Obama: More Popular Than God

Obama is more popular than anyone in the known universe, including God.  Actually Obama is much more popular than God.  Here are America's greatest heroes, in order of popularity:

 1.  Barack Obama

 2.  Jesus Christ

 3.  Martin Luther King, Jr.

 4.  Ronald Reagan

 5.  George W. Bush

 6.  Abraham Lincoln

 7.  John McCain

 8.  John F. Kennedy

 9.  Chesley Sullenberger

10.  Mother Teresa

God did not make it into the top ten.

The list was based on the results of a new Harris interactive poll in which 2,634 Americans were asked to say whom they admire enough to call their heroes. What Makes a Hero?  The public gives multiple reasons to explain their choice of heroes. Those mentioned most often included:

• “Doing what’s right regardless of personal consequences” (89%)
  
• “Not giving up until the goal is accomplished” (83%)
  
• “Doing more than what other people expect of them” (82%)
  
• “Overcoming adversity” (81%)
  
• “Staying level-headed in a crisis” (81%)
  

God shouldn't feel too bad about not making it into the top ten—at least he's more popular than Hillary Clinton. Here are America's "second-tier" heroes:

11.  God  

12.  Hillary Clinton  

13.  Billy Graham  (tie)

13.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt (tie)  

15.  Mahatma Gandhi 

16.  Colin Powell (tie)

16.  George Washington (tie)  

16.  Bill Clinton (tie)

19.  Condoleeza Rice 

20.  Oprah Winfrey  

21.  Sarah Palin 

22.  General George S. Patton (tie)  

22.  Bill Gates (tie)

Some interesting trends should be noted when comparing the latest poll results with those from July 2001:  

• Jesus was #1 in 2001.  
  
• God has risen to number 11 in 2009, from relative obscurity (with less than 1% of the vote) in 2001.
  
• George Bush was number 19 in 2001 and now ranks 5th.
• Michael Jordan was number 9 and is no longer in the top 20.

Some conservatives may be disheartened by the fact that the Obamessiah is the most popular person in the universe.  But there are several reasons to be encouraged.  For example, despite the fact that he is dead, and his presidency ended 20 years ago, Ronald Reagan is still extremely popular.  Other encouraging observations:

• There are five Republicans in the top ten, but only two Democrats (yes, MLK was a Republican).
  
• George Bush is more popular than either of the Clintons.
  
• Condoleeza Rice is the most popular black woman in the universe, even more popular than Oprah.
  
• JFK dropped from number 4 to number 8, making way for Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln and John McCain, who all ranked lower than JFK in 2001.
  
• Since endorsing Obama, Colin Powell has dropped from number 3 in 2001 to number 16 in 2008. Correspondingly, Powell is #1 on the list of fallen heroes (see below). 

We thought you were a hero, but now we know you better.  You're not a leader, you're too concerned about personal recognition, you're not interested in helping others, and you're immoral.  Bottom line: we don't like you anymore. 

When asked to name people who used to be their heroes but who they no longer consider as heroes, the people mentioned most often are Colin Powell, George W. Bush, John McCain, Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy.

Colin Powell  

George W. Bush  

John McCain 

Bill Clinton 

John F. Kennedy  

Jimmy Carter  

Hillary Clinton  

O.J. Simpson  

Barack Obama  

Ronald Reagan  

Martin Luther King  

Jesse Jackson  

Oprah Winfrey

How did they go from hero to zero?  Major reasons for thinking former heroes are no longer heroes:

• Do not demonstrate leadership
  
• Became too concerned about getting personal recognition
  
• Conduct themselves in an immoral or unethical way
  
• Are no longer interested in helping others
  
• Are no longer setting goals for themselves
  
• Were replaced by someone else you now consider your hero
  

More

Army Charity Hoards Millions Meant to Help Veterans

As soldiers stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the biggest charity inside the U.S. military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars meant to help put returning fighters back on their feet

Obama bails out more media water-carriers

Clash over cash

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, crafted a requirement in the final stimulus bill that forces governors to publicly accept or decline the federal money and enables state legislatures to accept the federal money in the event their governors oppose it. 

Mr. President, Keep the Airwaves Free

As a former law professor, surely you understand the Bill of Rights.

A Warning to Obama

Pop quiz.  

Who stated the following?

The state's increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent.

The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in virtually every nation.

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost [them] dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.

Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.

And one more point: anti-crisis measures should not escalate into financial populism and a refusal to implement responsible macroeconomic policies. The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing.

So who said it?  Was it Newt Gingrich?  Ron Paul? Would you believe it was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month?

It's interesting to note that Putin understands that it's not even in Russia's interest for America to go socialist. Obama worshipers worldwide need to understand that a weakened, impoverished America is not necessarily what they need right now.

More

Stimulus Bill Railroaded through Congress before Obama cabinet ready to spend it

Of course, the New York Times waits until AFTER the bill passes to point out the obvious; with precious few cabinet people in place and Bush holdovers manning many desks, there's no one in the departments who can authorize spending the $787 billion that the president swore to us we had to pass NOW or else: 

Rush to Wait 

A 1,000-page bill passed in two days sat unsigned on the president’s desk for three.

Were They At The Same Meeting?

Charity requires that one concede the possibility that genuine piety was a part of Pelosi’s (rather boorish, and certainly irregular) insistence on being given a private moment with the pope during her current taxpayer-funded junket to Rome. But her office’s statement on today’s meeting makes it clear something else was afoot...

'NY Post' in Obama-Chimp-Stimulus-Racism Flap

California Crashing

Time for another bailout?

California lawmakers gathered again Tuesday in another bid to end the state's multibillion-dollar budget stalemate, as the state was poised to start laying off as many as 20,000 government workers.

After frustrating weekend sessions that failed to break the one-vote impasse preventing them from passing a budget compromise plan to end the crisis, legislative leaders said they planned to put the tax increases in the package up for a vote Tuesday.

In addition to the layoffs, the state planned to halt all remaining public works projects, which would throw nearly 92,000 construction workers out of work. Tax refunds already have been delayed because the state has no money to pay them.

The Republican governor, who declared a fiscal emergency in December, has butted heads for months with the Democratic majority over alleviating the state's $11.2 billion revenue shortfall this fiscal year alone. The cuts would save California $750 million for the year. The state's $42 billion deficit is for the current and next fiscal years.

How long before Barry O'Bama calls for a California Bailout?

More

Putin Lectures American Democrats Against Socialism

You know things are out of control when Communist China is lecturing democrats on protectionism and now the former head of the KGB is lecturing US democrats against socialism.  Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.  Via Gateway Pundit

Do We Need a New Internet?  h/t: Random Thoughts

Commentary: If you oppose stimulus, don't take the money.

The Trojan Pig

Online Surveys & Market Research

Thoughts on The Passing Scene

Random thoughts on the passing scene...

Alexis de Tocqueville

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money. 

Margaret Thatcher

The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Ronald Reagan

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

It isn't that liberals are ignorant, its just that they know so much that isn't so.

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

Great nations have responsibilities to lead and we should always be cautious of those who would lower our profile because they might just wind up lowering our flag.

Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.

Abraham Lincoln

Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

Benjamin Franklin

When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.

Socrates

Extreme freedom can't be expected to lead to anything but a change to extreme slavery, whether for a private individual or for a city.

CS Lewis

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

Thomas Sowell

The only thing that can cure poverty is wealth.

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

How can a President of the United States be re-elected in a landslide after four years when unemployment never fell below 15 percent for even one month during his first term? Franklin D. Roosevelt did it by blaming it all on the previous administration. Barack Obama may be able to achieve the same result the same way.

I hate to hear about "partnerships" between government and business, or between government and other organizations. When there is a partnership between an ant and an elephant, who do you suppose makes the decisions?

One of the most important skills for political success is the ability to make confident assertions of absurdities or lies.

There are too many people, especially among the intelligentsia, who will never appreciate the things that have made this country great until after those things have been destroyed—with their help. Then, of course, it will be too late.

Friedrich August von Hayek

‘Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.

P. J. O'Rourke

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

More

No cuts or caps for executive salaries in Big Education

Receiving federal assistance may entail pay cuts for fat cat executives in business, but no such worries for highly paid big shots in higher education. One of the largest industries in America, one far more dependent on federal largess than Wall Street or Detroit, has immunity. 

Another fat cat executive

Postmaster General John E. Potter recently warned that economic times are so dire that the U.S. Postal Service may end mail delivery one day a week and freeze executive salaries. But his personal fortunes are nonetheless rising thanks to 40 percent in pay raises since 2006, a $135,000 bonus last year and several perks usually reserved for corporate CEOs.

Obama's Big Rush

"The time for talk is over. The time for action is now." Obama left little room for doubt. If Congress did not pass the spending bill immediately, the country would fall apart, and the damage would be "irreversible."

"Rise to the moment," Obama commanded Congress. "Every day, our economy gets sicker," he warned. Upon learning that the national unemployment rate had jumped to 7.6 percent, the highest since 1992, Congress could no longer question Obama's "fierce urgency of now."

Congress acted in accordance with Obama's instructions and produced a bill posthaste. Public negotiations were deemed to be impractical—too time consuming. So fierce was their urgency, they forgot to read the 1,100 page bill, and they broke their 48-hour public posting promise. 

Immediately after the bill was passed on Saturday, Obama signed the bill into law.

...No, wait, that's not what happened.  After pushing Congress to hurry up and pass the trillion dollar stimulus bill, Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway.  Eh, what's the rush?


More

Obama delays signing 'urgent' stimulus for Chicago fun

To a critical eye, the hurry to pass the bill appears to have been a con, a legislative stampede.

What's the rush?  Urgent stimulus on hold for Bam's weekend off.

The push to get the bill through before the holiday weekend was so frantic, members of Congress didn't have a chance to read all 1,071 pages of the document before they could vote.  "In a perfect world it would have been nice to have had more time to process it," said Ilan Kayatsky, a spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).

British Women Pay High Price for Multiculturalism
Britain has headed down the same "rape path" as other neighboring  "enhanced" multiculturalized countries, such as Norway, where two out of three rapes are committed by men of "non Western backgrounds". 

Obama levitates, but the train goes off the rails.
One of many highlights of the stimulus bill the Democrats just rammed through Congress is $8 billion for high-speed rail. What makes this appropriation special is that there was no money for high-speed rail in the original House legislation. The Senate bill had $2 billion. The legislation coming out of conference "compromised" on $8 billion.

Remember when Obama promised to give us five days to review every bill that ended up on his desk?



"Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant... No more secrecy... And, when there's a bill that ends up on my desk as president, you the public will have 5 days to look online and find out what's in it before I sign it."

You've been trumped!

With help from a grand total of three Republicans, Congress has passed Obama's unpopular "economic recovery" plan. No one read the 1,100 page behemoth, and the 48-hour public posting promise was broken. (When Obama says he will trump you, he really means it.)

The spending bill isn't a new New Deal, it's the old New Deal on steroids, and it will be just as worthless as the original. A mere 12% of the stimulus package is stimulative. The rest is expensive partisan pork and political back scratching. But the wasteful spending and the political payoffs aren't the only things about this bill that are worrisome.

The "stimulus package" could just as accurately be described as a social engineering package. Obama's bill has stealth provisions that are designed to undercut parental authority, roll back Clinton's successful welfare reform, and set up a federal infrastructure that could be used as a tool for government rationing of health care.

This thing is ugly.

So it's no surprise that Obama's puppets in congress worked "in the dead of night and behind closed doors." to pass this bill. Of course they had to ram it through. You can't let a crisis go to waste, and this crisis could let up any time now, with or without stimulus. Plus, if they had allowed the public to review the bill for another 48 hours, it might have been just enough time for public support to completely collapse.

This isn't how our democratic republic is supposed to work.

More

Can Israel make it alone?

If the Obama administration walks away from democratic allies, we will see the fastest reshuffling of the alliances we've seen since World War I.

Voting on a Stimulus They Haven't Read

Obama's Approach to Missile Defense Stirs Questions

Homeschooling: America's Hidden Breeding Ground for Conservative Ideology, h/t pen of jen

Stimulus Plan Tightens Reins on Wall St. Pay

A provision buried deep inside the $787 billion economic stimulus bill would impose restrictions on executive bonuses at financial institutions that are much tougher than those proposed 10 days ago by the Treasury Department.

Missing from Congress' stimulus negotiations: transparency

Could Congress have demanded that all negotiations play out in public? Waxman said that would have been impractical. "There are too many moving parts in this bill," Waxman said. "We would be sitting in an open conference committee meeting for weeks, if not a whole month, to process all the amendments that would have been offered."

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.

This Stimulus Bill is Even Worse Than You Think

Think the the stimulus bill is bad?  Think again.  The Stimulus Bill is Even Worse Than You Think.  Sobering information from NRO:

The health provisions in the House stimulus bill would expand dependence on the already-unsound Medicaid entitlement program, distort health care choices for unemployed workers, and set up a federal infrastructure that could be used as a tool for government rationing of medical treatments, procedures, and services. [snip]

For the first time, the federal government will give significant cash to able-bodied adults without dependent children.  ...Since most of these individuals have little apparent need for assistance, the new credit represents "spreading the wealth" for its own sake.  [snip]

Buried in the economic stimulus legislation is a provision that undercuts parental authority and expands control of taxpayer dollars by family planning clinics.  Because the income of parents or even a spouse may not be counted in determining eligibility, states would have the option to "consider only the income of the applicant or recipient." In other words, a child in a family at any income level may be eligible for free family-planning services. A child would be able to receive benefits through a "presumptive eligibility period" and beyond without parental knowledge that he or she applied for Medicaid.  [snip]

For the first time since 1996, the federal government would begin paying bonuses to states that increase their welfare caseloads. Under the stimulus bills, the federal government will pay 80 percent of cost for each new family that a state enrolls in welfare; this matching rate is far higher than it was under the old AFDC program. 

Obama has repeatedly told us in recent days that he is abandoning the old, failed, tired ideas of the past.  He isn't.

More

House passes stimulus bill with no GOP support

It was clear that the measure was the result of old-fashioned sausage-making. Pet provisions were coming to light that had not been included in the original bills that passed the House or Senate—or that differed markedly from earlier versions. Some appeared to brush up against claims of the bill's supporters that no pet projects known as "earmarks" were included.

Gregg Withdrawal Embarrasses White House

White House sources tell me that another nominee for commerce secretary could be announced quite soon, maybe in the next few days.  But that candidate will be President Obama's fourth choice for commerce secretary.

Why not make the "stimulus bill" a kazillion dollars?

For half a century, the welfare establishment had the bright idea to pay women to have children out of wedlock. Following the iron laws of economics—subsidize something, you get more of it; tax it, you get less of it—the number of children being born out of wedlock skyrocketed.

Anti-Islam Dutch Lawmaker Sent Back to Netherlands Amid U.K. Ban

The right-wing lawmaker had been invited by a member of Parliament to show his anti-Islam movie "Fitna," which calls the Koran a "fascist" book and accuses Islam of being a violent religion.

Senators Grill Geithner Again on New Financial Plan: Republican Tells Him, 'You Have No Clue'

Jindal to give high-profile GOP response to Obama.

The only thing that can cure poverty is wealth.

U.S. judges admit to jailing children for money.

Two judges pleaded guilty on Thursday to accepting more than $2.6 million from a private youth detention centre in Pennsylvania in return for giving hundreds of youths and teenagers long sentences.

Woman's record-length fingernails broken in crash.

According to the Guinness Web site, her nails measured a total of more than 28 feet long in 2008, with the longest nail on her right thumb at 2 feet, 11 inches.

Test your news knowledge.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Obama Is Not Doing His Job

When abroad, Obama criticizes his own country, praises the antithetical world view of another, and tells us that his job is to focus on the well-being of International Muslims.  At home, Obama has told us that we should live our lives in accordance with the wishes of "other countries."  In the court of international opinion, Obama wants to represent all sides.

What if you hired a lawyer, and instead of representing YOU, he decided he should be "fair" and represent "all sides." What if you couldn't afford a lawyer and your public defender insisted on playing the prosecutorial role? 

Yes, your lawyer must listen to the other side, but he isn't going to express their concerns, or recognize the validity of their points unless it serves your interests in some way. Everything your attorney says and does should serve your interests.  That's what it means to have representation.

As the current occupant of the office of the President of the United States of America, it is not Obama's job to represent the interests or express the concerns of other nations. His delusional "President of the World" schtick is even more absurd and egotistical than his "Office of the President-Elect" charade was.  As long as Obama insists on being the self-appointed President of the International Community, there is no one representing the citizens of the United States of America.

If the Jimmy Carters, the Susan Sarandons, and the Code Pinks among us want to abuse their freedom to express the concerns of other nations and represent their interests, they're free to do so. Barack Obama is NOT.

More

Meltdown 101: Highlights of economic stimulus plan

So, how much of a tax cut is he delivering to 95% of the American people with that $790 billion? A whopping $13 per paycheck that later gets reduced to $8 per paycheck. 

Democrat Leaders Hold Midnight Meeting, Freeze GOP out of “Stimulus” Negotiations

It is the prerogative of congressional Democrats as to whether the hearing will be an honest and open forum or instead a dog and pony show while real negotiations take place in a smoke-filled backroom.

More Appointment Chaos: Gregg Withdraws After Policies Too Much to Stomach

"It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns."