Transperancy

it's nice that he is letting people know how their money is being spent, now if only he and Congress can figure out how to spend our money effectively he will really have done something

this "stimulus" bill is a disgrace and will have zero effect

it's a start at least. now we get to see where the money our government rapes us for ends up. hopefully he pressures congress to spend it more prudently than in years past.

what really sucks is obama's own political allies are turning on him like vicious dogs. i would pay money to see him bitch slap nancy pelosi.

On February 18 2009 13:57 chris wrote: what really sucks is obama's own political allies are turning on him like vicious dogs. i would pay money to see him bitch slap nancy pelosi.

More info on this? The turning part, not the bitchslap part

hopefully a little more detail appears

more detail is promised, which is good, but this would be a hell of a bill for any legislator's aide to view.

"yes, we'll be spending like a lot of money, like a really large amount of $$$, and we're going to divide it into about seven categories with this percentage of money going to each of those..."

a trillion divided into seven categories still leaves a lot of information to be desired

to add to what failsafe said, I feel like there's no guarentee that we're actually getting the full picture from the information given on the site.

Though I definitely think this is 100 steps beyond how things used to be.

and i quote Young Jeezy "My President is Black"

[Intro: Young Jeezy] Yeah, be the realest shit I never wrote I ain't write this by the way nigga, some real shit right here nigga This'll be the realest shit you ever quote Let's go! [Hook: Young Jeezy} My president is black, my Lambo's blue And I'll be goddamned if my rims ain't too My momma ain't at home, and daddy's still in jail Tryna make a plate, anybody seen the scale? My president is black, my Lambo's blue And I'll be goddamned if my rims ain't too My money's light green and my Jordans light grey And they love to see white, now how much you tryna pay? Let's go! [Verse 1: Young Jeezy] Today was a good day, hope I have me a great night I don't know what you fishin for but catch you a great white Me, I see great white, heavy as killer whales I cannot believe this, who knew it came in bails Who knew what came with jail, who knew what came with prison Just cause you got opinions, does that make you a politician? Bush robbed all of us, would that make him a criminal? And then he cheated in Florida, would that make him a Seminole? I say and I quote, "We need a miracle" And I say a miracle cause this shit is hysterical By my nephews and nieces, I will email Jesus Tell him forward to Moses and CC Allah Mr. Soul Survivor, guess that make me a Konvict Be all that you can be, now don't that sound like some dumb shit When you die over crude oil as black as my nigga Boo It's really a Desert Storm, that's word to my nigga Clue Catch me in Las Vegas, A.R. Arizona Rep for them real niggas, I'm winnin in California Winnin in Tennessee, hands down Atlanta Landslide Alabama, on my way to Sevana [Hook] [Verse 2: Young Jeezy] I said I woke up this morning, headache this big Pay all these damn bills, feed all these damn kids Buy all these school shoes, buy all these school clothes For some strange reason my son addicted to Polos Love me some spinach dip, I'm addicted to Houston's And if the numbers is right I take a trip out to Houston An earthquake out in China, a hurricane in New Orleans Street Dreams Tour, I showed my ass in New Orleans Did it for Soulja Slim, brought out B.G. It's all love Bun, I'm forgivin you Pimp C You know how the Pimp be, that nigga gon' speak his mind If he could speak down from heaven he'd tell me stay on my grind Tell him I'm doin fine, Obama for mankind We ready for damn change so y'all let the man shine Stuntin on Martin Luther, feelin just like a king Guess this is what he meant when he said that he had a dream [Hook] [Verse 3: Nas] Yeah, our history, black history, no president ever did shit for me Had to hit the streets, had to flip some keys so a nigga won't go broke Then they put us in jail, now a nigga can't go vote So I spend doe, all these hoes is trippin She a ain't a politician, honey's a polotician My president is black, rolls golden charms Twenty-two inch rims like Hulk Hogan's arms When thousands of peoples is riled up to see you That can arouse ya ego, we got mouths to feed so Gotta stay true to who you are and where you came from Cause at the top will be the same place you hang from No matter how big you can ever be For whatever fee or publicity, never lose your integrity For years there's been surprise horses in this stable Just two albums in, I'm the realest nigga on this label Mr. Black President, yo Obama for real They gotta put your face on the five-thousand dollar bill [Hook] [Outro: Young Jeezy] So I'm sittin right here now man It's June 3rd haha, 2:08 AM Nigga I won't say win, lose or draw Man we congratulate you already homie See I motivate the thugs right You motivate us homie, that's what it is This a hands off policy, y'all touch him we ridin nigga Yeah, first black president, win, lose or draw nigga Haha, matter of fact, you know what it is man Shouts out to Jackie Robinson, Booker T, Washington homie Oh you ain't think I knew that shit? Sydney portea what dey do? Haha, my president is black I'm important too though, my Lambo's blue I was, I was the first nigga to ride through my hood in a Lamborghini yeah haha

read it brett pretty solid lyrics for a rapper lol and it was a #1 hit about 6months before Obama actually won the election

I gotta go listen to that song, I haven't heard it yet. Was funny how rush limbaugh and the right were calling it a racist song but defending "barack the magic negro"

there's the vid for it. =)

ya i had that as my profile song for like a year lol u like it?

I just went to look at the site, and I'm really disappointed.

First of all, there really isn't much information at all there. We have a link to the 1000 page bill which makes it essentially unreadable, let alone understandable, and then we have this ridiculous bar chart.

I really got a good laugh out of the asterisk next to "Tax Relief" :

* Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy.

For those not paying attention, these are categories that are already listed... "Transparency" has very limited virtue if it's all smoke and mirrors.

And what does "Protecting the Vulnerable" even mean? I spent 10 minutes googleing to try to find out and all I found were dozens of websites asking this question, with no-one having an answer.

Eventually I found this:

"Temporary programs to protect the most vulnerable from the deep recession, including increases in food stamps and expansions of unemployment insurance."

How is expanding the welfare state an economic stimulus? And how is this 142 B going to create 549,000 jobs? From what I understand, most of this is unemployment benefits. How does expanding unemployment benefits create jobs?

holy shit shaunr still reads my blog!

I never said this site was perfect, but it's moving in the right direction.

On February 18 2009 11:36 k2o4 wrote: So Obama just signed a new recovery/reinvestment bill for a bunch of money to try and get us outta this painful downswing.The word downswing makes it seem like you think the government is some winning player in poker that is just going through a rough patch. Naw, in poker terms, the government is a huge losing player that has never been able to make a steady profit in the game. This "downswing" you refer to has been going for a very long time And what's one of the first thing he does? He launches a new website called http://www.recovery.gov/ where they're going to list all the money being spent, where it's going, when it is spent, how much is being spent, and so on. Pretty sweet if you ask me. I underlined our fundamental differences in the role of government. Pretty scary if u ask me. I'm sure cynics will find a way to berate this move as well, but to me this is more of Obama following through on what he talked about on the campaign - government transparency. I'm all for government transparency, but since this is an issue, howabout directing some of your energy and focus towards Federal Reserve transparency? If Obama provided that, even made a dent towards it, I would then be VERY impressed. And he's not just making some small token website that no one knows about. He blasted it out to his email list right away and is requesting everyone on the list to check the site constantly and to watch over the governments actions. It's a huge change from bush who always wanted americans to just go shopping and be lazy and don't worry about what the Gov is doing, we'll protect you, just forget about it, relax.... Obama is always asking Americans to get involved, work in their communities, hold the government accountable, share your stories, and so on. I'm on the email list cause of the campaign, and I honestly figured that once the campaign was over the emails would stop. Not the case. They come in pretty consistently still and range from requests for me to organize service projects in my community to requests for me to share my story and suggestions requests for me to take part in holding government accountable. Did you really think the request emails would stop? lol If you're not on the list you should join up just to see wtf Obama is up to, cause it's a very weird and different approach but very awesome imo. We are both young, but you younger than I, and no offense but all you seem to know really is the last 8 years of Bush; so ya based off that all this would seem like a total difference to you, but to me all of this is the same bad direction we should not be going. *edit* ...and have been going for decades. There is no real difference today between Republican and Democrat. * In poker terms we are making fundamentally the same losing plays just with more aggro and not actually fixing any of the leaks Anyway, the site is http://www.recovery.gov/. Here's the video he's got posted there: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WQZ1--lz4TE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WQZ1--lz4TE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

I'll retort with a video. It hits upon fundamental differences that I have with mainstream do gooders (which isn't an insult).




Gonna end w/ a quote from RP,
“temporary tax cuts and one-time rebates will not ‘fix’ the economy.... Sending out checks and cutting interest rates yet again is merely a shot in the arm when in actuality, the economy needs major surgery.”

ahhh a ron paul guy =) I like a decent amount of what RP has to say. He was my fav republican during the primaries. But the stuff I disagree with him on is really huge and I think you just laid out some of the differences in POV. but definitely interesting to read. Btw, I agree with you on the fed.

I guess I gotta do a point by point

1) you read too deeply into my downswing usage - just the word that came to mind for poker lingo relating to a recession. I wasn't thinking gov, I was thinking America. America was on a big heater in the 90's with the dot.com bubble, heater ended, re-heatered at some point, and now downswing. I'm thinking of this very generally and not in any depth what-so-ever, so don't try to read too deep =)

2) Spent - yeah, I believe in govt having a bigger role than you do. That's something we'll probably never talk each other down on.

3) Fed - like I said, I agree with you, that would be impressive.

4) Request emails - yeah I did think they'd stop or slow down DRAMATICALLY, especially cause I wasn't sure what they'd request. But I don't like the way "request emails" sounds, cause that's not what they are imo - they're more like calls to action. When he sent email out to everyone on the list asking them to organize service projects to help their communities, that's not a request email. He's not asking us to do something for him, but for ourselves and the people around us. He was challenging us to take more responsibility for our community and try to make it better. That's good leadership imo. Request emails sound like he's asking us for money or some shit. I don't think that's the case at all.

5) How do you know how old I am? Stalkkkerrrrr.... jkjk =) You're right - I am MUCH more educated about the bush years than before them. I never paid attention till then. Partly cause I was way young, partly cause I was more into partying than studying. I have a very basic knowledge of stuff pre-bush. I know a lot about the bush years though.

On February 18 2009 21:06 k2o4 wrote: I guess I gotta do a point by point 1) you read too deeply into my downswing usage - just the word that came to mind for poker lingo relating to a recession. I wasn't thinking gov, I was thinking America. America was on a big heater in the 90's with the dot.com bubble, heater ended, re-heatered at some point, and now downswing. I'm thinking of this very generally and not in any depth what-so-ever, so don't try to read too deep =) 2) Spent - yeah, I believe in govt having a bigger role than you do. That's something we'll probably never talk each other down on. 3) Fed - like I said, I agree with you, that would be impressive. 4) Request emails - yeah I did think they'd stop or slow down DRAMATICALLY, especially cause I wasn't sure what they'd request. But I don't like the way "request emails" sounds, cause that's not what they are imo - they're more like calls to action. When he sent email out to everyone on the list asking them to organize service projects to help their communities, that's not a request email. He's not asking us to do something for him, but for ourselves and the people around us. He was challenging us to take more responsibility for our community and try to make it better. That's good leadership imo. Request emails sound like he's asking us for money or some shit. I don't think that's the case at all. 5) How do you know how old I am? Stalkkkerrrrr.... jkjk =) You're right - I am MUCH more educated about the bush years than before them. I never paid attention till then. Partly cause I was way young, partly cause I was more into partying than studying. I have a very basic knowledge of stuff pre-bush. I know a lot about the bush years though.

You and I had a talk about Obama before he was elected. As I said previously, if he wins I hope those who voted for(including myself) will hold him to the same level of responsibility that they would have held John McCain to. So far I am very disappointed in what Obama has done. There are numerous things tied into the Stimulus Bill which are questionable to say the least as to whether they will really help the economy now. Sure making government buildings green is a nice thing to do and will give some people work for the next year but how is this a long term solution? How is putting more money into those who are already a drain on the country, people on welfare and those who are paying little to no income tax, going to help the economy now? Here is a quote I found from some woman's politics blog which i agree with, " If Congress then wants to talk about borrowing to help the unemployed -- extending unemployment benefits or job retraining -- or wants to talk about borrowing to help states with federal programs like Medicare, go to it, separately from any stimulus package. Because those are not stimulus acts, no matter how pretty the rhetoric; they're government stimulus bills." This was one of the things many feared about Obama and in less than two months he is realizing it. He seems set on making this country as socialist as possible. I respect your opinions k2o4 however it seems to me at this point you are not holding Obama to the same level of accountability as you would have McCain or Bush for that matter. OR maybe to you, as you said you think we need more government not less, Obama is doing a good job infecting the stimulus bill with some of his social objectives. Either way, you can not objectively tell me his plan along with a lack of real tax cuts not only for the middle class but for small and large business owners is not going to cause this recession/down economy to be extended most likely. I also do not like the fact that Obama went on an Islamic TV station and basically apologized for the past indiscretions of the USA towards them.

On February 22 2009 18:07 TripSearchin wrote: Show nested quote + On February 18 2009 21:06 k2o4 wrote: I guess I gotta do a point by point 1) you read too deeply into my downswing usage - just the word that came to mind for poker lingo relating to a recession. I wasn't thinking gov, I was thinking America. America was on a big heater in the 90's with the dot.com bubble, heater ended, re-heatered at some point, and now downswing. I'm thinking of this very generally and not in any depth what-so-ever, so don't try to read too deep =) 2) Spent - yeah, I believe in govt having a bigger role than you do. That's something we'll probably never talk each other down on. 3) Fed - like I said, I agree with you, that would be impressive. 4) Request emails - yeah I did think they'd stop or slow down DRAMATICALLY, especially cause I wasn't sure what they'd request. But I don't like the way "request emails" sounds, cause that's not what they are imo - they're more like calls to action. When he sent email out to everyone on the list asking them to organize service projects to help their communities, that's not a request email. He's not asking us to do something for him, but for ourselves and the people around us. He was challenging us to take more responsibility for our community and try to make it better. That's good leadership imo. Request emails sound like he's asking us for money or some shit. I don't think that's the case at all. 5) How do you know how old I am? Stalkkkerrrrr.... jkjk =) You're right - I am MUCH more educated about the bush years than before them. I never paid attention till then. Partly cause I was way young, partly cause I was more into partying than studying. I have a very basic knowledge of stuff pre-bush. I know a lot about the bush years though. You and I had a talk about Obama before he was elected. As I said previously, if he wins I hope those who voted for(including myself) will hold him to the same level of responsibility that they would have held John McCain to. So far I am very disappointed in what Obama has done. There are numerous things tied into the Stimulus Bill which are questionable to say the least as to whether they will really help the economy now. Sure making government buildings green is a nice thing to do and will give some people work for the next year but how is this a long term solution? How is putting more money into those who are already a drain on the country, people on welfare and those who are paying little to no income tax, going to help the economy now? Here is a quote I found from some woman's politics blog which i agree with, " If Congress then wants to talk about borrowing to help the unemployed -- extending unemployment benefits or job retraining -- or wants to talk about borrowing to help states with federal programs like Medicare, go to it, separately from any stimulus package. Because those are not stimulus acts, no matter how pretty the rhetoric; they're government stimulus bills." This was one of the things many feared about Obama and in less than two months he is realizing it. He seems set on making this country as socialist as possible. I respect your opinions k2o4 however it seems to me at this point you are not holding Obama to the same level of accountability as you would have McCain or Bush for that matter. OR maybe to you, as you said you think we need more government not less, Obama is doing a good job infecting the stimulus bill with some of his social objectives. Either way, you can not objectively tell me his plan along with a lack of real tax cuts not only for the middle class but for small and large business owners is not going to cause this recession/down economy to be extended most likely. I also do not like the fact that Obama went on an Islamic TV station and basically apologized for the past indiscretions of the USA towards them.

http://www.safehaven.com/article-12560.htm
Just read the conclusion if you can't be bothered with the article.

The rest of your post is dribble, why don't you keep your political commentary to www.freerepublic.com rofl

On February 22 2009 21:12 Night2o1 wrote: Show nested quote + On February 22 2009 18:07 TripSearchin wrote:   On February 18 2009 21:06 k2o4 wrote: I guess I gotta do a point by point 1) you read too deeply into my downswing usage - just the word that came to mind for poker lingo relating to a recession. I wasn't thinking gov, I was thinking America. America was on a big heater in the 90's with the dot.com bubble, heater ended, re-heatered at some point, and now downswing. I'm thinking of this very generally and not in any depth what-so-ever, so don't try to read too deep =) 2) Spent - yeah, I believe in govt having a bigger role than you do. That's something we'll probably never talk each other down on. 3) Fed - like I said, I agree with you, that would be impressive. 4) Request emails - yeah I did think they'd stop or slow down DRAMATICALLY, especially cause I wasn't sure what they'd request. But I don't like the way "request emails" sounds, cause that's not what they are imo - they're more like calls to action. When he sent email out to everyone on the list asking them to organize service projects to help their communities, that's not a request email. He's not asking us to do something for him, but for ourselves and the people around us. He was challenging us to take more responsibility for our community and try to make it better. That's good leadership imo. Request emails sound like he's asking us for money or some shit. I don't think that's the case at all. 5) How do you know how old I am? Stalkkkerrrrr.... jkjk =) You're right - I am MUCH more educated about the bush years than before them. I never paid attention till then. Partly cause I was way young, partly cause I was more into partying than studying. I have a very basic knowledge of stuff pre-bush. I know a lot about the bush years though. You and I had a talk about Obama before he was elected. As I said previously, if he wins I hope those who voted for(including myself) will hold him to the same level of responsibility that they would have held John McCain to. So far I am very disappointed in what Obama has done. There are numerous things tied into the Stimulus Bill which are questionable to say the least as to whether they will really help the economy now. Sure making government buildings green is a nice thing to do and will give some people work for the next year but how is this a long term solution? How is putting more money into those who are already a drain on the country, people on welfare and those who are paying little to no income tax, going to help the economy now? Here is a quote I found from some woman's politics blog which i agree with, " If Congress then wants to talk about borrowing to help the unemployed -- extending unemployment benefits or job retraining -- or wants to talk about borrowing to help states with federal programs like Medicare, go to it, separately from any stimulus package. Because those are not stimulus acts, no matter how pretty the rhetoric; they're government stimulus bills." This was one of the things many feared about Obama and in less than two months he is realizing it. He seems set on making this country as socialist as possible. I respect your opinions k2o4 however it seems to me at this point you are not holding Obama to the same level of accountability as you would have McCain or Bush for that matter. OR maybe to you, as you said you think we need more government not less, Obama is doing a good job infecting the stimulus bill with some of his social objectives. Either way, you can not objectively tell me his plan along with a lack of real tax cuts not only for the middle class but for small and large business owners is not going to cause this recession/down economy to be extended most likely. I also do not like the fact that Obama went on an Islamic TV station and basically apologized for the past indiscretions of the USA towards them. http://www.safehaven.com/article-12560.htm Just read the conclusion if you can't be bothered with the article. The rest of your post is dribble, why don't you keep your political commentary to www.freerepublic.com rofl

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/62082.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122663413095027641.html

Here are two links for you asshole. You come off as one of those blind Obama homers who will support whatever action he decides to take.

I'm here again

On February 18 2009 20:58 k2o4 wrote: ahhh a ron paul guy =) I like a decent amount of what RP has to say. He was my fav republican during the primaries. But the stuff I disagree with him on is really huge and I think you just laid out some of the differences in POV. but definitely interesting to read. Btw, I agree with you on the fed.

very interesting...
could you give me some examples of some of the things you like that RP has said?
I mean considering in my eyes Ron Paul and Obama are almost as complete opposites as two politicians could get, this post of yours I quoted has me scratching my head in curiousity