Grijalva: Wrong Again on Spending

For months, Raul Grijalva has poo-pooed criticism of his party for massive partisan spending on the stimulus, saying:

"Bringing the troops home is necessary not just for the future of Iraq, but also for the people of the United States. We must stop the hemorrhaging of tax dollars that could go to meet our Nation's vital domestic needs."

Now statistics from the Congressional Budget Office tell the real story. While Dems have complained about the cost of the Iraq War and Bush administration spending, real figures show that military spending is but a trickle compared to Obama's "War on Americans." Furthermore, contrary to Grijalva's claim that spending under Bush increased, CBO figures show budget decreased up to the bank bailouts of '08 (including the "summer stimulus of '08 where every taxpayer received a check from the IRS). All that domestic spending in '08 (supported, and approved by the Democratic controlled Congress) amounts to a quarter of Democratic spending in '09 (and guess what, most of the banking bailouts were spent last year also). So with all this spending, shouldn't the economy be recovering? No, because spending by itself doesn't bring long-term impact on the economy; confidence does. The American business has no confidence in this Congress or this president. Bring Grijalva home:

How many times will this Congress waste time on an issue that a majority of Americans do not want?
Raul Grijalva

If the Shoe Fits?

Don't Know about the rest of you, but I'm not a size 8:

A Mosque At Ground Zero by Any Other Name . . .

This from the Associated Press this week after repeated faux paux's by the President last week over the Mosque intended for downtown New York:

We should continue to avoid the phrase "ground zero mosque" or "mosque at ground zero" on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at ground zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area. We should continue to say it’s “near” ground zero, or two blocks away.

WE WILL CHANGE OUR SLUG ON THIS STORY LATER TODAY from “BC-Ground Zero Mosque” to “BC-NYC Mosque.”

Like changing the "Stimulus Package," to "the Jobs Bill," changing the words, doesn't change the intent. A Mosque at Ground Zero, by any other name is still a Mosque at ground zero.

Media Critical of Obama Recovery...Finally

While you won't hear about it on the Today show or NBC Nightly News, business media is going after the Obama administration for its poor handling of the economy. Check it out:
The Wall Street Journal

Investors Business Daily

Forbes

Now if people who don't know how to balance a checkbook would just listen.

If You Like Your Doctor....

Remember this one, repeated over and over and over again by Barak Obama? If
you like Your Doctor you can keep him, If you like your insurance....blah blah blah blah.


If You like your Insurance...you can keep it.
I received a letter this summer, actually a packet explaining my employer's new insurance. "We're making it better!" They exclaimed, "and it will be cheaper, too." Immediately after that line was one that explained how my copay for doctor's visits would go up and how prices for generic drugs would more than double. Okay, I thought, we'll just have to put more aside for copays and deductibles. but at least they have made every doctor a preferred provider....

If you like your doctor...you can keep them.
Yesterday the phone rang. It was my child's pediatrician asking for my new insurance information. After giving her the name and policy numbers, there was a long pause on the other end. "We don't accept that insurance," the snooty receptionist responded, "Do you still want to bring your child in?"
So now, after 12 years with the same pediatrician, who has treated my children since they were newborns, including circumcisions, stitches, ADHD treatments, and acne; who knows their names and problems and what stickers they lick to pick out, I have to start over.

And everyone will have the security and stability that's missing today.
I assume that by "everyone" the president includes me and my children. How stable and healthy is changing a child's pediatrician when they are eight because of changes that force employers and providers to limit care?

Today I am pissed.

The Reality of Immigration and the United States

When Grijalva and Progressives talk about amnesty and open borders, they are not thinking about the future. Here are the facts about the future if immigration stays where it is at:

Georgia Student Sues Over "Remediation" for Gay and Lesbian Issues

Jennifer Keeton just wants to be a school counselor. She also wants to hold on to her Christian beliefs. Those two things should not be inconsistent, at least not unless your on the board of Augustana University's School Counseling Master's Program.
Keeton is suing the college for requiring her to refute her religious beliefs before being allowed to graduate from its school counseling program. In an unprecedented move, school officials have informed her that she'll be dismissed from the program unless she alters her "central religious beliefs on human nature and conduct."
The controversy revolves around a statement in American School Counseling Association ethics code, referring to diversity:

The professional school counselor:
a. Affirms the diversity of students, staff and families.
b. Expands and develops awareness of his/her own attitudes and beliefs affecting cultural values and biases and strives to attain cultural competence.
c. Possesses knowledge and understanding about how oppression, racism, discrimination and stereotyping affects her/him personally and professionally.
d. Acquires educational, consultation and training experiences to improve awareness, knowledge, skills and effectiveness in working with diverse populations: ethnic/racial status, age, economic status, special needs, ESL or ELL, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, family type, religious/spiritual identity and appearance.

 Unfortunately, in the Intellectual circles of many counselor education programs, "improving awareness, knowledge, skills and effectiveness" is interpreted as wholesale acceptance of client values and orientation, a ridiculous leap of logic at best. What counseling education program would require its students to accept a clients' religious beliefs, no matter how different from their own? The code expects a counselor will be aware of their own attitudes and how these might impact a client, not completely throw them out the window in exchange for a "professional view" of diversity.
But that is exactly what goes on in counseling programs around the country. Progressive intellectuals at Universities interpret Christian students beliefs  "as indicative of... improper professional disposition to persons of such populations (gays and lesbians)," despite the growing research that supports the  (according to the University) "view that homosexuality is a 'lifestyle,' not a 'state of being.'"


Two points on this case:
1. The college is way out of line in their view of the codes of ethics here. According to the codes, counselors are not required to give up their personal beliefs in order to help others, just to be aware of the possible affects of those views on clients.
2. The arrogance illustrated here by the college professors is profound. To claim that they are able to determine a potential bias based on, "disagreement in several class discussions and in written assignments with the gay and lesbian 'lifestyle,'" as well as Keeton's belief that those "lifestyles" are cases of identity confusion." Furthermore, to create a "remediation" plan that will change a student's "fixed binary male-female gender, with one or the other being fixed in each person at their creation, and not a social construct or individual choice subject to alteration by the person so created," is hypocritical for "professionals" in counseling to propose.

This is what Progressives do: Assert that their view is the only acceptable one, Inform that "education" will make everyone agree with them, and label you ignorant and racist if you refuse to agree.
Take immigration. Despite logic that says our borders need to be secure, Progressives assert that illegals should be allowed to enter and mingle freely. They hold summits to "educate" and cite University "studies" that support this view (and run counter tho law enforcement statistics). then when laws are passed that make sense and are likely to help in solving the problem, they label it's authors racist and call the majority who support it "ignorant."
And the next step for these "enlightened intellectuals" when they don't get their way? Do they further educate? Do they debate the facts? do they try to enlighten the population? No. They take to the streets and fight the police. They boycott innocent business people. They bus in outsiders who share their views to make themselves appear "overwhelming," a "grass roots movement." And people will watch and say, "look how passionate they are. They must be right." They are not. They are merely arrogant and stubborn.