Reading your blog and all the comments, I became aware of a common strategy in debate; when you are losing the debate change the subject. You went from 9-11 and Katrina to the economic crisis, to the Iraq war, to the national debt, to prior administrations, to the size of government (not necessarily in that order). You did nothing to support your original blog statements.

There were numerous facts brought out by prior posters. Facts that showed errors in your statements.

One fact I may have missed; is that The World Trade Center was first attacked during the Clinton Administration. Using your statement "Terrorist never before felt that an American President was so inept that they could attack the United States so boldly" appears that tag should go to President Clinton.

I was going to comment, but it seems JD covered it all. Thanks!

And for 8 years at that Gyro. And he wasn't scared to go after somebody, while BO shuts down the nuks.

“speechfree” Houston center are you declaring an emergency ? If so please squawk 7777 and ident. Please advise or contact Victoria tower on 121.0 they will give you landing instructions. “roger” understand, say again you have a problem with your oxygen system.

“speechfree” Victoria tower, you’re cleared to land runway 17, after turn off hold short, a liberal fellow me truck will be there to escort you to hanger 51.

Speechfree, you been burning it up today. LOL!!!!

Have a good weekend.

Daddy Bush vs Baby Bush.
Daddy understood the role of the federal government and his ultimate responsibility to protect his citizens.

DADDY BUSH TOOK OVER THE SITUATION AND TOOK PERSONNEL CONTROL WHEN LOCAL GOVERMENT WAS UNABLE TO RESTORE ORDER. THE STATE AND LOCAL ARGUEMENT IS POO !!!
6 p.m.: Bush, speaking from the Oval Office, addresses the nation on the violence in Los Angeles and elsewhere. He announces that he will place 6,000 National Guard members under federal control.

As lawlessness continued, President George Bush called for calm and a stop to "anarchy" on the streets of Los Angeles. He said that he had conferred with U.S. Attorney William Barr, Mayor Tom Bradley, and Governor Pete Wilson in an effort to provide whatever assistance might be needed to stop the senseless arson, violence, and looting. President Bush is said to have several key staff members monitoring the situation closely and available to provide federal assistance should it be needed.

The current totals of dead, injured and damage done now exceed those that occurred in 1965, when residents of the Watts section of Los Angeles erupted after the arrest of a black man by a white highway patrol officer. Thirty-four (34) people died in the following six-days of chaos, 1,000 were injured, and $200 million dollars in damage was done. Older eyewitnesses say that the most current riots far exceed the days of the Watts riots, both in intensity and level of violence.

As 4,000 regular Army troops and 1,000 federal law enforcement officers move into Los Angeles, people have begun to actually assess the severity of this latest day of "revolution". They find thirty-eight (38) people dead, 1,250 people injured, 3,600 structural fires, hundreds of businesses looted and closed, and more than 3,000 people arrested. At least four (4) police officers and three (3) firefighters have been shot and hundreds of other injured as they attempted to control the fires and lawlessness of the past three days.

A "Dusk to Dawn" curfew has been imposed by Mayor Tom Bradley, in an effort to prevent citizens from congregating into the groups that have controlled the streets in recent days. The curfew also finally has "teeth" as 4,000 California National Guardsmen assist the police in securing areas of previous violence. This evening, the National Guard Units were also "federalized" by President Bush and supplemented by another 4,000 Army and Marine troops with orders to act as "Light-Infantry" and to "return fire if fired upon".

Two things had protected us up until now, one a common known policy, the other a practice. M.A.D. mutually assured destruction, is a widely known and successful enemy deterrent policy.

The other is a commonly felt, but not fully understood administrative practice. For my purposes I’ll call it M.O.B. Mutually Observed Benefit.

An Example:

The Middle has oil, but lacks sufficient refinery capacity; which is why Iran, with so much oil, is buying it from “Chavez” right now.

We produce enough food to feed the world, and provide “financial assistance” to many countries, including Mexico. This is part of the practice that protects us from open attacks. Every country practices this.

Americas foreign policy failure, in preventing “9/11”; stems from not properly addressing these points.

1. If you have something others want, they will attack you.

2. If you offend people enough, they will attack you.

3. If in attacking you, gain is greater, they will attack you.

4. If in not attacking you, loss is greater, they will attack you.

5. If perception is weak, they will attack you.

6. If strong perception is discovered weak, they will attack you.

It’s just common sense foreign policy. If you address all 6 of these points, then military force will not be necessary quite so often.

This is all I have to say on “9/11”.

God grant us wisdom and understand, Amen.

1. 9/11 was well underway before President Bush stepped foot in the White House.
2. I saw a President step up to the plate and vowed to declare war on terror and to my knowledge we've been protected on American soil for eight years because of that President and to this day are fighting abroad to keep it from coming here again. God love our soldiers!
3. Agree or not on the war in Iraq, he made a choice based on information given to him by the people around him. (Hence: How important are the people you surround yourself with? Of course, majority of these carried over from the Clinton administration.) I remember watching video showing WMD's moving around all over Iraq. Everyone else seemed to believe it too if I'm not mistaken including Colin Powell and some Democrats. That came from our intelligience which was in place when Bush arrived only a few months before.
3. I'm really tired of the Katrina issue being thrown off on Bush. If it hadn't have been for their local Government...their arrogant Mayor who did nothing and their Governor..majority of people would have made it through that storm. That first line of responsibility lies on the people you elect in local positions and the truth of the matter, neither one of those official knew what to do. I call that...their fault. I don't know how those two can lay their head down at night without dreams of school buses just sitting there while people needed trasportation out...water and help waiting for a call...must I say more?

I will never forget the day President Bush was told about the attacks. The look on his face told me everything. He was asked what he did first after being told and he said he wept and prayed. I for one am sure glad President Bush was my President on Sept. 11, 2001.

Presidents make mistakes. Elections do have consequences. But instead of saying we tried deregulation of the Savings and Loans and human nature kicked in and with no one looking they lent their brother in law a million dollars on a used car which he promptly defaulted on [ spliting the proceeds] driving the S&L out of business causing a trillion dallor tax payer bail out. Then we tried it again with AIG and Madoff and human nature kicked in with nobody watching the store and the tax payer took it in the @#$. We can say the same for the airlines and for God sake electricity in Texas has gone to the dogs with horrible outcomes. So why despite all the evidence to the contrary when we know deregulation causes chaos do conservatives still think it is a magic bullet fix all ?

Speechfree,

I will make one last comment and I will stay off you’re ridiculous blog.

You commented about Bush and his war and all of his mistakes. You chewed him pretty good. What about that little conflict in southeast Asia (Vietnam), JFK, LBJ war and the 58,000 names on that wall in DC. I find your comments totally distorted based on you’re left-wing ideology, I do hope you leave that at home and not teach you’re liberal attacks on the students..

"Zionist conspiracy"?! Nice try.

No, I'm referring to the very tangible Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and Trilateral Commission (David Rockefeller's brain child), of which many influential cabinet members of the last few decades have belonged. Since more than one person is involved, I guess it's technically a conspiracy. They do have a common global government agenda.

Michelle Obama is still a director of the Chicago chapter of the CFR:
http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/chic...

This is the power the President is beholden to, not The People.

Instead of coming back with a snarky comment, do yourself a favor and do some research.

JR,
What do you call a person who won the presidential election by a single vote ? Bud ump ump

Gyro, Rasmussin predicted the presidential outcome by 1/2%. They were the closest. Next time speechfree, try a nonpartisan site, they are usually closer to the truth.

Please BS you are not alluding to a Zionist conspiracy are you ? As if you are I must ask you to no longer contribute.

gyro, like I said this is a blog not a dissertation. If this makes you feel smart I grant you that.

And you are right my background is in the sciences.

Well heres another one as of Sept. 3rd. I can see that Gallop is where you got your information from...of course a left wing site is going to show him up in the polls.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2...

The president has seen his approval rating fall more steeply than any other newly-elected president in modern history. When Obama started his term in January, his approval rating was at 68 percent. Now it's at 50 percent. Among independent voters-- a key voting block for Obama-- the news is even worse. Only 43 percent approve of the job he's doing.

Speechfree,
I don’t know what you meant by the young girl thing maybe that was just a moment you had.

I was not demonstrated any type of glory of my experience, I was stating facts based on my experience. I don’t know if you have ever been to a war zone, but I can say 9/11 and Katrina were ding close. One can always learn from their experiences, you can set back and wonder or assume then speculate the outcome of anything, but until you have experienced it, then only you can write about the truth..

"Liberals" and "Conservatives" are equally as likely to put Americans at risk, at home and on foreign soil. Party followers tend to let their guards down when their side is in power. Don't suffer under the same delusion that your side can do no harm. I hope speechfree can be objective about Obama's plan for escalation in Afghanistan, which ran its course long ago. No more nation building!!

Plus, it's a total folly to think Bush masterminded anything. The true power is always invisible and remains in power today. You give the President too much credit.

Let me guess, you found that in Gallop or factcheck.org. Both liberal run sites. Its kind of funny that it's only the left wing nut sites that show him up.

President Full results »
365 electoral votes
53% percentage or
66,882,230 popular raw numbers.

Thank you for the laugh I needed it.

"speechfree
If we go by the popular vote for Obama at least 70 million or so."

Hmmmm. I don't know where that figure came from but he is down in votes. Apperently your degree isn't in reading either. Polling conducted over the past two nights shows that 46% of voters now support the reform proposed by the President and Congressional Democrats. Opposition is down to 51%. However, it’s a partisan bounce as the increase in support comes entirely from within the President’s own party.
Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Fifty one percent (51%) disapprove. A Month-by-Month Review of the President’s ratings shows that the Presidential Approval Index served as a leading indicator by declining months before the President’s overall job approval ratings fell.

Military Lover,
If we go by the popular vote for Obama at least 70 million or so. Both houses of congress recaptured after just a blink of an eye under Newt's :new management". You had your chance to shine but Republicans wasted their moment in the Sun [ or wasted your chance of becoming steadfast] on impeaching Clinton, ousting Newt, busting the budget, attacking civil liberties with the patriot act, and failing to regulate the banking industry like you all failed to regulate the savings and loan industry causing economic melt downs that made the public say -- thank you for trying where is the democratic box on the ballot ?

Speech Free, you say you hold a "terminal degree" (i.e. PHD) from a prestigious university. It can't be in english that's for sure and certainly not in economics. Is it a degree in mindless blather? Just curious, that's all.

speechfree...oh my goodness. You're about as ignorant as they come. The frightening thing is there's probably more of you out there...

Nineteen-time Emmy Award-winning journalist John Stossel is leaving partisan ABC Network and is joining FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network. I'm sure to some persons he is now a sellout and has lost all creditability. Good career move jumping a sinking ship I say.

It's the only one I can find Gyro. www.govtrack.com has it word for word. It's funny, they say "it's not in there" but yet everything they say that isn't in it.....is. "There isn't anything about coverage for illegal aliens"...it's in there, "there is't any death panels"....it's in there.....As Joe Wilson so boldly stated during the speech.....LIAR!!!!!!!

Gyro,
I am old and hold a terminal degree from a prestigious university. I can do what ever I want at my stage . I make up words and write sentences 10 lines long. If I am writing for pay they hand it of to some student to clean it up and make it pretty. Being old has its privileges. And if you pppppppathetically think you can make me feel less then you just can not began to realize the fat headed ego you are dealing with and what an ants opinion means to me.

Yeah Victore...or you could just join the democratic party and you'd fit right in! =)

Vict.
You remind me of a young lady [let us just say she was plentiful and plain] obsession on how everyone and thing was concerned about her comings and going and how vulnerable she felt. I assure you like I assured her you are just not that interesting nor important for anyone especially the government to take an interest in-- you out of some 300 million citizens to govern, but if feeling that important means that much to you enjoy it, or their are treatments for such grandiosity.

Its five bills and the hr3200 is the one he keeps pushing. Otherwise he wouldn't have brought up the "death panels" which are right there in black and white. Joe Wilson is my hero after seeing the speech. He hit the nail on the head!

HR 3200 is one of five or six bills under consideration. Each bill will be subject to amendments by either party and compromises between the House and Senate versions will yield another opportunity to perfect the bill. The compromised bill will have an up or down vote then the President if he is a man of his word will not sign it if it does not meet the criteria he has set out. Thus , a single bill at this point is not gospel so holding the thing in the air is pathetic. In 2010 the people will know the final content of the bill and be the final " decider" .

" speechfree
Suzy,
In my history class years ago, I remember a lecture on the inner circle true believers of Hitler at the bunker who refused to believe and declared as distorted facts about the state of the German army and the impending reality of the war. Such true believers are all most impossible to dissuade as their whole being is invested in the lie of their ideological superiority. Thus, as Eva Anna Paula Braun did they drink the Kool Aid. "

Kinda sounds like the democratic party. All you have to do is read the 1018 pages of HR 3200 and you'll see that BO isn't telling the truth about anything. And you can whine and moan all you want to but I'm not a conservitive.....I'm a Libretarian, so all the he said/she said about Bush and Reagan doesn't bother me a bit.

Speechfree,

I based my comment on facts I know what went during the Katrina aftermath I was there in a law enforcement capacity. The same goes for the aftermath of 9/11, that is all I will say about it, I don’t want Obama’s black suited ninga’s showing up at my door step.

Tafo,
I suspect you believe Fox is fair and Balanced ? What a Joke !!! Disprove the facts, numbers and I will pull the post.

Suzy,
In my history class years ago, I remember a lecture on the inner circle true believers of Hitler at the bunker who refused to believe and declared as distorted facts about the state of the German army and the impending reality of the war. Such true believers are all most impossible to dissuade as their whole being is invested in the lie of their ideological superiority. Thus, as Eva Anna Paula Braun did they drink the Kool Aid.

CommonDreams is an Internet-based progressive news and grassroots activism site to ignite change for the common good. It is a far left leaning group. Facts gathered from them could be skewed to a certain point of view.

Victore
I can write anything I want. This is not debate central. You can do whatever you want with what I write. By all means, ignore anything without "facts", I don't care, but don't tell me what to do.

Published on Friday, October 22, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
The Bush Budget Deficit Death Spiral
by Robert Freeman

The first signs of impending trouble are the exploding budget deficits themselves. They began, of course, under the parlous economic stewardship of Ronald Reagan. Reagan cut the marginal tax rate on the wealthiest of Americans from 70% to 38%. He promised it would spur an orgy of investment and rocket the economy to new levels of production and prosperity. Instead, his “supply side economics” did the exact opposite. It produced the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

Output fell 2.2% in 1982 while budget deficits soared. When Reagan took office in 1981, the national debt stood at $995 billion. Twelve years later, by the end of George H.W. Bush’s presidency, it had exploded to $4 trillion. Reagan was a “B” grade movie actor and a doddering, probably clinically senile president, but he was a sheer genius at rewarding his friends by saddling other people with debts.

Bill Clinton reversed Reagan’s course, raising taxes on the wealthy, and lowering them for the working and middle classes. This produced the longest sustained economic expansion in American history. Importantly, it also produced budgetary surpluses allowing the government to begin paying down the crippling debt begun under Reagan. In 2000, Clinton’s last year, the surplus amounted to $236 billion. The forecast ten year surplus stood at $5.6 trillion. It was the last black ink America would see for decades, perhaps forever.

George W. Bush immediately reversed Clinton’s policy in order to revive Reagan’s, once again showering an embarrassment of riches on the already most embarrassingly rich, his “base” as he calls them. He ladled out some $630 billion in tax cuts to the top 1% of income earners. In true Republican fashion, they returned the favor by investing over $200 million to ensure Bush’s re-election. Do the math. A $630 billion return on a $200 million investment: $3,160 for $1. I’ll give you $3,160. All I ask is that you give me $1 back so I can keep the goodness flowing. Do we have a deal? Republicans know return on investment.

But the cost to the public has been a return to the exploding deficits of the Reagan years. Bush blew through Clinton’s surplus in his first year. The 2004 deficit reached $415 billion, a record. Still, its real size is masked by the fact that Bush has shifted $150 billion from the Social Security trust fund in order to make the shortfall look smaller. It’s like pretending you’re richer when you move money from one pocket to another. Both sums have to be repaid, so the real amount borrowed is the $415 billion “nominal” deficit plus the $150 billion from Social Security or $565 billion.

Victore
"Suzy, you and speechfree,

Are certainly entitled to you’re thoughts and or opinions, but please use some type of facts here, because reading you’re comments are truly funny and ridiculous. "

You better than that Victore...90% of BO supporters don't use facts....if they do they are distored.

Nearly six months after Hurricane Katrina, more than 1,300 bodies have been found news..

In total 2,993 people, including the hijackers, died in the attacks.[3][4] The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians

As of Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009, at least 4,343 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush, saying "our entire economy is in danger," urged Congress to approve his administration's $700 billion bailout proposal.

"We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis, and the federal government is responding with decisive actions," Bush said in a televised address Wednesday night from the White House.

SHEEP !!!!

Bush Mr small government said the feds needed to get in it .

Blind Sheep !!!!

Suzy, you and speechfree,

Are certainly entitled to you’re thoughts and or opinions, but please use some type of facts here, because reading you’re comments are truly funny and ridiculous.

Sheep, you must be kidding me, LOL, Obama playing the flute and look at you following the pied piper, WOW!!!!

UH UH, 9/11 was payback for when Bush 1 went into Kuwait, so it does basically tie in with the Bushes. Bin Laden knew how weak baby Bush was because of their family ties the Bushes, so the plans went ahead full force when he was elected President. And, the Vice President was none other than Cheney, who was in charge of the war. That's one thing about Islamic extremists, they believe in and eye for an eye.

Yes an the economic expansion during the Clinton administration was because what Reagan/Bush and Santa Clause did years earlier. You guys are Dumb sheep. I guess Lincoln's presidency is why the economy is stabilizing now. IGNORANT !!!

Thank you, mytwocents, for hitting the nail on the head. These attempts to shift the blame will be on the increase as more and more Americans wake up to the Socialist, incompetent, blithering idiot who is currently occupying the White House, courtesy of the Democrats.

Speechfree,

I think you’re comment is incorrect. 9/11 was because of complacency of the Clinton administration to act on good solid intelligence to stop the terrorist attacks including 9/11 which could have been prevented by Clinton. He had several opportunities to capture the mastermind (BL) if he had taken those steps 9/11 would not have occurred. Bush was a product of Clinton’s failures to act on terrorism. Clinton failed to put the resources into anti-terrorism. There was a battle over turf with the FBI, INS, Customs, CIA and NSA, to pass information between agencies. The intelligence was there it just wasn’t being passed around to all agencies in order to stop the flow of terrorism around the world and here in the United States. Bush doesn’t deserve all the blame as you so put it.

To blame Bush for the outcome of Katrina is total nonsense. The Governor failed to do the job of mobilizing the Guard. The Mayor which is one of the most incompetent morons I have ever seen. He had the resources available to get those folks out of arms way, but failed to do so. The blame lies with the Governor and Mayor. It is totally obvious that you have no knowledge of the events that occurred in New Orleans. The Mayor left the state, while the citizens of New Orleans were left to fend for them self’s. The Chief of Police stole a Cadillac Escalade off the show room floor, he, later resigned. The looting that was going on was unbelievable. Once the folks were removed and placed in shelters across Texas and others location, the odd part of this, was when these folk were boarding airplanes and buses, wanted to know where are they going to get their Social Security checks. You talk about being dependent on the Government to save you’re butt, when in fact these folks could have gotten out, they had a four day warning and was told to leave. I’m sure you’re all for more big government..

It is widely known that the planning and preparation for 9/11 actually began while Bill Clinton was in office and probably had much to do with his inaction over incidents like the attack on the USS Cole and the US embassy bombings that occurred while he was in office. The blame for the mess in New Orleans lies mainly with the mayor of that city and the governor of LA. There were defnitely some problems that the Federal government added to and there was some slow action in certain areas, but this was an event unseen in our country previously. I doubt it would have mattered who was in the oval office at the time. Obviously you disagree with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I personally had no problem with us going into Afghanistan to exact vengeance on those who attacked our country.