B Right?

Tim Thomas/Image via Wikipedia

I like sports and I’m blessed with residency where the teams,personalities and history  helps to make it easy and natural to be a fan. My favorite sport is hockey and I am from birth an avid Boston Bruins fan. Well the Bruins made headlines last season by capping off a season of fantastic whole team effort with an inspiring beat down of the Vancouver Canucks. Lord Stanley came to Boston and it was awesome!

Well the Boston Bruins and more specifically the star goaltender Tim Thomas have made some new headlines. The team did the White House visit thing.

I’ll give myself a pail here and now for finding President Barack Obama somewhat funny and very good natureed during the course of the photo op/visit. The B’s are comprised of only two guys from the USA. The rest are sons of Canada with a sprinkling of Europeans. One of the Americans was noticeably absent,Tim Thomas (G #30) and this was by choice.

Tim had this to say on the matter:

“I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People. This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.

Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.

This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT”

Some folks are pretty much all over the map about their opinion of how professional athletes should behave,speak etc. The local media is dogging Thomas and are aghast at his “snubbing of Obama”.

This isn’t a snubbing of the President or disrespecting one’s teammates. This is the conscience of an individual citizen and is not only right but is a Right. I for one say Bravo Tim !! To the haters I say STFU!!!!!

I Just Don’t Get It…

I wandered around the internet today checking out various liberal entities. From fellow piss ant WordPress bloggers to big name national publications the narrative was the same. President Obama has done a lot of great stuff!

The schizoid cherry atop this insane sundae was the New Yorker piece by Ryan Lizza I quote its closer which seems to be a big talking point:

Obama didn’t remake Washington. But his first two years stand as one of the most successful legislative periods in modern history. Among other achievements, he has saved the economy from depression, passed universal health care, and reformed Wall Street. Along the way, Obama may have changed his mind about his 2008 critique of Hillary Clinton. “Working the system, not changing it” and being “consumed with beating” Republicans “rather than unifying the country and building consensus to get things done” do not seem like such bad strategies for success after all. (emphasis mine)

 

Are you f!@#ing kidding me!??!?!?!?!?!

The Economy

The actual state of the economy at the time Obama entered office cannot and should not be understated for partisan benefit. It MUST be conceded that the economy was in the shitter or there really isn’t any point in entering a discussion. On the flip side if one is to deny that ANYBODY has stopped something from happening they are foolishly whispering past the cemetery gates.

Folks, the world is at odds with itself over what to do.The usual suspects of Keynesian excess are pledging austerity while folks from the other side are screaming for bigger, better,more stimulating deficit spending. Nations,not just banks and companies are on the verge of collapse. The plants Obama and his bots want to claim clipping success over whilst denying any responsibility for the original seeding are in fact like the infamous kudzu plant and flourishing. Saved the economy from depression? Sorry folks at best that scores too soon to tell.

Universal Health Care

Passed it? More like rammed a pork laden suppository into the rectum of  a patient that was looking for a small oral dose of something good. In EMS humor there is a classic: “Rectum? Damn near killed him”

If you ever suffer insomnia actually read the health care horror novel that was reconciled into history and be enlightened as to why some folks salivate at its abortion before it experiences full birth.

Wall Street.

Dodd/ Frank reformed Wall St? This thing came out of the gates and went on a blind date with Sarbanes/Oxley and is now hurting the US economy. It ain’t helping the consumer either,can’t wait to hear Lizzie Warren’s spin on that.

This is kind of like one of those feedback loop kind of things. I wonder if folks like Barney Frank will deny any responsibility when the scourge of this thing plays out? I doubt it.

Here’s a memo…Reality

Do I think Obama has tried? I think this ties into a thread already up here at in2thefray. It is not so much what his effort has or hasn’t been but his actual ability. Obama apologists quote Truman’s lament about POTUS not having any real power. This is insane. Seriously folks, just think FDR,Reagan and Clinton. Like them or loathe them there has and hopefully will be those who CAN be that which being President of the United States requires as well as what the days/times demand and dictate. Barack Obama IS NOT one of those.

The three men I’ve listed could easily be joined by another 20th Century President,Woodrow Wilson or we can go back to the nations early years. Hostile Congress? Pphhtt! Unpopular policy? Really,ya going there? Tough times? OMG!

The trials and tribulations of Barack Obama are far, far from being unprecedented contrary to what some folks want you to believe. I’ll take a pail and say Obama had some ideas,hopes and a naïve but exuberant outlook. I’ll go even further and say he tried some things he thought would work well. This pail win must include the caveats though of his choosing bad advisers and accepting bad advice. One must also take into account a pretty obvious failure to evoke the mantle of office properly. Classic examples are his pathetic energy exertion for the failed and ludicrous Chicago Olympics try,as well as the Cambridge Police/Harvard professor saga. Spending clout on that but allowing Congress and hacks to muck up things he thought were truly important? Back to the title….I Just Don’t Get It.

The European Crack-Up…

For an excellent primer on the current state of affairs re the EU please, please, please, click through to Theodore Dalrymple’s: The European Crack-Up

In2 Opening the books as it were…

I just offered this up in a comment so I thought I’d make a space for it

Open threads can be very interesting and if nothing else offer a glimpse into what others are thinking about,and hey isn’t that supposedly one of the benefits of this whole world-wide web thing?

So if someone out there in web world would like to offer a topic,a link,an opinion or just ramble on a bit about a political/social topic….go ahead and jump in2thefray

Quick Frays: Candidates and Tax Returns…

For any sane person one of the craziest things the masses allegedly desire is total tax disclosure.

This latest QF is of course prompted by the chatter over presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s refusal to release his returns. In classic fashion every hump on the planet is playing the class warfare/class envy game and labeling Mitt a piece of shit. Mitt gets the double crotch kick since his daddy is often credited with starting this lame exercise of rich folks showing the poor and the haters (not necessarily the same folks) how rich they are.

This exercise is all about envy,a word folks have used previously to tar Mitt Romney. The tax disclosure game is a joke that shows how pathetic the American voter is. Anybody who thinks ANY persons 1040 is the force for vetting a leader deserves the leaders they get.

Quick Frays: Keystone XL

There is no lack of chatter about how the Keystone Pipeline project has played out but amongst many what I fail to see is some honesty.

the Obama

A no win situation for Obama especially since he has proven to be such an absolute SUCK leader. He did what he has done from day one and got the obvious result. Whether he is solely to hold the blame is the target for much of the chatter. I don’t think he necessarily deserves some of what he’s getting on this topic but on overall energy policy and the future of this country ? Hell yeah!

the Republicans

Some people are really crowing about this being a victory for the GOP types. I don’t see it as such and I think I am on pretty solid ground too. First off the congressional R’s set the ball rolling for their own win/win scenario and I don’t know that they’ll enjoy one. By forcing an indecisive wishy-washy POTUS to make a decision the GOP ers obviously believed he would choose to block the pipeline. They in turn would use this as campaign season fodder. The flip side of this is that the GOP doesn’t have anymore of a clue on the real infrastructure and regulatory needs America faces than their donkey rivals. Thats clue btw,don’t get me started on WILL which the American politcos lack in abundance.

the Greenies

They’re applauding but the silly gits don’t see the writing on the walls. The allies and tactics that felled the Keystone project are mirror images of those that have crushed and will crush wind projects,solar factories,saw grass fields and on and on. I’d say the environmentalists have won the day but have lost a string of tomorrows. Aha!

Bottom line is that the United States of America needs to reexamine what it wants and needs and figure out what it is willing to do to achieve it.