BluntPolitics.com

I have family members that I dearly love. They do have Obama mania (defined as “though he is human he can do no wrong”). This mania stems from “anything is better than Bush” or even a hatred of Bush. Either way  when faced with an argument or debate they retreat to “he has only been in office for 6 months give the guy a chance”. In that 6 months he has collected unprecendented power and apologized all over the world for past “American mistakes” thus making us look weak.

Here are the key points they make.

1. “Aren’t you glad Obama gave the go ahead to kill the pirates?” That decision by Obama is puzzling. He has no problem blowing the heads off pirates but we aren’t allowed to water-board 3 known terrorists to save thousands of lives? Isn’t that hypocritical?

2. Obama increased the national debt 100% in one month! Yet blames Bush that Obama was forced to do this spending spree! No CEO on the planet would keep his job doubling the debit of a company under the auspice that the former CEO caused him to do it! This is fiscal irresponsibility at its worst and treats the average American as if we were children! The arrogance of Obama is incredible. Currently, USA Today stated that only 60 billion of the 750 billion has been released after 3 months! Thus the economy is healing itself. The funny thing is that only 3% of the giant spending bill went for construction projects. The rest are pet projects of the democrats. Here are some examples. Don’t believe me, check out this link from the Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310466514522309.html

The problem with this debt is what Obama said himself, “We can’t sustain this amount of debt.

May 14 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.
“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”
Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy

But what does this mean? “I am going to tax you like hell to pay for this”

But he has ordered the Treasury to print money!!!

3. I shared with some family members that an unintended side effect of the Alaskan pipeline is that the caribou seek refuge under the pipeline during the harsh Arctic winter because the oil warms the area around the pipeline. http://www.anwr.org/Background/Caribou-in-the-Region.php I am not sure why this tidbit of science offends family members but the idea is that drilling for our own oil resources can work with the environment? Go figure.

4. Attack on the Health Care Industry. Obama now wants to create another entitlement called nationalized health care.  This gives him incredible power over the personal choices of Americans daily lives and destroys millions of jobs at the expense of helping 85% of Americans who have health care now by fixing the 15% using government run program and putting out of work literally millions of people in our industry and those of the insurance industry.

5. During the campaign the Bush detractors said that Bush was spending 9 billion per month on the war in Iraq. Yet Obama has no problem in one month and with future spending increase this amount by 3,000 billion per month!!! Are you nuts people?

6. When gas prices climbed the family members screamed bloody murder that Bush was driving up the costs and was in the pocket of the oil companies. Even after repeated proof on this blog that this was a ludicrous claim by the family members they continued in their delusion. Well the table has turned and the oil prices are climbing again, so is Obama in the pocket of the oil companies? Didn’t he just beg the Saudi King to lower prices last week? So why is Obama wanting to hurt the poor by increased oil prices? Are the family members going to step up to the plate and be intellectually honest and blame Obama the same way they blamed Bush? I doubt it. Why because there was a hatred of Bush that underlies their comments and sentiments.

Predictions. Obama is consolidating a massive amount of power with the medias help. He i controlling the banks, racking up debt, going to take over your personal choices of health care and now will tell you what kind of car to drive! Next he will bail out the states and the states lose power! He is in the pocket of the unions and which are corrupt and responsible for the downfall of large companies such as GM with their massive benefits and oppressive pension plans.

Looking forward to the health care fight to see how far he will take this country to push his agenda not caring about the average guy who puts people to work such as eflex!

I  hope my family members wake up and finally put on their intellectual honest glasses.

We have finally reached a point where humanitarian assistance, from us and others, can have an impact.

Washington Post

By Angelina Jolie
Thursday, February 28, 2008; 1:15 PM

The request is familiar to American ears: “Bring them home.”

But in Iraq, where I’ve just met with American and Iraqi leaders, the phrase carries a different meaning. It does not refer to the departure of U.S. troops, but to the return of the millions of innocent Iraqis who have been driven out of their homes and, in many cases, out of the country.

In the six months since my previous visit to Iraq with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this humanitarian crisis has not improved. However, during the last week, the United States, UNHCR and the Iraqi government have begun to work together in new and important ways.

We still don’t know exactly how many Iraqis have fled their homes, where they’ve all gone, or how they’re managing to survive. Here is what we do know: More than 2 million people are refugees inside their own country — without homes, jobs and, to a terrible degree, without medicine, food or clean water. Ethnic cleansing and other acts of unspeakable violence have driven them into a vast and very dangerous no-man’s land. Many of the survivors huddle in mosques, in abandoned buildings with no electricity, in tents or in one-room huts made of straw and mud. Fifty-eight percent of these internally displaced people are younger than 12 years old.

An additional 2.5 million Iraqis have sought refuge outside Iraq, mainly in Syria and Jordan. But those host countries have reached their limits. Overwhelmed by the refugees they already have, these countries have essentially closed their borders until the international community provides support.

I’m not a security expert, but it doesn’t take one to see that Syria and Jordan are carrying an unsustainable burden. They have been excellent hosts, but we can’t expect them to care for millions of poor Iraqis indefinitely and without assistance from the U.S. or others. One-sixth of Jordan’s population today is Iraqi refugees. The large burden is already causing tension internally.

The Iraqi families I’ve met on my trips to the region are proud and resilient. They don’t want anything from us other than the chance to return to their homes — or, where those homes have been bombed to the ground or occupied by squatters, to build new ones and get back to their lives. One thing is certain: It will be quite a while before Iraq is ready to absorb more than 4 million refugees and displaced people. But it is not too early to start working on solutions. And last week, there were signs of progress.

In Baghdad, I spoke with Army Gen. David Petraeus about UNHCR’s need for security information and protection for its staff as they re-enter Iraq, and I am pleased that he has offered that support. General Petraeus also told me he would support new efforts to address the humanitarian crisis “to the maximum extent possible” — which leaves me hopeful that more progress can be made.

UNHCR is certainly committed to that. Last week while in Iraq, High Commissioner António Guterres pledged to increase UNHCR’s presence there and to work closely with the Iraqi government, both in assessing the conditions required for return and in providing humanitarian relief.

During my trip I also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has announced the creation of a new committee to oversee issues related to internally displaced people, and a pledge of $40 million to support the effort.

My visit left me even more deeply convinced that we not only have a moral obligation to help displaced Iraqi families, but also a serious, long-term, national security interest in ending this crisis.

Today’s humanitarian crisis in Iraq — and the potential consequences for our national security — are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of Middle East, won’t explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?

What we cannot afford, in my view, is to squander the progress that has been made. In fact, we should step up our financial and material assistance. UNHCR has appealed for $261 million this year to provide for refugees and internally displaced persons. That is not a small amount of money — but it is less than the U.S. spends each day to fight the war in Iraq. I would like to call on each of the presidential candidates and congressional leaders to announce a comprehensive refugee plan with a specific timeline and budget as part of their Iraq strategy.

As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.

It seems to me that now is the moment to address the humanitarian side of this situation. Without the right support, we could miss an opportunity to do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.

Angelina Jolie, an actor, is a UNHCR goodwill ambassador.