Here is what I have noticed about Muslim extremists – they hang out with each other, attend mosques, hate America, and adhere to a lifestyle based on the Koran. Obama is guilty of joining and attending  a Christian church for over 20 years, hung out with 60′s radicals, and belonged to liberal organizations. Does evidence even matter to the people making these accusations?

Why can’t we just disagree with Obama’s philosophy without trying to destroy the man and his family? He believes that the government is the best solution to social problems. So the government is getting bigger by the minute. He thinks professors make the best decision makers. So there is not much common sense being used to handle the nations problems. He is not a big believer in capitalism, but he does take a lot of nice vacations. The bottom line – not exactly the philosophy or lifestyle of Bin Laden.

Get a grip people. Stop attacking the man’s character and began offering common sense solutions to our problems. And by the way, help the economy by working harder and spending more.

Only in politics and the press is racism the supreme issue of the land. I am really getting sick of it. I am not saying that there is not a problem with race, there is, and always will be as long as people are different. Race has now become the lens that every issue is viewed through.

If one disagrees with Obama it is because of race. If an illegal immigrant is arrested it is because of race. The NAACP declared officially a couple of weeks ago that the Tea Party was racist. If this trend continues our country will never return to it’s greatness.

We need to change the tone and direction of the race discussion. I have a suggestion on where to start. Take race out of the census. The only question asked about the people living in a household was what color they were.

A final suggestion for everyone is to grow a spine. If the worst thing that happens is someone calls you a derogatory name, then life is really pretty good. It wasn’t that many generations ago that there were lynchings and slavery. This is no longer happening. Progress is being made toward reducing race discrimination with education and toleration continuing.

The most racist thing that can be done today is this – point your finger at another person or group and call them racist.

In politics perception is much more important than reality. Hype and spin can overcome the most obvious truth. When Ben Franklin was in France attempting to get military support for the revolutionary war, he received a message that Philadelphia had fallen to the British. Knowing this truth would keep the French on the sidelines, he proudly proclaimed, “our soldiers defeated the British at Philadelphia and saved the American capitol!”

With that said, how can Obama ever lose when the following message will be repeated endlessly.

1. Obama saved the country from economic collapse. No matter how bad things may be it would have been much worse had he not acted with all the handouts.
2. Obama has given every American health insurance and at the same time reduced healthcare costs overall. As part of the healthcare bill he rescued Medicare and wiped out fraud and waste.
3. Obama single-handily restored the image of the United States throughout the world.
4. Obama has helped America forget the terrible reign of George W Bush and his rich cronies, except for the need to blame Bush for anything negative that happens.

The list of accomplishments go on and on but we need to look at the promise of the 2nd term. Here is how to seal the deal.

1. Instead of “Hope and Change” the motto can be “Utopia, at last!”
2. In his first term Obama saved the USA, in his second term he will save the world.
3. George W Bush, Dick Cheney, and the other Iraq military planners will finally be tried for war crimes. Instead of execution they will be given lifetime community service.
4. The 20% unemployment rate will be offset by programs providing free college, a free car, and free housing for up to 10 years.
5. And finally, global warming will be stopped and the rich will pay for it.

There is not need to debate these points since perception is all that matters. Substance will be lost to image and we will elect the same pile of eggheads we did the last time.

The Arizona law has forced illegal immigration to the forefront. Neither political party wants to touch it. The obvious solutions will cost votes to whichever party leads the reform.

In a nanny state with a weak economy, illegal immigration is a huge problem. Illegals will add to poverty and take money from government provided healthcare, welfare, education, and even Social Security. What is the impact of illegal immigration on 10% unemployment? It can’t be helpful, not to mention the added criminal activity.

Small business may be the key to  economic recovery and even provide an answer to illegal immigration.  Over half of the population works for small business and for years the growth of the economy has been due primarily to small business.

Small business is paralyzed and in fear of what is coming next to tax or regulate them. They are certainly taking no risks. It appears that Obama is happy to bailout Wall Street, state governments, and even illegals. He has not dedicated a speech to small business and even shut out the Chamber of Commerce when he held a small business summit last year. He only attended the meeting for minutes.

Imagine the economic impact of reducing illegal immigration and at the same time cutting or reducing payroll taxes for small businesses willing to hire people. Obama seems willing to welcome illegal immigrants with open arms while ignoring small business. What’s up?

What’s up is politics as usual. It is all about votes. Mexican immigrants are a huge voting block for the democrats. Small business is in the tank for republicans. The fall elections will now determine policy and priorities.

Obama ran on the promise of changing Washington. I don’t know if he really believed his own hype, or was just saying what would get him elected. Regardless, the country is now moving in a more liberal/progressive direction. It means bigger government and less freedom.

Whether you are for bigger government or smaller, there is a need for better politicians. The first step is removing the career politicians. Ted Kennedy recently died after serving over 40 years in the senate. This should never happen again. Robert Byrd died after over 60 years in congress. It seems death is the only way to get someone out of office. Why do we continue to vote these guys in?

It is not that women are better gifted, skilled, or qualified to serve as leaders. Generally speaking, men and women are equal in their talents. Some individuals will rise above others and it is our job to choose the right ones.

There are two reasons that I think women would make better leaders right now. It appears that the bulk of men cannot handle their wieners or their wallets.

I voted in my first presidential election for Jimmy Carter. That tells you how old I am. How many times during those decades have we watched men lose their power because they were caught with their pants down? Off the top of my head I could ring off a list of men who lost their jobs or ministries, were impeached, or just took deserved public rebuke. I can’t recall a single woman who lost her public position due to a sex scandal. Can you imagine the amount of public money that has been wasted on sex scandals? It might take care of a good portion of our debt.

The recent primaries across the country had a higher number of women running for office. One thing we know for sure, they will not be making choices based on their wieners! Not having one of those may be the best qualification for office. It would be refreshing that a potential scandal would center around the numbers of shoes in the closet (Imelda Marcos) as opposed to a man trying to find gay sex in an airport bathroom stall.

When an elected man has sex with women or other men outside his marriage, it is cheating on his family and raping the public. Maybe we should devise a new penalty for this crime. Instead of removing them from office how about removing their doodlewacker (my mother’s term)?

The second problem for men is their wallets. They will do anything to pack it with illegal money. Again, how many times have we seen the videos of a sting where a politician is caught with his hand out. Women may have a few issues with how they spend money at the  malls, but I don’t see them betraying the trust of voters just to pad their purses with cash.

To enter Capitol Hill where congress meets you have to be searched. Considering the problems our country is facing, maybe all wieners and wallets should be checked at the door.

I can’t begin to describe Chicago politics. It’s funny, insane, mind-boggling, dirty, but never dull. It is corrupt beyond anything you could imagine. It is an enterprise owned entirely by the democrat party. The “Chicago Machine” is historic and the current CEO is Mayor Daley.

Obama’s current little scandal of offering Joe Sestak a position to keep him from running against Arlen Spector is so Chicago. Everything is about controlling the machine and the money. Obama learned well.

The rewards of being a part of the machine are wonderful. It is daily news in Chicago about family or friends of people in the machine getting jobs, contracts, bags of cash, government positions, and even scholarships at the University of Illinois. When Obama became President and vacated his Illinois senate seat, Gov. Blago stood to make a bundle on that seat. According to Illinois law it was his decision alone to name a replacement. Jesse Jackson Jr. was one of many who placed a bid.

Blago’s trial is not about one corrupt man. It is about the machine. Both Obama and Blago were groomed as young men and progressed through the ranks with the help of the machine. Everything stays in the machine family. Another example is Rahm Emanuel. When he left the Clinton White House he made over $25 million in two years. He then took over Blago’s U.S. House seat when Blago left to be governor. It goes on and on.

From the perspective of an outsider, it appears that Blago somehow lost favor with the machine. That’s what makes this trial so juicy to me. Blago is a big talker. Will he spill the beans on the machine? Oh, I hope so! My fear is that, still being a young man, the machine will promise to take care of him and make him rich for the rest of his life if he just takes the fall. Could any of us blame him.

This is happening at a time when the American people are putting more trust in government than ever before. This past month the government hired over 500,000 people and the private sector less than 50,000. Tea Party or not, big government is on us. I hope the Blago trial will remind us that government can be just as greedy and just as corrupt as any Wall Street financier. Worse, government is almost always an empty promise. This is not “change we can believe in.”

The ultimate question is what this trial will  mean for Obama. Will the media protect him? What all was said on those 300 hours of wiretaps? This will be interesting.

I confess to being an independent conservative my whole life. I am educated with graduate and post-graduate degrees. I was never a straight A student or the smartest in the class. I am a small business owner with, I think, a great deal of common sense. I enjoy the daily economic/political debate that never takes a break. Watching the financial channels can be almost as entertaining as a roller coaster. With all that said, here is my take on what is right with the tea party economics and wrong with the liberal/progressive view.

The tea party message is very simple and clear. They are for smaller government, lower taxes, and less spending. This separates them from both the republican and democrat parties. Republicans talk of lowering taxes and reducing government, but they seldom do and never cut spending. Democrats proudly expand government, increase spending, and raise taxes. I like the tea party view because the end result is more freedom. Freedom is what my soul craves, even at the risk that a greedy person gets rich.

The liberal/progressive message is harder for me to accept. Here are just a few of their tenets that I can’t agree with.

• The way out of an economic recession is to spend more money. This is an insane tactic on the micro-economic level and I can’t trust it on the macro level.
• Entitlements improve the economy. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, now healthcare, farm subsidies, and more may be helpful programs but cannot possibly sustain a national economy. With the population aging and living longer, I would like to hear an honest liberal assessment of how we are going to pay for just Social Security in the future.
• Legal and illegal immigrants raise the standard of living for Americans. The theory says immigrants take the lower paying  jobs pushing other Americans up the economic ladder. I can’t comprehend this one. I guess that makes me as unintelligent as a tea partyer.

For the sake of brevity, I will stop. I understand why you have to have a Harvard degree to be a progressive. Much of liberal economics does not make sense.

Bigger government to me means more fraud, corruption, and waste. Bigger government means paying more for less and making the system much more complicated. I think politicians want to do good and most have big hearts, but the end result seems to be an expansion of rules and systems plus higher taxes and less freedom for individuals.

The best answer for all is to limit the terms in office for elected officials. We don’t need a constitutional amendment for that, just go vote. Somewhere along the way we allowed being a congressman become a career.

I’m from the south. Can you drink ice tea at those parties?

I am a small government, main street kind of guy. Politicians use every  issue to expand the power of government and the press acts like every issue impacts the little guys, like me. I don’t think so.

This Greece thing is the prime example. The country is going bankrupt and the European Union has bailed them out. The problem is simple, Greece has been paying too many government employees too big a pay package. Our stock markets almost crashed over the deal. This issue has nothing to do with most Americans. On top of that, I have a problem with bailing out organizations that are marked by massive waste and corruption.

The financial reform bill is another useless pile of hooey. With a thousand laws already on the books that were not enforced, the only answer for politicians is more regulation. Again, it means very little on main street. I never understood the bank bailout. If the banks “too big too fail” were allowed to go under, all small investors would have been protected by the FDIC. The market can regulate itself better than government and for a lot less money. Letting companies or countries fail because of their wasteful practices will cause temporary pain but will strengthen future prospects.

The oil spill is not a good thing. It’s really bad for the fishes. The ensuing blame game is bad for the rest of us. When did every accident become an evil conspiracy? An investigation is certainly warranted to better the process of oil drilling in deep water. In congress, however, the issue is not a big oil spill but big oil companies and their evil profit. I am confident that BP will do everything they can to fix this spill. It is laughable to see the debate in Washington. I can’t wait to see Barney Frank put on scuba gear, dive to the bottom of the Gulf, and give his engineering solution. He is just another Harvard lawyer hoping to get a lot of mileage from this issue. It won’t be long until we hear about the bonus given to the BP CEO. This does not hurt or help my small business.

As always small business is left out of any discussion. If the press would put their lens on the small companies (none on Wall Street) that can hire people, we might get out of this economic mess. It is time to highlight the guys that change our oil and grease rather than big oil companies and Greece.

How many of the following acronyms do you recognize? SEC, IRS, EPA, OSHA, DOD, DOT, DOL, USDA, FDA, ATF, FBI, CIA, CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), NSA, DHS, HUD, DOI, DEA, FCC, FTC, HHS, ITA, NIH, NRC, etc. These are just a few of the government agencies tasked with enforcing regulations approved by congress and the president. There is no industry in America that is not under the government microscope.

During the healthcare debate we heard about how the insurance companies were abusing their clients for profit. Not only were there federal regulations regarding insurance companies in place, but every state in the union had an Insurance Board with the sole purpose of regulating the industry and fostering competition. No doubt these people are drawing six figure salaries and cry about the need for more resources.

The senate is now targeting Wall Street for new financial regulations. The question of the day is what has the SEC been doing the past 10 years. Their sole task is to keep Wall Street in line. And don’t try to blame this one on Bush. It’s not a matter of de-regulation or re-regulation, it is about enforcement of whatever regulations are on the books. On top of the SEC you have the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. 23 Senators serve on this committee. Why is no one holding their feet to the fire. Much of the mortgage crisis can be laid directly on their backs.

I have zero confidence that anything will change with these new laws. Reform usually ends up costing more money and makes things more complicated. And as usual, congress will point fingers and take no blame.

The problem is simple to understand. The very big companies that congress is attempting to regulate are the same companies that finance campaigns and hire lobbyists. Most laws are written by the very people who are getting regulated. On top of that, the regulators usually have no experience in the industry that are watching. Government agency heads get their jobs for being politically connected or they are a part of the friends and family plan. I’m sure when Michael Powell was named head of the FCC it had nothing to do with the fact that his dad was Colin Powell. Then when government staffers leave their posts, many will land high paying jobs within the very industry they were supposed to be holding accountable. Is it any wonder nothing changes?

I am for government regulations. There is a needed debate between conservatives and liberals as to how many rules should be in place. What should not be at issue is the need for enforcement. We can’t change the rules but we can change the names on the doors. Let’s show congress what real reform looks like when we vote this fall.

I am not racist. I do not oppose Obama because of his skin or even his heart. I actually believe he is a good man and I would welcome him as a neighbor. It is his mind that bothers me. The extent of his belief in government intrusion is alarming, and I believe, a real detriment to economic growth. I don’t care about the “redistribution of wealth”. I worry about the money that I use on necessary travel, mortgage, and food being taken away to pay for bloated government.

I am self-employed and I am struggling because my clients are small businesses. They are scared to death of mandated healthcare laws, future energy taxes, and a host of other “progressive” ideas. They are not opposed to healthcare for everyone or a cleaner environment. They just want to make a decent living. Wall Street and Washington may be crowing about recovery, but small business people are cowering in fear of the next regulation. They are afraid to hire, to build, and to take basic risks that are important in growing a business. Unions, government staffers, Wall Street executives, and even the poor don’t have a clue. It is not because they are stupid or racist, it is because small business is not the big fish making the splash.

There are red light cameras in my town now. I legally turned right on red, but I got ticketed for not coming to a complete stop for three seconds behind the white line. I don’t blame the camera intrusion on Barack, but government is responsible. That tax, I mean fine, will cost me $125. At that very intersection I buy my gas. The local government just raised the tax .02 per gallon. Totally, I will now be paying .50 tax on every gallon I buy. I rent my cars across the street from the gas station. States are moving to impose a huge car rental tax to pay for healthcare, from $2-15 per day per car. At the same time, I am making less money. And there are those with the audacity to question my anger? Or worse, accuse me of racism or ignorance?

Each month I pay more in taxes than anything else. More than the mortgage, ten times more than healthcare, and three times more than food. I don’t take vacations that cost money anymore. I love books and gadgets, but have reduced the purchase of those to almost nothing. I am trying to figure out ways to reduce the cell phone bill and cable TV. I made the mistake a couple of years ago of buying a big HDTV. I should have kept the 27″ basic TV. This is some recovery, huh!

I hear of economic crisis, but I don’t see any change in government. I read of the enormous pensions of government employees, and living in Chicago, there are headlines everyday about government abuse, fraud, waste, and nepotism. Take away government employees and the population of Chicago would be that of Peoria. I wonder if the millions of government employees have reduced travel, purchasing accounts, or any budget line item. Barack’s federal budget was the biggest in history, and so is the debt. By the way, there is no economic crisis for government until the people are out of money.

I don’t see the fall election as any solution. I am not looking for a party of no, I am looking for a nation of no. The spending, taxation, and intrusion of government appears to be unstoppable. But I say we try.