Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable
Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!
"Daily Motivations"
212° the extra degree
http://www.the212movie.com/?SRC=DI1110&utm_source=Walk+the+Talk+Master+List&utm_campaign=f574a89d74-DI_1_1_10&utm_medium=email
"In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high." -- Henry David Thoreau
"The one who asks questions doesn't lose his way." -- African Proverb
Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. -- George S. Patton
"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)
The Father and I are one. (John 10:30)
Theologians have called God's triune nature the Trinity. The members of the Trinity are involved with everything together, yet they also have distinct roles. This is hinted at in the first chapter in the Bible. Genesis 1:26 reads, "Let us make people in our image" (emphasis added). The plural pronouns "us" and "our" mean that more than one person was involved. Who else but God was present during creation? No one. Therefore, the Trinity in its simplest terms means one God manifested in three persons with three distinctive roles.
God the Father is first in the Trinity. In general, He orchestrates action. For example, He sent to earth God the Son, Jesus, and bestowed His authority upon Him.
God the Son is the second person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human. He is the cornerstone and head of the worldwide Church. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding for His Church.
God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is our Comforter. As the "active arm" of God on earth, He lives within believers and guides us into all truth. He convicts us of sin and helps us know God and His will.
Yet God is still one. It is difficult for us, with our limited comprehension, to understand how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are distinct personalities, co-equal, yet one at the same time. Because we are finite our best efforts to understand this relationship fall far short.
Your View of God Really Matters …
Describe one way you personally relate to each Person of the triune Godhead.
"The Patriot Post"
"The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men." --Alexander Hamilton
F-22 Raptor
Editorial Exegesis
"Last week the Russian air force celebrated the maiden flight of the Sukhoi T-50, Moscow's version of the American F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. We have shut down the F-22 production line, viewing it as an unaffordable and unnecessary extravagance. We mention this in light of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement that President Obama's proposed freeze on discretionary domestic programs should also cover defense expenditures. Unfortunately, our enemies aren't freezing their defense budgets. ... Defense is not a discretionary budget item. It's a constitutional imperative and one of the reasons we have a government. The greatest social service a government can perform for its people is to keep them alive and free. 'Everybody has to make a sacrifice,' Pelosi [said], shortly before Obama announced his proposed discretionary spending freeze in his State of the Union address. By everybody, she evidently was excluding herself; the speaker's interest in Air Force jets does not extend beyond the ones that fly her and her family around. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Judicial Watch show that Pelosi has incurred expenses of $2.1 million for her use of Air Force jets the past two years. Then there's the matter of the $101,000 tab taxpayers picked up over that period for 'in-flight services,' including a selection of top-shelf booze. ... Pelosi has used Air Force aircraft to travel back to her district at average cost of $28,210.51 per flight. ... We suggest that since everybody has to make a sacrifice, it not come at the expense of the U.S. military. We can't build any more Raptors, but we can use Air Force jets as sky taxis for politicians who consider themselves too important to fly commercial." --Investor's Business Daily
Insight
"A man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe." --Greek playwright Euripides (485-406 B.C.)
"The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not knowing what is going on in other people's minds." --British journalist Walter Bagehot (1826-1877)
Upright
"The bigger the government, the less I do for myself, for my family and for my community. That is why we Americans give more charity and devote more time to volunteering than Europeans do. The European knows: The government, the state, will take care of me, my children, my parents, my neighbors and my community. I don't have to do anything. The bigger question in many Europeans' lives is, 'How much vacation time will I have and where will I spend that vacation?' That is what happens when the state gets bigger -- you become smaller." --radio talk-show host Dennis Prager
"Many people ask me whether the Democrats are in as much trouble as they were in 1994. The numbers suggest they are in much deeper trouble, at least at this moment." --political analyst Michael Barone
"When the president directed that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other al Qaeda plotters of Sept. 11 be tried in a civilian court in Manhattan, [our] enemies knew they had the president's number for once and all. Now, with even stalwarts in his own party denouncing a civilian trial in Manhattan as the nut-ball idea of the year, he's looking for a smart solution, a way to look tough in retreat. He should take the trial to San Francisco, where the flame that warms the cult burns brightest, and where surely no one would object." --Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden
"[E]verything the president proposes means more debt, which at the level this guy's spending means, at some point down the road, either higher taxes or total societal collapse." --columnist Mark Steyn
"Americans are not victims who need handouts. Americans need the freedom to flourish. And until our president realizes this, he, and America, will lose out." --National Review editor Kathryn Lopez
"We must present a clear choice: stay the course of progressive liberalism, which moves away from popular consent, the rule of law, and constitutional government, and toward a failed, undemocratic, and illiberal form of statism; or correct course in an effort to restore the conditions of liberty and renew the bedrock principles and constitutional wisdom that are the roots of America's continuing greatness." --Heritage Foundation scholar Matthew Spalding
"America's future is clear: Unless we start cutting spending and take control of entitlement programs, our children will go broke making good on our promises. ... The government can never spend its way out of recession. It can only get out of the way, through lower tax rates and less costly regulation, and allow private business to grow again." --columnist Rich Tucker
Dezinformatsia
Repent for the end is near: "If health care doesn't pass, because this budget assumes health care will pass, that's yet another $150 billion that would be tacked on to the deficit." --NBC's Chuck Todd regurgitating the BIG LIE that paying out more government dollars on "health care" is going to save money
Hoping for ObamaCare: "The president outlines a number of measures to reduce the deficit, over $1 trillion worth. But ... perhaps the most surprising, the budget assumes a savings of $150 billion over the next 10 years from health care reform, legislation that is at the very best -- at the most optimistic -- on life support on Capitol Hill right now." --ABC's Jake Tapper (The best and most optimistic would be for ObamaCare to be in the morgue.)
Blame the GOP: "Republicans should know that their partisanship means they are rejecting medical security that is available in most countries of the world for its citizens. Shame on them!" --White House press corpse reporter Helen Thomas
"Tea-party people are libertarians, and on the state level, they are organizing around the notion of using the 10th Amendment (which affirms state's rights) to overturn health-care legislation -- should it still pass by some miracle. It's hard to take their rhetoric seriously. Where else could they go in the world to be freer? It reminds me of the slogan shouted at antiwar protesters, 'America, love it or leave it.'" --Newsweek's Eleanor Clift (You first.)
Poor guy: "If the president of Toyota has big headaches, well, so too, does the president of the United States, putting together a budget in an economic downturn with more than 15 million Americans out of work." --CBS's Katie Couric
Bully pulpit could have a whole new meaning: "[Obama] needs one or two [Republican] votes in the Senate to get anything passed. That's the political reality. But he needs to, perhaps, bully Republicans into doing that, rather than doing this careful walk around them." --Newsweek's Katie Connolly
"The Web"
Glenn Beck Delivers Keynote Speech To Enthusiastic CPAC
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/02/20/glenn-beck-delivers-keynote-address-enthusiastic-cpac
What the Tea Party Movement Must Never Forget
http://www.americanvision.org/article/what-the-tea-party-movement-must-never-forget/
by Gary DeMar
What is government? When this question is asked, most people respond by equating government solely to a centralized civil State. Even our language reflects the confusion: “Government? It’s in Washington,” or “The government will take care of its citizens through its many programs.” Both of these statements reflect a misunderstanding of the true nature of government. They portray the idea that the only governing institution is a political one. Historically, however, the term “government” was always qualified in some way, unlike our present-day definitions.
Our educational system reflects the same confusion. A generation ago, high school classes dealing with state government were given the title “Civics.” The emphasis was on the function of government in civil matters. This is no longer the case. Before World War I, textbooks dealing with national government were qualified with the title “Civil.” An example of this can be seen in a textbook used in 1903: Elements of Civil Government. According to its author, “The family... Is a form of government, established for the good of children themselves, and the first government that each of us must obey.”[1] The book continues by defining five areas of civil government: “the township or civil district, the village or the city, the county, the State, and the United States.” [2] The term “government” as the older educational definition indicates, is broader than the State. Textbook writers were aware that there were personal (self), family, church, school, and civil governments, each having a legitimate realm of authority. Civil government was seen as only one government among many.
To deny the validity of the many governments and the responsibilities that each has under God, would be to deny the authority that belongs to each of them in the realm of their activity. If we as individuals neglect our personal governing duties, then we can expect the state to assume the role of all other legitimate governments and claim to be the sole government, while labeling all others as counterfeits. Therefore, to see the state as the only governing institution “is destructive of liberty and of life.”[3]
The concept of the multiplicity of governments was as old as our country, because the principles were extracted from biblical principles. Noah Webster’s definition of government in his American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) reflects the biblical concept of the diversity of governmental authority. Webster defined government in this way: “Direction; regulation. ‘These precepts will serve for the government of our conduct.’ Control; restraint. ‘Men are apt to neglect the government of their temper and passions.’”
While Noah Webster defined government in terms of personal self-control, most modern definitions largely limit government to the realm of institutions, especially civil or statist governments. This is made evident by the fact that the definition for civil government is placed first in modern dictionaries. Nowhere are self- and family governments even listed. For example, Webster’s New World Dictionary (1972) defines government as “The exercise of authority over a state, district, organization, institution, etc.”
Noah Webster, in the older definition, even goes on to include family government as part of the complete definition before he deals with the government of an individual civil government at the state or national level. He defines family government as: “The exercise of authority by a parent or householder. ‘Children are often ruined by a neglect of government in parents.’” According to the Bible, it is the duty of parents to govern in the home: “And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). It is not the duty of a civil government to interfere with the affairs of the family. Too often, however, parents neglect their God-given duty to raise their children in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” When this happens, we can expect the State to take an increasingly dominant role in family affairs. Such a role is to the detriment of the family. The State on many occasions has even claimed ownership of children.
If generations continue to be indoctrinated with the modern definition of “government,” they will neglect their own personal, family, church, and local governing duties. They will believe that these responsibilities are outside their area of authority and jurisdiction. Each generation will become more dependent on the “benevolent” State for care and security. We are beginning to see such a trend. “Today, most Americans have lost their faith in Christ as Savior, and they expect civil government to be their savior. They have no desire for the responsibilities of self-government, and so they say to politicians, ‘Do thou rule over us.’ Instead of Jesus Christ as their good shepherd, they elect politicians to be their shepherds on a program of socialistic security for all.”[4]
Government begins with the individual and extends outward to include all institutions. Presently, however, most Americans are unaware of the varied nature of government. The civil sphere of government has assumed responsibility to be the government. It is sad that many Americans are thankful that Washington has relieved them from what they believe is the heavy burden of governing themselves, their families, churches, and schools. If the people of the United States do not once again establish self-, family, church, local, state, and national governments and limit them in power and authority, our nation is doomed.
Conde Pallen’s “utopian” novel Crucible Island depicts what happens when the God of the Bible is rejected and the State becomes God. Man looks for a substitute provider so “the individual should have no thought, desire, or object other than the public welfare, of which the State is the creator and the inviolable guardian. As soon as the child is capable of learning, he is taught the Socialist catechism, whose first questions run as follows”:
Q. By whom were you begotten?
A. By the sovereign State.
Q. Why were you begotten?
A. That I might know, love, and serve the Sovereign State always.
Q. What is the sovereign State?
A. The sovereign State is humanity in composite and perfect being.
Q. Why is the State supreme?
A. The State is supreme because it is my Creator and Conserver in which I am and move and have my being and without which I am nothing.
Q. What is the individual?
A. The individual is only a part of the whole, and made for the whole, and finds his complete and perfect expression in the sovereign State. Individuals are made for cooperation only, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth.[5]
The central focus of all realms of government is the regenerating work of Jesus Christ. Institutions and civil governments are made up of people who are governed by the condition of their hearts. If the heart is in rebellion against God, we can expect undisciplined and ungovernable people. If the heart has been made new in Christ, we can expect a people who will govern their lives according to the governing principles of Scripture. A. A. Hodge speaks of the essence of the new heart, regeneration, as consisting of “the implantation of a new governing principle of life—from the fact that it is a ‘new birth’ [John 3:3], a ‘new creation’ [2 Cor. 5:17], wrought by the mighty power of God in execution of his eternal purpose of salvation, and that it is as necessary for the most moral and amiable as for the morally abandoned.”[6]
Army translator program an invitation to jihadists?
Ft. Jackson 5 inquiry blows lid off program offering Muslims quick path to citizenship
By Drew Zahn
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=125618
Fort Jackson NCO Club and dining room
Five Muslim soldiers under investigation for plotting to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, according to CBN News, are part of a military program that offers foreign nationals a quick path to U.S. citizenship in exchange for even just a single day of active duty.
The ability to receive expedited American citizenship from within the Army, speculates CBN Military Correspondent Chuck Holton, "must present a tempting opportunity for jihadi extremists with ulterior motives."
As WND reported, CBN News maintains that just before Christmas, five soldiers who were part of the Arabic translation program at Fort Jackson were investigated after they were allegedly overheard discussing plans to poison food at the base.
Army Criminal Investigation Division spokesman Christopher Gray has further revealed to CBN reporter Erick Stakelbeck that the "Fort Jackson Five" were part of a small unit at the base called 09 Lima, a part of the Civilian Acquired Skills program, which welcomes into the military non-U.S. citizens who speak Arabic, Dari, Pashto or other needed languages.
One of the program's directors, Lt. Col Frank Deminth, explains that these recruits are then placed into an expedited citizenship program, "once they serve one day of honorable active duty."
According to an American Forces Press Service report, "The 09L program began in February 2003 when the assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs was tasked with recruiting native speakers to assist U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan with interpretations, translations, cultural familiarity and an understanding of the nuances of body language."
"Commanders in the field have said that the 09 Lima program has been very successful and has helped to improve the performanceof their units," boasted Deminth in a video posted on YouTube. "The 09 Lima soldier brings with him the ability to communicate with the local populace and saves both American and local lives."
But Patrick Poole, a counterterrorism specialist and adviser to the U.S. government and law enforcement, cautions that the military must stop dismissing warnings of jihadist infiltration.
Poole told the Washington
Times that "public affairs and equal opportunity officials" are too often trumping sound intelligence and demonstrating a "professional ignorance" of domestic terrorism.
"My colleagues and I have been warning of jihadist threats – both external and internal – for several years," Poole told CBN News. "The Pentagon has entirely ignored us, and the Ft. Hood report released last month is evidence of the culture of willful blindness that wants to pretend this threat doesn't exist. Regardless of how the Ft. Jackson incident is resolved, it demonstrates that this threat is not going away."
At Fort Jackson, 09 Lima recruits are taught English, American customs and military culture as a sort of pre-basic training.
Clayton Leishman, program manager, told the Association of the United States Army last summer that the 34 recruits then in the program had scored a 50 but below 80 on the English Comprehension examination, but with up to 24 weeks of individually programmed courses, the soldiers are prepared for basic training.
Capt. Dwayne Wade, company commander, said, "They learn basic military skills, but nothing that deals with a weapon. They have classes in cultural awareness, customs and courtesies, equal opportunity. We have PT every morning, mainly stretching."
Army spokesman Christopher Garver reportedly told CBN News the five 09 Lima soldiers questioned two months ago are not currently in custody, and CBS News reports that three of the five soldiers have now been cleared.
"While the investigation continues, there is currently no credible evidence to substantiate the allegations," spokeswoman Julia Simpkins told Associated Press. "At no time was there any danger to the Fort Jackson community."
Fort Jackson is the largest and most active Initial Entry Training Center in the U.S. Army, training 50 percent of all soldiers and 80 percent of the women entering the Army each year. It's food service reportedly includes 13 dining halls and serves about 40,000 hot meals on the base daily.
Red Shirt Friday...
Last week, while traveling to Chicago on business, I noticed a Marine sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together.
After we boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been invited to sit in First Class (across from me), and inquired if he was heading home.
No, he responded.
Heading out I asked?
No. I'm escorting a soldier home.
Going to pick him up?
No. He is with me right now. He was killed in Iraq , I'm taking him home to his family.
The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch to the gut. It was an honor for him. He told me that, although he didn't know the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to the soldier's family and felt as if he knew them after many conversations in so few days.
I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said, Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do.
Upon landing in Chicago the pilot stopped short of the gate and made the following announcement over the intercom.
'Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that we have had the honor of having Sergeant Steeley of the United States Marine Corps join us on this flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family. I ask that you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door to allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will then turn off the seat belt sign.'
Without a sound, all went as requested. I noticed the sergeant saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me realize that I am proud to be an American.
So here's a public Thank You to our military Men and Women for what you do so we can live the way we do.
Red Fridays.
Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the "silent majority". We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or overbearing.
Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -- and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that .. every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar, will wear something red.
By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers. If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, coworkers, friends, and family, it will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once 'silent' majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on.
The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you is, 'We need your support and your prayers.' Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear something red every Friday.
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you;
Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.
One died for your soul; the other for your freedom .
Hope Rides Alone
Letter from Sgt.Eddie Jeffers:
I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.
I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again...and yet, I too, am just a boy....my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there.
There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival. I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets...who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not.
And to think, I volunteered for this...
And I am ignorant to the rest of the world...or so I thought.
But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.
I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the word boys and girls, because that's what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.
People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward’s war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy.
Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.
Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job.
It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.
America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It’s not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual...the war doesn't affect you.
But it affects us. And when it is over and the troops come home and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.
We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause.
Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn't.
Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering, let's stop all the bad news and let's stand and fight! Isn't that what America is about anyway?
Sergeant Eddie Jeffers is a US Army Infantryman serving in Ramadi, Iraq.
Since writing this Sgt Jeffers has paid the ultimate price in service of his country.
Obama to tout housing help Friday in Las Vegas
By BEN FELLER
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100219/D9DV7SS00.html
LAS VEGAS (AP) - President Barack Obama is unveiling $1.5 billion in housing help, a boost timed to his appearance in the city with the worst foreclosure crisis in the nation.
Obama's move, detailed by aides in advance of his town hall here Friday, is the latest by a White House determined to show it is helping families rebound from a deep recession. The downturn is taking an election-year toll on Obama's party as voter frustration builds.
Obama was to announce that housing finance agencies in the five hardest-hit states in the housing crisis will receive $1.5 billion to help spur local solutions to the problem. Those five are Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.
The policy wrinkle comes during a two-day Western trip with different agendas for the president. He will be back in town-hall mode, a venue that aides say allows him to connect with people and distance himself from the messy process of Washington governing.
The president is also out to help vulnerable senators protect their seats and, in turn, gain as much legislative leverage as he can.
At the town hall and a business speech he will be lending his support to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a top 2010 election target of Republicans.
Obama's political involvement comes as the Democrats' command of the Senate grows shakier, jeopardizing the president's agenda. The tide of change that Obama rode to office is threatening to slam against his own party.
The first day of the trip was all politics. Obama campaigned Thursday for Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado in Denver, then held a $1 million fundraiser for Democrats in Las Vegas.
Reid is one of Obama's allies, despite a flap over the president's tendency to refer to Las Vegas as a symbol of imprudent spending, which has the city's mayor fuming at the president.
For Obama, slowing the foreclosure rate is a key step in the recovery of the overall economy. Millions of people have lost their homes because they couldn't afford the mortgages anymore, and millions lost jobs because of the associated slowdown in new home building.
Reid's state leads the nation in home foreclosures; Las Vegas was the metro area with the highest foreclosure rate in January, with one in every 82 homes receiving such a filing.
The money for the new rescue effort will come from the $700 billion financial industry bailout program, according to a senior administration official who spoke anonymously Thursday night because the formal announcement had not been made.
Economic issues, such as unemployment or reduced income, are expected to be the main catalysts for foreclosures this year. Initially, subprime mortgages were mostly the culprit, but homeowners with good credit who took out conventional, fixed-rate loans are the fastest growing group of foreclosures.
Obama will cap his Las Vegas trip with a speech to the city's Chamber of Commerce before returning to Washington later Friday.
NO NURSING HOME FOR US
http://www.city-data.com/forum/other-topics/528254-hey-no-nursing-home-us.html
No nursing home for us. We are checking into the Holiday Inn!
With the average cost for a nursing home care costing $188.00 per day, there is a better way when we get old & feeble.
We have already checked on reservations at the Holiday Inn. For a combined long term stay discount and senior discount, it's $49.23 per night.
That leaves $138.77 a day for: Breakfast, lunch and dinner in any restaurant we want, or room service, laundry, gratuities and special TV movies. Plus, they provide a swimming pool, a workout room, a lounge and washer-dryer, etc. Most have free toothpaste and razors, and all have free shampoo and soap.
$5 worth of tips a day will have the entire staff scrambling to help you.
They treat you like a customer, not a patient.
There is a city bus stop out front, and seniors ride free. The handicap bus will also pick you up (if you fake a decent limp).
To meet other nice people, call a church bus on Sundays.
For a change of scenery, take the airport shuttle bus and eat at one of the nice restaurants there. While you're at the airport, fly somewhere. Otherwise, the cash keeps building up.
It takes months to get into decent nursing homes. Holiday Inn will take your reservation today. And you are not stuck in one place forever, you can move from Inn to Inn, or even from city to city. Want to see Hawaii ? They have a Holiday Inn there too.
TV broken? Light bulbs need changing? Need a mattress replaced? No problem. They fix everything, and apologize for the inconvenience.
The Inn has a night security person and daily room service. The maid checks to see if you are ok. If not, they will call the undertaker or an ambulance. If you fall and break a hip, Medicare will pay for the hip, and Holiday Inn will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life.
And no worries about visits from family. They will always be glad to find you, and probably check in for a few days mini-vacation.
The grand kids can use the pool. What more can you ask for?
So, when we reach that golden age, We'll face it with a grin.
"The e-mail Bag"
NOMINATED THE BEST JOKE OF THE YEAR
http://www.sodahead.com/fun/wednesday-joke-lol/blog-252657/
A Russian arrives in New York City as a new immigrant to the United States . He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says, "Thank you Mr. American for letting me into this country, giving me housing, food stamps, free medical care, and a free education!"
The passerby says, "You are mistaken, I am a Mexican." The man goes on and encounters another passerby. "Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in America ."
The person says, "I not American, I Vietnamese."
The new arrival walks farther, and the next person he sees he stops, shakes his hand, and says, “Thank you for wonderful America !”
That person puts up his hand and says, "I am from Middle East . I am not American."
He finally sees a nice lady and asks, "Are you an American?"
She says, "No, I am from Africa ."
Puzzled, he asks her, "Where are all the Americans?"
The African lady checks her watch and says, "Probably at work."
No comments:
Post a Comment