That A Boy Obama

[Pierced1953]

Obama is demanding from Pakistan answers about OBL, on how they couldn't have known about the OBL compound for six years. I think only a fool would think that there telling the truth. Let just hope that the 5.something billion we promised them this years will be stopped or at least given in small payments until our military gets the hell out of that part of the world, not leaving one behind.

Obama has also opened the gulf for more oil drilling permits and seems to be really going after alternative energy.

So I say ''That A Boy Obama''

Let's give credit when it's due. To bad this is the first time I've given him a thumbs up. If he keeps in this direction I won't vote for the first time, unless he fires the congress then he gets my vote.

 

[B_nyvin]

It'd be easier to understand as "thatta boy Obama"

But yes, after the events overseas I really don't see how the republicans have a chance for 2012....

 

[ColoradoGuy]

It'd be easier to understand as "thatta boy Obama"

But yes, after the events overseas I really don't see how the republicans have a chance for 2012....

Unfortunately, that analogy about the fat lady singing really does apply to American politics. But back to your post, nyvin...I sort of like 'atta boy, Obama. Sadly, the 'atta boy phrase is rarely used anymore.

Pierced1953: I think there's a lot more to applaud the President for than OBL and opening up drilling. Five other things come to mind:

1. Health care reform. (Everybody needs health care at some point.)
2. The CARD Act. (Most of us don't own a bank, so it's good to have some rules on our side.)
3. The Lilly Ledbetter Act. (Fair pay isn't an ideal, it's now the law.)
4. Laying groundwork to avert a huge financial catastrophe even before he took office -- with appropriate kudos to the Bush Administration for understanding they had to work with the incoming team in between the election and inauguration. (Think about it: none of us are standing in line for bread right now.)
5. The repeal of DADT. (Legislated discrimination and bigotry is not only stupid, it's self-defeating.)

I think the President still has a long ways to go before he wins over a lot of the fence-sitters and independents, but he's accomplished quite a bit in a short time. And you're right... it is time to give credit where credit is due.

 

[conntom]

I'm still not voting for him but I have given him credit for the few things he has done right.

Problem is - when the standard gets set SOOOO low - anything few things he does do right in the course of 4 years makes him look better than he actually is.

 

[Pierced1953]

CG....I'll go with you on [2&5], as for [3] there standing in lines here in the south. The southern rural is a complete mess, way worse than it usually is.

Your also right, atta boy sounds better.

The rep's won't get my vote next time. I don't like being stabbed in the back when I vote for someone, or their party. At least I new what the dems would do and I just won't bring myself to go for the I's.

 

[ColoradoGuy]

I'm still not voting for him but I have given him credit for the few things he has done right.

Problem is - when the standard gets set SOOOO low - anything few things he does do right in the course of 4 years makes him look better than he actually is.

I might choose to disagree with whether the accomplishments of the Obama Administration are such that they meet a 'low bar'. That aside, I appreciate where you're coming from, but ask yourself this: why does the bar get set "so low"? I have a theory that we [Americans, here] have stopped participating in the political process except to complain about it. We don't hold our elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, accountable and we do not expect enough of them. To compound matters we do not communicate with them effectively. I believe my Senators and my Congressman are in Washington to do two things:

• Address legislative needs through innovation, common sense, compromise and intellect.
• Provide a voice for me and the other constituents they serve.

That's unfortunately only a part of what they actually do and some times, I'm not sure they even do those two things well. However, when was the last time anyone of us actually interacted with our elected officials? The American political process can't be one wherein we elect and forget until the next cycle starts. We owe it to ourselves to be involved beyond just bitching about what people are or aren't doing.

So... that's my theory, conntom. Assume that we agree the bar is too low, why do you think the bar gets set low and what should we do about it? I am interested in hearing your viewpoint.

 

[ColoradoGuy]

CG....I'll go with you on [2&5], as for [3] there standing in lines here in the south. The southern rural is a complete mess, way worse than it usually is.

Your also right, atta boy sounds better.

The rep's won't get my vote next time. I don't like being stabbed in the back when I vote for someone, or their party. At least I new what the dems would do and I just won't bring myself to go for the I's.

I assume you mean that they are standing in lines due to economic policies/failures and not as a result of the recent weather issues. Those are tragic enough, I agree, but I think those are receiving attention.

The South is not an area that I'm recently familiar with, however I lived in Mississippi in the 80s. You're right that the South, and in particular the rural areas of the South, are usually the worst hit in bad economic times.

How should an Administration (Red or Blue) address poverty in the South? We've been at this for 40+ years, but what is missing that hasn't been tried or what's been tried and not been effective that requires a different approach?

 

[conntom]

The bar is so low because they get away with giving us so little.

Partly because the nation is so close to 50/50 on so many issues.

But also because we (not sure when) started voting on the candidates appearance and speaking ability instead of abilities and dedication to putting our country first. We allow corruption of our politicians. We expect our elected officials to be lawyers and rich instead of people like us, neighbors and just plain old regular people.

The incumbent wins so easily in so many cases due to name recognition instead of performance it just creates as attitude of indifference on their part what the people think. And when they are caring about what we think it is to act on our fears or hot button issues while (like gay marriage or entitlements) instead of real issues like jobs and the future of this country in the next few decades if not longer.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents reply to your question. The bar is low because we allow it to be low.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

Yea... as if civil rights (Gay Marriage) and American citizens getting what is owed to them by the federal government by law (entitlement programs) is "setting the bar low". I swear, people just don't really pay attention to what they say around here.

 

[rawbone8]

I don't know what is common to say where you come from, but we don't call men boys here in Canada if we are congratulating them. We might say "Way to go, man!" Boy just isn't a respectful term to use, for any man. It's used for a pet or a younger child.

Not to hijack the thread, BUT it begs to be asked: "Boy" carries that unpleasant racial denigration aspect about it when it's directed toward a black man. Would it be fair to say it's a back-handed compliment, because of that?

 

[B_VinylBoy]

I don't know what is common to say where you come from, but we don't call men boys here in Canada if we are congratulating them. We might say "Way to go, man!" Boy just isn't a respectful term to use, for any man.

Not to hijack the thread, BUT it begs to be asked: "Boy" carries that unpleasant racial denigration aspect about it when it's directed toward a black man. Would it be fair to say it's a back-handed compliment, because of that?

I get what you're saying, but I don't think that's what the OP meant in this case. Also as explained before, the term "atta boy" is not usually meant to be a derogatory one. It's usually a positive colloquialism and not one used to oppress or discriminate. He just spelled it without the slang-level sculpturing which makes it look a little weird.

 

[ColoradoGuy]

I don't know what is common to say where you come from, but we don't call men boys here in Canada if we are congratulating them. We might say "Way to go, man!" Boy just isn't a respectful term to use, for any man. It's used for a pet or a younger child.

Not to hijack the thread, BUT it begs to be asked: "Boy" carries that unpleasant racial denigration aspect about it when it's directed toward a black man. Would it be fair to say it's a back-handed compliment, because of that?

Rawbone, I appreciate your sensitivity to the use of "boy", but in this context, it's a pretty well-established American phrase. 'Atta boy and 'atta girl pretty much denote approval. Both the Urban Dictionary and Answers.com offer a positive connotation for the phrase, although they both run the words together... not how I misspelled it with a space between the words. (Ha!)

I can attest to the military origins of the word. I heard it all the time in the US military. I thought it was interesting that neither of those sources associated a possible racial negative implication and I think you could use the phrase (in American circles, anyway) without offending anyone.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

I don't know what is common to say where you come from, but we don't call men boys here in Canada if we are congratulating them. We might say "Way to go, man!" Boy just isn't a respectful term to use, for any man. It's used for a pet or a younger child.

Not to hijack the thread, BUT it begs to be asked: "Boy" carries that unpleasant racial denigration aspect about it when it's directed toward a black man. Would it be fair to say it's a back-handed compliment, because of that?

I have to disagree, rawbone.
While the phrase "atta boy" isn't as current in Canada as it is in the States, I think lot of Canadians would recognize it as an expression that carries no condescension and no racial overtones.
Of course, I grew up in southern Alberta where I think American expressions had infiltrated a bit more than elsewhere in Canada.
Or so it seemed to me.

 

[catman]

Only challenge with alternative energy solutions is the pay off is so far down the road... remember solar energy being discussed.... in the 80s??
Electric Cars...in the 90s?

I fully support the new initiatives, just would like to see them in my life time.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

Only challenge with alternative energy solutions is the pay off is so far down the road... remember solar energy being discussed.... in the 80s??
Electric Cars...in the 90s?

I fully support the new initiatives, just would like to see them in my life time.

I'm still surprised that we don't have high speed rail across the country yet. It's been proposed and part of the original stimulus has funds for such a project, but no takers.

 

[kepiblanc]

I'm still surprised that we don't have high speed rail across the country yet. It's been proposed and part of the original stimulus has funds for such a project, but no takers.

Uh, can you say the term "massive boondoggle" with me here? Look at Amtrak, which is subsidized with federal tax money and has been running at a loss for many years. What makes you think that high speed rail would be any different, especially since air travel is still faster, comparatively safer, and competitively priced? That would be why there have not been any takers on that whole deal, but don't expect Obama or his dopey VP Biden to ever admit to this.

Furthermore, the 787 billion-dollar Obama stimulus of 2009 has been nothing but a giant waste of money so far as well. It's been nothing but bogus pork projects, many to do with the totally bogus "green jobs" hype, while the national average unemployment rate has never dipped down to where Obama promised it would, it's been like that for 2+ years, and the "official" number is actually low-balled by as much as 10% - that's mostly from not counting the people who have exhausted their benefits, but never found any job comparable to the ones they lost to start with.

Here's an example of what I meant about how much of a wate the Obama stimulus of 2009 has turned out to be: Go over to New Jersey sometime if you can, and check out all the solar panels that were installed on just about every other utility pole in that state - all paid for with Obama stimulus of 2009 funds. Has anybody's electric bills in New Jersey gone down since all of those blatant eyesores were all installed? The answer to that question would be a resounding, "No" through and through, but the solar panel contractor, Petra Solar of South Plainfield, New Jersey, sure got some sweet Obama stimulus payola from installing all of those panels for PSE&G, but this only after making hefty contributions to the Obama 2008 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

Uh, can you say the term "massive boondoggle" with me here? Look at Amtrak, which is subsidized with federal tax money and has been running at a loss for many years. What makes you think that high speed rail would be any different, especially since air travel is still faster, comparatively safer, and competitively priced? That would be why there have not been any takers on that whole deal, but don't expect Obama or his dopey VP Biden to ever admit to this.

I don't think the problem is really with Amtrak. There is a high speed rail system in place between Boston and Washington DC. The only major hookup with this service is that in some states Amtrak doesn't own the track they travel on such as Connecticut. Because of this, they have to adhere to speed limits as administered by that state. The issue is that high speed rail has been proven to work and is very efficient. We need this across our country and not just in a small area in the Northeast.

Furthermore, the 787 billion-dollar Obama stimulus of 2009 has been nothing but a giant waste of money so far as well.

No it hasn't. More facts and less rhetoric, please.

It's been nothing but bogus pork projects, many to do with the totally bogus "green jobs" hype, while the national average unemployment rate has never dipped down to where Obama promised it would, it's been like that for 2+ years, and the "official" number is actually low-balled by as much as 10% - that's mostly from not counting the people who have exhausted their benefits, but never found any job comparable to the ones they lost to start with.

None of this is "pork spending". Much of it is infrastructure that has proven to boost productivity and the standard of living in other countries. The only reason why many of these programs haven't taken off here is due to the mountains of misinformation spread by those in power all in the name of maintaining profit.

Here's an example of what I meant about how much of a wate the Obama stimulus of 2009 has turned out to be: Go over to New Jersey sometime if you can, and check out all the solar panels that were installed on just about every other utility pole in that state - all paid for with Obama stimulus of 2009 funds. Has anybody's electric bills in New Jersey gone down since all of those blatant eyesores were all installed? The answer to that question would be a resounding, "No" through and through, but the solar panel contractor, Petra Solar of South Plainfield, New Jersey, sure got some sweet Obama stimulus payola from installing all of those panels for PSE&G, but this only after making hefty contributions to the Obama 2008 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

You're gonna have to provide some real numbers to back your example here. Seeing that your stance on the stimulus program is coherent with the usual distorted talking points I don't think you have the complete story.

 

[B_RedDude]

The point of converting to solar power is not to reduce consumer electric bills --- it's to use an alternative energy source.

It's not always about your individual pocketbook.

Here's an example of what I meant about how much of a wate the Obama stimulus of 2009 has turned out to be: Go over to New Jersey sometime if you can, and check out all the solar panels that were installed on just about every other utility pole in that state - all paid for with Obama stimulus of 2009 funds. Has anybody's electric bills in New Jersey gone down since all of those blatant eyesores were all installed? The answer to that question would be a resounding, "No" through and through, but the solar panel contractor, Petra Solar of South Plainfield, New Jersey, sure got some sweet Obama stimulus payola from installing all of those panels for PSE&G, but this only after making hefty contributions to the Obama 2008 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

 

[kepiblanc]

The point of converting to solar power is not to reduce consumer electric bills --- it's to use an alternative energy source.

Oh, really?

So, then, why do you think think that some home and business owners have gone to the expense of installing solar panels on their own rooftops and properties? Was it just an expensive way for them to impress people who believe in all of the latest PC claptrap? What's so funny to me on a personal note is that since one of my own neighbors actually did spend a lot of his own money to put solar panels on one-half of the roof of his house, and all he does now is brag to the rest of us at our dinner parties about how he pays nothing on his electric bill. He has yet to brag about how "environmentally green" he is though.

I also have a business client who sells solar panels in the northeast region. He has told me that consumer power bill reduction, along with tax credits and/or grant subsidies, are basically his biggest selling points when he makes sales presentations, and the solar panels basically sell themselves that way.

It's not always about your individual pocketbook.

Then don't use MY tax dollars to do it. If you are all about "alternative energy" sources, all because you feel the need to "do something" about the HOAX otherwise known as "manmade global warming," then YOU pay for them. Don't rob me instead.

 

[ColoradoGuy]

{snip} Here's an example of what I meant about how much of a wate the Obama stimulus of 2009 has turned out to be: Go over to New Jersey sometime if you can, and check out all the solar panels that were installed on just about every other utility pole in that state - all paid for with Obama stimulus of 2009 funds. Has anybody's electric bills in New Jersey gone down since all of those blatant eyesores were all installed? The answer to that question would be a resounding, "No" through and through, but the solar panel contractor, Petra Solar of South Plainfield, New Jersey, sure got some sweet Obama stimulus payola from installing all of those panels for PSE&G, but this only after making hefty contributions to the Obama 2008 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.{snip}

I actually saw this talking point as it was presented by Bill O'Reilly. There are three things wrong with your assertion, which Bill also forgot to mention in his commentary:

1. The point of putting those panels on utility poles was not to 'save money':

   "One solar panel will generate 200 watts of power during the summer at peak time, however, financially there will be little to no impact." LINK

2. Part of the stimulus money that went into the project created jobs:

   "The project to develop, install, and maintain the grid-connected solar system will create about 100 green jobs, according to both Petra and PSE&G." LINK

3. You imply that PSE&G favors Obama, but it's widely known that utilities are notorious influence-seekers through PACs, special campaign contributions, and 'voluntary' executive donations. PSE&G didn't favor Obama... they'd give money to anybody who would take it as evidenced in this report published by New Jersey Citizen Action two years before the 2008 elections. You can indict the way we finance campaigns, but please don't stoop to the ridiculous assertion that Obama's is the only election campaign who has ever taken utility money.

I think one major success of this program is that you actually noticed the solar panels and are now aware that there are other ways to power our world besides burning finite supplies of fossil fuels. In terms of just raising public awareness, perhaps those stimulus dollars were well spent. We have to do something and we have to start sometime.