Letter to the President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

 

Mr. Obama: 

I have had it with you and your administration, sir.  Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally. 

You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America.  You are responsible to the citizens of the United States.  You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.

 

I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world.  Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe?  Are you brain dead?  What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about?  Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century? 

Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country?  Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United Sates?  This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage.  Do you not understand this? 

Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans.  Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia.  You don't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia.  How dare you, sir!  How dare you!  

You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey.  You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves.  What's the matter with you?  

I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you. 

You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses.  What do you intend to do about them?  Anything?  I seriously doubt it. 

What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises those lawmakers gave themselves?  I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus.  I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer.  You haven't said anything about that.  Who authorized that? While Americans are struggling for their jobs you allow these things to continue. Since when did we start working for the elite Government employees who have never…not once have been laid off or taken a pay cut? It is supposed to be the other way around in case you have not read the constitution!

 

Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses.  In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take.   Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.

 

I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do.  We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.  I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities.  I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.

 

Sincerely,

Louis Manupelli

An American

Being a good Citizen and Person

This is from Glenn Beck. I don’t agree with everything he says or does, but this part about being a good citizen and the values you should have to live by, I have to say, I am in agreement with him.

The Nine Principles

1. America is good.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

This is the 12 Values of life

* Honesty

* Reverence

* Hope

* Thrift

* Humility

* Charity

* Sincerity

* Moderation

* Hard Work

* Courage

* Personal Responsibility

* Friendship

MARCH IS HERE

WE HAVE MORE TO SAY DON'T FORGET US.

The Hardest worker in the White House

I have to say that I think the hardest workers in the White House are the people taking the Videos and the Pictures. All I see on the White House Administration’s webs sites are pictures and video’s of the President  and his cabinet.  I think it is time to end these photo opts and let us get down to the work at hand. We had seen sweeping policy changes and spending bills that frankly have this writer a bit nervous because of the unprecedented amount of them. 

I was taking to a friend the other night who is a Strong Obama supporter.  He told me that he was tired of seeing the President on TV every day. He said that it seems that our President likes to hear his own voice. This made me think about what he was saying and he seems to be correct. I say enough with the pictures and videos.  It is time to govern. I am ready to do my part, but I want to make sure that our government does it part and not head us down a path we cannot recover from. 

 

An Open Letter to Senator Charles Schumer

I wanted this write this open letter to you to inform you that I am enraged by your actions at the President’s Address to the congress on Tuesday February 24, 2009.  I saw you stand up and make childish gestures to your republican counterparts during the speech.  What are you in second grade? Really, start acting responsible. 

These actions along with the comments you made on the Senate floor about that, “We Americans do not mine porky projects” are unacceptable.  These actions will influence my voting for you when your term is up. I know you may think one persons vote may not matter to you, but I can assure you I will tell anyone who will listen what your actions were in these matters.

We the People…..

As always, I am watching the going on in Washington and I have observed something very disturbing. Is it me or has the founding idea of our government which is “By the People, for the People” has now become for the Democratic, Republicans, special interest, the lobbyist, or corporate America.  This is what our county has become.  Our election officials seem to be more concerned about the aforementioned and not for us the American people. 

You know when our fore fathers founded this nation; they did it to create a government that would be fair and just to its people. Therefore, I ask you when will we as Americans wake up and let our representatives know how we feel. It is up to all of us to let our feeling known. I feel that we are at a crossroad here in the United States; we may be heading down a road to lose what our fore fathers fought for! Do you want us to become a nation of government to govern by the sole whims of each party or groups or should it be a government Of the People, For the People. It is time for this nation to go back to our basic principles, which made this county great! We have to end all the corruption and greed in Washington. You see the Stimulus Bill passed this week. Can you believe our senators and congressional representatives voted on it without them really reading it or have some debate about it?  

This is what I mean by we are not governed by the people it is the fat cat’s and special interest who created this and if we as a people keep allowing our representatives to govern this way then we have nothing to complain about. As for me, I am keeping track of them, all of them, and when I go to vote on Election Day, I will remember what has transpired. It is time for all of us to stand up and let them know in Washington it is time for real change not what is a catchy phase or buzz word. We need the government to get back to governing and not playing with our democracy! I am tired of Photo Opts. I want America Back!

I came across this music video. I wanted to share it with you all. Listen to the meaning of it.

American Recovery and Reinvestment

I am posting the link to The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. When you get sometime read it. You'll be doing more then our elected officials did with it.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1enr.pdf

Web Site Recovery.Gov

Here is the site that we can monitor how the monies are being spent with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

http://www.recovery.gov/



Posted by Frank M

Obama’s Chatter!

It was shocking to hear our President addressing the House Democrats at their annual retreat at the Kingsmill Resort and Spa last night. He talked down the cable news channels reporting of the Stimulus bill. I assumed that we here in the United States have the right to our opinions. We as Americans can watch and listen to what we please and we make the choice and decide if we agree or disagree with it. Why is it that the Right or the Left assume that everyone who do not subscribe to their ideas need to be told what to think and are not able to make a choice or a decision? Granted the Democrats won the majority of the election but we the people have a right to know where and how our tax monies are spent. In addition, I am “sorry” that the American Public is waking up and voicing their concerns on “THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT PLAN”.

It seems that the more that the information concerning the Stimulus bill is known, the less of the American people are supporting it. A trillion dollars is a lot of money, and I am not saying that we do not need a stimulus, but I thought that it was going to be a job creation stimulus. I am all for the following. Repairing the roads, working on the electric grid, getting us off foreign Oil by using Solar, wind, clean coal, Bio Fuels, and Drilling at home for oil and gas. I am also for funding unemployment insurance, Food Stamps, helping people that face foreclosure or heading toward it. Spending that create sustainable jobs in the economy, not items that would normally be considered earmarks disguised as stimulus.

The Democrats have the majority in the House and Senate, so they do not need the support of the Republican’s, but why are they seeking it? You know why, because if it fails they cannot shoulder the blame alone. By having it a by partisan effort, this will assure the Democrats’ that when re-election time comes around, they can say it wasn’t them alone and then try to maintain their majority in both houses. Listen, the Republicans also screw up when they had the majority. I have seen in my lifetime that it is a cycle in Washington. Each party gets drunk with the power and money. This election was for REAL CHANGE! It is time for government to come clean in all aspects. Therefore, Mr. President you can stand there and scold the “cable chatter” but remember you serve in office at the pleasure of the American People and when your time is up for re-election, we always have the last word.

Additional Tax Woes for Obama Administration

Tax Problems for Thomas A. Daschle, Secretary Designate for the Department of Health and Human Services

Well everyone I have yet another person to add to our list of the Obama Administration who did not pay there taxes. Thomas Daschle seems to make several error’s in his taxes for the following years 2005, 2006, and 2007. This included the uses of a car service that was provided to him by private equity firm. This also included amounts due for unreported consulting fees and donations that didn’t qualify for tax deductions and his Medicare Insurance payments. Below I have broken it down for you.

May 2007 consulting payment of $83,333 from InterMedia, which paid him that amount each month. The tax forms provided to Daschle by InterMedia for 2007 didn’t include the payment because the money was transferred by a different method that month by a temporary clerk, InterMedia officials reported at his hearing. Daschle had more tax problems because he couldn’t show that almost $15,000 in charitable contributions went to qualifying organizations, according to the reports. He and his wife, Linda, made $276,000 in charitable contributions during the three-year period also being studied by the panel.

To top it off the former senator has agreed that he will have to adjust again his 2005, 2006 and 2007 tax returns because he didn’t pay Medicare taxes on the additional taxable income he incurred with the use of the car, the Finance Committee staff reported. Ironically as Health and Human Services secretary, Daschle would oversee Medicare, the insurance program for the elderly and disabled which he did not make his proper payments to.

Composted by, Louis M

SUMMARY: AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT

Below is Washington's Stimulus plan. We will be dissecting this in future posting, but for now we wanted it available for you the public to review.

Clean, Efficient, American Energy: 

To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will strengthen efforts directed at doubling renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient.

$32 billion to transform the nation’s energy transmission, distribution, and production systems by allowing for a smarter and better grid and focusing investment in renewable technology.

$16 billion to repair public housing and make key energy efficiency retrofits.

$6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes.

Transform our Economy with Science and Technology: We need to put scientists to work looking for the next great discovery, creating jobs in cutting-edge-technologies, and making smart investments that will help businesses in every community succeed in a global economy. For every dollar invested in broadband the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment.

$10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation.

$6 billion to expand broadband internet access so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link up to the global economy.

Modernize Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways:

To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, modernize public buildings, and put people to work cleaning our air, water and land.

$30 billion for highway construction;

$31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long term energy cost savings;

•

$19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments;

$10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption.

Education for the 21st Century: To enable more children to learn in 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries to help our kids compete with any worker in the world, this package provides:

$41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion).

$79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas, $15 billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures, and $25 billion to states for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education.

•

$15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500.

$6 billion for higher education modernization.

Tax Cuts to Make Work Pay and Create Jobs: 

We will provide direct tax relief to 95 percent of American workers, and spur investment and job growth for American Businesses. [marked up by the Ways and Means Committee] Lower Healthcare Costs: To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our healthcare system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce healthcare costs by billions of dollars each year.

$20 billion for health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients and introduce cost-saving efficiencies.

•

$4.1 billion to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments.

Help Workers Hurt by the Economy: High unemployment and rising costs have outpaced Americans’ paychecks. We will help workers train and find jobs, and help struggling families make ends meet.

•

$43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training.

•

$39 billion to support those who lose their jobs by helping them to pay the cost of keeping their employer provided healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid.

$20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs.Save Public Sector Jobs and Protect Vital Services: We will provide relief to states, so they can continue to employ teachers, firefighters and police officers and provide vital services without having to unnecessarily raise middle class taxes.

$87 billion for a temporary increase in the Medicaid matching rate.

$4 billion for state and local law enforcement funding.

The Double Standard

I would like to address some of the ethics of our officials in office. It seems that if you’re an elected official or an appointed one, you can get away with things that we regular citizens can’t.

The first example is Charlie Rangel Representative from NY and chairmen of the Ways and Means Committee. He did not pay taxes on properties he and his wife owned in NY and in the Dominican Republic. He claimed “he forget that he had them”. Then when this all come to light, congress then launches an internal investigation on the matter. Mark my words we will not hear another thing about this. He is a member of the majority party that has control of the House and Senate. As always, they take care of their own. Will we ever know if he will be punished for this, I doubt it? The investigation was suspended the last I heard because of the presidential election.

That leads me to my next case the appointment of Timothy Geithner to Treasure Secretary. It has come to light that he did not pay assorted payroll taxes for years when he was employed by the World Bank. He claimed that the tax preparation software, “turbo tax” did not prompt him that because he was employed for a foreign company, that the software didn’t tell him that he was to pay self employment taxes. If I was the CEO of Turbo Tax I would sue him for liable. All those years he used that program and they never fix the so called problem… if you believe this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale! Not only was that a bold face lie, he was required to sign a paper from the World Bank informing him of the taxes that he was required to pay each quarter, they also gave him money toward the payments! These are not the only problems he has with his taxes. He took a deduction for his kid’s summer camp and declared them as a business expense. Then he had the problem with some domestic help that wasn’t legal. This problem seems that comes back to haunt a lot of the wealthy. Then before he requested by President Obama, to fill the position he went back and pay all the taxes that he owed. I bet he wouldn’t have done it if he wasn’t going for the Treasure Secretary Job.

Now what is the conscience of our elected officials in Washington? Its “understandable” that he didn’t pay those taxes, that he’s too important to the position not to appoint him.

If that was you and I and we didn’t pay our taxes, we would be haunted by the IRS and rest assures you would have to pay! I personally remember once I forget to put in a claim of 100 dollars in interest I had received. The IRS was on me to amend my taxes and I had to pay pronto, not 4 years later.

Like I said the double standard is alive and well. I for one will make it known when I hear or read about things like this. I’m keeping an eye on these cases and I will report back about them. I don’t care what political party it is, they all cover for each other in the end!! We as American have to watch them and call our Representative and let them know how we feel about these acts of injustice.

Composed by Louis M

The First 100 Days

I think that this first 100 days of a presidency is overrated. I have heard that most of all the president will accomplish is done in the first 100 days. I hope that this is not the rule. If that’s the case, what happens to the other 5,740 days of the term? I think that it puts to much pressure on the president to have his policies enacted.

It’s just a thought….


Composed by Frank

Reflections,

I was planning to post this yesterday, but I got delayed. I'm about 24 hours late.

I sit here today after watching the transfer of power that our country is known so well for. I watch Barack Obama our new President, taking the oath of office, and watch ex President Bush sit there and watch. I wonder what goes through his mind. Does he think back on his first inauguration? Does he think how far and what has happened under his watch.

I know that there are people that hate the man for what has happen these past 8 years. I offend wonder if you were to ask these people what they hate him for what would be there answers. The war, the price of gas, the economy, Hurricane Katrina… its goes on and on. I then wonder what these people would do in his shoes after 9/11. With over 3,000 American lives lost what would they do? We all know by now (or should remember) who attacked us. I am sure that these lost lives of American’s under President Bush watch lay heavy on his mind and shaped his Presidency. I think that in time, history will tell the tale of what this man did to keep the foremost important job that a President has to do, and that is keep American’s safe from harm on the home land.

I think that on the other items with Katrina and the Economy he should have done more. But alas, hind sight is 20-20. Did he make mistakes in the war in Afghanistan, absolutely not! The Taliban running that country had given a haven for Al Qaeda and they attacked us. As for Iraq war, I think time will tell the tale for that conflict. There is a long history Saddam Hussein and UN resolutions not being followed. All of the other countries intelligence all pointed to him having weapons of mass destruction. I recall that most of the men and women in congress also agreed with the President’s plan to go forth and make sure that there were no weapons and have a leadership change there. There were things done there that again, having hind sight could have been done better. I think that the hardest thing a President has to do is have our solders go off to war. Like I said, time will tell.

In closing these remarks, I just want to say Thank You to President Bush for keeping us safe after 9/11. You help a scared country feel strong; you gave us hope after those first days, and helped us feel safe when you address us and helped us get back on our feet. I am proud of being an American. I don’t deny it. President Obama, I am giving you my support because you are my President. I am going to be watching you can be sure of that. I am sure I am not going to agree with everything that you’ll do, but I will disagree with you but not be disagreeable. I will not fall into the hate mongering that President Bush had to endure.

Commentary by Frank

Today we make History… Let’s not forget what we need.

As President elect Obama takes the oath at noon this county made a major leap in race and adversity. Here is a man who was a child of a Black Man from another county and his American White Mother, a hippy who took him to Africa and was raising him there when his grandparents (her parents) took him in and finished raising him to young adult hood. He goes on his own and with schooling and his drive made something of himself and lifted his life and is now our President. This proved that anyone who has the drive and the inner strength can make it to be the leader of the United States of America.

Let all American’s celebrate today’s achievement. It speaks to all of us as a nation, and the world, where we have come in equality, but let be said that there is more to be done. Now the real work is at hand. This new administration has big plans and has made promises of “Change”. It is time for all of us to watch, learn and listen to what will be coming out of the President and the leaders in Washington. It is up to all of us to be a part of this “Change”. The problem is that our leaders in Washington are so removed from main stream America that they don’t really know what we need. Think about this. When was the last time Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi pumped gas in their car. Did they have to worry how much money it was going to cost? Did they have to make sure they had enough money left to buy some fast food to feed they kids because your working 2 jobs you can’t cook for them and get to the second job on time. Think about that. Do you think that our elected officials have these concerns? In Washington they get lots of perks of their jobs. We Americans don’t know the perks or what they do because they are very good in keeping what they do secret. What is needed is transparency in government.

Now is the time for the Right and Left to stop all the hate and get down to what we need as a county. It’s not the radical views that both sides preach but what Middle American’s needs. This is a very historic day in our Counties history, but it is also the start of the Change that we all must make to look ahead and work together. I wish our new President well. Go forth and do well and if you do, we will do well also. But remember this, we all must get informed, make our elected officials accountable, and get in there watch and listen to what is being done. If you don’t, you only have yourselves to blame.

Commentary by Louis

Expressing my General Feelings...

I wanted to express my feelings on the state of our county today. I think that we have a problem with the way the government has run the county for the past 40 years. We have to much of the “OLD BOYS” Network going on. Corporations, Lobbyist, and people who have money buy influence in the way the country is governed. What happened to “We the People for the People”??? We need more transparency in government. We also need to have more American Citizen involved in the running of the government. They need to keep up with what is going on with our elected officials.

We are a free market society and need to run our government in that manner. I see that we have fallen on hard times. Wall Street, the Banking and Mortgage Industries, have failed to do they jobs honestly. We can argue what political party had the blame for this, but don’t be fooled; they both had a hand in it. Now we the people have to pay for the errors that were made. We need to be informed on what this bail out money is being spent on.

It’s time for the Politicians to govern for the people and not for special interest and lobbyist that influence them. This must stop and we must speak out and let our representatives know we will no longer tolerate this practice. So people it is time for all of us as a nation to answer the call and make them accountable and do it now.

Come on People; don’t get your news from shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report and the late night shows on the network channels. Not to say that the shows I mention are not fun to watch, but they not the last word in what is going on. There entertainment shows, not a News Program! We all have become knowledgeable of what is going on. We can set aside a hour to watch the networks news shows as well at the several 24 hour news channels that are available. Read a newspaper, not People Magazine. Go on the on the internet and read the different news sites. If we don’t do this how you are going to see what your elected officials are up to. If we don’t keep tabs on them, they will do what they want and we will never get back the quality of life that we all so richly deserve.

Mission Statement

I have created this blog for myself, and others that I will have as contributors, to express their feelings about things that are happening in America. First let me say that it’s just everyday people giving their views. I will expect that people that contribute and people that comment will be respectful at all times. I reserve the right to remove any and all posting that I find to be offensive. I have decided to start this because I have seen a decline in the fiber of America.

I have seen that if you have a political opinion, that you can be vilified by the people that have a different view. I think that we can disagree, but there should not be the hate and the distain that I have seen against people that think differently. I think that we have to take a step back and see what this hatred has caused. I have seen in my family, it’s has caused brothers to stop talking to each other. I don’t think that this is the exception. I had people say to me that this person is “too liberal” or “to conservative” for them and that it has effected there relationships.

We have to remember that we are all Americans first and foremost, and for that, we are together. Please I encourage healthy debate and looking forward in seeing what is written.