Mr. President, the problem with the anti-terrorism bureaucracy is typical of all bureaucracies. Lower level employees who see problems and can deal with them at that level are either prohibited from acting or afraid to act because an upper level bureaucrat will become offended that they were not consulted. Because there are so many layers of upper level bureaucrats nothing gets done. In the case of anti-terrorism, the lower level bureaucrat who has been made aware of potential danger should be empowered to at least take some temporary actions until upper level officials can get involved. For instance in the case of the Flight 253 attempted bomber, why not make it possible for the bureaucrat in the US embassy to order a suspension of the Visa until a full investigation can be done to determine if this individual is a threat. If there is a threat, permanently revoke the Visa, if there is no threat, restore the Visa. This should be done immediately and not have to wait for the potential terrorist's name to filter through layers of bureaucrats and warning lists.
Right now Government workers are afraid of being accused of religious and racial profiling. The best way to cure that is to make sure that workers understand that regardless of race or religion, anyone who is interacting with Extremist elements should be under scrutiny and should be investigated to determine the nature of the contacts. If the individual has not only interacted with known Extremists but also has uttered words that can be considered threats to the US or fellow citizens then actions must be taken to determine the nature of the threat if any.
Mr. President, I am beginning to hear the grumblings of liberal Democrats who are married to a Public Option for Health Care. Please lead these people to a new reality. There are other options as I discussed in my last blog. A better option is direct negotiation with the Insurance companies on a private option that would include guarantees on health care premiums for the uninsured and government subsidies. These guarantees could not only include the premium costs but could lock in the time frame and allow only for moderate premium increases over time.
Mr. President, please write your own bills in the future. The Congress is just not good at getting things done on its own.
Mr. President I have been one of your staunchest supporters and that will not change no matter the outcome of the current Healthcare debate. I believe what the right wing has done to stir up fears of the uninformed is deplorable. At the same time, I think it was a mistake to turn this very important project over to the Congress. I think there are several concerns that are legitimate.
1. First and foremost a public option plan would require creating a new bureaucracy that would be costly no matter how prudent or frugal you would try to be.
2. We already have two publicly run health care plans (medicare and medicaid which together account for about 500 billion dollars yearly).
3. There are private health care plans that could manage health care for the currently uninsured and if you were so bold also take on medicare and medicaid recipients as well.
a. Allowing the private insurers to compete to cover all of the above would save money and
get the Federal government out of running health care.
b. The Federal government could pay the entire subsidy on a private plan for these people
and still save money in the short and long term.
c. You could get some contractual guarantees from private insurers about cost.
d. It would make a big dent in the national deficit and the national debt.
Your biggest challenge would be getting the public to go along with turning medicare and medicaid over to the private insurers.
Please consider my proposal
Mr. President I know this is a delicate situation, but I believe the Iranians who turned out in droves did vote in much higher numbers for Mr. Ahmadinejad's opponent Mousavi. I believe that Mr. Ahmadinejad's supporters in the government took unfair advantage of their positions and altered the election results. I also believe that many Iranians were inspired by your speech to Muslim nations and felt that there was truly time for change in Iran.
I think you should at this time express your concern that so many people in Iran are unhappy with the election and that in a sense of fairness and justice the Iranian government should at least allow a recount of the election results with oversight from a disinterested third party nation or from several nations.
I think in this way you are not taking sides but are showing solidarity with the Iranian people who feel that an injustice has occurred and who are also looking to you for support.
Its interesting to watch the media grumble about when the President will own this economy. Well, for your information media types, the President owned the economy on January 20, 2009 because George W. Bush willed it to him as he departed. No, President Obama is not in any way responsible for the mess we are in, but he is similar to the home improvement guy who is brought in after a group of vandals trashed the house. He has to basically start from scratch and fix and repair a whole host of things from the foundation to the roof. Its time consuming and sometimes back breaking, but he with help from the right professionals has the skill and tenacity to get it done and make it whole again.
In the meantime, the homeowners (we) have to cooperate with this person and provide whatever resources he needs to bring this to the desired conclusion. So worldwide Press, one more time: He owns it, but he sure as hell did not cause it. He's moving heaven and hell to repair the damage and he's doing one heck of a job because we are beginning to see the fruits of his labor and especially of his intellect.
Thank you Mr. President!
It is apparent that somehow the stock market is being manipulated in a most insidious way. Please note that whenever anyone from the President's administration begins to speak on the airways, suddenly the stock market trends downward. It happened today very suddenly when President Obama began to speak. It was interesting that this morning the stock market fluctuated a few points up or down for most of the morning, but when the President started his speech it went straight down immediately. This started on inauguration day and has been going on steadily ever since. Interestingly enough, the opposite happened when George Bush spoke. The stock market could be down by 300 points but when Bush spoke, suddenly the market would climb upward. This is about more than confidence or lack thereof, this is about manipulation. Apparently the traders on the floor are behind this and I believe they are being directed by someone. Most likely a Republican, or Republican sympathizer.
Mr. President please take this seriously, the Republicans have few avenues to attack you, but they can get to you this way as they constantly point out that a lack of confidence in your administration is causing the stock market to fall. I say otherwise, I say, somehow the market is being manipulated by well placed detractors of your administration.
Me. Holder it is time for you to take a hard look at this.
Many people are asking how they can best help the country recover from the stagnant economy and help President Obama push forward his agenda. In my opinion, nothing would help more than to invest in the economy while it is down. Many people have watched on the sidelines as the stock market takes its schizophrenic swings up and down. Most of these swings are motivated by the daily drumbeat of the cable news channels including and especially CNBC. We as a nation cannot allow ourselves to be held hostage to the histrionics of those who make a living stirring up emotion which is predicated on everything except rational behavior.
This is an excellent time to go into the stock market and pick up stock of major corporations that is selling for less than $20 per share. Many of these stock were selling for double and triple that amount just months ago. I would recommend for the casual observer that a great place to look is sharebuilder.com or etrade where you can buy stock at very small investments and then leave it alone to grow. I am a retired person who over the last week began to buy up as much Bank of America stock as I could afford. Over the past week, I purchased 80 shares of BAC stock and it cost me under $350. If I had gone to Atlantic City or Las Vegas for a day, I would have spent as much and would most likely have nothing to show for it. Right now, BAC stock are very low, buy they are worth at least what I spent and I could sell them and get back what I put in.
We Americans need to step up to the plate now and help not only our President but our country to recover. I am not recommending that people go in and put large amounts into the stock market, but surely we can invest small amounts and if we leave the stock alone and stop buying and selling recklessly, the market will stabilize and all of the President's plans to recover the economy will work much better. Next week, I will buy a few shares of GE because its lower than ever before. Yet GE is diversified and should be able to withstand the ups and downs of the marketplace. I am no expert, but I see opportunity at a time when people are acting irrationally and selling their once valuable stock for ridiculously low prices because of what some nut on CNBC is yelling from day to day.
Good luck to all and God bless our President and the good old USA.
President Obama is the first President in my memory who has the confidence to carry out his promises. That does not mean it will be perfect, but what it does mean is that he will weigh each measure properly and provide us with the best solution for every item on his agenda. He is a man for all seasons and the country is in the best pair of hands possible.
As citizens we will have to support him as his detractors who are putting themselves first instead of the country try to do everything they can to diminish this great man. I say to them: he and we won't let it happen!
As the President looks for ways to restore sanity to our financial system it is imperative that he stick to his guns relative to Executive compensation. There are a lot of sympathizers out there who would prefer to see the private sector continue in its destructive ways when it comes to this topic. I believe, however that the private sector has lost credibility in this area. It is very difficult for self-policing when there are so many rewards for failure. The notion that one person or even a group of people are so valuable to a company that paying them millions in the event that they fail is ludicrous. I contend that there are thousands of others who could replace these egomaniacs, and its simply a matter of seeking them out.
The term bonus on wall street and parts of Corporate America seems to apply to just showing up for work. Some say that the bonuses are tied to the millions of dollars in business brought in but we need to be reminded that those millions of dollars have now been exposed in far too many instances as smoke and mirrors, and as a house of cards that was ripe for collapse, thus bonus should not be the result.
Every member of any company's executive team should receive a set salary commensurate with the position. Bonuses should only be paid in years of profitability and should never be more than 75% of the executive's yearly salary. Severance pay should never be worth more than two years of the standard salary. As the President attempts to rein in those under TARP, let's hope that boards of directors and stockholders regain their senses and apply some constraints to corporate executives.
I know that executives are wondering how they will be able to maintain their extravagant lifestyles if this happens, but just as middle America has to learn to live within their means, I guess the CEO's will have to do the same. After all, they should all have some pretty hefty nest eggs from the days and years of largesse.
President Obama, I applaud your efforts to move to a more civil discourse and a bipartisan politics. However, and unfortunately, the Republicans cannot resist the opportunity to try their darndest to weaken you and your initiatives. Please understand that you are dealing with a group of rattlesnakes who are striking at your ankles. I would advise you to stand strong against this onslaught as this has nothing to do with principle and everything to do with an attempt to wrest power from you and the Democrats.
It is unfortunate that the Republicans speak constantly of putting America first, but their every action has to do with putting themselves and their own warped ideology first. You would do wise to do as my grandmother advised me long ago: Approach them with a long handled spoon. Forget about inviting them to dinner or anywhere else. You have done all you could to be inclusive, but they see your efforts to include them as an opportunity to bum rush you on the inside.
You, Mr. President have too many fish to fry to waste your time with these spoilers. Please don't let it happen to you. I see perfectly clear that the Republicans led by none other than Rush Limbaugh are out to destroy your Presidency at the outset. I fervently hope that the American people can see through their deceit and send a clear message at the next mid-term election that more Republicans need to be sent home before they completely destroy our great country.
I will be contacting my own elected officials both Republican and Democratic to let them know that I am very displeased with how they have treated you as you have attempted to help make Washington a more productive place. if most Americans would follow congress, they would see that very little real work gets done there. Lots of bills are introduced and barely any get passed and its mainly a wasteful process. Keep strong and know that you are admired and supported by many.
We all revel in the knowledge that finally we have a President for the ages. The challenges, however are great. There is the economy which has been battered and bruised by eight years of Republican ideology which at its core had the temerity to believe that greedy rich men would somehow keep mindful the greater needs of society and the country they claim to love so much. Then there is the Middle East where hate feeds upon itself and justifies mindless slaughter in the name of religion. There is Africa which despite years of aid and intervention is stifled by brutality, greed and selfishness of its very rich leaders who believe that as long as they remain in power, damned be the people unfortunate enough to be under their rule.
There is yet another challenge hardly spoken about which finds that far too many of this country's inner-city youth may well not benefit from this new era of hope because too many have chosen not to attend school or to live by the law and have instead hitched their wagons to the stars of Rap music performers, Drug kingpins and other characters who live either outside of or on the edge of the law. These youth are fully armed, uncharitable in nature and are as dangerous as any terrorist threatening our country today. Unless a concerted effort is made to disarm these young people and turn their minds in a new direction, a significant segment of our society will be lost, and we all will be worse off for it.
Let's hope that President Obama and his administration tackles this most challenging of obstacles.
As you face a withering attack from the bullies from the gay left, I hope you will stick to your guns and allow Rick Warren to give your invocation. It is tragic that the left somehow believe they own you because of your win. The truth is that most people who voted for you are moderate Americans, not extremists. Many people have difficulty trying to come to a conclusion about homosexuality and homosexual marriages. Rick Warren is correct that culturally, homosexual marriages have never been the norm. Even though Roman men practiced homosexuality openly in ancient times, they did not promote homosexual marriages.
The practice of homosexuality for human beings whether because of an overwhelming urge or because of choice is outside of human physiological and sexual norms no matter what the gay community says. Trying to bully people into accepting their lifestyles will only succeed in alienating people who may have been sympathetic to their cause in the past.
I support your decision to have Rev. Warren give the invocation and I am no fan of the right wing conservatives, many of whom are just as extreme as the left extremists that are on this blog today.
