Great idea, Steve, I think... Thanks for setting this up! Hello all you O's!! I work this evening, so will have to watch the SOU address after the fact.
Here are a couple of questions before the SOU - If the President reaches out to the Republicans to help him solve some of our problems will he find any takers, or isit more important to the Republican Party to have this Presidency fail? Specifically, if the President suggests tax cuts for small businesses, will Republicans support this?
"For tonight, you could pick out three or four issues that Obama speaks about that are important to you and provide some input to all about why or why not they would work for the country."
What if I want to pick only one issue? Or 12? You can't make rules for a blog! This is great, I can't wait to read and write!
I guess Barb's first point about reaching out is moot - he didn't try. I was rather pleased that Obama stuck to his guns and continued his campaign speeches from 2008. However misguided I think his policies are, at least you can't call him a flip-flopper and his backers can take heart in the fact that for now he has no plans to become a centrist.
I plan to provide my comments tonight. One thing that really struck me was his lecturing of the Supreme Court. To open them to derision in front of the partisan legislature was really bad form.
Dana, you are right, everyone is free to blog as they wish! Thanks for joining the conversation.
Hi, I am a new blogger- not sure if I have to create a name or if I will be forever known as Oblogger7? I think I will comment on fashion- Purple clearly the new black!
yes I think I am 7.5......I'm also new to blogging. I will blog as soon as my computer stops smoking from fact checking......I will how ever comment on the utter lack of respect for the Justices. He has every right disagree but going after them there in that setting- not right! All those who stood and cheered also bad!!!!! This to me is just as bad as the "you lie" shout out.....
Well, I am now home and it took me half an hour to figure out how to get back into this thing. I tried googling olausenblog, but the blog didn't show just a lot of links to things that Olausens all over the world have done or posted on the net. We had a few mentions on the pages I saw, but the following really hit home and makes you think about the difference that people can make in others lives. It was on a personal page and I noticed my wife's name, so clicked it to make sure she was up to anything I didn't know about. Here's what it said:
"I'm just realizing now that college is nothing like high school. its more like advance college. As i'm walking into the building with a strange feeling as through i don't belong here at all. i'm not sure how i survived the last semester. if it wasn't for my boyfriend jason, and shelly olausen who runs the office of disability serivces for students. I don't know where i would be today. All i'm saying is that college is harder for me than, average young student, that doesn't have a disability to deal with everyday. My goal in life is to graduate college and own my own business of be coming an artist of say a photography or painter. My major is Fine Arts, for now. but now i'm realizing any major i want to do in life, i will have to learn math. I think math is my most diffcult subject in college. One or another i will pass this class and move on to the next math class. so i say good bye."
Shelly will kill me for posting that, but she was right to say that 6.5 is better than 6.
Leaving this to get on to the less important stuff.
There had been some rumors that Obama might propose some new policies that would signal a more centrist approach, so I was eager to listen to what he had to say. I even prepared by writing down headers in a notebook that outlined the issues I wanted to track and provide my opinion on. They were in order of importance to me, Jobs/Economy, War on Terror/Securitym, and Obama's Agenda Going Forward. Figured I could get a few bullets on a single page and that would be enough. Ended up with five pages with a bunch of other headings, including one called Bull@!&%, which unfortunately had the most entries.
He barely got done with his greetings to the Speaker (should be renamed the Whiner) and VP before he blamed George Bush for everything. That is really getting old, and is more in keeping with an adolescent's approach to problems than the President. You cannot be cracking jokes and treating the State of Union like a nightclub act. He was pompous, arrogant, self-righteous, and just plain rude. I was literally shocked when he addressed the Supreme Court the way he did and continually lectured congress on what it should do. Every time he opens his mouth he gets smaller and smaller and confirms what I thought before the election -- he is not, nor is he now, ready to be President.
Paige has a report to do, so I'll get back to this later.
Look at what we agree on! Purple IS the new black, Shelley (and Michele)definetly improve on no.'s 6 and 7, Dana's comment was funny and correct (thankfully we have someone who knows how to blog to help us out!)and, though I wholeheartedly agree with Obama regarding the Supremes decision, I was uncomfortable that he brought it up, and in that way, at the SOTU speech. But, I give the OPres some points for his moxie = I think he knew it would be controversial, and that he wants the country talking about it, which they are, so that people who don't ordinarily follow this sort of thing will take a good look at it. I checked some FACT sites and see conflicting reports as to whether foreign corporations can indeed inject money into US campaigns - I guess there is some sorting out as to what this will all mean. As for Steve's homework assignment...1. Gays in the military - I hope he follows through on this. Anyone who will sacrifice their life for my freedom and our country's security gets to come out of the foot locker if they want to in my opinion. 2. I think OPres is right to let the Bush Tax Cut expire on schedule for families making over 250,000. I refer you to this article, which makes a good case I think, and also offers a clear explanation as to why the Bush administration set them up to expire. Full disclosure - this is a liberal site, funded by George Soros, as a counterpoint to the Heritage Foundation. www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/12/bush_cuts_expire.html Sorry if I made more homework out of this!!! 3. I like pay as you go - enough said. 4. He threatened a Veto regarding 3 year freeze - Not sure I like the freeze, but I like that he vowed to use his veto power -we'll have to see how this pans out... Lastly, this was a speech about the State of the Union. He said we are digging out of a mess, but it's still a mess. That seems about right to me. He's been in office for 1 year - is it realistic to expect a huge turn around from where we were at the end of 2008? Agree or not with the policies, we could all do with some relief from the cynicism permeating our dialog.
PS Tomorrow night Jame, Kelly, and I travel to Madison for Dana's 22nd birthday - we are going to take in a Jorma/David Bromberg show. Probably more intertaining than last nights speech, ya think?
I thought I'd take a page out of Dana's book and make my own rules. Here are my comments on excerpts from this year's "State of the Union" messages from other world leaders:
Russia,President Dmitri Medvedev "I note that in August this year, Russia registered its natural population increase for the first time in the last 15 years....Go, Russia!" COMMENT: I say, go Ivan and Natasha!
Norway, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg "We have been able to spend more during these difficult times because we were careful when times were good. In this respect, you could say that we have followed the advice Joseph gave to Pharaoh, albeit in a rather different way. The Egyptians built granaries. We built the Government Pension Fund Global." COMMENT: Nice Biblical reference. And to think they could have been spending it all on lutefisk rather than saving for a rainy day.
Britain, Queen Elizabeth II "The Duke of Edinburgh and I look forward to our visit to Bermuda" COMMENT: Really, wouldn't you rather be in Bermuda, too?
The Netherlands, Queen Beatrix "The lack of integration of certain groups in society, widespread disrespectful and offensive behavior in public places and criminal behavior by groups of young people are stubborn problems that cause a great deal of annoyance. The government is therefore not only taking consistent action against offenders but also tackling the causes of unacceptable behavior." COMMENT: Bea, if you want to see real offensive behavior in public places, just visit our Capitol on any working day.
Philippines,President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo "If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public." COMMENT: Better stay in the Philippines, Gloria - that attitude won't get you very far here.
South Africa, President Jacob Zuma "Sport is a powerful nation-building tool.... Our teams can only do well with our support." COMMENT: All I can say is: 20 days 'til pitchers and catchers!
Go Gloria Arroyo! Steve, I just read George Bush's first SOTU. He opened with a joke. It was funny. He had a couple more thoughout, and he even quoted Yogi Berra. He talked about the need for civilty and respect in political discourse, touted Education as his biggest priority (we all long for the day that was the biggest issue) and cited his budget increases for medicare and social security. Just an FYI...
My last thoughts tonight - I would think that for historians context would be highly valued. A new Presidency doesn't take shape in a vacuum. When OPres talks about the challenges he inherited when he took office, this epic economic meltdown just weeks before he took office, he is framing the timeline for citizens who are impatient with speed of recovery, and, to score politcal points, he is pointing to the opposition. I can understand why Republicans would be defensive on the subject, not want to talk about it. Steve, I am sorry you are so mad that Obama didn't become a Republican last night...
Sweet, Shelly! I love how Steve found out about some of your dailiness, behind the scenes. Here's to the power of sincere encouragement, and hard work. Happy Birthday Dana!! Congratulations on your new position, too! Danny Petraitis is up for the Southeastern Regional Emmy for producing Levon Helm: Ramble at the Ryman tonight! AND, to end my ramble.... I give an early shout out to you, Steve for a Happy Birthday tomorrow:) Keep the faith, bro.....Leslie
I have no idea what time it is set on, Nancy, I can barely figure out how to post a comment. By the way, those quotes and comments above are great. Barb, I'm happy that the O'man didn't turn Republican, it will make things much easier in November.
My topic today is on the National Debt and by extension spending, which is maybe the greatest concern.
According to Treasury Department statistics, the U.S. first went over $1 Trillion in National debt under Reagan in 1982. A breakdown of each president since then goes like this:
Debt rose during Reagan's term 1.695 T under HW Bush 1.462 T under Clinton 1.6 T Under GHW Bush 4.35 T
Total when Bush left office was 10.024 T
Our current debt is 12.281 as of today according to the National Debt Clock. So in one year Obama has added 2.257 T
So Congress raised the debt ceiling to 12.4 T. on December 24, 2009
But that wasn't enough to cover projected spending, so this past week the senate voted on a strict party line vote to raise the ceiling to 14.3 T. That means that the O'man aided and abetted by his Congress will have raised in the short time in office the debt by 4.276 T almost the total that Bush's deplorable spending wracked up in 8 years.
What that means now is that every person in this country owes $40,000.00 to cover the debt. My family therefore owes $160,000.00, you all can extrapolate your own debt.
The only thing Obama offered to cut spending during the SOTU was a freeze on some departments that doesn't even start until 2011. That will affect funds devoted to about 1/6 of spending and will lock in the massive increases that those departments received last year. For instance the energy department, which by the way has more than 16,000 employees to do what I don't know, got an increase of 35 percent.
And, by the way, in the debates last year, Obama criticized McCain for proposing the very same thing, saying that it was too draconian and that he would prefer to get out a scalpel and cut waste and not sign any bill that included earmarks. Well we didn't see any scalpel and did see more than 800 earmarks in the massive spending bill last year. The scalpel was not applied to the $8.3 hundred billion stimulus either.
I leave with this. The White House projects that the stimulus has helped "save or create" 2 million jobs under the Stimulus.
But the figures cited were determined based on responses from recipients of the stimulus money, and those are deplorably inaccurate and of course impossible to calculate what a saved job is. For example, last November, Recovery.gov claimed that in Arizona's 15th congressional district, 30 jobs had been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. The one problem, there is no 15th congressional district in Arizona.
Heisann and hello from Indiana, which, (believe it or not) does have access to the internet (yeah) as well as cable tv; providing me insight from both CNN and FoxNews (i'll never have to think for myself again!).
As you can see from my decision to start my post with the world's most awkward run-on sentence; I am bringing the intellect to this discussion. I will also try to include at least five words that would score 50 or more points in a standard scoring game of scrabble (microcosm anybody?)
As for the speech; i see it as a microcosm of where our country currently stands. Divided. Half the room overclapping. Half looking as bored as my Senior Algebra II class. I didn't think the US could get any more polarized (40 scrabble points) than we were after the 2000 election, but honestly i don't see much difference today.
Those whose views lean left heard exactly what they were listening for in this speech; and so did those who lean right. I guess the one thing all people do share regardless of political leanings is eternal gratefulness that Sarah Palin wasn't smugly nodding as VP in the background of our TV screens, probably offering a steady stream of 'You Betchas'
As for my impressions, I'm sure they mirror what's been said in the posts above (gotta be honest-I skimmed)
-Obama is as good a public speaker as I've ever seen (or is it teleprompter reader?) -It wasn't appropriate to call out our Supreme Court in front of a joint session of Congress. Why not chastise them at a press conference instead??? -Blaming Bush is getting old. Not saying it's not valid, just not Presidential -Overall it reminded me of an adult pep rally. And one that I've already seen.
The 3 topics that interest me the most would have to be Education, the Economy, and Health Care. It would be fair to say that I'm not sure the Obama administration can or will fix any of these 3 crises, but I am rooting like crazy for them to succeed.
I will say that I have long admired Obama's view of the importance of getting a good education and its ability to change an individual's social mobility.
Sorry if this post is sloppy. Too late too proofread. I'm sure I lead the family in run-on sentences and I probably used a few too many semicolons...
Now if only I knew who Obama was cheering for at the Duke-Georgetown game on Saturday....
The hope I had for Obama coming into office was not that he would be a political savior, immediately fix the economy and our international image, or be the anti-George Bush (which he's spent no shortage of speech time trying to be). My hope was (excuse the cliche's) that he would come in as the Washington outsider and genuinely try to change politics-as-usual by working more with centrists and Republicans. Now I know that Republicans haven't made much of an effort themselves, but Obama was elected by the moderates and I think his first-year rhetoric toward them hasn't matched reality. That's why I was encouraged not by the SOU (as Adam said, adult pep rally), but by the encounter between Obama and the House Republicans last Friday. He seemed to genuinely listen and acknowledge that they actually have ideas and not just knee-jerk reactions against his (although there are plenty of those as well). As little "trying to win the argument" politics as I can remember at an event where both sides are presnt. Obama's an idealist by nature, which I think can be a very positive thing if it's used to lead and not to set all of your policy, but I suspect he's becoming more pragmatic.
Update: Sunken City and Crazy Chester has come a long way! Danny's High Five Team just won the Producer award for “Levon’s Ramble at the Ryman” in Nashville last night, and Dan’s son Dylan was able to be on stage with Martin Fischer to accept the award. Dylan is a senior- and Harry's trying to help him get into a very good Catholic college in Nashville. Thought you'd all love to hear some good news from home!!!
I enjoyed your and Adam's posts and perspectives. You both seem pretty centrist to me and I think reflect the majority of people who would hope that our leaders would stop being pep rally politicians and get down to doing what's best for the country. I talked with your mom for a long time last night and all we could do was marvel and the audacity of proposing budget that will add 1.2 trillion in debt within a week of a speech that proclaimed Obama was now going to be a fiscal conservative. Incredible.
As my little factoid of the day. I was astounded by a report this morning that the number of Federal employees now stands at 2.1 million. That is for civilian employees and does not include the military (except for civilians working in the armed services departments), the post office, and other quasi federal agencies like Amtrak. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, the number when Obama was elected was 1,909,000. That means that about 200,000 of the 2 million so-called "jobs created and saved" are directly attributed to federal hiring. Nice work, and apparently anyone can get it.
I wonder how many of the 200,000 federal jobs are newly hired census workers. We hosted over 40 hiring sessions at the Kenosha Public Library last year for these jobs. It was unbelievable how many people took the test. I think I read the Federal Gov't needs 140,000 workers for the 2010 census.
I agree with Ryan that Obama's meeting with the House Republicans last Friday was encouraging and, I believe, a sincere attempt to reach out to Republicans. As O4Barbara said in her second post: "If the President reaches out to the Republicans to help him solve some of our problems will he find any takers, or is it more important to the Republican Party to have this Presidency fail?" The answer to that will become obvious if the Republicans start filibustering everything in the Senate. Also, to the second part of O4Barbara's comment: "Specifically, if the President suggests tax cuts for small businesses, will Republicans support this?" Since he did, it will be interesting to see.
Here's a factoid to consider in relationship to Steve's on the number of Federal employees. At the time of the AT&T Divestiture in 1984, AT&T had over 1 million employees, almost one in every 200 Americans at the time. Now, I'm not saying I think the Federal government needs 2.1 million employees (and, I think I can safely say that more people at the time would have said Ma Bell was doing a good job than would say today about Uncle Sam), but without more context,it's hard to know how to react.
I fear I am too busy to post extensively on this blog but I have really enjoyed reading all the posts. My mom suggested I let you know what I am up to. I am spending my Tuesdays and Thursdays at Sun Prairie High School being a school nurse for my clinical. Next week I get to teach the contraceptives class to the boys at the alternative high school. Talking about condoms to a bunch of misbehaving boys...sign me up.
I can't go where I want to go with the condom thing, so I'll so I'll just say good luck Dana! As far as your factoid, Nancy, I'll just say that the context is @ million is a lot of jobs, one-tenth added in one year is a lot of waste, and AT&T is a private company - at least the last time I checked.
Speaking of jobs, another report today says that there are 200,000 more Federal jobs that Obama proposes to fill in the next two years. Some are probably the census ones that Barbara mentions, but here's some others for your enjoyment:
Patent Examiner Clerk - $68,000, plus benefits Security and Exchange Commission technical writer - $96 - $171,000, plus benefits USDA Fire Manager, $68,000 plus benefits Department of the Interior Archaeologist - $73-113,000 (you may wonder what we pay in the real world in one of the most expensive regions - well, it sure as hell ain't that) AND MY FAVORITE GOVERNMENT JOB NOW AVAILABLE....Grizzly Bear Habit Coordinator, $68,000-$89,000. All come with government lifetime benefits that cost the taxpayers.
If I hear that Obama inherited one of the the worst situations a president ever has again, I think I will puke. I think it was probably tougher for ...
George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson who had hew a country out of a constitution and bill or rights, but wouldn't recognize what is going on today.
James Madison afterall the British did burn his house down
Every president between 1832 and 1876 - there was quite a struggle about this time - something about slavery
Woodrow Wilson - world war that amounted to 37 million casualties - we also have him to thank for the income tax
Herbert Hoover - Hooverville's enough said
Franklin Roosevelt - a Great Depression and another World War
Harry S. Truman - having to decide to drop the bomb within weeks of learning it was even in existence constitutes a pretty rough start. Then there was that police action in Korea.
Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy - when you spawn a whole genre of horror movies and have kids practicing crawling under desks,there is a problem.
Richard Nixon - not saying that he wasn't a crook, but the Vietnam thing is what Afghanistan is compared to today.
Gerald Ford - cleaning up after tricky Dick was not easy.
Ronald Reagan - cleaning up after Jimmy Carter was even tougher than tricky Dick. His situation economically was worse that Obama's but he didn't whine or start ever speech with "Look we inherited this mess." He cut taxes and started the most prolonged period of prosperity ever in this country.
And just to piss you all off - George HW Bush, who assumed his presidency during a recession that resulted from the burst of the dot.com bubble that nearly wiped out NASDAQ. Within 9 months he had to deal with a terrorist attack that crippled the nation's financial center and resulted in the deaths of 3,000 people on American soil. We are presently concerned with the rights of several masterminds of those attacks to the point where we are thinking of paying $200 million of taxpayer's money to try them in NYC. When things settled down, the tax cuts enacted sparked a period of 52 months straight of economic growth. He made serious mistakes, but we would be far better off under him that Obama.
Now we're talking a language I understand! I defer with the micro economics to my brilliant sibs and sons....My eyes cross when I hear numbers: I just keep having armegeddeion (sp) flashes of post WWI Weimar Republic Germans with wheelbarrows of worthless marks, or Zimbabwe in 2009..... but I really have no idea how to add anything intelligent to a discussion of budgets that deal with deficits in trillions, trade deficits in trillions more, etc. So I will listen to all of you who are far more economically savvy and just kind of soak it in. HOWEVER, mention historical contexts and leadership and I am, like, "Bo-ingg!!!" energized! Great list, Steve! It wasn't just the times, it also took the leader. Alot of the greatest leaders presided over severely divided populaces as well- look at Adams and Jefferson.... Lincoln. Not alot of blame gaming/ scapegoating going on. Dana- You GO girl! Ah life! Barb- You heard about Nan Britton in Harding's closet when Ethel was coming home to the White House? And Grover Cleveland's hidden child in Buffalo (ma ma where's my pa? gone to the white house hahahah)
All- I will now refer to this blog as "40 Maida Table" ALL ARE WELCOME AT THIS TABLE!!!!!!There is enough Nescafe for everyone! Mucho love, Leslie
I'm not sure if Steve's mention about government workers costing taxpayers a lifetime of benefits was meant as a slam to said employees ( I know it was a slam on Obama -he sure must be busy interviewing all those people), but since my salary and benefits are paid by taxpayers I'm feeling a bit defensive - how about you public school teachers out there? What is the percentage of Olausen extended family who earn their living on the taxpayer's dime? In my family there are 2, Kelly and I, and possibly Dana if she secures this job with the University. I'm with Leslie - someone else figure out the math, but I would be interested in knowing the percentage. Thought the Super Bowl was great - we were rooting for the Saints, but just as easily could have rooted for Manning and the Colts.
Colts fans here, but how can you not love the Saints story? Teared up when Drew Brees held up his son along with the Vince Lombardi trophy. That was truly a beautiful, raw, authentic moment we all got to share. That win was WORTH so much more than words can describe! Chime in Hoosiers.. Nate, Adam, Casie, Erica- it must have been rough at the Ringgers, but I KNOW you loved the onside kick, Nate!!!!Also, I kept thinking of how when we were down in New Orleans we would drive by the Superdome in our Tyveks, enroute to our work site, and how absolutely impossible any recovery like this would seem. OVERWHELMING!! The mess, the smells, the debris, the ruins, the complete destruction..and then army of workers diligenty working on the Superdome roof. What were your thoughts, Nate?
I've been reading the conversation but not always following it (all of the numbers cross my eyes too). But I thought I'd fill you all in numbers that I CAN crunch:
Total Cost of 5th Grade Camping Trip: $20,000
Total Funds Raised: Honeywell Grant: $5,000 Jeffers Grant: $5,000 Wolf Ridge Grant: $3,000 Voigts Bus Grant: $1,500 Donations from Family and Friends: $2,700
Total: $17,200
And this isn't including the money the kids have raised for selling t-shirts, calendars, and candy bars! We are North Woods bound! It is going to be a life-changing experience for so many of these kids. Thank you all for your support and contributions to this project- we wouldn't have made it without you!
Yay Kelly! I know I already told you this but I am so proud of you and your kids! If you still need a chaperone, you know I'm there! Also, I miss you and I want to come visit soon. Woooooo girl!
Congratulations, Kelly. A heck of an accomplishment!
Sorry to the Colts fans, but it was a great game. While I love Peyton, the Drew Brees story is hard to beat and I am happy for the people of New Orleans.
Barb you are helping make my point. Your job, Kelly's job, and all the 50 or so other teachers in this family are jobs that are, for the large part, paid for by local and state taxes. People have more of an opportunity to influence how their money is spent at those levels and recognize the vital importance of those services. In Massachusetts last year and Oregon a couple of weeks ago, for instance, voters passed referendums authorizing higher taxes to fund those vital services. Even though I beleive that those taxes should have been accompanied by an equal effort to cut out waste, the people spoke and that's what they wanted, so great.
Other than the votes you cast for President and Congress, you get no such opportunity to affect federal spending and that's the issue. Does it not bother you when Nancy Pelosi wracks up more than $2 million in travel expenses last year alone to fly back and forth to San Francisco on the tax payers dime? Do you like the sound of facing retirement with social security and medicare underfunded to the tune of $60 trillion? How about having to borrow one-third of the money proposed in Obama's deficit budget to make it work? That means we're not only borrowing to service the debt we have, but actually to pay credit for the privilege of assuming more debt that we will have to borrow to service. It's an insane Ponzi scheme of epic proportions that will sooner rather than later have a devastating impact on the future of this country.
Phew, I feel better, everyone have a perky, great day tomorrow!
Hello all, Have been incredibly busy, away from the table at 40 Maida, so to speak. A bell went off in my head (Mrs. Flaherty ringing the cow bell no doubt)and told me to get back to the table. I finally read all of the above and came to two conclusions --1. Dana is the most courageous person I have ever known -- go get 'em. 2. I miss and love you all!! Today I was dealing with a 5th grader, trying to teach him a lesson. I told him, whenver you point the finger, there are three pointing right back at you (try it everybody). If I could just get Obama into my office... Would like to raise one that hits close to home in these parts, the KSM trial. The idea that this was going to take place in NYC in civilian court was an outrage here (remember, Middletown was hit harder than any other town on 9/11, including 37 deaths from the St. Mary's community). At the risk of being factchecked (I usually can't sneeze without that happening) I am going to throw a few things out by memory. I believe Obama originally said the decision was Holder's and he strongly supported it (a few months ago). In fact, Obama is on record as saying that our justice system would prevail, that KSM would be found guilty and put to death (a curious statement from a President let alone a Constitutional Law Professor -- I always thought there was a presumtion of innocence in our justice system). In any event, Obama was absolutely clear on his position despite being highly criticized on both principle and the logistics of it. Fast forward -- this position seemed to change, coincidentally, with the introduction of bipartisan legislation that would cut off funding from the feds for these civilian trials. Without any prompting from FOX, I apparently actually had a thought of my own (Michele is my witness). The bill would serve, I thought, to put people on record about something that is highly unpopular in the court of public opinion -- a scary prospect for many in an election year that has become scarier for many Dems with the recent elections in Va., N.J. and Mass. Now, all of the sudden, Obama has a change of heart, goes on with Katie Couric, and says he won't rule out a trial in New York but we must consider the cost and the logistics. BULL -- he did not consider that when he was being hammered for it before the prospect of this bill and these recent elections, and there is no way this is now happening in NYC. To clarify -- not here to debate the military court vs. civilian court thing at this time. Just citing an example of poor leadership that must look comical to the rest of the world (wondering how fast "George Bush" can be typed in response to this). Because as of right now, we have no idea where or how we are going to put on trial the mastermind behind the deaths of 3,000 Americans. On another note we got a DVR player, perhaps the greatest invention of all time. The best part -- no longer will I miss things like the health care debates on C-Span.
Uncle Steve- if you are feeling ambitious, here is how to change the title of the blog: When you first sign in with your user name and password you will be brought to the "dashboard." From the dashboard, click on settings. You will see a "title" section where you can enter whatever name you want. Hope this helps! love, dana
Hello Tom! I was wondering where you were...I read your post and I gather your main gripe is that you don't think Obama displays leadership qualtities. I don't have much to add to that other than time will tell. It's pretty early in his presidency for me to have a good sense as to his mettle. You are right, it is a current theme with Fox news, this question of leadership. Speaking of Fox, I watched the John Stewart, Bill O'Reilly interview (the entire one, on the web, not the edited clips on the Factor), and I found Stewart's critique of Fox news very enlightening. If you have the time, it is a pretty interesting interview, with some funny parts. It should appeal to both sides of the politcal divide... Steve, I am not sure how I helped make your point, but was certainly happy to do so! I will say that I hold local, state and federal government in equal admiration and disdain. For instance, our local school board recently lost 38 million taxpayer dollars in a CDO that went south - In 1998 Kenosha spent millions of taxpayer dollars on an electric trolley that travels a 1.7 mile loop downtown. Once in a while you even see someone riding it. (I happen to like it, the folly trolley - I took Tom's boys on it!) It is currently shut down due to lack of operating funds...As for the state, well we are in deep as most states are. I am being furloughed 5 days this year. I cannot see the argument that local government is on a higher plain because it is closer to the people. People are just people afterall. I'd like to think that basically we all try to our best, and I do appreciate the folks who go the extra mile by serving in our military (thanks Jamie and Jack). And I admire those who serve on school boards, city councils, statehouses, congresses - the presidency. They serve at the people's will, and if enough don't want them, well - bye bye! Currently, enough people wanted Barack Obama , so he has my support until he does something so egregious that he loses it. Obviously some of you believe he has already done that - but I haven't seen the outcome yet - we are still in the first chapters of this presidency...
I think the shifting position by Mayor Bloomberg on holding the KSM trial in NYC is interesting, too, Tom. He initially favored it, saying it would have been "fitting" to bring the 9/11 terrorists to justice before the New Yorkers who were directly faced with the consequences of their actions, he then went on to shift his position twice -- first saying he was concerned with how the trials and security would be funded, and demanded full federal funding. And he has now shifted again, citing cost concerns and asking specifically that the trial be moved from Manhattan elsewhere -- economic and not security concerns. There was also a huge shift in public opinion in NYC when the security plans were released and people realized that whole portions of the area would be virtually shut down. Poor leadership, or pragmatism?
I understand that quite a few Olausen's gathered at the SOausen's in RI this past weekend. I hope you all had a grand time, and didn't beat up on Nancy too much, re politics. Jamie and I are headed to the Clarks the 27th to celebrate Leslie's birthday and hopefully see a bunch of beautiful little girls!! I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day, and a thoughtful President's Day.
With Dana's excellent instructions I was able to change the name of the blog, Hooray! I felt so techno savvy.
Now, if I could just figure out how to make the most recent post on top...Oh well, that is too much mind power to waste in one evening.
The RI Olausens were lucky to have the Middletowners and most of the Mendhamites up here this weekend. As expected, we had some very spirited discussion, with Nancy threatening several times to call Barb for reinforcement. It wasn't fair, but she held her ground very well.
Can't say as much for Evan Bayh, although I understand his reason for giving up. Leslie, I hope you have recovered from the shock. I too am dealing with the devastating loss of Patrick "Patches" Kennedy. Something comes to mind about rats and sinking ships.
I just finished my income taxes. Our 2009 tax situation is almost identical to 2008. In 2008 we ended up owing $38 bucks to the Federal government. In 2009 we will get a 948.00 refund. Our federal tax rate went from 13.22% down to 11.74%. Darn Obama and those Democrats for lowering my taxes!!!
That's great, Barb. You earned that money and you should keep it. I am hoping for similar break on taxes this year since I qualify for the $6,500 repeat home buyer credit. We need more across the board tax breaks and I am glad to see you are in favor of keeping the Bush tax cuts in place!
The problem, of course, is that Washington is not taking steps to reduce spending in equal proportion to the reduce income to the Treasury.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I will not be able to come to the family reunion this summer :( The good news is that I can't come because I have a real grown-up person job as a full time RN on the research unit at UW Hospital :)
Congratulations to Dana, who graduates this Saturday with a BSN from University of Wisconsin! We are just so proud of you, Dana. What a truly wonderful achievement!!!
Congratulations to Dana, who will receive her Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing this Saturday from U.W.! What a great achievement!!! I know I speak from the heart of the whole family that we are just really proud of you, Dana!!!
As you can tell from my repetitive posts above I am 1) very very proud of Dana and 2) incapable of using technology correctly because there are either too many buttons, or too many passwords. Gets me every time!
Great idea, Steve, I think... Thanks for setting this up! Hello all you O's!! I work this evening, so will have to watch the SOU address after the fact.
ReplyDeleteHere are a couple of questions before the SOU - If the President reaches out to the Republicans to help him solve some of our problems will he find any takers, or isit more important to the Republican Party to have this Presidency fail? Specifically, if the President suggests tax cuts for small businesses, will Republicans support this?
ReplyDelete"For tonight, you could pick out three or four issues that Obama speaks about that are important to you and provide some input to all about why or why not they would work for the country."
ReplyDeleteWhat if I want to pick only one issue? Or 12? You can't make rules for a blog! This is great, I can't wait to read and write!
I guess Barb's first point about reaching out is moot - he didn't try. I was rather pleased that Obama stuck to his guns and continued his campaign speeches from 2008. However misguided I think his policies are, at least you can't call him a flip-flopper and his backers can take heart in the fact that for now he has no plans to become a centrist.
ReplyDeleteI plan to provide my comments tonight. One thing that really struck me was his lecturing of the Supreme Court. To open them to derision in front of the partisan legislature was really bad form.
Dana, you are right, everyone is free to blog as they wish! Thanks for joining the conversation.
Hi, I am a new blogger- not sure if I have to create a name or if I will be forever known as Oblogger7? I think I will comment on fashion- Purple clearly the new black!
ReplyDeleteOhh wait is Onumber6 my hubby? I guess I should be onumber6.5 (just a little better then 6!)
ReplyDeleteyes I think I am 7.5......I'm also new to blogging. I will blog as soon as my computer stops smoking from fact checking......I will how ever comment on the utter lack of respect for the Justices. He has every right disagree but going after them there in that setting- not right! All those who stood and cheered also bad!!!!! This to me is just as bad as the "you lie" shout out.....
ReplyDeleteWell, I am now home and it took me half an hour to figure out how to get back into this thing. I tried googling olausenblog, but the blog didn't show just a lot of links to things that Olausens all over the world have done or posted on the net. We had a few mentions on the pages I saw, but the following really hit home and makes you think about the difference that people can make in others lives. It was on a personal page and I noticed my wife's name, so clicked it to make sure she was up to anything I didn't know about. Here's what it said:
ReplyDelete"I'm just realizing now that college is nothing like high school. its more like advance college. As i'm walking into the building with a strange feeling as through i don't belong here at all. i'm not sure how i survived the last semester. if it wasn't for my boyfriend jason, and shelly olausen who runs the office of disability serivces for students. I don't know where i would be today. All i'm saying is that college is harder for me than, average young student, that doesn't have a disability to deal with everyday. My goal in life is to graduate college and own my own business of be coming an artist of say a photography or painter. My major is Fine Arts, for now. but now i'm realizing any major i want to do in life, i will have to learn math. I think math is my most diffcult subject in college. One or another i will pass this class and move on to the next math class. so i say good bye."
Shelly will kill me for posting that, but she was right to say that 6.5 is better than 6.
Leaving this to get on to the less important stuff.
There had been some rumors that Obama might propose some new policies that would signal a more centrist approach, so I was eager to listen to what he had to say. I even prepared by writing down headers in a notebook that outlined the issues I wanted to track and provide my opinion on. They were in order of importance to me, Jobs/Economy, War on Terror/Securitym, and Obama's Agenda Going Forward. Figured I could get a few bullets on a single page and that would be enough. Ended up with five pages with a bunch of other headings, including one called Bull@!&%, which unfortunately had the most entries.
ReplyDeleteHe barely got done with his greetings to the Speaker (should be renamed the Whiner) and VP before he blamed George Bush for everything. That is really getting old, and is more in keeping with an adolescent's approach to problems than the President. You cannot be cracking jokes and treating the State of Union like a nightclub act. He was pompous, arrogant, self-righteous, and just plain rude. I was literally shocked when he addressed the Supreme Court the way he did and continually lectured congress on what it should do. Every time he opens his mouth he gets smaller and smaller and confirms what I thought before the election -- he is not, nor is he now, ready to be President.
Paige has a report to do, so I'll get back to this later.
Look at what we agree on! Purple IS the new black, Shelley (and Michele)definetly improve on no.'s 6 and 7, Dana's comment was funny and correct (thankfully we have someone who knows how to blog to help us out!)and, though I wholeheartedly agree with Obama regarding the Supremes decision, I was uncomfortable that he brought it up, and in that way, at the SOTU speech. But, I give the OPres some points for his moxie = I think he knew it would be controversial, and that he wants the country talking about it, which they are, so that people who don't ordinarily follow this sort of thing will take a good look at it. I checked some FACT sites and see conflicting reports as to whether foreign corporations can indeed inject money into US campaigns - I guess there is some sorting out as to what this will all mean. As for Steve's homework assignment...1. Gays in the military - I hope he follows through on this. Anyone who will sacrifice their life for my freedom and our country's security gets to come out of the foot locker if they want to in my opinion. 2. I think OPres is right to let the Bush Tax Cut expire on schedule for families making over 250,000. I refer you to this article, which makes a good case I think, and also offers a clear explanation as to why the Bush administration set them up to expire. Full disclosure - this is a liberal site, funded by George Soros, as a counterpoint to the Heritage Foundation. www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/12/bush_cuts_expire.html Sorry if I made more homework out of this!!! 3. I like pay as you go - enough said. 4. He threatened a Veto regarding 3 year freeze - Not sure I like the freeze, but I like that he vowed to use his veto power -we'll have to see how this pans out... Lastly, this was a speech about the State of the Union. He said we are digging out of a mess, but it's still a mess. That seems about right to me. He's been in office for 1 year - is it realistic to expect a huge turn around from where we were at the end of 2008? Agree or not with the policies, we could all do with some relief from the cynicism permeating our dialog.
ReplyDeletePS Tomorrow night Jame, Kelly, and I travel to Madison for Dana's 22nd birthday - we are going to take in a Jorma/David Bromberg show. Probably more intertaining than last nights speech, ya think?
I thought I'd take a page out of Dana's book and make my own rules. Here are my comments on excerpts from this year's "State of the Union" messages from other world leaders:
ReplyDeleteRussia,President Dmitri Medvedev
"I note that in August this year, Russia registered its natural population increase for the first time in the last 15 years....Go, Russia!"
COMMENT: I say, go Ivan and Natasha!
Norway, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg
"We have been able to spend more during these difficult times because we were careful when times were good. In this respect, you could say that we have followed the advice Joseph gave to Pharaoh, albeit in a rather different way. The Egyptians built granaries. We built the Government Pension Fund Global."
COMMENT: Nice Biblical reference. And to think they could have been spending it all on lutefisk rather than saving for a rainy day.
Britain, Queen Elizabeth II
"The Duke of Edinburgh and I look forward to our visit to Bermuda"
COMMENT: Really, wouldn't you rather be in Bermuda, too?
The Netherlands, Queen Beatrix
"The lack of integration of certain groups in society, widespread disrespectful and offensive behavior in public places and criminal behavior by groups of young people are stubborn problems that cause a great deal of annoyance. The government is therefore not only taking consistent action against offenders but also tackling the causes of unacceptable behavior."
COMMENT: Bea, if you want to see real offensive behavior in public places, just visit our Capitol on any working day.
Philippines,President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
"If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public."
COMMENT: Better stay in the Philippines, Gloria - that attitude won't get you very far here.
South Africa, President Jacob Zuma
"Sport is a powerful nation-building tool....
Our teams can only do well with our support."
COMMENT: All I can say is: 20 days 'til pitchers and catchers!
Go Gloria Arroyo!
ReplyDeleteSteve, I just read George Bush's first SOTU. He opened with a joke. It was funny. He had a couple more thoughout, and he even quoted Yogi Berra. He talked about the need for civilty and respect in political discourse, touted Education as his biggest priority (we all long for the day that was the biggest issue) and cited his budget increases for medicare and social security. Just an FYI...
My last thoughts tonight - I would think that for historians context would be highly valued. A new Presidency doesn't take shape in a vacuum. When OPres talks about the challenges he inherited when he took office, this epic economic meltdown just weeks before he took office, he is framing the timeline for citizens who are impatient with speed of recovery, and, to score politcal points, he is pointing to the opposition. I can understand why Republicans would be defensive on the subject, not want to talk about it. Steve, I am sorry you are so mad that Obama didn't become a Republican last night...
ReplyDeleteSo I'm slow. I just figured out what ONumber6 etc. means. I do have a question for ONumber6 - did you set this up on Pacific Time?
ReplyDeleteSweet, Shelly! I love how Steve found out about some of your dailiness, behind the scenes. Here's to the power of sincere encouragement, and hard work.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Dana!! Congratulations on your new position, too!
Danny Petraitis is up for the Southeastern Regional Emmy for producing Levon Helm: Ramble at the Ryman tonight!
AND, to end my ramble.... I give an early shout out to you, Steve for a Happy Birthday tomorrow:) Keep the faith, bro.....Leslie
I have no idea what time it is set on, Nancy, I can barely figure out how to post a comment. By the way, those quotes and comments above are great. Barb, I'm happy that the O'man didn't turn Republican, it will make things much easier in November.
ReplyDeleteMy topic today is on the National Debt and by extension spending, which is maybe the greatest concern.
According to Treasury Department statistics, the U.S. first went over $1 Trillion in National debt under Reagan in 1982. A breakdown of each president since then goes like this:
Debt rose during Reagan's term 1.695 T
under HW Bush 1.462 T
under Clinton 1.6 T
Under GHW Bush 4.35 T
Total when Bush left office was 10.024 T
Our current debt is 12.281 as of today according to the National Debt Clock. So in one year Obama has added 2.257 T
So Congress raised the debt ceiling to 12.4 T. on December 24, 2009
But that wasn't enough to cover projected spending, so this past week the senate voted on a strict party line vote to raise the ceiling to 14.3 T. That means that the O'man aided and abetted by his Congress will have raised in the short time in office the debt by 4.276 T almost the total that Bush's deplorable spending wracked up in 8 years.
What that means now is that every person in this country owes $40,000.00 to cover the debt. My family therefore owes $160,000.00, you all can extrapolate your own debt.
The only thing Obama offered to cut spending during the SOTU was a freeze on some departments that doesn't even start until 2011. That will affect funds devoted to about 1/6 of spending and will lock in the massive increases that those departments received last year. For instance the energy department, which by the way has more than 16,000 employees to do what I don't know, got an increase of 35 percent.
And, by the way, in the debates last year, Obama criticized McCain for proposing the very same thing, saying that it was too draconian and that he would prefer to get out a scalpel and cut waste and not sign any bill that included earmarks. Well we didn't see any scalpel and did see more than 800 earmarks in the massive spending bill last year. The scalpel was not applied to the $8.3 hundred billion stimulus either.
I leave with this. The White House projects that the stimulus has helped "save or create" 2 million jobs under the Stimulus.
But the figures cited were determined based on responses from recipients of the stimulus money, and those are deplorably inaccurate and of course impossible to calculate what a saved job is. For example, last November, Recovery.gov claimed that in Arizona's 15th congressional district, 30 jobs had been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. The one problem, there is no 15th congressional district in Arizona.
Heisann and hello from Indiana, which, (believe it or not) does have access to the internet (yeah) as well as cable tv; providing me insight from both CNN and FoxNews (i'll never have to think for myself again!).
ReplyDeleteAs you can see from my decision to start my post with the world's most awkward run-on sentence; I am bringing the intellect to this discussion. I will also try to include at least five words that would score 50 or more points in a standard scoring game of scrabble (microcosm anybody?)
As for the speech; i see it as a microcosm of where our country currently stands. Divided. Half the room overclapping. Half looking as bored as my Senior Algebra II class. I didn't think the US could get any more polarized (40 scrabble points) than we were after the 2000 election, but honestly i don't see much difference today.
Those whose views lean left heard exactly what they were listening for in this speech; and so did those who lean right. I guess the one thing all people do share regardless of political leanings is eternal gratefulness that Sarah Palin wasn't smugly nodding as VP in the background of our TV screens, probably offering a steady stream of 'You Betchas'
As for my impressions, I'm sure they mirror what's been said in the posts above
(gotta be honest-I skimmed)
-Obama is as good a public speaker as I've ever seen (or is it teleprompter reader?)
-It wasn't appropriate to call out our Supreme Court in front of a joint session of Congress. Why not chastise them at a press conference instead???
-Blaming Bush is getting old. Not saying it's not valid, just not Presidential
-Overall it reminded me of an adult pep rally. And one that I've already seen.
The 3 topics that interest me the most would have to be Education, the Economy, and Health Care. It would be fair to say that I'm not sure the Obama administration can or will fix any of these 3 crises, but I am rooting like crazy for them to succeed.
I will say that I have long admired Obama's view of the importance of getting a good education and its ability to change an individual's social mobility.
Sorry if this post is sloppy. Too late too proofread. I'm sure I lead the family in run-on sentences and I probably used a few too many semicolons...
Now if only I knew who Obama was cheering for at the Duke-Georgetown game on Saturday....
The hope I had for Obama coming into office was not that he would be a political savior, immediately fix the economy and our international image, or be the anti-George Bush (which he's spent no shortage of speech time trying to be). My hope was (excuse the cliche's) that he would come in as the Washington outsider and genuinely try to change politics-as-usual by working more with centrists and Republicans. Now I know that Republicans haven't made much of an effort themselves, but Obama was elected by the moderates and I think his first-year rhetoric toward them hasn't matched reality. That's why I was encouraged not by the SOU (as Adam said, adult pep rally), but by the encounter between Obama and the House Republicans last Friday. He seemed to genuinely listen and acknowledge that they actually have ideas and not just knee-jerk reactions against his (although there are plenty of those as well). As little "trying to win the argument" politics as I can remember at an event where both sides are presnt. Obama's an idealist by nature, which I think can be a very positive thing if it's used to lead and not to set all of your policy, but I suspect he's becoming more pragmatic.
ReplyDeleteUpdate:
ReplyDeleteSunken City and Crazy Chester has come a long way!
Danny's High Five Team just won the Producer award for “Levon’s Ramble at the Ryman” in Nashville last night, and Dan’s son Dylan was able to be on stage with Martin Fischer to accept the award. Dylan is a senior- and Harry's trying to help him get into a very good Catholic college in Nashville.
Thought you'd all love to hear some good news from home!!!
Happy Birthday Ryan!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your and Adam's posts and perspectives. You both seem pretty centrist to me and I think reflect the majority of people who would hope that our leaders would stop being pep rally politicians and get down to doing what's best for the country. I talked with your mom for a long time last night and all we could do was marvel and the audacity of proposing budget that will add 1.2 trillion in debt within a week of a speech that proclaimed Obama was now going to be a fiscal conservative. Incredible.
As my little factoid of the day. I was astounded by a report this morning that the number of Federal employees now stands at 2.1 million. That is for civilian employees and does not include the military (except for civilians working in the armed services departments), the post office, and other quasi federal agencies like Amtrak. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, the number when Obama was elected was 1,909,000. That means that about 200,000 of the 2 million so-called "jobs created and saved" are directly attributed to federal hiring. Nice work, and apparently anyone can get it.
I wonder how many of the 200,000 federal jobs are newly hired census workers. We hosted over 40 hiring sessions at the Kenosha Public Library last year for these jobs. It was unbelievable how many people took the test. I think I read the Federal Gov't needs 140,000 workers for the 2010 census.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to both Steve and Ryan.
I agree with Ryan that Obama's meeting with the House Republicans last Friday was encouraging and, I believe, a sincere attempt to reach out to Republicans. As O4Barbara said in her second post: "If the President reaches out to the Republicans to help him solve some of our problems will he find any takers, or is it more important to the Republican Party to have this Presidency fail?" The answer to that will become obvious if the Republicans start filibustering everything in the Senate. Also, to the second part of O4Barbara's comment: "Specifically, if the President suggests tax cuts for small businesses, will Republicans support this?" Since he did, it will be interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteHere's a factoid to consider in relationship to Steve's on the number of Federal employees. At the time of the AT&T Divestiture in 1984, AT&T had over 1 million employees, almost one in every 200 Americans at the time. Now, I'm not saying I think the Federal government needs 2.1 million employees (and, I think I can safely say that more people at the time would have said Ma Bell was doing a good job than would say today about Uncle Sam), but without more context,it's hard to know how to react.
ReplyDeleteI fear I am too busy to post extensively on this blog but I have really enjoyed reading all the posts. My mom suggested I let you know what I am up to. I am spending my Tuesdays and Thursdays at Sun Prairie High School being a school nurse for my clinical. Next week I get to teach the contraceptives class to the boys at the alternative high school. Talking about condoms to a bunch of misbehaving boys...sign me up.
ReplyDeleteMisbehaving high school boys - hmmm-- I see future governors, senators, representatives, presidents...
ReplyDeleteI can't go where I want to go with the condom thing, so I'll so I'll just say good luck Dana! As far as your factoid, Nancy, I'll just say that the context is @ million is a lot of jobs, one-tenth added in one year is a lot of waste, and AT&T is a private company - at least the last time I checked.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of jobs, another report today says that there are 200,000 more Federal jobs that Obama proposes to fill in the next two years. Some are probably the census ones that Barbara mentions, but here's some others for your enjoyment:
Patent Examiner Clerk - $68,000, plus benefits
Security and Exchange Commission technical writer - $96 - $171,000, plus benefits
USDA Fire Manager, $68,000 plus benefits
Department of the Interior Archaeologist - $73-113,000 (you may wonder what we pay in the real world in one of the most expensive regions - well, it sure as hell ain't that)
AND MY FAVORITE GOVERNMENT JOB NOW AVAILABLE....Grizzly Bear Habit Coordinator, $68,000-$89,000. All come with government lifetime benefits that cost the taxpayers.
If I hear that Obama inherited one of the the worst situations a president ever has again, I think I will puke. I think it was probably tougher for ...
George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson who had hew a country out of a constitution and bill or rights, but wouldn't recognize what is going on today.
James Madison afterall the British did burn his house down
Every president between 1832 and 1876 - there was quite a struggle about this time - something about slavery
Woodrow Wilson - world war that amounted to 37 million casualties - we also have him to thank for the income tax
Herbert Hoover - Hooverville's enough said
Franklin Roosevelt - a Great Depression and another World War
Harry S. Truman - having to decide to drop the bomb within weeks of learning it was even in existence constitutes a pretty rough start. Then there was that police action in Korea.
Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy - when you spawn a whole genre of horror movies and have kids practicing crawling under desks,there is a problem.
Richard Nixon - not saying that he wasn't a crook, but the Vietnam thing is what Afghanistan is compared to today.
Gerald Ford - cleaning up after tricky Dick was not easy.
Ronald Reagan - cleaning up after Jimmy Carter was even tougher than tricky Dick. His situation economically was worse that Obama's but he didn't whine or start ever speech with "Look we inherited this mess." He cut taxes and started the most prolonged period of prosperity ever in this country.
And just to piss you all off - George HW Bush, who assumed his presidency during a recession that resulted from the burst of the dot.com bubble that nearly wiped out NASDAQ. Within 9 months he had to deal with a terrorist attack that crippled the nation's financial center and resulted in the deaths of 3,000 people on American soil. We are presently concerned with the rights of several masterminds of those attacks to the point where we are thinking of paying $200 million of taxpayer's money to try them in NYC. When things settled down, the tax cuts enacted sparked a period of 52 months straight of economic growth. He made serious mistakes, but we would be far better off under him that Obama.
Now we're talking a language I understand! I defer with the micro economics to my brilliant sibs and sons....My eyes cross when I hear numbers: I just keep having armegeddeion (sp) flashes of post WWI Weimar Republic Germans with wheelbarrows of worthless marks, or Zimbabwe in 2009..... but I really have no idea how to add anything intelligent to a discussion of budgets that deal with deficits in trillions, trade deficits in trillions more, etc. So I will listen to all of you who are far more economically savvy and just kind of soak it in. HOWEVER, mention historical contexts and leadership and I am, like, "Bo-ingg!!!" energized! Great list, Steve! It wasn't just the times, it also took the leader. Alot of the greatest leaders presided over severely divided populaces as well- look at Adams and Jefferson.... Lincoln. Not alot of blame gaming/ scapegoating going on.
ReplyDeleteDana- You GO girl! Ah life!
Barb- You heard about Nan Britton in Harding's closet when Ethel was coming home to the White House? And Grover Cleveland's hidden child in Buffalo (ma ma where's my pa? gone to the white house hahahah)
All- I will now refer to this blog as
"40 Maida Table"
ALL ARE WELCOME AT THIS TABLE!!!!!!There is enough Nescafe for everyone! Mucho love, Leslie
I love the clever 40 Maida Table!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if Steve's mention about government workers costing taxpayers a lifetime of benefits was meant as a slam to said employees ( I know it was a slam on Obama -he sure must be busy interviewing all those people), but since my salary and benefits are paid by taxpayers I'm feeling a bit defensive - how about you public school teachers out there? What is the percentage of Olausen extended family who earn their living on the taxpayer's dime? In my family there are 2, Kelly and I, and possibly Dana if she secures this job with the University. I'm with Leslie - someone else figure out the math, but I would be interested in knowing the percentage.
Thought the Super Bowl was great - we were rooting for the Saints, but just as easily could have rooted for Manning and the Colts.
Colts fans here, but how can you not love the Saints story? Teared up when Drew Brees held up his son along with the Vince Lombardi trophy. That was truly a beautiful, raw, authentic moment we all got to share. That win was WORTH so much more than words can describe!
ReplyDeleteChime in Hoosiers..
Nate, Adam, Casie, Erica- it must have been rough at the Ringgers, but I KNOW you loved the onside kick, Nate!!!!Also, I kept thinking of how when we were down in New Orleans we would drive by the Superdome in our Tyveks, enroute to our work site, and how absolutely impossible any recovery like this would seem. OVERWHELMING!! The mess, the smells, the debris, the ruins, the complete destruction..and then army of workers diligenty working on the Superdome roof. What were your thoughts, Nate?
Hey all,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading the conversation but not always following it (all of the numbers cross my eyes too). But I thought I'd fill you all in numbers that I CAN crunch:
Total Cost of 5th Grade Camping Trip: $20,000
Total Funds Raised:
Honeywell Grant: $5,000
Jeffers Grant: $5,000
Wolf Ridge Grant: $3,000
Voigts Bus Grant: $1,500
Donations from Family and Friends: $2,700
Total: $17,200
And this isn't including the money the kids have raised for selling t-shirts, calendars, and candy bars! We are North Woods bound! It is going to be a life-changing experience for so many of these kids. Thank you all for your support and contributions to this project- we wouldn't have made it without you!
Yay Kelly! I know I already told you this but I am so proud of you and your kids! If you still need a chaperone, you know I'm there! Also, I miss you and I want to come visit soon. Woooooo girl!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Kelly. A heck of an accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteSorry to the Colts fans, but it was a great game. While I love Peyton, the Drew Brees story is hard to beat and I am happy for the people of New Orleans.
Barb you are helping make my point. Your job, Kelly's job, and all the 50 or so other teachers in this family are jobs that are, for the large part, paid for by local and state taxes. People have more of an opportunity to influence how their money is spent at those levels and recognize the vital importance of those services. In Massachusetts last year and Oregon a couple of weeks ago, for instance, voters passed referendums authorizing higher taxes to fund those vital services. Even though I beleive that those taxes should have been accompanied by an equal effort to cut out waste, the people spoke and that's what they wanted, so great.
Other than the votes you cast for President and Congress, you get no such opportunity to affect federal spending and that's the issue. Does it not bother you when Nancy Pelosi wracks up more than $2 million in travel expenses last year alone to fly back and forth to San Francisco on the tax payers dime? Do you like the sound of facing retirement with social security and medicare underfunded to the tune of $60 trillion? How about having to borrow one-third of the money proposed in Obama's deficit budget to make it work? That means we're not only borrowing to service the debt we have, but actually to pay credit for the privilege of assuming more debt that we will have to borrow to service. It's an insane Ponzi scheme of epic proportions that will sooner rather than later have a devastating impact on the future of this country.
Phew, I feel better, everyone have a perky, great day tomorrow!
Hello all,
ReplyDeleteHave been incredibly busy, away from the table at 40 Maida, so to speak. A bell went off in my head (Mrs. Flaherty ringing the cow bell no doubt)and told me to get back to the table. I finally read all of the above and came to two conclusions --1. Dana is the most courageous person I have ever known -- go get 'em. 2. I miss and love you all!!
Today I was dealing with a 5th grader, trying to teach him a lesson. I told him, whenver you point the finger, there are three pointing right back at you (try it everybody). If I could just get Obama into my office...
Would like to raise one that hits close to home in these parts, the KSM trial. The idea that this was going to take place in NYC in civilian court was an outrage here (remember, Middletown was hit harder than any other town on 9/11, including 37 deaths from the St. Mary's community). At the risk of being factchecked (I usually can't sneeze without that happening) I am going to throw a few things out by memory. I believe Obama originally said the decision was Holder's and he strongly supported it (a few months ago). In fact, Obama is on record as saying that our justice system would prevail, that KSM would be found guilty and put to death (a curious statement from a President let alone a Constitutional Law Professor -- I always thought there was a presumtion of innocence in our justice system). In any event, Obama was absolutely clear on his position despite being highly criticized on both principle and the logistics of it.
Fast forward -- this position seemed to change, coincidentally, with the introduction of bipartisan legislation that would cut off funding from the feds for these civilian trials. Without any prompting from FOX, I apparently actually had a thought of my own (Michele is my witness). The bill would serve, I thought, to put people on record about something that is highly unpopular in the court of public opinion -- a scary prospect for many in an election year that has become scarier for many Dems with the recent elections in Va., N.J. and Mass. Now, all of the sudden, Obama has a change of heart, goes on with Katie Couric, and says he won't rule out a trial in New York but we must consider the cost and the logistics. BULL -- he did not consider that when he was being hammered for it before the prospect of this bill and these recent elections, and there is no way this is now happening in NYC.
To clarify -- not here to debate the military court vs. civilian court thing at this time. Just citing an example of poor leadership that must look comical to the rest of the world (wondering how fast "George Bush" can be typed in response to this). Because as of right now, we have no idea where or how we are going to put on trial the mastermind behind the deaths of 3,000 Americans.
On another note we got a DVR player, perhaps the greatest invention of all time. The best part -- no longer will I miss things like the health care debates on C-Span.
Uncle Steve- if you are feeling ambitious, here is how to change the title of the blog:
ReplyDeleteWhen you first sign in with your user name and password you will be brought to the "dashboard." From the dashboard, click on settings. You will see a "title" section where you can enter whatever name you want. Hope this helps!
love,
dana
Hello Tom! I was wondering where you were...I read your post and I gather your main gripe is that you don't think Obama displays leadership qualtities. I don't have much to add to that other than time will tell. It's pretty early in his presidency for me to have a good sense as to his mettle. You are right, it is a current theme with Fox news, this question of leadership. Speaking of Fox, I watched the John Stewart, Bill O'Reilly interview (the entire one, on the web, not the edited clips on the Factor), and I found Stewart's critique of Fox news very enlightening. If you have the time, it is a pretty interesting interview, with some funny parts. It should appeal to both sides of the politcal divide...
ReplyDeleteSteve, I am not sure how I helped make your point, but was certainly happy to do so! I will say that I hold local, state and federal government in equal admiration and disdain. For instance, our local school board recently lost 38 million taxpayer dollars in a CDO that went south - In 1998 Kenosha spent millions of taxpayer dollars on an electric trolley that travels a 1.7 mile loop downtown. Once in a while you even see someone riding it. (I happen to like it, the folly trolley - I took Tom's boys on it!) It is currently shut down due to lack of operating funds...As for the state, well we are in deep as most states are. I am being furloughed 5 days this year. I cannot see the argument that local government is on a higher plain because it is closer to the people. People are just people afterall. I'd like to think that basically we all try to our best, and I do appreciate the folks who go the extra mile by serving in our military (thanks Jamie and Jack). And I admire those who serve on school boards, city councils, statehouses, congresses - the presidency. They serve at the people's will, and if enough don't want them, well - bye bye! Currently, enough people wanted Barack Obama , so he has my support until he does something so egregious that he loses it. Obviously some of you believe he has already done that - but I haven't seen the outcome yet - we are still in the first chapters of this presidency...
Steve, If you change the title, can you also change how the blogs are displayed, so that the latest ones show up first?
ReplyDeleteWillie Mays was interviewed by John Stewart tonight - hope you causght it, and if not, hope you can web it! What a treasure!!!
ReplyDeleteI think the shifting position by Mayor Bloomberg on holding the KSM trial in NYC is interesting, too, Tom. He initially favored it, saying it would have been "fitting" to bring the 9/11 terrorists to justice before the New Yorkers who were directly faced with the consequences of their actions, he then went on to shift his position twice -- first saying he was concerned with how the trials and security would be funded, and demanded full federal funding. And he has now shifted again, citing cost concerns and asking specifically that the trial be moved from Manhattan elsewhere -- economic and not security concerns. There was also a huge shift in public opinion in NYC when the security plans were released and people realized that whole portions of the area would be virtually shut down. Poor leadership, or pragmatism?
ReplyDeleteI understand that quite a few Olausen's gathered at the SOausen's in RI this past weekend. I hope you all had a grand time, and didn't beat up on Nancy too much, re politics. Jamie and I are headed to the Clarks the 27th to celebrate Leslie's birthday and hopefully see a bunch of beautiful little girls!! I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day, and a thoughtful President's Day.
ReplyDeleteWith Dana's excellent instructions I was able to change the name of the blog, Hooray! I felt so techno savvy.
ReplyDeleteNow, if I could just figure out how to make the most recent post on top...Oh well, that is too much mind power to waste in one evening.
The RI Olausens were lucky to have the Middletowners and most of the Mendhamites up here this weekend. As expected, we had some very spirited discussion, with Nancy threatening several times to call Barb for reinforcement. It wasn't fair, but she held her ground very well.
Can't say as much for Evan Bayh, although I understand his reason for giving up. Leslie, I hope you have recovered from the shock. I too am dealing with the devastating loss of Patrick "Patches" Kennedy. Something comes to mind about rats and sinking ships.
Hope you all have great visit on the 27th. Steve
I just finished my income taxes. Our 2009 tax situation is almost identical to 2008. In 2008 we ended up owing $38 bucks to the Federal government. In 2009 we will get a 948.00 refund. Our federal tax rate went from 13.22% down to 11.74%. Darn Obama and those Democrats for lowering my taxes!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's great, Barb. You earned that money and you should keep it. I am hoping for similar break on taxes this year since I qualify for the $6,500 repeat home buyer credit. We need more across the board tax breaks and I am glad to see you are in favor of keeping the Bush tax cuts in place!
ReplyDeleteThe problem, of course, is that Washington is not taking steps to reduce spending in equal proportion to the reduce income to the Treasury.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I will not be able to come to the family reunion this summer :( The good news is that I can't come because I have a real grown-up person job as a full time RN on the research unit at UW Hospital :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Dana, who graduates this Saturday with a BSN from University of Wisconsin! We are just so proud of you, Dana. What a truly wonderful achievement!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Dana, who will receive her Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing this Saturday from U.W.! What a great achievement!!! I know I speak from the heart of the whole family that we are just really proud of you, Dana!!!
ReplyDeleteAs you can tell from my repetitive posts above I am
ReplyDelete1) very very proud of Dana and
2) incapable of using technology correctly because there are either too many buttons, or too many passwords.
Gets me every time!
Proud to teach my daughters of their Norweigan heritage. And, though I don't see them often, I love my extended family!
ReplyDelete