Happy New Year!

Hong Kong went all out for 2009.

London always has a great display.

But the numero uno New Year's Eve celebrations are always held in NYC of the USA.


I think I'll skip the craziness this year just because I hate going to things solo and I just got off work and everyone else is no doubt already drunk and getting louder by the minute.

Happy New Year; a joyous ending of the annual calendar to you!

:-)

JibJab: Never a Year Like '09

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

A Liberal’s Survival Guide

I recommend picking up a copy of Newsweek for yourself. The cover story for the issue of the week of November 2nd 2009 is an excellent piece on President Barack Obama. Anna Quindlen has put to words what I felt to be true since early in the 2008 Presidential Campaign:

Barack Obama campaigned as a populist firebrand but governs like a cerebral consensus builder. The Founding Fathers wouldn’t have it any other way.

…

Campaigns are bad crucibles in which to forge the future. They speak to great aspirations; government amounts to the dripping of water on stone.

…

The president is a person of nuance. But on both ends of the political number line, nuance is seen as wishy-washy. There’s no nuance in partisan attacks, soundbites, slogans, which is why Barack Obama didn’t run with the lines “Some change you might like if you’re willing to settle for” or “Yes, we can, but it will take awhile.”

…

If the American people want the president to be more like the Barack Obama they elected, perhaps they should start acting more like the voters who elected him.

In my personal estimation the liberal-left mainstream view of Barack Obama was overly optimistic as to his clearly stated positions. This situation has altered since the campaign but still seems to maintain elements of previous misconceptions.

This president is entirely unique.

I was adamant about this in the first few months of The Obama Presidency when the media-punditry were attempting to compare Obama to another American President of the recent past. The only comparisons to draw are poor ones.

Many attempt to call The Obama Presidency a “centrist” presidency. I believe this is only in part true and better descriptions would be “staunchly bipartisan” or “consensus builder” as to what we see of The White House of 2009.

Ultimately, I myself am far too left-wing to support every Obama Policy. I am certainly left-wing enough to vote for him, but in the instance of national health care reform I would seek to isolate the insurance giants in the face of the bipartisan concept of bringing them to the table.

I would seek to remind readers that The Founders had many ideological differences between them and while they surely would approve of the goal of consensus building, I believe some would argue that party loyalty or campaign kick-backs mean nothing in the face of protecting the general welfare of the people of The United States.

Allow me to put forth my view on The Founding Fathers as it applies to the proposed health care reform in the U.S.:

A single-payer bill, like H.R. 676, might be scientifically approved but does not incorporate the spirit of incrementalism that is key to sound reform. If one was to augment the “single-payer” model of this bill into a national health care insurance option for citizens ages zero to sixty-five, included the Dennis Kucinich Amendment in which states can opt-in to a single-payer system, and included the Harry Reid Proposal in which the states can opt-out of the national option within a single piece of legislation; this unwritten bill would be within the true desires of the framers of The U.S. Constitution.

--

I can only see two clear flaws in Barack Obama as president, thus far.

Handing health care to the Congress was a bad move.

Isolating the giant of media-misinformation when there are other offenders within the spheres of foe-news.

Both of these are purely strategic flaws and amount to simple criticism and nothing more on my behalf.

On the matter of his appointments I believe what I was speaking on before comes around once again. It’s not a fair assessment to call it a “liberal” cabinet but rather a “bipartisan” cabinet, or “centrist” if you must.

We didn’t elect the liberal-firebrand that came to destroy the GOP and tear down the corporate empire.

We elected Barack Obama.

Obama Health Care Speech

Rep. Wilson calls The President of The United States a "liar" at this point in regards to the legislation effecting illegal immigrants; if you failed to hear the audio that caused the interruption.







This was an excellent Address on Health Care by President Obama. All significant issues were cogently addressed, but I found the president should have expounded further upon the specifics of the budget and the concept of "deficit neutrality." Perhaps it is my own failure in understanding but I do not fully understand this notion as it pertains to health care.

I also think this clear explanation was needed much closer to the onset of the national debate instead of at this point in time and also hopefully prior to the town hall debate setting, but I see the issue of Health Care Reform as being underlined and placed in the foreground.

Those who chose not to listen and refute every word Obama speaks will most likely continue to do so.

The issue of a 'failure to sell' Health Care Reform and explain the proposal is put to rest, in my view.

Alan Colmes on The O'Reilly Factor

Find more videos like this on Alan Colmes Radio

Reality Check: Economics in America

Let it be said that I am not bought off and not invested in how much money you make one way or the other.

I am one of last people on the web that is willing to tell the truth and attempt to remove all the shadowing and spin that resides over all that is the media.

Allow me to plain:

We are headed for a depression.

I repeat this as a man with three businesses and a successful career in marketing said this statement to me.

A math teacher of high credentials has said to same to me in the past year.

You won’t hear this from the bought and paid for economists who sat on their hands and let our economy crumble beneath us as they remained mute.

While the word ‘depression’ in regards to economics is about to appear on the FFC Banned Words List there is much to be understood about what awaits us.

I’ll remove as much jargon as I can.

The economy will go up. But then it will come back down again.

They call me a “W” in terms of my economic perspective in that I believe we will regain strength in the market in coming quarters. But I think these will be temporary gains and ultimately we will fall back into a recession cycle that will lead to a depression.

Most media economists tell you that they are a “V” which to me just denotes that they are blindly optimistic or much more likely bought and paid for.

Some maintain that there will be no improvement and they are labeled the “L‘s”.

And some still think we will have gradual and slow recovery that is unhampered and they are labeled as “U‘s”.

Anyone like myself who speaks of a forthcoming American Depression would squarely fit into the “W” or the “L” camps.

However, the notion that all hope is lost is a false one.

Most of us ‘money-savvy’ people already know that fortunes can be made in depressions and that the wealth of the nation will not dissolve into thin air but rather will be distributed down to the people who have the intelligence and the foresight to take advantage of the downturn.

This is just a sliver-lining though. Each family should take real steps right away to build up the value of your home, maximize your portfolio and be prudent about major expenses.

But it’s important to realize that if we are going to prove me, a math teacher and a successful business man wrong that this nation will have to refocus itself on consumer spending.
If all of America continues to tighten it’s belt in this endless fashion then you begin to see why some predict this outcome at a latter date. Most say about three years and I would estimate a little longer span of time but the same end result.

Iran Explodes with Unrest

Huffington Post has the latest updates on the Iranian situation.

I would draw your attention to the final video on the post: "12:17 AM ET -- Awe-inspiring courage."