in the gulf. Do you honestly believe that in 6 months the rigs will be drilling again? Absolutely they will NOT be. This moratorium is going to be dragged on and on for years. At least until 2012 when that rat is out of the White House. See you can't just shut down those rigs and expect them to sit there waiting for us to give them the green light again. They will be sent to Nigeria or Brazil or to some other place that does lots of deep sea drilling. It's been reported by the Wall Street Journal that the Brazilian oil company Petrobras stands to really cash in on this oil spill because they're going to get a lot of the equipment that we've stopped using shipped down there. Who is one of the leading investors in Petrobras? George Soros. If you don't know who he is then you haven't been paying attention and shame on you. Briefly, and among other things, George Soros is a founding member of Center for American Progress (CAP). CAP has been guiding Obama on his response to the oil spill. Get a load of this:

May 4 - CAP calls on the president to name an independent commission to investigate the causes of the disaster. One week later Obama does exactly that.

May 21 - CAP president John Podesta encourages the white house to name a point person for the spill response. A week later Obama does exactly that.

May 26 - CAP tells the White House they should force BP to set up an escrow account which Gulf residents can claim. Surprise, surprise the White House does it.

Connect the dots.

Now to the part about how the White House is going to try to use this oil spill to alter public opinion on his domestic agenda. We already heard his Oval Office speech wherein he spent half of it massaging us with the idea that we really, really, really need to get off of oil. That oil is the cause of all the world's troubles. Now look at the people who he has named to his independent commission. Of the 7 commission members only one has a background in engineering. Remember the purpose here is to discover the cause of the spill. Just one person with an engineering background. And that guy specializes in physics and optics so even his engineering background isn't related to oil rigs. Sounds reasonable right? I mean, why would you want engineers to find out what went wrong? There is one environmental scientist who specializes in coastal areas and the effects of oil, so that's a good one. But the rest of them are --- wait for it --- wait for it ----......

POLICY EXPERTS!!!! HOORAY!!!

5 of the 7 are policy people. It makes perfect sense doesn't it. Since this is really all about climate change, anti-oil policy that you would fill your committee with policy people. Man, I love this Obama clown more and more everyday. He's so post-partisan.

But Troy, you say, this is an INDEPENDENT commission. It's completely non-partisan. Oh, is it? Sounds like most of them have already made up their minds (even before they've ever met) about the cause of the spill and in a strange coincidence it goes right along with Obama's own domestic agenda. How convenient.

- "We can blame BP for the disaster and we should. We can blame lack of adequate government oversight for the disaster and we should. But in the end, we also must place the blame where it originated: America's addiction to oil."

That's from one of the "independent" commission members. This gal has called for a ban on offshore and Alaskan drilling 5 times since May alone. She sounds pretty open-minded and like she's really seeking the truth.

- "Even as questions persist, there is one thing I know for certain: the Gulf oil spill isn't just an accident. It's the result of a failed energy policy."

That's from another one of them. Boy, these guys don't sound biased at all. Maybe I'm all wrong and this truly is a non-political, independent committee. Silly me.

Here's the truth. This commission isn't really charged with the job of finding out what happened. Their job will be to supply the president with ammunition in his fight against oil so he can further his jobs-destroying energy policies. Never let a good crisis go to waste, indeed.

Obama is bum. The only joy I receive in association with his shameful name is that of knowing that his approval rating is dropping almost daily these days.

Oh the Irony

Mr. Obama is visiting my own stomping grounds of Nationwide Children's Hospital today. He speaks from the corner of E. Livingston and Parsons actually to tout federal dollars that are going to 16 street resurfacing projects in Columbus. The dollars are creating an astounding 300 jobs! Wow! But are those jobs really being created? Am I to believe that without these federally-funded projects the city wouldn't be putting those guys to work at other places in the city? I lived in Columbus for 6 years. I'm well aware of the constant barrage of construction. Feel free to also comment on the appropriateness of federal government funding simple local projects such as street resurfacing. Isn't this the responsibility of state and city government?

But in a hilarious turn of irony, the presiden't visit has shut down a construction project across the street at the hospital and cost all of those construction workers a day's pay.

Obama Continues to Fail

Obama finally got around to talking to us about the oil spill tonight. Predictably, he spent a large portion of his address pushing "comprehensive energy legislation." That's what they're calling cap and trade now that everybody knows what cap and trade really is. Nice Obama, way to take a disaster and use it to further your political agenda. Real presidential of you. But hey it was your own chief of staff (that piece of crap Rahm Emmanuel) who said you "can't let a crisis go to waste." Gosh, I'm so glad we've elected another ideologue who can't think beyond next month's monumental legislative efforts.

Oh and then there was this line, I loved this one:

"But make no mistake: we will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long as it takes."

First of all, Obama uses these dramatic phrases all the time like "make no mistake" and "let me be clear." This is code talk for 'what I'm about to say is absolute BS but it's gonna sound like I mean business.'

Is there anybody in this country besides the 20% of Americans who are ObamaZombies who believes that Obama is really fighting this spill with everything we've got? Explain Mr. President why, in the days right after the spill your administration turned down help from the Norwegians, the Belgians, and the Dutch. These countries have some of the most advanced oil skimming ships on the planet and you told them to take a hike. There's this stupid law called the Jones Act, signed into law by our former progressive president Woodrow Wilson (a total dweeb) that requires all ships operating in the gulf waters to be American-made and American-manned. Presidents have often temporarily reversed that act during times of crisis. Bush did so immediately following Katrina. Obama refuses to do so. Why? Because the law is really popular with the unions. Who is Obama in bed with? The unions. SEIU, Andy Stern, that whole crowd.

Here's the bottom line. Obama is a monumental failure if he's required to do anything. He doesn't think about anything but politics. Anything except the interests of his inner circle. Why else would he use this opportunity to further drive a wedge into our dividing nation by pushing terribly unpopular legislation. After watching how he has handled this situation how do I manage to conclude anything other than Obama is content to let this oil spill linger for awhile in order to try and gain some public support for his cap and trade agenda? Yes, I said it. I've changed my stance. I think Obama is perfectly fine with this oil spill because it offers him an opportunity.

Think about it. Give me evidence to the contrary. He's refused foreign help, he refused to approve regulatory measures recommended by the state of Louisiana immediately following the spill which would have allowed that state to take steps to protect its waters and its coast, his emotion to this has been entirely scripted and contrived, and now tonight he spends half of his speech pushing a climate change bill? Truly, Obama is taking advantage of this crisis. It is unethical, it is immoral, and our pathetic president is a disgrace. I am ashamed to call him the president of the United States.

Reason to Hope

Here's a good sign that America is waking up and rediscovering who we are. I checked the list of the top 100 sellers on Amazon.com and found these titles among their bestsellers:

- The Road to Serfdom; this is actually number 1 right now it's a 60-year old book by an Austrian-born economist on the errors of centralizing economic power in government.

- George Washington's Sacred Fire

- The Federalist Papers

- The 5000 Year Leap

- Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

- The Real George Washington

- Original Intent: The Courts, The Constitution, and Religion

- Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black and White

- Atlas Shrugged

- The Coming Insurrection; this one is a book about insurrectionary anarchism and hypothesized the collapse of capitalism. It describes how anti-captialism movements can gain power. It's good that Americans are reading this and becoming aware of the forces that threaten our way of life.

- Free to Choose: A personal statement; this book advocates for a free market system

- Samuel Adams: A life

60 Days Later

**Disclaimer - I'm not forgiving BP of any responsibility for this spill. I'm completely cool with BP paying every penny required to clean this thing up. But with that being said:

Oil has been gushing for about 60 days now. Jobs in the oil, seafood, and tourism industries have been devastated in the gulf. For most of those 60 days the administration has been trying to convince us (or themselves) that they have been on top of things "since day 1." But Obama doesn't lead. He reacts. That's why he didn't even visit the gulf coast until 45 days after the spill began; after the public uproar demanded he at least pay the place a visit. Now he's not yet met with either the CEO or the chairman of the board of BP since this whole thing started. Does that sound like a leader? In fact he recently said this about the CEO of BP when attempting to explain his reasons or having not spoken to him yet:

"When you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he's going to say all the right things to me. I'm not interested in words. I'm interested in actions."

Now Obama is the guy who is all about sitting down and speaking to folks like Hugo Chavez and Ahmadinejad. Seriously? You don't think those guys are also going to "say all the right things?" What's the difference?

Well now that people are clamoring for some kind of action, ANY kind of action, Obama has decided to summon the chairman of BP to a meeting. 60 days later we're finally going to have a direct talk with BP executives. 60 DAYS LATER!! Again, Obama is not a leader. He has no idea how to handle this besides just reacting to criticisms laid against him.

"I'm not interested in words. I'm interested in actions." The irony of THAT statement coming from the mouth of THIS president, who has gotten to where he is based solely on empty words, is mind-blowing.

Where Are the Guys Saying This? I'll Vote for This Guy!

"I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth, I traveled much. I observed different countries that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves and, of course, became poorer. And on the contrary, the less that was done for them, the more they did for themselves and became richer."

That's from Ben Franklin. Oh, Ben where are you today when we are in dire need of your common sense. Most people who read this will cringe because we've been brainwashed to believe that generosity lies in expanding government, expanding welfare, and raising the minimum wage. We've come a long way from common sense and over time truth has been perverted. The more you do for most people the less they'll do for themselves. Franklin's statement is spot on. After decades of liberals trying to fight poverty by expanding our welfare state are we any better off? Is poverty in America on the decline? Is the middle-class growing?

Government will NEVER lift a man out of poverty. It will not happen. On the contrary, government largesse creates generations of slaves, ever dependent on Uncle Sam for their next check. Only the individual can raise an individual out of poverty. If you think about it in religious terms whose plan was the best - the guy who wanted to make sure that we all end with the same result or the guy who knew that the only to make it was to let us work it out for ourselves.

June 6, 1944

Today marks 66 years since the allied naval invasion of the Normandy beaches. Equally important to the overall offensive assault was the air landing of 24,000 allied troops behind the German lines. American troops suffered the highest number of casualties during the campaign with estimates in the range of 6500 killed, wounded, or MIA. The British suffered about 3000 casualties. It's also worth noting that there were between 4000-9000 German casualties. Sad that so many young German boys, with mothers who loved them, had to die for such a worthless cause.

160,000 troops landed on those French beaches on June 6, 1944, the largest naval invasion of all time. That day was a turning point in WWII with the fall of the Third Reich becoming essentially inevitable with an Allied victory. I don't think the importance of that day on the history of civilization can be overstated. There are always tipping points during a war - Gettysburg during the Civil War, Washington's famed crossing of the Delaware during our Revolution, and D-day during WWII. An allied victory may have meant the difference between continued hope for liberty in Europe and beyond and victory for tyranny and fascism.

I can't comprehend the fear that must have consumed every thought of every soldier on those boats that were destined for battle. What bravery they must have possessed as they willfully stepped into the water and began to be peppered by much higher caliber German gunners! What an awful scene must have developed as they advanced up the beach. But what a legacy they left for us and for future generations of Americans. And what an example of bravery and loyalty to freedom and right. Here's a quote from General Eisenhower when he issued the D-day orders.

"You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely....The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

Today I honor and remember the brave American, British, Canadian, and French boys who did the unthinkable and, in the process, saved the world from the unadulterated evil of Hitler and Mussolini. May we never forget what they died defending, for if we do their deaths are in vain.