"'It was like a torture chamber. It represented everything that is wrong with America,' Carpenter said."

Wow. That's a bold statement, considering we are broke, don't have the money to pay existing creditors and just filled out an application for another loan. If refusing to go further into debt is considered a "torture chamber," well THAT represents everything that is wrong with America.

It you voted for Obama to show your not a racist vote for someone else in 2012 to show your not an idiot !

Obama is a failure, but then what did you expect to get from someone who isn't even qualified to run the fries station at McDonalds?

I can’t believe there are still people drinking the cool-aid, this is nuts.

These are the people that have NOTHING else to do - Obama failed and put America in more debt than any other president. "Time for a change" It has been a change for the worst - It is time for a change for the better - This guy is a "ONE" term president

Diana Modugno had to drive 50 miles from Bushkill, PA because she couldn't find an Obama supporter between there and Morristown!

President Barack Obama, former editor of the Harvard Law Review, is no longer a "lawyer". He surrendered his license back in 2008 in order to escape charges he lied on his bar application. A "Voluntary Surrender" is not something where you decide "Gee, a license is not really something I need anymore, is it?" and forget to renew your license. No, a "Voluntary Surrender" is something you do when you've been accused of something, and you 'voluntarily surrender" your license five seconds before the state suspends you.

The man is a fraud, plain and simple. He can read from a telepromter what someone else has written for him thats about it. I would like to see a budget, we have not had one since he took office which is very telling of how incompetent Obama really is.

One Term.

I agree. One term. Like any other man elected president he is trying to do what he believes in but it is leading us down a dark path. He is not a leader. Nor are the Senate and Congress. At this point we do not need the Republicans, Democrats or Teal Party members representing us in Washington. We need leaders who are Americans, that care about America!!! The politicians in Washington have lost site of that!!!

Happy Birthday President Obama and if you guys want him to serve only one term then you will need more than this collection of racists, homophobes, flipfloppers, secessionists, and self promoting book sellers to do it. There isn't an reasonable idea among the lot of them.

And further more the President was compared to Jackie Robinson when he was elected. He did have the temprament to withstand the hatred pointed at him just as Jackson had but the difference is that Robinson had talent. He answered the taunts with his playing ability and if Obama says "BI partisan" one more time I am going to lose my lunch. These Republicans hate him because of who he is and have from the very beginning. It is long past time for him to realize that.

Its hard to have respect for a guy who borrows $0.40 of every $1.00 that he spends and thinks that the way to fix things is to spend even more money that the country doesn't have. His desire to spend another $7 trillion over 10 years was only tempered down from an original request to spend $10 trillion.

Not to mention 9.2% unemployment (over 9% for something like over 2 years). Barry is a real affirmative action hero.

Dan Grant, are you saying President Obama has been ineffective because of racism?

That's some sixth sense you have, Dan. Apparently you see racists like Haley Joel Osment saw dead people.
Obama and his supporters have been consistently using racism as a weapon against their opponents since well before he was elected. Just ask the Clintons.
Disrespect is the burden of every president, just ask George 'Chimpy' Bush.
Obama could have swept away the birther issue but chose not reveal his birth certificate as a tool to tweak those opponents who took that up. BTW, where are his released medical records and his college transcripts? Bush and McCain released theirs.
And Obama did lie about Obamacare during that congressional address, as well as behave disrespectfully toward the members of the Supreme Court during a State of the Union address.
There may be some people who, due to racism, believe he's 'not one of us' but I've not seen nor heard of them, anonymous internet sock puppets aside. In my view, Obama's not seen as 'one of us' because he shares so few of our American values as a proponent of intrusive big government control.

Oh, and forgot to say: Obama can be judged on the results of his policies. Abject failure is not a successful case for re-election. I expect the upcoming campaign to be the nastiest on record. Dan, will you be part of the Obama campaign's strategy to degrade his opposition with cries of racism on his behalf?

Respect has to be earned, and Obama has not earned any respect, just look at the results of his presiduncy.

CT - Your assumption that I belong to the tea party or am part of the right wing is amusing at best, I am a registered independent. All you have to do is look at his record of failure and its easy to see Obama is in way over his head. Its been how many months / years that unemployment is over 9%?

How is the war in Libya going, I thought that was supposed to be just a matter of days? Why are we not in Syria too? If one applied the same logic that got us into Libya we would be bombing Syria already.

Peggy Noonan said it best last week, he is a loser.

This is an example of how silly the whole "protect Obama" racket has become - http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/aug/04/other-products-poke-fun-at-variety-of-targets/

As noted, no one rushed in to spare GWB's feelings.

Happy birthday, President Obama.. and good luck in continuing efforts to clean up the mess left n your doorstep

imagine a world with mccain and palin at the wheel? scary, right? the man announced on camera that the economy is his weakness. palin is a ditz with glasses. So for all of you upset with obama, rest assured that we are in a better position today than we would be had the republican ticket won. (and we'd probably still be trying to "smoke osama bin laden out of his cave" if mccain was in office). obama was dealt a bad hand and now rather than help the process, republicans (including tea partiers) fight against progress.

How's that HOPEY-CHANGEY thing working working for you now???
9.2% unemployment...
Stock Market plunging...
Gas Prices rising...
Economic stimulus???

TJ makes an excellent point. The thought of McCain and Palin at the helm should send shivers down the spine of every intelligent American. Their complete lack of vision would have been a disaster and made an even worse fiscal mess than the one we're currently in. With regard to Obamacare...Bill Maher(HBO) said it best..."it's time for Americans to come out of the closet" on socialism because we already have it. We all like Social Security and Medicare, don't we? They are socialist ideals, people. Most Americans look forward to enjoying these two great benefits as we age, because we all paid into them. So for all you folks out there who "hate" socialism and Obamacare so much, it might be time for you to 'fess up that you really do like it and come on out of the closet. It's OK. Happy Birthday, Mr. President.

Obama slogan for 2012- "It's the other guy's fault!"

@MadinNJ...try to keep the emotion out of it. You miss the point completely. Medicare and Social Security are paid for in advance by...us, the American people. Check your latest pay stub...(if you have a job, which I hope you do in these difficult times) and you will see that you are already paying into the system. Every working American pays into the system ahead of when they'll need the benefits. Social security recipients are only taking what they are due. With the Dow dropping 512.76 pts. today , we are in a global crisis. Our free market capitalist system isn't necessarily the answer. We need more jobs and more global demand for American products...period. This country must begin to innovate and create new products to create more jobs. In other words, we need to make stuff that people will buy. Congress and the White House must begin to work together...NOW. How about a payroll tax holiday to put more $ in people's pockets? How about fixing our broken infrastrucure to create jobs? To blame Obama, Socialism, Boehner or the GOP isn't the answer. The American people need to demand and expect more from ALL of our politicians.

We need less regulation and more manufacturing. We need to drill for our own oil while engineering new energy ideas. Stop sending all our money overseas. America first for Americans. Enough with the so called political correctness it's destroying us.

I am kinda surprised that you guys keep referring to that sock puppet dummy as "President". The guy is born abroad of a foreign parent, and his "birth certificate" is likely someone's practical joke, so blatantly fake it is. If not for his worshipers in the media (including Snopes), he would only reside in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave as long as it takes for FBI convoy to get there. But he'll have a perfect opportunity to rejoin his Chicagoan friends Tony Rezko and Rod Blagoyevich when voters apply the boot to his behind.

Really what is wrong with wanting to put my country first for a change! I don't apologize for being an American. Why don't you look around? Are you too blind to see? So many people are out of work and losing their homes. Many simply can't afford to buy food because they had to get gas in the car. Go to the food store and look around you. I saw that butter is $5 a lb, chicken has gone up and products are being package in smaller containers at the bigger container prices. My family spends at least $70 to $80 a week on gas. Do the math! That's a least $300 a month going to foreign oil. My monthly food cost went from $600 to over $800. I want to buy American fuel and keep American working. How can that be wrong?

@Nancy...well said. If the people of this country don't learn how to come together as a nation fast to fix the massive fiscal, social and health challenges that face us all, we may very well end up as a third world country. Whether you're a member of the GOP, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, Liberals or Tea Party...it's time to put ideology aside and put the country first. Compromise on all fronts will be necessary to stave off a complete collapse of this great nation of ours. C'mon fellow Americans, we're better than this.

@Nancy. Nancy's got it all figured out!
"We need less regulation" -- just what the banking sector needs! LESS regulation, so the next time it collapses, it can really take down the economy!
"We need to drill for our own oil" -- and prices will go down! Except...that they don't.
"Stop sending all our money overseas." -- because we're not a global economy, people! Really!
"America first for Americans." -- I think I kind of like this one.
"Enough with the so called political correctness it's destroying us" -- yes!! It's all the fault of "political correctness" -- and if we got rid of that, everything will be fine!
She's brilliant! (face plant)

The unfortunate thing is that while we may come together when outside forces threaten us we are not good at coming together to solve our own internal problems. We have had actual shooting wars and blood shed over progress in this country. When idealogies clash people don't come together until the pain becomes so great or somebody wins. In our history we have had a Civil War, borderwars between states, deaths from labor conflicts, lynchings and assinations. Right now we are divided roughly 50-50 and yet each side says they speak for the "American People" and we have a sideshow of talking heads who make sport of the fact that the great middleclass of this country is losing hope.

Such a waste of keyboard wear, this discussion. Love for Obama is a religion, a cult of sort that defies logic and reason. One can no more reason with an Obama thrall on the matter of economy than convince a true Christian believer that dead Jesus could not be resurrected.

We have a president who is all too happy to play the class warfare, victim and racism cards. We're not very likely to come together as a nation with him in office... but we may come together to vote him out in November 2012.

One Term.

I don't except your premise, So we can replace him with what? Homophobes, Chrisitans Warriors in a secular country. People that want to end Social Security and medicare? All you want to do is replace my President with your President with no improvement toward OUR President.

If we stopped paying attention to the labels of democrat, republican, liberal, conservative -- and reflected on what our spiritual teachers have communicated to us about how we should treat others, how do you think this would be reflected in our policy and budget decisions?

When are American businesses going to begin hiring again? If the conservative business leaders do not want 'government hand outs' then help people get back to work. Is everyone supposed to start his or her own company? The conservative business community says that it can't hire because it doesn't know what's ahead -- well I can tell you what's ahead if they don't start hiring -- the market will flat line, another five million people will lose their homes, we will begin to see people living in the streets and crime will rise. And the people who are still working and think they are 'doing well' will not be immune to the disease. The unemployed segment of society will grow -- like a cancerous lesion and destroy the entire body. What happens to one, happens to all -- eventually.

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance, who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students...?"
Socrates replied. "Before you tell me, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."
"Test of Three?"
"Yes," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man replied, "actually I just heard about it."
Said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?"
The man was a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued, "You may still pass though because there is a third test -- the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really.." "Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

Hank Heller

I wonder what Socrates would have thought about yesterday's downgrade of US credit by S&P? We went from AAA to AA plus...first time in our history that S&P ever downgraded our credit. We have all the bickering and nonsense that went on last week between Congress and the White House over raising the debt ceiling. They are all to blame...Republicans, Democrats, Tea Partiers and Independants. We, the American people are also to blame for continually voting against our own best interests. We keep insisting on a divided government. Divided government (a Republican Congress versus a Democratic president and vice versa) can never get anything accomplished, which is why we are where we are...looking into the abyss.

S&P has confirmed what we all have known for a long time, excessive borrowing and fake deficit reduction results ultimately in bankruptcy. The Bama's jobs numbers yesterday showed us what a failure this president really is. The way he gets his unemployment numbers as a % down is to reduce the number of people in the workforce. Another clear failure. If the same number of people were in the workforce today as were in the workforce at the time Obama was elected, the unemployment percentage would be materailly higher.

Epic fail.

What has been shown to be stupid is to put more of our money in the hands of the current gang of politicians. What currently happens is that whatever moneys the politicians can get their hands on is spent to help assure their ability to be re-elected. There will never be enough money available to satisfy the wants and hopes of the entitlement folks. Therefore we can never end the bleeding of the productive ones to satisfy those who want to be taken care of. And since the easiest vote to get is the one which is beholden to you for your gifts, the current group of politicians will only stop sucking our blood when they see it will cause them not to be re-elected. Does anyone imagine that the current level of tax revenue is being spent in ways that is really beneficial to our country and our citizenry?
Hank Heller

Divided government has worked in the past for Reagan and Clinton because they compromised with Congress. Laws got passed, moderate regulations were put in place to protect the American people, taxes were raised on the wealthiest among us. The country moved forward. Where is the compromise with this band of zealots? Even Reagan knew that if the government didn't increase revenues through taxes, the coffers would eventually run dry. So here we are with a completely divided "do-nothing" Congress, a president who is afraid to stand up for his beliefs, an enraged electorate that is at eachother's throats and absolutely nothing constructive is being done to move this country forward. Like I said before...we're at the edge of the abyss...pass the hemlock.

Uh, Lurky Loo -- I think you misunderstood what I said. I didn't say it was the sole responsibility of conservative business leaders to begin hiring. Anyone who is able to hire, should begin hiring now, in order to invest in America. It seems to me that someone has to make the first move here. If we're not going to have big government and 'government handouts,' then shouldn't American business figure out a way to create jobs? With the recent agreed-upon 'compromise' in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling, there will be no tax increases. So now what? When are American companies going to step up to the plate and begin hiring again? What do you recommend to the 14 to 20 million Americans who are unemployed or underemployed? Should they simply die in the streets like the people in Somalia? Is that your answer?

Companies aren't hiring because they don't have to. They have figured out a way to maximize profits for their shareholders without hiring new people. This is the sad, new reality.

Amen to Max the sixties are over and it left us with aids. It is time for this country to get real. One big happy world is never gonna happen.

If we can't even aspire to a peaceful and prosperous world for all -- then we are surely doomed.

Didn't anyone else find it funny that the President threw himself a party that cost something like $35,000 or $40,000 to attend?

Class warfare my foot, this guy is a grifter. How many of the guests were fat cat corporate jet owners? Or is it OK to be a fat cat corporate jet owner if you are an actor, musician, lawyer, or professional athlete; Just not a banker or some other sort of business executive?

Attendite a falsis prophetis, qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ovum, intrinsecus autem sunt lupi raparces. A fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. Numquid colligunt de spinas uvas, aut de tribulis ficus?

Just becasuse the last Republican President was bad doesn't mean you have to support an equally bad Democratic President. Tit for tat rarely works out well. Let's learn a lesson from Bush II and NOT reelect Obama.

Positive idea to move our country forward: Enact all of the bipartisan Simpson/Bowles defecit reduction proposals. There is opposition to it so it would take real leadership on the part of the President to move it forward. Something he lacks.

As for the term grifter, what do you call someone who visciously badmouths a certain group of people every chance he gets, only to invite members of that group to his birthday party (for a nominal fee of $35,000)? A chiseler? A hypocrite? A charlatan? Yes, that's it, a charlatan. A charlatan is a person who pretends or claims to have more knowledge or skill than he or she possesses; a quack.
I think that is a better description, although his 2008 campaign was one of the best cons ever run (by any grifter) in history.

Bush II was a failed MLB owner and a mediocre (at best) Oil man and Governor. His dad was the Oil Baron. Like I said, a bad Republican President does not justify a bad Democrat President.

The sign of a great con is that the mark does not know he is being conned until it is over.

Listen to the lyrics of the Sex Pistols song E.M.I., especially the part about 'Blind Accpetance'

Bottom Line - Obama says "don't worry," markets collapse. Bye, bye Barack.

Mr. Grant,
You don't have to let me get away with anything. I am available at any time, night or day to discuss or meet with honest people who really care about this country. I don't care how you vote or if you vote. As far as all I can see from your entries on this blog, you are working for the Democratic Party and Obama, spewing whatever you can to blame others than your own party and your leader for our sorry state of affairs. So much of what you have written is just political garbage, such that is is no longer possible to treat your comments as anything but pap.
My comment about "entitlement folks" mean those people, of any persuasion, who want stuff for nothing. I am thinking of my friends wife, who after her company downsized, spent 96 weeks (I think that was the number) on Unemployment before looking for a job. She took the government's vacation. I have offered her work to no avail. Further, Obama as long ago as last week said that we need to raise the level of Unemployment Insurance to help the poor people who cannot get work. I know many business owners who cannot get enough employees. I believe it is because we are training people not to strive! The Democrats and this administration have, through their entitlement approach, helped to teach people not to look for work, unless is a job that is their "dream" job. When I needed jobs, during certain points in my life, I took what I could get and worked hard to improve my lot. To be cont'd.
Hank Heller

Mr. Grant
You seem to want those who have done well to keep giving more. Well, I want to see my government, locally as well as nationally, show that it can spend tax revenues in reasonable fashion. I have not seen this administration do that in any way. I have sen this administration guarantee foreign debt, even while we have to borrow to meet our own obligations. I have sen this administration give huge gifts to unions to payoff for their support, i.e GM and the current FAA dispute. I have seen many things that sicken me relating to this administrations financial profligacy. I want my tax money to be spent conservatively, just like I handle my personal funds. If you have a problem with that, tell it to someone who cares.
Hank Heller

I have to agree with Hank. We need to cut all spending. There is too much waste. We don't need government jobs. We need private sector jobs. Successful people who worked hard and took chances should not be punished by paying higher taxes. We should have a flat tax for everyone. If you have a social security number than you need to start paying your share. If you are not here legally than get the hell out. Enough with the hand outs. God helps those willing to help themselves.
Amen!

No, but I am saying the seed of racism started the minute he took the oath of office and I have seen the comments and posters and you can't deny them. Yes there are Conservatives that simply believe his policies are wrong but you have never seen a member of a State guilty of treason in it's history call out "You lie" from the floor of the Congress. You have never seen a white president treated with such disrespect by others in the Senate or Congress and had his very citizenship questioned. Of course there is a strong element of "He is not one of us" in the comments of so many Tea Party people and that has at it's core racism.

Let's not forget.. Rev Wrights Church... Lets not forget... "the police officer acted stupidly" Lets not forget.. "sit in the back of the bus" Obama is a joke to me at this point...

Oh Max, you are so funny. did you really say, "At least Dubya did not visit 57 states during his campaign, did not bow to Saudi kings, and did not present the Queen of England with Chinese iPods." You are getting on a presidential candidate's case about campaigning for every legitamite vote? (vs. bush who was elected by the electoral college and did not even win the popular vote). Do you really think bush didn't bow to the Saudi Kings? No, my dear. He got down on his knees for those fellas. And you are making fun of where the ipod was manufactured?? Ding dong -- bit of news for you that the brains behind the ipod came out of what country? And BTW, if you're going to make fun of social graces -- do you seriously think Bush is a good example? lol. oh, thanks for the laughs. it's been fun but i'm signing off from this thread.

Virtually every article in the media, including this one, uses the term "cuts" without explaining that they are not cuts in the commonly-understood sense. They are cuts in the rate of spending increases.

10:49am on Tuesday, August 9, 2011

I do not know what George is writing about but if he is saying that the Tea Party has promoted discrimination toward our President, he is very wrong. I know that the Democrats (and some Republicans) want to smear ugly accusations on Tea Party members, but I can promise that in any Tea Party venues that I have seen, attended or read about, I have not ever heard even one unkind racial comment about Obama or anyone. I have heard plenty of complaints about his policies, leadership , integrity and a host of other points, but never one that is racially motivated.
Hank Heller

All you have have to do is google Tea Party and racism and I am not talking about liberal Blogs. I am talking about youtube vids and pictures portraying the President in racist terms. Deny it if you want and maybe you agree with that tactic. I am sure many are simply anti his policies and anti Democratic. That is fine but the level of racist comments are disturbing.

All you have to do is google ku klux klan and Democrat Senate and you get a bunch of stuff about Robert Byrd and the history of that horrible organization being the terrorist wing of the Democrat party.

Clearly the vast, vast majority of democrats are not, nor have they ever been a member of or supporter of this horrible, racist organization. So how can you draw a conclusion about Tea Partiers being racist by the results of a similar search?

I also think this goes a long way in proving you can't rely on a search engine (or the internet) as the basis for an intelligent argument.

Mr. Grant
I am not employing any tactic. I have never seen nor heard a racist comment at a Tea Party event. I have been at a number of them and I have never experienced what you say you have read about and seen on youtube videos. I believe some small number of misguided people may behave poorly at one time or other, but that does not mean the Tea Party either accepts or condones racism. At the Uni-Tea event in Philadephia most of the speakers (and very excellent speakers they were) were people of color. They spoke fervently about why they did not agree with Mr. Obama's policies and directions. I have seen people of every stripe in the Tea Party tent, including union members, Democrats, libertarians, gay people etc. I suppose there might be some Tea Party organizations that would not meet my own measurement mores. So what? I know there must be Democratic organizations that would meet my own criteria for decency, and some that would not pass muster. Our country is drowning in politicians who are commited to "gift-giving" which never comes from their own pocket, just yours and mine.
Instead of attacking the fiscal problems of our country, your team, including Obama, is spending huge energy in trying to deflect responsibility away from the guy who has the job to get us back on sound footing, and trying to affix the blame onto the Tea Party. How will that solve our problems? The Tea Party is tiny. Our only power is that we speak straight and you don't
Hank Heller

Mr. Grant
I do not claim to be a Tea Party leader, but Jeff Weingarten, the leader of the Morristown Tea Party Organization did respond to you and let you know that you were not accurate in your allegations. Please refer back to his blog.
It is clear that you are working hard to push responsibility onto whomever you can, with the exception of Obama and the Democratic Party. What a weak excuse for a national policy! The Tea Party, which are small, independent enclaves of citizens, are working hard toward greater diversity, more inclusiveness and a larger dialog. The fact is that Obama is incompetent in his current job and no amount of blaming Bush, the Republicans or the Tea Party will grow the skills of leadership in him any time soon. The American people got fooled once. I do not expect them to be fooled again by the same guy and his pals. This is a complaint against weak leadership, poor character, lousy planning and inept governing. Nowhere do you read about skin color or ethnicity. That is all in YOUR head!
Hank Heller
Hank Heller