For those who have a even a passing fancy with business administration or economics, which leaves out 92% of the Obama administration, you know that businesses go through cycles of ups and downs. That's why it's called the business cycle. The current economic downturn that we are in began in early 2008. Recessions generally last about 12 to 18 months. We are now in the 27th month of our current recession. And after about two years of calling it the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, our current recession has been given the moniker 'the Great Recession.'How great is that?

Obama's policies intended to put an end to the recession have actually prolonged it. The over expansion of government has been the only source of job creation since the passage of the recovery act last year. So now we need stimulus II. Obama's commitment to job creation at the beginning of this year lasted about a day and a half. Since then, he has taken up the priorities of Nancy Pelosi-passing health care reform. Obama said in a speech at job creation was going to be his number one priority this year, then the next day and see Pelosi came out and said that health care reform will be passed. That was the end of the job's priority.

Obama seems to think that passage of the reform bill is not popular because people do not understand it. He thinks Americans are too dumb to know what's in the bill. He thinks Americans are too dumb because they do not believe the lies that he is selling us.

Health care reform is going to hold down costs. Really? How? With more people being covered, and no new doctors, where's the savings? We are being told that it is too expensive to pay for the medical expenses of the uninsured. But, we're going to subsidize their policies. Where is the savings?

Healthcare reform is going to reduce the deficit. Obama alleged he would not raise taxes on the middle class. So how will a bill that cost $1 trillion reduce the deficit by about $1 trillion? Are there huge tax increases that are not being talked about by the Democrats?

It seems like the only bills that are being passed by Congress are extensions of unemployment benefits. A few billion here and a a few billion there, all added to the deficit. I sense another speech coming about fiscal responsibility. That will of course be followed up with more deficit spending. Soon it will be time for Obama to tour the country with his pockets full of stimulus money to dole out to Congressional districts being held by Democrats. That should entice the poor to vote for Democrats again so that more free money can be given out to the poor. While doing this, are the Democrats going to blame the economic crisis on Bush again? The lack of leadership by the Obama administration does not have the fortitude to lead the country back to a position of strength. Obama will continue to blame it on the past 10 years. I agree with impartially, with the past year and a quarter.

Are you looking for a new avenue to relieve yourself of the overabundance of money that you would have in your pockets? Are you tired of going to work in bringing home a paycheck that covers your day-to-day spending and may even allow you to have a large screen TV in your home or a new car in your driveway? It's time that we come to terms with our selfishness that has rubbed off on us from those greedy years that the United States experienced back when George Bush was president.

If you're having a hard time trying to figure out what to do with approximately half of your income, the government will solve that problem for you. Tax increases are coming. Tax increases are coming from every level of government. If you've had no tax increase or even just a small tax increase, the government is going to help you make up for that. They're all up going to raise taxes.

On the national scene, Congress is trying its hardest to raise your taxes. Pushing the number one priority, jobs, to the side, President Obama in Congress are focusing almost single-mindedly on health care reform. And this is supposed to do everything at once. It is supposed to provide free health care, give better insurance, hold down costs, and reduce the deficit. We have already seen that it can only do that by providing 10 years of taxes for five years of benefits. Some savings.

Cap and Trade is another method that the federal government wants to revive in order to squeeze more tax money into the federal coffers. It does nothing to curb pollution or cut greenhouse gases, but it is a feel-good measure for all the lefties out there to think that they're doing something that makes a difference. The only difference is the amount that consumers will be paying for utilities and energy. The cost of gas and electricity will probably triple but because it's not a direct tax, the Democrats think are getting away with something.

Locally, the state legislature is happily passing through an increase in the sales tax in Milwaukee County. Again this is being sold as help to the poor. This increase in the sales taxes meant to fund public transportation for buses and a new train that a bunch of lefties believe is needed for the county. It's a good thing that all the poor people live in walking distance from the train station.

People have been complaining about the poor shape of the parks in this county also. The government needs more money to get the parks back in shape. Yet, after I'm convinced that the parks are very poor shape, it gets announced that they have won an award for beautification of the parks. So which is it? Are they in good shape or bad? Someone needs to make up their mind.

Scott Walker is also being demonized for furloughs and layoffs. He is one of the few politicians that does not stand up and raise taxes at every turn. Even with the majority of the county board behind the idea of raising taxes, Walker refuses. The problem in Milwaukee County is not that were taxed too little, it is that 10 years ago the county Board of Supervisors at the time decided to enact a generous retirement plan that would create millionaires out of bureaucrats. Being that no one can right this wrong, the only thing left to do is to cut jobs today. The blame should not go with Scott Walker's policy, but it should be blamed on the previous administration. That line of thinking seems to work for Obama.

Health care reform and climate change. Two recurring news items. At the end of 2009, it seemed like we were going to be able to move beyond these two stories. But they keep coming back. Is it Groundhog Day? Is it a recurring nightmare?

President Obama said last month that in 2010 he was going to make jobs is number one priority. The next day, he moved on to health care. We abandoned health care ever since. After a 7 1/2 hour lunch meeting, we find that nothing was accomplished. No minds were changed. In January after the Massachusetts Senate election, President Obama said in a news interview that he was going to slow down and get things right. One could almost interpret that as taking the health care bill, scrapping it, and starting over from scratch putting in the ideas that are needed and leaving out the arm twisting, backroom deals, etc., also known as sausage making. Now, the president wants to ram it through within six weeks. Is this supposed to make the American people more confident in our government?

Global warming is another subject that keeps rearing its ugly ignorant head. After the House of Representatives passed its bill, it lost steam in the Senate. Then came climate gate. Revealed were the e-mails saying that the science was inconclusive. The members of the climate change committee concealed their findings that the globe is not heating up anymore. Again, one would think that they would be trumpeting these findings saying that we are getting the problem licked. Perhaps, what they're not telling us is that there is money behind all of this global warming data. Whether it is true or not.

Now the global warming nuts are coming back out in full force saying that January 2010 was the warmest January ever. And they have a couple of years' data to back this up. Despite all the blizzards that have shut down the East Coast, it was actually warm. Huh? Like the progressives with health care, the global warming advocates have decided that the American people are just a bunch of dumb dumb dummies that cannot comprehend what is actually going on. So, the global warming advocates are going to use the same technique-keep lying and tell the same lies again and again so that we start to believe it.

What also makes these stories parallel each other is that the politicians want to use the excuses of global warming and the evil insurance companies to levy huge tax increases on the American people at a time when the economy is being prolonged by the mismanagement of the administration beginning last year. Let's not waste a crisis. What we had not imagined last year, is that we would still be tackling the same problems, the same way, in the same manner. Bad ideas that do not make sense should not be forced upon us no matter how bad things get. Is the worst behind us? The progressives are hoping we will answer no.

2010 was supposed to be the year that the Obama administration turns their main focus to job creation and economic recovery. After a couple of weeks, the focus was again shifted towards the passage of a government run health care bill.

Obama has staked his presidency and the success of his presidency on the passage of a health-care reform bill. After spending all his political capital in 2009 over the passage of a health-care reform bill, President Obama came out earlier this year saying he was going to slow down and concentrate on a good bill rather than trying to ram through the monstrosity that the original bills had become. But, seeing that that looked too much like hard work, Obama is again trying to pass the Senate bill.

This time is different though. Obama has actually put out an 11 page bill highlighting some of the points he wants in a reform bill. Then, he is going to hold another beer summit in Washington inviting Republicans over with the illusion that he is going to make this bipartisan. As was seen in the past, Obama is going to listen to the Republican ideas and then categorically dismiss them. Then, his administration will again claim that the Republicans have no ideas. He will claim they just want to be obstructionist.

The way the Obama administration sees it, the only way to have your own ideas is to bring in a wheelbarrow with about 3000 pages of confusing, licit worded documents that will spend about $1 trillion and raise taxes at least that much, and call it a bill that creates jobs and saves lives.

The support for health-care reform has fallen off dramatically as more Americans find out what is actually being proposed by the members of Congress. Obama claims that the American people are just a bunch of dumb dumb dummies and can't understand what is being proposed. It is being sold as a free lunch and if there's one thing that Americans know, there is no free lunch

the Democrats view bipartisanship in Washington as Republicans invading their own ideas and principles and signing on with the Democrats. If they don't, the Democrats will claim victory that the Republicans are in fact obstructionists and will be passing the bill on their own ramming it down our throats through the process of reconciliation. If Americans did not want this bill through the regular process, why would we want it this way? Again, the Democrats think that the American public is just too dumb to know what's good for us. Americans are too dumb to welcome a bunch of new taxes. Americans are too dumb to put two and two together and only come up with 3 1/2. If we came up with four, we would not have that extra half to put towards deficit reduction.

Even earlier this year, I thought the Congress and the ministration were finally going to figure out that spending trillions of dollars that America does not have, is not going to be as popular as it was last year. However, we see the progressives in Congress ready willing and able to keep spending trillions of dollars adding to the deficits that are becoming burdensome and feeling absolutely no responsibility to control government spending. After everyone is broke, then what will we do? It looks like we're going to find out.

The Louisiana purchase was not enough. But Cornhusker Kickback was not enough. The omnibus bill was not enough. The federal government is now going to kick into high gear wasteful spending across the United States in an effort to shore up the reelection of Democrats in the fall election. In short-the Obama administration is going to waste taxpayer money buying votes.

Kicking off this week, President Barack Obama is fueling up Air Force One for a cross country tour to campaign for Democrats. He has lined his pockets with about a half  trillion dollars from his failed stimulus bill that was passed last year. A year later, the Obama administration has been touting how well it has worked. Yet, only about a third of the money allocated has been paid out. According to Joe Biden, that is how it was designed. The administration must be proud that all the unemployed people who have lost their jobs since Obama has taken office, will only have to wait out a few more months for the government to take action.

In what is being called the Vegas payout, Barack Obama traveled to Nevada to campaign for his old crony Harry Reid. Gary Reed was very proud to have Barack Obama make a speech without talking with his- [you know the quote.] President Obama also brought along a couple billion dollars to bail out Nevada mortgage holders who are not responsible enough to take on a reasonable amount of debt. If you can't afford your house in Nevada, no problem, taxpayers across the country for future generations will help you pick up the tab.

Coming only days after Obama decided to create a debt panel to suggest ways on how to reduce the deficit, the president has found that there is plenty of money to buy votes. Harry Reid is in serious trouble poll wise in his bid for reelection. But for every Democrat who is in trouble in his election, the Democrats will dip into that trillion dollar slush fund that was created last year as the stimulus bill and more recently as the TARP fund (from the money which was paid back and should have gone to reducing that debt), and can spend it all in Democratic districts and in states where the Democrat is in trouble for a Senate reelection campaign. Is this how the rest of the stimulus funds are going to be spent? And Obama's discretion while campaigning for Democrats?

If the Wisconsin Senate seat now held by Russ Feingold is not in trouble, I guess we won't be able to expect any of this generous stimulus funds for Wisconsin. So for all the monies being spent across the country, Wisconsin will get nothing. And if we reelect Russ Feingold, Wisconsin will get nothing.

Athletes trained for decades. They waited for years. Finally came their chance to participate in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver British Columbia. But where's the snow? It was 50° and raining. The hopes were dashed, the dream is gone. And it's all attributed to global warming.

But the story gets worse. Multiple snow storms marched their way up the East Coast shutting down the United States government for about a week. Even though it cost $100 million a day, it was a cheap week. Cheap compared to what Congress would spend. The snowstorms hit the south. The states that had not seen snow in years, now saw snow. And the reason for this? It's global warming.

Global warming fanatics manage to explain both warm weather and cold weather with the same argument-global warming. The carbon dioxide given off by breathing humans as creating a greenhouse gas which is trapping the sun's rays causing the earth to get warmer. In the same manner, it is explained by saying that more evaporation caused by the warm temperatures is getting into the atmosphere and is cooling down because the clouds caused by the evaporation are causing the atmosphere to get colder causing more snow. So the argument works on both ends. And it might make sense if you don't think it thoroughly.

Scientists that once claimed the earth is irretrievably getting warmer are now trying to avoid arguments by skeptics who have shown scientific data that the world is getting cooler. The truth is: nobody knows for sure.

So if nobody knows for sure, why are we acting as if we do know for sure. The federal government is trying to impose some sort of taxation programs upon the citizens called Cap and Trade hoping that it will turn into some feel-good legislation so that we think were doing the right thing by saving the earth and paying higher taxes. It has to be more that the progressives want to convince us that global warming is true so that they can get more taxation to push the progressive agenda.

Even the Wisconsin Legislature is pushing its own Cap and Trade bill in an attempt to convince our citizens that the taxes in the state of Wisconsin are not high enough. Governor Jim Doyle apparently wants to go out with a bang further eroding the economy of the state of Wisconsin. He wants to push a mass transit system with money given to him by the federal government. Of course the federal government is borrowing the money. How are the operating costs going to be paid for? These costs are going to go on forever. But there is no plan to effectively paid for this mass transit system. Where will the riders come from? Are they all going to the same place? How many tracks are going to be laid? Will these all be counted as green jobs? Isn't that how it's being sold to us?

Yes, we have realized that we do need to create jobs in this state. However, imposing higher taxes to subsidize programs that people are not going to use will erode the economy even further. If an effective tax policy is initiated, it can be the private sector that will be driving the market towards this so-called green economy. We cannot be forced into a green economy especially if it's based on findings that are not truthful. The citizens of this country are not so stupid that we are going to be spoon fed a bunch of lies repeated enough times to be taken as gospel. Not anymore. Let's hope not anyway. 

It did not take long for the Liberals to jump on Sarah Palin for writing a few words on her hand during a keynote speech at the Tea Party convention. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was also poking fun at Sarah Palin by writing words on his hand. That just goes to show how immature this administration will behave. What Gibbs did should be an embarrassment to the administration. But it wasn't.

Receiving lesser coverage, which means it was only covered by Fox news, was Barack Obama giving a speech recognizing military corpsman. What is well-documented is Barack Obama's dependence on teleprompters. And what was illustrated by this under reported story is that Brock Obama-who wants a reputation of being smarter than everybody else-needs to have several words on his Teleprompter written phonetically. He pronounced corpsmen as 'Corpse man'. Sure, anyone can mispronounce a word here and there, but Obama repeated it several times. Why would a person as smart as Obama mispronounce the same word multiple times? The mainstream media is giving a pass on the commander-in-chief mispronouncing military words. Now we know why the mainstream media is sometimes called the lame stream media.

Another item of note is that Barry Gaffeagain needed a Teleprompter to talk to a sixth-grade class. How much confidence is the president of the United States portraying to grade schoolers when he needs a Teleprompter to talk to sixth graders?

How can the citizens of the United States feel confident that the president is doing the people's work when we are seeing examples of the immaturity of the president and his administration. Obama is clearly in over his head. He cannot handle the presidency. The office of the presidency involves more than just sitting down for TV interviews on the channels that only give favorable coverage to Obama and his policies.

Robert Gibbs wrote on his left hand; hope and change. What was written on his right hand? Wipe with this one. The left-wing liberal media left that part out.

President Barack Obama claims he is not an ideologue. He came to office with an agenda in mind. He promised the American people hope and change. However, the American people had a different idea of what hope and change meant than President Obama.

Obama turned out to be more of a progressive than the American people thought. First of all, America believed it needed a new direction because of a faltering economy. Unemployment was rising and the GDP was falling. Now, after a year, we are still uncertain about the direction of the economy. The number of jobs is falling as is the unemployment rate. Not sure how that works-one would think that these two figures would be inversely related.

It has been a year since we passed the $787 billion stimulus bill. It was designed to stimulate the economy and to create jobs. The number of jobs it is created is debatable. At best it is created only government jobs and very few if any private-sector jobs. The Obama administration claims that it has saved somewhere between thousands and 2 million jobs. Of course there are no hard and fast rules of how these jobs are counted. Perhaps this is why some jobs get counted twice or even five times. One thing we can be sure of is that creating census counting jobs is not going to give us long-term economic job stability.

Let's ask the question; What has Obama accomplished in this first year? Health care reform? No. Thank goodness for that one. What was sold to us as covering more people, holding down costs, and making health insurance more affordable has turned into buying the votes and bribing a few senators to get their vote in order to pass the bill in the Senate. If this bill was going to be so great, why was all the wheeling and dealing done behind closed doors in order to get the minimum number of votes needed?

Cap and Trade? No. Again, they goodness for this one too. What is designed to curb pollution on a worldwide scale has morphed itself into higher energy taxes in the name of creating green  jobs. What is a green job? And how will they be counted? Again, this will only result in higher taxes and higher energy costs for all Americans. Is this progress? If it doesn't reduce any pollution, that's okay because the government needs the revenue to continue its spending binge.

Fiscal responsibility? No. President Obama begins every fiscal responsibility speech by blaming George Bush. Well, George Bush is not president anymore and Barack Obama needs to begin taking responsibility for his own fiscal mismanagement. It was under Obama's watch that trillion dollars was added to the budget deficit by spending more TARP money and re-spending the tarp money then needs to happen. After all, the economy is coming out of the recession because of the success of the stimulus bill. That's what the administration keeps telling me anyway.

Increasing federal spending by 84% and then imposing a freeze on spending is a gimmick. How can the lectures on fiscal responsibility be taken seriously when one day the president says we are spending too much and the next day he is ready to forgive all the student loans. And why the special treatment to students who get government jobs? Their loans are forgiven 10 years earlier? Gosh, Pa, this wouldn't be another payoff to the unions, would it? The entry-level government jobs tend to be union jobs.

Tripling annual deficits and then promising to cut them in half by 50% doesn't sound like hard decisions are being made. As a voter, I thought I was being promised fiscal responsibility the whole time. Hope and change wasn't explained as payoffs for unions and trial lawyers. But that is what was delivered. Yes, often as is hard to remain a person of principle amid a large opposition. I will agree that it is much harder to do what is right versus what is most popular. But what is right, must be right for America. What is being done cannot be based on a political agenda. Especially if the political agenda is based on an ideology of bad ideas.

Last week, President Barack Obama gave his first State of the Union address. After two years of having the media, political pundits, and citizens in general fall all over themselves toting what a great speaker but president is and how provoking he is motivating the country to unite and make the United States a better place, this particular speech seemed less than inspiring.

Is Barack Obama losing his touch? Is his trademark talent beginning to wane? The past year brought Obama has gotten in front of just about every TV camera he could, TelePrompTer alongside, ready to rally the American people to action in support of his policies and agenda. According to several polls, he did get a bump in popularity as a result of the state of the union, but how long will it last? For the president to maintain an approval rating above 50%, he has to convince the American people that he will go in the right direction -- a direction that is best for both the country and the citizens.

Lately, Obama has been all over the board with the direction of his presidency. One day, he comes out with a plan and a commitment to rein in federal spending. The next day, he proposes a new stimulus bill. Only now, he's not calling it a stimulus bill, it's a jobs bill. In 2010, the focus of the Obama administration is jobs. Except of course Cap and Trade. This year being called a climate bill.

Let's not forget the emphasis on passing the health care reform bill. After a year of trying to shove them through Congress, a few more pushes is all that's needed to make it law. Obama has said that its failure into passage, is due to the fact that he did not explain it well. Well, land sakes, Pa, all us dummy Americans just didn't know or were able to understand what we were being told by Congress. In team the treasury to buy the votes needed to get it through the Senate is just something that the masses are too stupid to comprehend. If a health-care reform bill was to ensure all Americans, bring down cost, and provide better coverage, it would have no trouble being passed on its merits. It would even be better if it had cross state portability and tort reform. Neither version that went through Congress did these.

The budget process is also a joke. After spending an extra trillion dollars in 2009, President Obama is increasing his spending for fiscal year 2011. Again, Obama is placing the blame on the past 10 years. Well, he only means to blame the eight years of the Bush administration. Every time Obama blames Bush, he is de facto admitting that he is in over his head. The TARP money was supposed to be a loan to the banks to save the financial structure of the country from collapsing. It was supposed to be a loan and paid back to the taxpayer with interest. Lo and behold, it was. Except for the bailout of the auto industry. Now, Obama wants to tax the banks in order to get the money back. I'm sure none of this incidence will be passed on to the consumers. Obama is trying to gain popularity by exploiting the greed of capitalists, mainly bankers. Will it work? That remains to be seen.

The American people may be gullible, but they still have to be sold. One of Obama's latest catch phrases is that he is never been so optimistic about America as he is today. I'd like to be optimistic about America today also. But I am being held back by this concept called reality.

The Democrat arrogance that has been emanating in this country has also been greatly slowed down. The political parties nationalized the Senate race in Massachusetts. It became a referendum on Obama care. The citizens of Massachusetts became a voice for the nation and spoke loudly and clearly that Congress and the Obama administration must take a new direction for America to be successful.

Running on a platform of being the 41st vote to stop the healthcare monstrosity that is currently going through Congress helped elect Scott Brown. Also on the Brown platform is concern about huge budget deficits, national security, and the statement economy. All were to be addressed by the Obama administration but instead he made the "jobs" priority low on his to do list while he turned practically single-mindedly towards passing the healthcare reform bill. Obama bet his presidency on it, and now it looks like he has lost.

After the Christmas eve vote in which the healthcare bill passed the Senate, Obama was out making speeches touting on how seven presidents have taken on the issue of healthcare reform and seven presidents have failed. It is quite evident that he arrogantly believed that he would be the final success. With the high amount of schadenfreude, this is what is best for America.

The economy has been in what is now being called the Great Recession for over two years. As families grow uncertain about the future of their jobs, unemployment has climbed. Companies are not hiring because of the uncertainty of their tax future. People who are fortunate enough to not lose their jobs, and had to forgo raises. At the same time, governments have increased their spending and in turn have raised taxes. Then, politicians have not figured out why people are not confidently spending money. Instead of giving companies incentives to hire more workers, the government has focused their attention on how working families are going to keep health insurance if they lose their jobs. Although this is a noble concern, if the government would focus on giving companies tax incentives to hire more people, more families could get health insurance through their employer which has been how the majority of people get their health insurance in America. This has been going on for generations. Now, all of a sudden this turned out to be the worst system in the world.

The Democrats were blindsided by the special election in Massachusetts. After a year of leaving that they are infallible and going to be in power for a long time, now Democrats across the country are worried. When Democrats get in trouble, they usually have the president if they are in the same party come campaign for them. Obama campaigned for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey. Both lost. Obama campaigned for Coakley in Massachusetts. She lost. I hope Obama plans to come to Wisconsin and campaign for Russ Feingold.

The Milwaukee public schools are set to improve starting this year. This of course, sounds like a headline from the Onion. And of course it could be. Whether it be here, at Logos of the Bogus, or the Onion, either way, it is a joke.

MPS just went through a superintendent selection process. By the early part of last week, the board had their selection arrow down to three worthy candidates-one who can't manage money, someone who cheats on his taxes, or someone who just did a poor job in general. And taking its cue from the legislative process, the board late on Friday night. They chose a guy who can't manage money.

I'm sure this new superintendent, maybe someday I'll even learn his name, will be doing a fine job. I'm sure this for responsible administrator will be spending money like there's no tomorrow. Trips across the country, maybe even across the world, new books, new buildings, computers from the students, the list goes on. I'm sure these are all things that will come about that the taxpayers in the city of Milwaukee will gladly pay for. Pulling a salary of $260,000 per year, I'm sure he'll quickly prove his worth.

And, doesn't anyone dress up anymore? The new superintendent has just landed a job that pays over a quarter million dollars per year and yet he decided to wear a shirt with horizontal stripes and is not tucked in. He looks like he's headed for the door after hearing someone volunteered to buy the first round. His friend to his left looks like she is wearing her sweatsuit and on her way to or from Old Country Buffet.

Well, I for one glad that I am not a citizens of the city, otherwise it would not be so funny. The deciding board says it did not take into account the personal pink lips he filed by the next superintendent. Well, compared to a tax cheat or a complete sluff, maybe they found his inability to manage money compatible with their philosophy. I'm sure the property owners in the city of Milwaukee will look forward to huge jumps in the property tax rate to support the schools and their mismanagement of funds that will be forthcoming. After all, it's for the children.

President Barack Obama and the Democrat leaders in Congress are once again at the level of desperation for the healthcare insurance reform bill that has been going through Congress for about a year. Perhaps soon, we can get to the point to where the current bill will finally be defeated. Then, we can start over using bipartisan ideas of real reform that America will want and agree with.

Democrats still seem determined to shut this down the throats of an unwilling population for their own selfish interests. If this is such a good idea, why do we need all the payoffs? Why all the rides for the congressional votes? The administration is seeking passage of this bill purely for their own narcissistic views. They want a political victory. They want a political victory at any cost.

The senators from Wisconsin both have their heads up their butts. Herb Kohl is more worried about the basketball season than he is about any legislation. Surprisingly though, he takes the time to vote. Russ Feingold is equally spineless. He holds listening sessions throughout the state of Wisconsin but clearly does not listen to his constituency. He makes statements to the fact that he does not agree with the provisions of the health care bill. He does not agree with the exemption of the Medicare cuts for Florida, he does not agree with the pay off to the Louisiana senator, and he does not agree with Senator Nelson of Nebraska who got free Medicaid reimbursement for his state forever. Yet, Feingold has voted every time in favor of the healthcare bill. Is he representing Wisconsin? Undeniably, the answer is no. When Feingold photos in favor of this legislation, he is more in tune with the citizens of Florida, Louisiana, and Nebraska. Why is he looking for votes in Wisconsin?

Obama himself is trying to develop every trick that he can think of to pull wool over the eyes of the American citizenry. First, he says that economic recovery is dependent upon the passage of a health care bill. Then, Obama says it is morally right to pass a bill that will ensure all Americans. That statement may have some merit but it is not the bill that is in Congress now. Now he is saying that Americans should have the decency to pass a health care or insurance reform bill. What is decent about all these backroom deals? What is decent about his own selfish interest of scoring a political victory? What is decent about Obama and his only concern about putting a feather in his cap saying that he did something in his administration?

If this healthcare bill fails, it will bookend a year of failure for the Obama administration. Time and again, the American people have sent a message to politicians in Washington that the main concern in America today is getting the economy to recover and to create jobs for those who do not have one. Yet, the administration and Congress have devoted just about the entire year to health care reform and the deals and bribes surrounding it. Oh, we mustn't forget about that fabulous stimulus bill passed in February that has yet to create jobs. The administration comes out again and again touting how it has saved government jobs. Saving jobs cannot verifiably be quantified, but the administration has done whatever it can to pay back unions and trial lawyers. It has done this without regard for fiscal responsibility, or taxpayer interest.

Well, we can see that the Obama administration and this year of Democratic control of Congress has not been a memorable year for many Americans. It is been a year when the United States has emptied its treasury and is gotten very little if anything in return. The good news is this; America's resiliency will return. Even if it has to take three more years to do so.

"We want our money back."Sometimes it's hard to believe that that statement actually came from President Barack Obama. But then we remember that it came from the antibusiness sentiment of the Obama administration. President Obama gets a perverse sense of pleasure whenever he thinks that he can stick it to the banks. First, Obama thinks that he saved the American economy by bailing out the banks. Now, he wants Americans to think that banks are the root of evil in America today.

The Obama administration tries to grab credit for the reversal of the economic slowdown. Again this year, all the problems that Obama has her inherited from the Bush administration. However, if you take a second look, the economic slowdown began to accelerate when it was clear that Obama was going to become the next president of the United States. Companies uncertain of the economic future because of unknown level of taxes that would be forthcoming, there will be a lot of them, began to cut costs. Now, after hitting bottom of an 18 month recession, Obama takes all the credit. The Obama administration also takes credit for this stimulus bill working wonders as designed. Then in the next breath, people will claim that only 25% of the stimulus bill is been paid out. If it works out well at 25%, why not canceled the remaining 75%? What about making the taxpayer a whole on this issue?

Obama and the Democrats are looking for any way to raise taxes on the American people. Apparently Obama does not understand that when you impose a fee on businesses they pass it along to consumers. What happened to Obama's promise that he will not raise taxes on the middle class? Assumably, whatever filters down to the middle class does not count. For Obama's promise to be true, it just has to be taxed imposed directly to the middle class.

The American taxpayer is now owed a lot from the Obama administration. We were promised uneconomic recovery that did not materialize. The taxpayer got stuck with the bill for $787 billion stimulus bill which has made no difference to the economy at best. If nothing else, it is made things worse. Still coming to America is being forced on a health-care bill that has very little to do with health care reform. It is more about political favors and it is about insurance reform. 49 states must now pay for 50 states' Medicaid. Medicare will be good for seniors in 49 states. A tax on health care plans will be applied to all Americans-except if you are a union member.

This administration promised to come to Washington with a new attitude. It would not be "business as usual." But it has been business as usual. The Obama administration was not supposed to be influenced by lobbyists or special interest groups. Yet, unions and trial lawyers have had their hand in just about every piece of legislation and action taken by the ministration. It's payback time for the unions and trial lawyers. And they're getting paid back.

We have survived one quarter of the Obama term already. As difficult as it got, we have survived. A year of failure and lies is certain to be followed by three more years of failure and lies. America voted to give Barack Obama the chance to heal the country's problems. We took his promises at face value and placed our hope in him and his administration with one caveat-the plans had to work.

We, as Americans were sold on hope and change for the better. We certainly received less than that. On energy, Obama said that he was open to offshore drilling. Whatever happened to that? Apparently he made that promise just to get elected. We are no closer to energy independence. And thinking that solar panels and windmills will solve our problem, that's just plain out deceit.

We were sold the idea of economic recovery. Obama convince the Congress to rush a $787 billion stimulus plan through Congress. We did and what happened? Absolutely nothing. Where is the money? Where are the jobs? Where are the results?

For 2010, Brock Obama has promised to make jobs his top priority. After a nearly two-year recession, Americans expected that to be job number one. Evidently, it was not. Instead, Obama and his administration and cronies in Congress decided to divert America's attention to the subject of health care with the ultimate goal of government takeover. Even though it seemed to falter at every step, it somehow kept advancing. It took buying 60 votes in the Senate and huge payoffs to other members of Congress just to get a watered-down bill that Barack Obama will claim political victory for.

Brock Obama has made the United States less safe. His inability to recognize the war against the United States by Islamic terrorists has reduced confidence that the president is taking his number one responsibility-keep America safe-seriously. His mishandling of the shooting at Fort Hood is only superseded by his mishandling of the underpants bomber. Making a speech three days later in a Hawaiian shirt and a blazer does not instill confidence. Because of the emphasis on being politically correct, suspicious people cannot be profiled while the rest of us have to go through pat downs and full body scans with feel-good attitude that if I had a bomb in my pants, it would be found. Sounds like a bunch of crap to me. Al Qaeda has achieved its goal. Americans are polarized, fearful, and don't really know how to react to this new wave of fear and terror. How confident can our future be?

Obama should be nearing the end of his time than what she can blame George Bush for all the problems of his presidency. Blaming Bush is nothing short of admitting that he is in over his head. Aroma hope is that Congress does not show through enough poorly designed laws that are being read by no one before it's too late. America needs some fresh candidates to elect into office that has the nation's interests as a top priority and not their own selfish paybacks that the Democrats in the current Congress have. I've never felt that this country is headed in the wrong direction so strongly as I have this past year. And the opinion polls show that I am not alone. It's not only an indication that our best days are behind us, it's almost a foregone conclusion. Barack Obama's presidency will continue to be historic-only as the worst president of the modern era.

Having just transitioned from 2009 into 2010, one thing we can say is that it has been a year like no other. Then again, we can say that about every year. We do say that about every year.

The year 2009 was supposed to be a year that began with great hope. We had elected a new president, and we were satisfied that the Republicans of 2008 were the cause of all the malcontent in the world. It was an easy excuse, but we liked it. Things can only get better, right?

It didn't take long for President Barack Obama to come out and try to undo all the things that had been done by George W. Bush in the previous presidency. The economy was going to be corrected by a huge spending bill. It was sold to America as a jobs bill for shovel ready projects. Now, a year later, we not only do not have the jobs, we do not have any shovels ready. The phrase "shovel ready"has become meaningless. It did not turn out to be the WPA 2 and Obama did not turn out to be the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt. America is set to spend the remainder of the $787 billion stimulus bill and for what? We no longer know. All we know is that it's for buying Democrat votes for the midterm elections.

Health care became another year-long boondoggle. Americans like the idea of everyone having health care coverage in all cases. What did we get? We were sold a lie. We were sold the free lunch. Americans are expected to believe that 30 million more people will be covered by the health insurance programs in the United States and the costs will be hidden. $1 trillion is going to be paid by either the rich people in this country or by users and purchasers of medical devices. This is how we contain costs. What?

Just about anyone in America, to the dismay of Democrats, can figure out that adding all of these costs has to be borne by someone. It is supposed to bend the cost curve. When? We are having tax increases over 10 years and programs that are going to pay out for about 5 1/2 years. We are then sold on the idea that this is going to reduce the deficit. How?

Requiring 49 states to pay for the Medicaid of 50 states is also unfair to those in 49 states. Health insurance reform also pays a huge amount to the state of Louisiana. How is this health care reform? Buying off political favors in exchange for votes is considered health care reform but taking a quarter billion dollars out of the health care reform bill is the so-called doctors option is not. Can someone explain this to me again?

It should be considered reprehensible and kerosene to all Americans that the Congress is passing these multi-thousand page bills and refuses to read any or all of them. Then we are supposed to pass them through the Congress at breakneck speed before they lose political popularity.

But Republicans have long been criticized as having no ideas. Their ideas have just been voted down by the majority of the Democrats who have enough votes to do so. The Republicans should not be labeled as too little too late. A good idea today is a good idea tomorrow. The Republican ideas include not scrapping the entire health care system, but using tort reform in interstate commerce as incremental solutions. The Democrats continually wonder shall this bill down our throats before it loses any more popularity. That's why they wanted it done by August, that's why they wanted it done by Christmas. If they listen to their constituents, they would know that the bill in its current form is bad for America. They want to hurry up and pass it before they have to start listening to their constituents in their home districts again. It's as if they have a little inkling of conscience.

Just an inkling? I'm probably giving them too much credit.

With the demise of America's future being put on the fast track, I am able to find humor in a few comments that others have made about the cash for cloture deals that have been going through the Senate to pass few days. One story goes like this: a woman is asked if she will sleep with a senator for $2 million. She says yes. Would you do it for five dollars? She says no, what do you think I am? His answer; we've already established that, now we just need to find your price.

Harry Reid has also come out praising the Senators for the 60 votes. He also addressed some of the compromises that resulted in buying of votes to meet the 60. He said many senators got something in the bill and if they did not, it said a lot about them and their ability to be a good senator.

In Wisconsin, we got nothing. Our spineless Senators got on board and in line and became part of the cloture vote without asking for nothing in return. So Wisconsin is going to be paying higher taxes to subsidize the people of Nebraska, and the seniors in Florida. And let's not forget the Louisiana purchase. Russ Feingold has not had enough backbone to bring anything home for Wisconsin for most of his three terms in the Senate. Herb Kohl's only concern is the basketball season. But, Kohl is not up for reelection and has continually shown that he is willing to point up enough money to purchase his Senate seat.

Well, that says a lot. In a sad way, it validates what some people up and sing about this bill all along -- that it is not about reforming health care in as much as it is about taking over 1/6 of the American economy. It goes to show how the Obama administration is willing to empty the United States treasury to get the 60 votes. It doesn't matter what's in the bill, it just matters that there is a bill. Obama wants more than anything to claim victory on how well he performed the health care system.

Like much of the other propaganda being touted by the administration, it will have to be repeated again and again to try to get people to accept that an accomplishment has been made by the passing of this bill. Obama wanted a bill that lowered costs, did not raise taxes, and did not add to the deficit. He claimed he would not sign a bill that did not do all three of these. Well, he is going to sign a bill that does not do any of these three.

The Democrats are going to come out and say that this bill cuts costs, saves jobs, saves lives. They sometimes even thrown the trifecta-that it creates jobs. With the damage done, the Democrats are not going to spend all of 2010 campaigning for reelection. They will talk up the benefits of this bill. They will have to do a lot of talking because how can we see the benefits of this bill when the taxis start right away and the benefits do not come about for four more years. It takes 10 years of taxes to cover six years of payments. Is that how we want to reduce the deficit in America? Pass entitlements that raise substantial amounts of taxes on people who actually pay taxes and deferring benefits that are going to be budget busters.

The uncertainty of how this is going to impact businesses is going to limit the entrepreneurial spirit of expanding businesses and hiring more workers. That's good for the Democrats. They want more dependency on the government. The Democrats are saying that more health care does not mean better health care. They believe better health care will come from fewer resources. Why don't they think the same way about the size of the federal government? The overexpansion about voter bureaucracy this past year is the only sector of the economy that has grown. And that is been at the expense of the private sector. The only job growth has been in government. It looks like the Democrats are going to deliver more of the same. It's time for another change. It's time for another change to bring America back to prosperity.

A news story came out recently that said that Democrat districts are receiving more in stimulus funds in Republican districts. The margin is almost 2 to one. I thought this was common knowledge. This is the entire design of the stimulus bill.

Soon after taking office, President Obama thought that the recession was at its worst. His only fear, was that the economy was going to begin recovering my summer. Therefore, in February, he urged the fast passage of the stimulus bill spending $787 billion of money that the United States did not have to spare. It was supposed to get the economy going again and keep unemployment under 8%. Well, we all know how that went.

But instead of spending the money now when we needed it most, it was designed to spend most of the money in 2010. That way, with the economy having recovered on its own, the money would keep flowing and make things look even better. That way, people would look at their Democrat representatives and senators and credit them with bringing this new found prosperity to our states and districts. We would reelect the Democrats. Those in Republican districts, who voted against the stimulus bill, would receive less in government grants and then the citizens would look at the Republicans seeing that they would not have brought this added prosperity to each of their districts, and elect Democrats to replace the Republicans. With this vision, we would no longer be polarized politically and we could all come together under one party rule. It would be a utopia.

It's becoming more apparent that $787 billion is meant to buy votes for Democrats in Congress. America was promised better. The stimulus bill having failed, Congress passed another trillion dollar bill that is filled with earmarks. Again, President Obama had promised to go line by line through the budget and through spending bills determining what is necessary and eliminating your marks. I guess everybody forgot about that. America was to join together and be one nation. Instead we are being polarized politically. It's becoming the norm that we can be prejudiced against people based on their political affiliations. Is that what Obama means by saying that we need to change our traditions and change our history? I didn't know we could change our history. We can change how we view things that have happened. Can we change our history? Sounds more like indoctrination and the rewrite of history.

2010 will be here soon. And again it will be a very political year. It's going to be a long march to November. Along with the governor's race in Wisconsin, the Congressional elections will be interpreted as a referendum on Obama. Midyear elections usually are a referendum on the midpoint of a presidency. Will America produce enough well-qualified candidates for office that are interested in helping the people of the nation and not furthering their own alter reader motives and agendas? America is not headed in the right direction. We need a new direction again. America needs a new course. America needs a return to prosperity. We did not get there in 2008 and we desperately needed in 2010. America needs to get back on course still before we are so far down the wrong road that it will be difficult to return to prosperity. This is the change we need.

In a recent interview with 60 minutes correspondent Steve Kroft, Barack Obama sat back and referred to the so-called "fat cat" bankers and said, "They don't get it."

Obama got elected promising healthcare reform. Last year, healthcare reform meant providing insurance for the American people who did not have it. Healthcare reform meant holding down costs. Health care reform meant having health insurance if you wanted to change jobs or move from state to state. What healthcare reform means no liberal takeover and government control of one sixth of the American economy. Government control is the main objective of the bills currently in Congress. It is not about helping out the American people. Like all politics, it's outrecuidance.

America is becoming replete with people who have horror stories of home people were denied insurance coverage, or their claims were denied at the most critical point in their lives. At the other end of the spectrum, are the people who have received generous medical attention from socialized medicine programs in other countries such as Canada, Cuba, or France. Sick children have to be admitted on an emergency basis and within a few days are completely healed with the best medical treatment they can get this side of the miracle. Although stories like these abound, substantiation of them is rare.

A handful of Democrat Senators are now seen as the key to getting this passed. Even the one overwhelming majority of American people do not like the bills that are being sent through Congress, Democrats in the Senate seem determined to pass anything. No matter how watered down. No matter how far from the original goals of true health care reform. Anything to score a political victory. With support waning even in the Senate, instead of improving the bill, taking time to get it right, (Obama even uses this phrase) Democrats and Democrat supporters are now focusing on changing the method in which the bill would be passed instead of creating a bill that is more acceptable to the people seeking change and to those seeking improvements in the health insurance coverage. They don't get it.

Where is the Senate bill? Majority leader Harry Reid has been making his own version and not presenting it to the American people. He is also not presenting it to the other senators. How can anyone come out in support of this having not seen the bill? We certainly can't expect any leadership from the senators from Wisconsin -- Feingold and Kohl. Feingold is goose-stepping along with the other Democrats and Kohl is too busy worried about the basketball season than to pay any heed to ever meant affairs. Cole has said for over 20 years that he is nobody's senator, and Feingold hasn't felt the need to stand up for the people in Wisconsin for at least the last six years. I can't believe the Republicans are so lame that they cannot field a candidate to challenge Feingold. 2010 will be another year to 'throw the bums out.' Feingold's should be a vulnerable seat.

Month after month Obama has proven that he is in over his head. Now his to claiming poll numbers are finally showing that the American people are waking up to the fact that America has elected a do-nothing president. He is more interested in doing television interviews than he has in getting policies passed that are going to improve America. On employment and a poor economy are the top two issues for the American people. So what does Obama focus on? Health care reform. Why? It's not about helping people. It's about government takeover of the economy. It's about politicizing America. Wasn't he supposed to be the president that brings people together? We were told that last year. He's had a year to prove it. He hasn't. Obama has not grown into the job of being president. He thinks he can just read a speech and all our problems will be solved. Well, it's not that easy. Being president is a lot more work than being an event planner. Obama has not realized that yet. Obama doesn't get it.

Governor Jim Doyle does not want to waste his last year in office. Although it is well-known that he is a lame duck, it becomes more apparent every day that he is also a lame brain. Being one of the worst governors in Wisconsin history, Doyle intends to leave the state in far worse shape financially than when he took office. Even the poor budget that is destined to create a huge shortfall by the end of the term, Doyle is not satisfied that Wisconsin residents are taxed enough.

Now Doyle is doing his own version of Cap and Trade. On the heels of the Copenhagen conference which had high hopes of 192 countries coming together to impose a bunch of pollution regulations upon the world, Governor Doyle wants to do a scaled-down version of admissions control for Wisconsin. Apparently Doyle thinks that unemployment is not high enough in the state and enough businesses have not left the state in recent years. Let's not forget about the high tax torture that will keep prospective employers and prospective business owners from coming here in the first place.

What's happening in the Copenhagen conference is comical. Al Gore is becoming a laughing stock because what he has been claiming about the polar ice caps melting is being revealed for what it is-lies. Arguments among the countries leaders are not producing the expected results that were dropped about before the conference began. How do we expect to get Obama's one world order when you have over 100 egos that continually clash? Not bloody likely!

But Jim Doyle wants to initiate carbon controls on the citizens of Wisconsin. Where does he think electricity comes from? If wind and solar power were viable sources for energy, they would not have been even dated like they have been so many times before. Remember the solar panels of the 1970s? Some houses still have them. Are they using them?

Imposing taxes like the Cap and Trade taxes that are being talked about at the federal level are going to be job killers. But that doesn't matter to liberals. They will just extend unemployment benefits. They will just socialize the healthcare benefits. Liberals believe that $370 per week is very generous. It will keep you on a low tax bracket and allow you to raise a family. Any other extra expenses can be subsidized by those evil rich people who are not taxed enough according to the Liberals.

Whatever happened to having a good vision for the future? What happened to having a vision of prosperity for the future? That is clearly gone. Prosperity in America is over. Prosperity and Wisconsin is also over. When faced with challenges such as high-end employment, job loss, and tax base a Roche and, the state legislature passes bills limiting the amount of phosphates in dishwashing soap. Not only are we not taxed enough, our dishes are too clean.

Politicians and Wisconsin should be the first to know that Cap and Trade legislation and regulations will do more damage to the economic climate and other states in the union. So why is Doyle doing this? Does he think he is Obama light? Pun not intended.

While accepting the Nobel prize for peace in Oslo,Norway, Barack Obama humbly said, "My accomplishments are slight." This statement is as true today as it was two years ago when he decided to run for president of the United States. His accomplishments are slight. What are they?

I cannot remember a time in which a presidency has propagated more uncertainty than this one. In terms of health care, the president and the Democrats in Congress seem determined to pass any type of reform bill now matter how you're responsible it is. Every day we hear conflicting stories on how much it is going to cost. The Democrats promised savings, the Republicans say the cost will be out of control. This was supposed to increase the coverage of the uninsured. The Democrats expect us to believe that they can cut Medicare, reduce the waste and fraud out of Medicare, and add 37 million more people to Medicare. How is this supposed to add up? The Democrats must really think the American people are stupid. Their main concern is about getting 60 votes in the Senate. After that, look out. What we have seen develop is more about Democratic takeover of 1/6 of our economy than actually caring about people's health.

Obama ran on the promise that he is going to correct what is wrong with the economy. Instead, we have seen $787 billion wasted. Congress passed into law a liberal want list that has done nothing to get the economy back on track. The $787 billion is more about buying votes in 2010 and 2012 than it is about creating jobs. The only jobs created have been in the governmental sector. This does not create sustainable jobs. Yet Obama refuses to change course. How much worse does things have to get? I guess a lot worse.

Cap and Trade is completely you're responsible. The Democrats are ignorantly continue to buy yen to the flawed science of man-made global warming. For science to be verified, must be challenged. Yet the global warming extremists continue their crusade in order to receive endowments. This would not be so bad except their actions are erroneously convincing politicians that they need to increase taxes above and beyond the healthcare tax increases, the expiration of the Bush tax credits, and they impose carbon taxes that are going to cost Wisconsin families $3000 per year more in electricity alone. How can this be viewed as progress? How can these erroneous believes be forced upon the American people?

Governmental spending is out of control. The federal government is growing. The more people in the federal government or earning more than $100,000 a year is exploding. How can this be viewed as responsible while Obama attacks the so-called 'fat cats' on Wall Street? This administration is demonstrating that the more you buy into the Obama agenda, the better you are rewarded. Even though people are saying that the healthcare bill may not get passed, that Cap and Trade will not be passed, I am not that optimistic.

Obama had three simple principles; not raising taxes on the middle class, not passing bills that will add to the deficit, and not passing bills that are loaded with earmarks. None of this has been done. Obama has not gone through the budget line by line like he promised in his campaign. Congress continues to push through 2000+ page bills that they have not read. Yet the American people are supposed to assume that they do only good things for the future of this country. What is the rush if this bills are so good? The Democrats are doing everything they can to twist arms, and favors, and use the persuasion of power to pass these bills that are going to ruin America. Are we going to stop before we get to the point where things cannot be reversed?