Cleo's Mom

In this link he said that we don't consider ourselves a christian nation or a jewish nation or a muslim nation. And we don't. And that changes the meaning from just saying that he said we don't consider ourselves a christian nation. So again, you were distorting and misrepresenting. AND I AM CALLING YOU OUT ABOUT IT. Now, since you hate/distrust the federal government so much, I am sure you will have no problem signing the TEABAGGER SOCIALIST-FREE PURITY PLEDGE: Daily Kos: State of the Nation It's over 2 pages of things the federal government provides for the betterment and welfare of a civilized society that you would have to give up. But since you find it all too intrusive and overstepping anyway, you should have no problem renouncing all of it.

In the link you provided President Obama said that the people (us) of the United States don't consider us a chrisitan or muslim or jewish nation. Your original post said that Pres. Obama says that we are not a christian nation. Again, you are misrepresenting what he said. STOP YOUR DISTORTIONS!!!! All of us need to call out those who spread lies, distortions, misrepresentations, and hate. That's what the swift boaters did. I will not allow this to happen. It is my duty as a patritotic american.

Here's the video: Obama "not just a Christian nation" // Current And I'm calling you out Patty for leaving out the important word "JUST" when Pres. Obama says we are no longer JUST a christian nation... and he is correct. We are not. You need to admit that you misrepresented what he said. It makes all the difference. Quit perpetuating internet lies from the extremist right wingnuts like Glenn Beck, et al.

I've already posted the video which shows President Obama saying: The United States in not JUST a christian nation.... But as I've said before, some people don't let facts stand in the way of their beliefs. They just keep repeating lies because in the past this tactic has worked. We progressives have to fight hard against these swift boat tactics and take back our country from these extreme fringe right wingnuts.

My daughter just found out she's pregnant - she's about 5 weeks along. Have any of you discussed getting the H1N1 vaccine or the seasonal flu shot with your obstetrician - and if so at what point (weeks) in the pregnancy is it safe? Is it safe to get it in the first trimester? Thanks. Signed - a nervous mother and grandmother to be

Thanks, BJean, for your kind words. That is great that you have such a good relationship with your grandchildren. And twin grandsons. What a surprise that must have been. As a mom, I'm sure you know, you always worry about your kids, so I am hoping that the pregnancy and baby both do fine. Thanks again.

Thank you. Since my husband died 4 years ago and both kids got married I have been very lonely but now this gives me new purpose and something to help plan for and look forward to. I am very excited. Thanks again.

Thank you. Paying taxes is the price we pay for living in a civilized society. We have taxes with representation. We can tell our reps what we want our taxes used for. I'm not happy with the amount used for wars. Or bloated military budgets. And I am okay with helping the least among us. Welfare reform limits people to 3 years. Most of those who receive government aid are white, rural and poor. Many are in that position not through their own fault but because of circumstances. A farmer with a failed crop, someone who loses their job. People without health insurance who lose their homes due to bankruptcy from medical bills. There are many reasons people get to a position where they need help. They are not all lazy, blood sucking leeches, as has been portrayed. It is too easy to portray them that way. Now, if we want people to go from government aid programs to productive workers, then we need to support those pathways to get there - Job training, daycare subsidies, good public transportation to get to jobs, low cost housing subsidies, etc.. So, yes, I am okay with my tax dollars helping people in need, largely because the biggest benefactors are children who are hurting through no fault of their own. Don't punish the children because in some cases their parents made bad choices in life. And I also support charities. I have sponsored 4 children from Save the Children, I give to food banks, and children's hospital for free care.

You're welcome, BJean. Nothing can bring me down, though, because I just found out I'm going to be a grandma for the first time. My daughter is pregnant. I don't think my feet have touched the ground yet. So, I am in a very up mood. But I won't go so far as to say certain people won't try my patience. LOL.

I understand BJean. You've heard the saying that the bible can be used to support or deny any position, so I submit this: If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10 NSRV Happy are those who are concerned for the poor; the Lord will help them when they are in trouble. Psalm 41:1 TEV If you refuse to listen to the cry of the poor, your own cry will not be heard. Proverbs 21:13 TEV God always keeps His promises; he judges in favor of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. Psalm 146:6-7 TEV What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead. James 2:14-17 NRSV Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Defend the rights of the poor and needy, Proverbs 31:8-9 NSRV Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Isaiah 1:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deed. Proverbs 19:17 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:9-11 "For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.' Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? And the King will tell them, 'I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'" Matthew 25:31-40 NLT More… When you gather your crops and fail to bring in some of the grain that you have cut, do not go back for it; for it is to be left for the foreigners, orphans and widows...When you have gathered your grapes once, do not go back over the vines a second time; the grapes that are left are for the foreigners, orphans and widows. Never forget that you were slaves in Egypt; that is why I have given you this command. Deuteronomy 24:19-22 TEV ...do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor... Zechariah 7:10 RSV “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?'” Micah 6:8 Jesus said to him "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Matthew 19:21 RSV "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:13 RSV "Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me." Luke 18:22 KJV Begin using your hands for honest work, and then give generously to others in need. Ephesians 4:28 NLT "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." 1 Timothy 6:18-19 Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us. James 1:27 NLT

conservativesarealwayswrong - Why conservatives are always WRONG Keeping perspective for perplexed progressives

That statement is wrong on so many levels. First, bush never said invading Iraq was for their oil (but not many believed this). Second - if that is true, then why did our gas go up to $4/gallon last year? Third, we were told that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the Iraqi war. I'm still laughing over that one. Fourth, if our economy depends on Iraqi's oil, or it's "toast" - then all the more reason to support Obama's clean, green renewable energy plans, increased fuel efficiency for cars and less dependence on foreign oil. Fifth - what other countries should we send our soldiers into so that 4000+ can die for their oil?

I minded the spending on the Iraqi war by bush and his costly tax cuts for the wealthy because both were unnecessary. The spending Obama is doing is necessary to tackle the tough problems that need to be addressed. I actually supported* Hillary Clinton in the primary and then Obama when he won the nomination. I supported both because I wanted a democrat in the White House and I don't give a rat's patooty about the personality of either. * When I say supported I mean I worked for their campaigns - canvassing, phone banks, etc..

Why would you think that Obama wanted those things when he never said THAT during his campaign? He talked about universal health care and he also said he supported a single payer plan (which is a public option). Tort reform is just a distraction from the real issues of healthcare reform. It represents such a very small percentage of healthcare costs as to just be a red herring by those who oppose Obama. Texas has tort reform and healthcare costs have risen.

I think that's proof that the majority of Americans like President Obama, they just don't agree with his vision of healthcare reform as it now stands. Actually, they elected Obama to reform healthcare with a public option or provide universal healthcare and his stance now is what it was when he was a candidate - actually if anything, it has moderated. So, I don't think it's the pro-universal healthcare, pro-public option people who voted for him who now disagree with him. It's not like it comes as a big surprise that he wanted to reform healthcare.

So, when they say something you agree with, they are being truthful, but when they say something you don't agree with, they are lying. I think that sums up your perspective. Very interesting! And revealing.

I call my senators (both democrats) and congressman (republican) almost every week. They hear from me and I tell them I will be watching their vote. I just had a letter to the editor published a few weeks ago criticizing said congressman and his sham of a healthcare town hall forum. The letters in my paper are running in favor of Obama and healthcare reform with the public option. So, someone caught ACORN in a gotcha moment. Those who committed this scandal deserved to be fired. If Obama hadn't been involved with ACORN, you wouldn't even be hearing about it. Conservatives believe that they have hit upon a winning formula for such attacks as the one on ACORN - mobilize people to dig up dirt, pump it up on talk radio and tv and then demand that Congress do something about it. bush had a bunch of czars, too, so what? Oh, that's right, it's Obama now, so it matters. And if the republicans have enough time on their hand to dig up dirt -then I urge them to go back and investigate the bush administration - there was enough dirt there to convict the entire adminstration. That should keep them busy. But no, wait, they weren't interested in digging up dirt when they were wallowing in it under bush. But now with Obama, well that's a different story. All this outrage is so PHONEY. PHONEY, PHONEY, PHONEY. From the birthers To those who think his speech to students had a hidden agenda To those who think he wants the government to take control of everything Or that Obama is a muslim or a socialist or a communist It's all about one thing - their hatred of Obama and their desire to see him fail so that his presidency will fail and the pathetic republicans and their angry, hate-filled, sour grapes followers can have something to Celebrate. They've said it - the senator who wants the failure of healthcare to be Obama's waterloo or the people who say bury Obamacare with Kennedy. Or "I didn't come armed - this time" None of these people - the elected ones or their followers - care about improving this country or helping to solve problems. They just won't accept Obama as their president and they have one goal and one goal only and that is to take down Obama. Period.

Exactly right, BJean. Many who were moderate in the republican party switched to independent before the 2008 election, leaving the composition of the republican party decidedly extreme right wing. That's all who's left of the republican senators. And the republican party became a localized party too - to the south. So, they are extreme and localized. No surprise that the congressman who shouted "You lie" was from the south. And before it was revealed who did it, Wilson's wife asked him who the idiot was who yelled that. :thumbup: So, when you have a group that has grown smaller in numbers and geographically smaller, then you have to yell louder to get heard. That's what is happening.

Join Date: Sep 2008 Age: 48 Posts: 1,494 City: Naugatuck State: CT Re: First Lady now requires 26 servants permalink Quote: Originally Posted by Cleo's Mom What he is - is a president who finally has the guts to address the problems left over from other presidents who didn't address them. It is always easier to kick the can down the street to the next guy. Obama had to do something for the economy. He had to do something to keep the banks from failing. This is why he was elected. While painful, the money used to keep the banks and insurance companies from failing kept us from a full fledged depression. If he had done nothing, then you'd see people taking to the streets complaining that unemployment was 20%, maybe half of mortgages going into default, many more businesses going out of business, etc.. And you know this for sure,... how?... That could not be predicted. Economists make predictions all the time. That's their job. Where have you been? And Obama didn't make this decision in a vacuum - he had economic advisors. The stimulus put money in people's pocket in the way of tax cuts plus money to get projects going and to save and create jobs - which it did (about one million). Every penny you borrow must be paid back with interest. Noone has ever been able to stable their finances by spending some more. We are all in the situation we're in because we spent beyond our means. Whenever a person spends more than he takes in, he will need to suffer the consequences by doing without for a while till he gets his finances stabilized. Yet, this is the American Way: Spend, spend and spend some more! The jobs that the stimulus created didn't do squat. Most of them were shortlived or temporary jobs and then most were government jobs.(more of which we don't need) What did bush ask the American people to do without to finance the Iraqi war? Oh that's right - he didn't - he just gave the biggest tax cut in history to the wealthy. I'm still waiting for it to trickle down. Every headline that I see says that it is working and the recession is ending. Had Obama not infused the money into the economy we would be in a depression. This isn't my opinion, it is supported by economists whose expertise monitors this. If we went into a depression for a time and the people had to do without for a while in order to rebound, what's wrong with that? Have you not studied history and the depression that took 10 years to get out of? You want people to suffer for 10 years? I don't think throwing more people into poverty, the emergency room, on medicare and into Soup kitchens is the answer. Talk about heartless!!! Instead, we must suffer the other way and not us only, but our children, grand children and great grandchildren when it must be repaid! The non-partisan budget office said that healthcare could REDUCE the federal deficit by $49 billion over 10 years. That's right, reduce it. Fairyland dreaming! When has the government ever run a program that actually made money??!! Yeah right If this office had said it would increase the deficit you would suddenly give them credit.

What he is - is a president who finally has the guts to address the problems left over from other presidents who didn't address them. It is always easier to kick the can down the street to the next guy. Obama had to do something for the economy. He had to do something to keep the banks from failing. This is why he was elected. While painful, the money used to keep the banks and insurance companies from failing kept us from a full fledged depression. If he had done nothing, then you'd see people taking to the streets complaining that unemployment was 20%, maybe half of mortgages going into default, many more businesses going out of business, etc.. The stimulus put money in people's pocket in the way of tax cuts plus money to get projects going and to save and create jobs - which it did (about one million). Every headline that I see says that it is working and the recession is ending. Had Obama not infused the money into the economy we would be in a depression. This isn't my opinion, it is supported by economists whose expertise monitors this. The non-partisan budget office said that healthcare could REDUCE the federal deficit by $49 billion over 10 years. That's right, reduce it. If we don't do healthcare our deficit will increase and additional burdens will be put on medicare and medicaid. The right wing, who never voted for Obama, and many of whom do not consider him a legitimate president (birthers, etc) were quiet during the honeymoon period of Obama. Nothing was to be gained then by their irrational opinions. But when congress recessed for August and held town hall meeting, well they finally found the forum they were waiting for. It snowballed from there. They organized, with the help of Dick Armey and Freedom Watch among others, their hate fueled by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. They relished the media attention and their lies playing on people's fears were perpetuated. Some people who won't take the time to understand the facts are understandably fearful when the vocal extremists are getting all the media attention. But I think the tide will turn. Those of us who support Obama are organizing with planned events. We did it to get Obama elected, we will do it now to support healthcare reform, clean energy, etc.. People are already tiring of the radical extremists on the right with signs that have nothing to do with spending and everything to do with hatred of Obama like: Zoos have an african lion and the white house has a lyin' african.

Originally Posted by Cleo's Mom As far as change goes - it takes two parties to be bipartisan and all we've seen from the republicans is dissent, obstructionism and complaints and defense of the status quo, which of course always benefits the "haves" . But how does that explain the fact that more people feel like me than like you? Actually, I don't believe that more people feel like you than me. Obama was elected in a landslide, turned red states blue. It's just that those who oppose Obama and everything he stands for have become very vocal and are getting their 15 minutes of fame.

I think this Catholic nun said it very well in her letter to the editor. This is someone who knows and interprets the bible and certainly is a christian. Anger and fear work against the common good - Open Letters - post-gazette.com

BJean - not that those like you and me, who understand the facts, need more data to prove our points, but in speaking to the AFL-CIO, President Obama said he would fight the culture of irresponsibility that allowed the top 5% of ther earners in the nation to garner the vast majority of the economic growth during the last decade while the middle class Americans saw their inflation-adjusted wages decline. You don't see or hear anything from the sign carriers about what the bush tax cuts cost us taxpayers. Or what it cost in terms of lost revenue. The cost of healthcare or the stimulus pales in comparison to the tax cuts and the Iraqi war combined.

Well said, BJean. President Obama has said all along that he was going to tackle the tough issues that previous presidents, especially bush, passed on. Bush just kicked the can down the street. And Obama said that if he is a one term president because he has the guts to tackle these difficult and contentious issues, then so be it. The economy was the number one issue when he got elected. It was head and shoulders above all other issues. Now, exactly what did the people want President Obama to do about the economy? If the banks failed - our economy would fail. If people didn't get more money in their pockets, there would be little spending, thus putting our economy in further decline. Was Wall Street at fault for getting us into this mess? Absolutely!! And they were bailed out in spite of their greedy decisions - but to not bail them out would have put us in a depression. Instead of reading our current headlines that say the recession is basically over, there are signs of life in the economy, the job loss has slowed down - we would be reading headlines that say: Economy in full blown depression, unemployment to reach 20% by year's end. No one, including Pres. Obama, liked having to bail out the banks. But he wasn't responsible for the de-regulations that allowed Wall Street to jeopardize our economy. The republicans who pushed through the deregulations were. Now, President Obama is pushing for more regulation for Wall Street so that their greed cannot destroy our economy like it did last year. It will be interesting to see if the republicans support this. The bank bailouts have helped our economy and some have begun paying the government (us taxpayers) back with interest. The stimulus has helped do just what it said - stimulate the economy. Much of the stimulus was in the form of a tax cut for wage earners. You don't hear a lot about this tax cut from those carrying signs that say things like "Zoos have an african lion and the white house has a lyin' african". People have more money in their pockets from tax cuts, the stimulus has saved or created a million jobs and the recession appears to be over. But it took money to solve these problems and stave off a full blown depression. Now imagine what those signs would say if Pres. Obama had done nothing and we were in a depression complete with bread lines? As far as change goes - it takes two parties to be bipartisan and all we've seen from the republicans is dissent, obstructionism and complaints and defense of the status quo, which of course always benefits the "haves" .

Most people want a cleaner, greener environment but don't want to take the painful steps to become less dependent on foreign oil or put the money into greener, renewable energy endeavors. Most people want more and better paying american jobs. But they aren't willing to pay more for products made in America. They would rather pay for cheap chinese imports at Walmart or those goods/services made available by illegal immigrants. Why do you think employers in the US hire illegals? Because they will work for next to nothing and they can't get americans to do so. I'm not saying this is right, it isn't. I'm only saying that Americans won't pay more for these goods/services if those jobs went to americans and paid well. People do not want to pay more for their healthcare but don't want to support the changes that would help healthcare costs go down. Most people enjoy and like their social security and medicare but don't want the government in other people's healthcare. It's a case of "I have it, I like it, but I don't want you to have it." Most people oppose pollution and want a greener earth but don't want to do anything to help it get there or to pay for the programs that would help. The issues that Pres. Obama is tackling are enormous and some will take decades to see results. But these are issues that past presidents ignored. If we keep doing what we always did, we will keep getting what we always have. We can't sustain that. I, for one, am glad that he is addressing these problems and as painful as some solutions might be I think it has to be done.