patrick.net

MarsAttacks! says

What happened to my post on that? It just up and disappeared.

I deleted it, because less than two minutes of research showed it was not true. That fee was REQUESTED by the National Christmas Tree Association:

http://hosted2.ap.org/COGRA/e109e277e48c4e219e07a1d4710177b3/Article_2011-11-09-Christmas%20Tree%20Fees/id-25935d56aedb4ecca67d6b1377e47962

If you hate him because he's black, just say so. It would be much more honest.

Obama is doing EVERYTHING (and then some) to KEEP HOUSE PRICES ARTIFICIALLY HIGH and I'm renting and want to own.

Thats a pretty big issue. Explain how 'union rights' or some BS are more important than that?

PockyClipsNow says

KEEP HOUSE PRICES ARTIFICIALLY HIGH

thing is, Pocky guy, being in a situation were house prices were cheaper would wipe out the entire economy via a deflationary cross-default collapse.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/HHMSDODNS

that's not fake money, that's peoples' pension plans, savings accounts, not to mention future taxes should we continue bailing out the system the hard way.

There are no easy answers now. The major mistakes were committed 2003-2006.

I really don't think that cheap house prices would wipe out the entire economy!

Sure, the Federal Reserve has a big motive in protecting the big banks that own the Federal Reserve. Those banks could lose big with cheaper housing prices.

But less mortgage debt would also free up millions of people to buy houses with cash, and to get by just as well on lower incomes.

I really don't think that cheap house prices would wipe out the entire economy!

Sure, the Federal Reserve has a big motive in protecting the big banks that own the Federal Reserve. Those banks could lose big with cheaper housing prices.

But less mortgage debt would also free up millions of people to buy houses with cash, and to get by just as well on lower incomes.

When was the last time we had a strong economy AND falling home prices?

If you hate him because he's black, just say so. It would be much more honest.

I don't think most anti obama people hate him because he's black.

They hate him because:

- He's a democrat (they said the same basic things about Clinton)

- He represents things that they don't like ("liberalism")

- He's succeeding where the guy they supported failed.

There are definitely people who hate Obama because he's black, but I think they're (thankfully) a minority.

I hate the crony capitalistic nature of both parties.

I think this cronyism is too much entwined in the system that there cannot be a meaningful way to get rid of it. Special interests (whoever they may be - financiers, industry lobbyists whatever) get the Govt to work for them.

General public is screwed, regardless of who's in power.

Here's why. Let me add artificially inflated house prices.

Yeah, because the majority of people who hate Obama are pro Ron Paul

I said when he was campaigning in 2008.

The Man is a media product, he has not intentions on changing anything but making more rich Washington insiders even richer.
I said he was not a presidential candidate wining on his merit by words he believed and owned. I was convinced he was the front runner then, because he had endless air time by the Liberal media, some believed his lies, and some part of his lies.

I deleted it, because less than two minutes of research showed it was not true.

Until I see you delete a post that is an out right bullshit and a lies on the GOP, then I'm not buying that you are some crusader interested in the Truth. But more a perpetuation of why such a disastrous person could elected in this country in the first place.

If you hate him because he's black, just say so. It would be much more honest.

Un freaking believable!

So Patrick come clean, how much is ACORN giving you these days? I noticed a lot of donations the day you suspended TOT's account. You used to be your own man, in fact through most of 2008 race you were a stanch supporter of Ron Paul.
I don't remember you having any opinion on Obama through out the whole campaign.

White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said the USDA would delay the program, but defended it, saying it was not a tax.

"I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama administration is not taxing Christmas trees," Lehrich said. "What's being talked about here is an industry group deciding to impose fees on itself to fund a promotional campaign."

That said, Lehrich added, "USDA is going to delay implementation and revisit this action."

"That said, Lehrich added, "USDA is going to delay implementation and revisit this action.""

Here let me paraphrase...

"We were going to tax trees, but after TOT's comment, we felt kind of refaced, BUT!!! We may still... maybe, perhaps..."

Pat you're getting dishonest with your new found friends it's not becoming on you.

Kevin says

Yeah, because the majority of people who hate Obama are pro Ron Paul

And many of them voted for Obama and now support Ron Paul.

Anonymousone says

Kevin says

Yeah, because the majority of people who hate Obama are pro Ron Paul

And many of them voted for Obama and now support Ron Paul.

Maybe I should have used sarcasm tags?

austrian_man says

General public is screwed, regardless of who's in power.

EVERYBODY'S a "special interest" somehow.

I like Barry, I hate the effcts of progressive/leftist/liberal/socialist/communist political activity in America.

Bellingham Bill says

EVERYBODY'S a "special interest" somehow.

Not the general public, unless we're talking about a socialistic society, which the US is NOT. A special interest group is one that can buy its influence in the Government and take care of its own needs at the expense of the public.

austrian_man says

A special interest group is one that can buy its influence in the Government

You mean farmers, servicemen, realtors, lawyers, academics, AARP members, the insurance industry, community organizers, media concerns, energy companies, transportation companies, education lobbies, healthcare professionals.

Everybody's got their interest.

Now, some interests might be more special than others, but welcome to politics.

Bill has it right. Nearly every group is a "special interest".

I don't "hate" Obama. But I find that what he was advertised to be (articulate) just didn't pan out.

He called the firing of teachers a good thing and that police acted stupidly when they had to investigate a break in. Why he commented on local politics is beyond me.

Here in the northeast many college/university campuses were filled with people that thought the following

1) we'd pull out of iraq
2) we'd pull out of afghanistan
3) we'd end the war on drugs
4) we'd close camp x ray
5) there would be some amnesty thing for illegals
6) that there'd be single payer health care
7) that unemployment would go down
8) the patriot act would be repealed
9) sanctions would be lifted on cuba
etc

Hardly any of these happened

Now Bush practically ignored the media so I was under the impression that obama would have press conferences on the same level as clinton...nope. I can go weeks if not months without seeing Obama on tv.
I know it's 2011 and we have the internet but when you get on tv it still makes someone appear to be serious. It's almost like he isn't even trying.

It's one thing to tick off an opposing side but obama ticks off his base. To argue that he's doing "the best he can" is a joke.

The sad thing is technically is Obama gets a free ride in the primaries..although incumbents always win primaries I'm surprised the left hasn't put anyone up to it..

When Clinton was in he made being president easy. He could lean against republicans and his own party to get some things done..but now there are no real ideas.

Obamacare is based on Romneycare and we're putting it on a ballot to remove it next year..if it gets removed then what?

The trouble with the democrats is that they always want to promote the "popular" one to become president. Obama won the primary because he could say the iraq war went bad and he didn't vote for it. Republicans have people that usually spend some time (governorship, vice president for awhile etc)

Chris Rock said in a recent statement that there was pain on the left after Bush but the was no "revenge". He also said in a 2nd term he'd do more but he wasn't specific. Reelections are always referendums.

Obama wrote a book and said he was mentored as a youth by 
> Frank (Frank Marshall Davis) an avowed Communist.

> His grandparents, were strong 
> socialists who sent Obama's mother to a socialist school where she 
> was introduced to Frank Marshall Davis. He was later introduced to 
> young Barrack Hussein Obama.

Barrack Hussein Obama was enrolled as a 
> Muslim child in school and his father and stepfather were both 
> Muslims.
>
>He wrote in another book he authored "I will stand with them 
> (Muslims) should the political winds shift in an ugly direction".
>
> He admittedly, in his book, said he chose Marxist friends and 
> professors in college.
>
> He traveled to Pakistan , after college on an unknown national 
> passport.
>
> He sought the endorsement of the Marxist Party in 1996 as he 
> ran for the Illinois Senate.
>
> He sat in a Chicago Church for twenty years and listened to a 
> preacher spew hatred for America and preach black liberation 
> theology.
>
> An independent Washington organization, that tracks Senate 
> voting records, gave him the distinctive title as the "most liberal 
> senator,".
>
> The Palestinians in Gaza set up a fund raising telethon to 
> raise money for his election campaign.
>
> His voting record supported gun control.
>
>He refused to disclose who donated money to his election 
> campaign, as other candidates had done.
>
> He received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan and 
> Mummar Kadaffi and Hugo Chavez.
>
> He chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and 
> Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary radicals.
>
> His "Present"voting record in the Illinois senate and in the 
> U.S. Senate came into question.
>
> He refused to wear a flag, lapel pin, and did so only after a 
> public outcry.
>
> He stood with his hands over his groin area for the playing of 
> the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance.
>
>He surrounded himself in the White house with advisors who 
> were pro-gun control, pro- abortion, pro-homosexual marriage and 
> wanting to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition .
>
>
> He said he favors sex education in Kindergarten, including 
> homosexual indoctrination.
>
> His personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and 
> nothing could be found about him.
>
> WHEN the place of his birth was called into question, he 
> refused to produce a birth certificate.
>
> He had an association in Chicago with Tony Rezco--a man of 
> questionable character and who is now in prison and had helped 
> Obama to a sweet deal on the purchase of his home.
>
George Soros, a multi-billionaire 
> Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected.
>
> He started appointing White House Czars that were radicals, 
> revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist/Communist.
>
> He stood before the Nation and told us that his intentions 
> were to "fundamentally transform this Nation" .
>
> He had trained ACORN workers in Chicago 
> and served as an attorney for ACORN.
>
> He appointed cabinet members and several advisors who were tax 
> cheats and socialists.
>
> He appointed a Science Czar, John Holdren, who believes in 
> forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen 
> mothers.
>
> He appointed Cass Sunstein as Regulatory Czar who believes in 
> "Explicit Consent," harvesting human organs without family consent, 
> and allowing animals to be represented in court, while banning all 
> hunting.
>
> He appointed Kevin Jennings, a homosexual, and organizer of a 
> group called gay, lesbian, straight, education network as Safe 
> School Czar and it became known that he had a history of bad advice 
> to teenagers.
>
> He appointed Mark Lloyd, as Diversity Czar, who believes in 
> curtailing free speech; taking from one and giving to another to 
> spread the wealth; who supports Hugo Chavez.
>
>Valerie Jarrett was selected as Obama's Senior White House 
> Advisor and she is an avowed Socialist.
>
> He appointed Carol Browner as Global Warming Czar, and her 
> being a well known socialist working on Cap and Trade as the 
> nations largest tax.
>
> He appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as 
> Green Energy Czar, who since had to resign WHEN this was made 
> known.
>
> Tom Daschle, Obama's pick for health and human services 
> secretary could not be confirmed, because he was a tax cheat.
>
> WHEN as President of the United States , he bowed to the King of 
> Saudi Arabia.
>
> He traveled around the world criticizing America and never 
> once talking of her greatness.
>
> His actions concerning the Middle-East seemed to support the 
> Palestinians over Israel , our long time ally.
>
> He took American tax dollars to resettle thousands of 
> Palestinians from Gaza to the United States.
>
> He upset the Europeans by removing plans for a missile defense 
> system against the Russians.
>
> He played politics in Afghanistan by not sending troops early-
> on when the Field Commanders said they were necessary to win.
>
>He continues spending us into a debt that's so big we could 
> not pay it off.
>
> He took a huge spending bill under the guise of stimulus and 
> used it to pay off organizations, unions, and individuals that got 
> him elected.
>
> He took over insurance companies, car companies, banks, etc., 
>
> He took away student loans from the banks and put it through 
> the government.
>
> He designed plans to take over the health care system and put 
> it under government control.
>
> He claimed he was a Christian during the election and tapes 
> were later made public that showed Obama speaking to a Muslim group 
> and 'stating' that he was raised a Muslim; was educated as a 
> Muslim; and that he is still a Muslim.
>
> He set into motion a plan to take over the control of all 
> energy in the United States through Cap and Trader.

But he is a good speaker and better lookin than McCain

People hate Obama for the same reason u hated bush... (playing the race card is such BS)

I like Obama because he doesn't try to hide who he is(now that he's in). If my job was meaningless I'd go on vacations all the time too!

I heard that Obama eats babies, but only aborted ones.

TMAC54 says

The global economy cracked due to overpriced real estate. Obama's cure; Establish yet ANOTHER inefficient, useless yet costly gubmint agency, The C.F.P.B.

The global economy cracked because of reckless out of control gambling by the financial markets. Overpriced real estate was a sympton, not a cause. It was all that excessive regulation of cdo's, cds's, derivatives, excessive leverage, credit ratings agencies, lending standards, etc., etc. that was most certainly at fault. Sarcasm intended just in case you missed it.

mdovell says

Here in the northeast many college/university campuses were filled with people that thought the following

1) we'd pull out of iraq
2) we'd pull out of afghanistan
3) we'd end the war on drugs
4) we'd close camp x ray
5) there would be some amnesty thing for illegals
6) that there'd be single payer health care
7) that unemployment would go down
8) the patriot act would be repealed
9) sanctions would be lifted on cuba

OK, those are pretty good reasons.

I would also add Obama's support for renewing Bush's tax cuts for the rich, and Obama's seeming inability to insist on anything at all in the face of Republican opposition.

TMAC54 says

> He said he favors sex education in Kindergarten, including
> homosexual indoctrination.

Just think for ten seconds.

You're not even telling the truth to yourself. Did you actually investigate any of those points, or just swallow them whole?

You're looking for reasons, ANY reasons, to say Obama == bad.

Why do you so desperately need to believe Obama is bad? That's the point of this thread. Be honest. You can do it! You'll be a better human being and the world will be a better place if you can first of all see that you're lying to yourself, and secondly see that your self-deception is pretty obvious to everyone around you as well.

Unless of course, the people around you have the same desperate need to hate Obama.

I don't hate Obama, but I don't think he should have been president in the first place. He's very much over his head and hasn't accomplished anything. He squandered his opportunity to actually make a difference and won't regain it. If he had some accomplishment I would have been ok with him, even if he is a democrat.

He should have gone after the low hanging fruit first. Things like having the justice department put a bunch of wall street types in jail, dismantling the huge paranoid secrecy mentality throughout the government, rebuilding the enforcement arms of the agencies, etc., etc.. High visibility things that don't require a lot of wrangling with congress. Once he built a solid record of accomplishment and approval, then use the momentum to go for the big ticket items in congress.

The book titled "ONE" by Richard Bach, proposes love and HATE is the same thing. HATE being a frustration felt when not understanding reasons a person acts in certain ways different from the way you believe. Spending time and energy to adjust those differences is a burden of love. Other than love or hate you are left with insignificance.
An individual with a title is insignificant to me. I hate knowing that my Children and Grandchildren will enjoy fewer rights and freedoms due to ever growing and controlling policies imputed by our elected officials.
Thank You for doing that research for me. I see other sides to published comments through Patrick.net.

Is Jamie Diamond Obama's appointee ?

Concerning the financial crisis.

bob2356 says

It was all that excessive regulation of cdo's, cds's, derivatives, excessive leverage, credit ratings agencies, lending standards, etc., etc. that was most certainly at fault. Sarcasm intended just in case you missed it.

Overpriced Real Estate ( a symptom ? ) was CAUSED by all of the above ?
I must have bumped my head. I thought regulations increased after the crash.
I like sarcasm

Nomograph says

NuttBoxer says

If my job was meaningless I'd go on vacations all the time too!

You'd have to get off welfare, food stamps, and section eight first. There's nothing more meaningless than being a ward of the state, Nuttboxer.

What about spreading lies about someone on forums instead of having a thought that's your own? Or being a dried up, bitter asshole who only has negativity to contribute?

TMAC54 says

The book titled "ONE" by Richard Bach, proposes love and HATE is the same thing.

One of my favorite quotes: "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference."

I don't agree that hate and love are the same thing though. Hate is fear. You don't hate what you don't fear.

So I think that people who hate Obama are actually just afraid of something, maybe many things. But what exactly? I'm sure it's not "homosexual education of kindergarteners".

Funny how the Obama haters can't say exactly why they hate him

50 bucks says if McCain won the 2008 election, there be just as many McCain haters claiming if we only elected Obama the country be in far better shape. Obama is a figure head, someone to blame for all of our problems on. The Reality is, the president has little influence over the economy. Even if there no national deficit and the Fed had bucks of cash to throw at the Countries economic problems, they are just too huge to be fixed overnight. Even the massive New Deal program from 1933 to 1936 did little to pull the country out of the depression. You honestly think that any program put forth from 2008 to 2011 is going to have any dramatic effect?

I've been reading this site for years and have never posted before now. And I have just one question...what the hell happened, Patrick?

"Funny how the Obama haters can't say exactly why they hate him." Really! Jesus, I used to look forward to checking-in every morning, but lately it has gotten so political I can't stand it anymore. To be honest, I think both parties suck, but I don't come to this site for that kind of discussion.

I know you don't give a crap, and that's fine with me. I just wanted to let you know why one of your faithful readers will no longer be visiting. And quite honestly, I've learned what I needed to learn anyway...

Real estate is going down and will be for awhile (in my area anyway).

Falcon says

lately it has gotten so political I can't stand it anymore

This is the politics forum. That's what it's for.

So you hate Obama too, but can't say exactly why?

Falcon says

lately it has gotten so political I can't stand it anymore

This is the politics forum. That's what it's for.

So you hate Obama too, but can't say exactly why?

Hi Patrick,

I thought you're taking the weekend off?

bob2356 says

He's very much over his head and hasn't accomplished anything.

Hmm, but I keep hearing how Obama's radical socialist health care is destroying the country, how his radical foreign policy is going to get us all killed, and how his sweeping new regulations have made it impossible to run a company.

Er, no?

People who are judging Obama based on things he never promised during the campaign are stupid. People who are judging Obama based on things that simply aren't true are even dumber.

For the most part, Obama has been doing (or trying anyway; remember, this is a democracy) exactly what he said he'd be doing when he was running. Why anybody expects different is beyond me.

I don't agree that hate and love are the same thing though.

If you hate something that someone does (ceo blows their nose at the dining room table or takes from the less fortunate to give to the rich) it frustrates you to figure out why they do that, or frustrates you that you can not engineer a cure, you are spending time and energy trying to help that person correct their difference. Would you spend time if you were not passionate of the person or the issue ? Another Solution is to make that problem or person insignificant. We have a better chance of changing Gubmint than we do changing some fella named Obama. What a waste of time and energy hating any individual. Ride the wave !

But less mortgage debt would also free up millions of people to buy houses with cash, and to get by just as well on lower incomes.

But Credit Purchases create more assets for the 1%. Cash Purchases would create more wealth for the 99%.

We need the Job Creators(tm) to centrally plan the economy through credit markets, we can't leave economic growth to the unwashed!

Kevin says

They hate him because:

- He's a democrat (they said the same basic things about Clinton)

- He represents things that they don't like ("liberalism")

- He's succeeding where the guy they supported failed.

There are definitely people who hate Obama because he's black, but I think they're (thankfully) a minority.

I'm not so sure. The hatred for Clinton was substantial, but the hatred for Obama is absolutely unhinged from reality (see "homosexual education of kindergarteners" above).

The people who hate Obama are frothing at the mouth and near convulsions from the intensity of their hatred. It's spectacular! Clearly it's not related to his policies, which are actually to the right of all other recent Democratic presidents.

So it's something else.

Anonymousone says

Here's why. Let me add artificially inflated house prices.

You forgot that to include SS. Pauls says NO there too. Got any money foe grandma oe should she beg in street at 70 years old? Hmmm?

The right has moved.

All their canddiates all want to be the second coming of Ronald Reagan, except without all the big-government spending, tax increases, debt accumulation, foreign aid, defense of Social Security, bombing in Libya...

Isn't it obvious? Their problem is that Obama is doing Reagan better than any U.S. President since Reagan.* The only way they know how to respond to that is move further to the right. To make that work, they've had to adopt a 19th-century view of the constitution, and replace Reagan's principled anti-authoritatarianism with principled anti-Federal-governmentism.

Which is, of course, reactionary.

* There's no way they'll let him get away with comprehensive tax reform.

So it's something else.

There wasn't a 9% unemployment rate and massive loss of household wealth when Clinton was president.

When Clinton WAS president, there were insinuations that he had fathered children with a black woman, that he was a pawn of the Chinese government, and that he was going to convert the country to a european style social welfare state (which Hilary Clinton was going to be in charge of).

The whole sex scandal thing was basically the result of Republicans digging into everything that they could find until they finally found something legitimate.

Can you imagine what would happen today if Obama got blown by an intern?

People are more pissed off because things suck. Things were great under Clinton, so much of the anger was tempered into republican quality humor.

Look at what they say about Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. It's not really that much worse with Obama.

Technically speaking if there was a scandal then Obama might have an excuse for things.

The last time a democrat had things this bad was carter...and carter lost. At least there were things at the time that were deregulated and were opened up that gradually led to a boom.

Too many people think the president can wave his/her hands and just make things happen..that's not really the case. Back in '08 I heard arguments that Obama would be good as long as things don't get worse..

Since entering office unemployment is up, gas prices/oil prices are up, housing is worse, interest rates are 0% (bank rate that is).

No president has won reelection with unemployment above 7.5% at the time of reelection. Reagan was higher in '83 but by the time '84 came around it got further down. Can anyone see it going down 1.5% in the next 12 months? We'd need at least 200k jobs created per month and frankly I don't see that happening.

Kevin says

bob2356 says

He's very much over his head and hasn't accomplished anything.

Hmm, but I keep hearing how Obama's radical socialist health care is destroying the country, how his radical foreign policy is going to get us all killed, and how his sweeping new regulations have made it impossible to run a company.

Er, no?

People who are judging Obama based on things he never promised during the campaign are stupid. People who are judging Obama based on things that simply aren't true are even dumber.

For the most part, Obama has been doing (or trying anyway; remember, this is a democracy) exactly what he said he'd be doing when he was running. Why anybody expects different is beyond me.

The health care reform act doesn't reform anything it only assures millions of younger healthy very profitable policyholders for health care providers. I don't see anything radical in foreign policy.

Not accomplished anything isn't fair at all on my part. Torture ban, end of stop loss policy, patent law reform (although not very good), credit card disclosure are good, etc. are good steps, but very small tactical steps. My disappointment (not hatred by a long shot, I would be more than willing to concede the point if Obama had been a great president) is in the failure of strategic accomplishments.

My feeling is still that Obama squandered his opportunity to make a substantial difference in the governance of the US. The economy is everything and there hasn't been any standing up to wall street at all. Opening up the government making PUBLIC information accessible and PUBLIC policy decisions transparent instead of allowing the bureaucracy to grow more and more secretive was a campaign promise never even acted upon. There hasn't been any unified set of stated objectives or policy to enforce the direction the government should be heading.

In other words there has been a failure of leadership to set clear goals and standards of what is expected within the executive branch, which includes the entire federal bureaucracy. Bush II, Reagan, Johnson, Kennedy all clearly laid out what was expected. Carter, Bush I, Clinton (at least the first couple years) let things drift around in the dark. Agree of disagree with their visions, the results showed in both situations.