Glad to see President Obama finally finishing up his “blissfully free” from stress Cape Cod vacation and getting back to work - after all, his so-called “Recovery Summer” victory tour has turned into a disaster of epic proportions. Let’s see all of the great stuff he and his administration can take responsibility for since June:

– An unemployment rate stalled in the mid-9s amidst growing fears it will once again approach 10% in the coming months.

– The sales of existing U.S. homes sank 27.2% in July - the biggest one-month drop ever.

– 2nd quarter GDP reduced from an already-meager 2.4 percent down to an abysmal 1.6, showing an economy that is slowing to a crawl. Horrible news coming just months before retailers ramp up for their critical holiday shopping season.

– The President wading in on the plan to build a mosque just two football fields away from Ground Zero. Once again we see this President taking an ill-advised jump into local politics (as he did by inserting his administration into Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration 1070 legislation debate) and igniting a fierce debate pitting one group of Americans against another. Not only was it a stupid and tin-eared thing to do, it provided his critics with additional evidence that President Obama is not the uniter his campaign promoted him as, but a divider of the worst kind. It also re-ignited suspicions that he’s an undeclared Muslim by faith.

– The Obama administration throws the state of Arizona under the bus in its report to the U.N. Council on Human Rights. Absolutely dispicable (and in my view, an impeachable offense) in every way imaginable. The thought of a U.S. President waging active war against one of the states is beyond reprehensible.

How bad has it all gotten for the Petulant One? When even as usually stalwart a liberal-leaning institution as the Denver Post starts crying “no mas!” to the gross exspansion of the federal government and federal government regulations and spending in the first two year of complete Democrat control in Washington, you know the jig is up:

We need our lawmakers in Colorado, and those who represent us in Washington, to start articulating specific proposals meant to restructure government to something we can afford.

In Colorado, that means ideas for balancing the budget without decimating K-12 education, higher ed and social services; and in Washington, that means deficit reduction plans.

The debate in Washington also will be about whether to extend President Bush’s tax cuts.

We don’t know that extending the cuts will help much in the short term, but we do know that adding uncertainty to the already fragile situation is irresponsible.

(Hat tip: Hot Air.)

As the days continue to count down to the November 2 mid-terms and a Democrat disaster of biblical proportions starts becoming more than just a possibility, expect more of this. Obama’s administration has been a total failure, forcing even Democrats to run for cover. Key question: does the President come out and admit that he was wrong and plan a change of course after the midterms, as Bill Clinton so ably did after the 1994 GOP “Contract With America” victory wave? Given that Obama seems completely incapable of: a) admitting anything he’s ever done has been wrong, and b) giving anyone but himself credit for anything, the answer is likely a responding “don’t think so”.

Which is fine with me. This clown deserves everything he gets - he’s taken an inherited mess and made it far worse than anyone might have expected. The unfortunate thing is that we as American are the ones taking all the shots - or, at least, the non-golf ones.

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The lame-stream media loves to portray the Tea Party, FOX News, and Glenn Beck as some kind of abberation from the ruling class elite; this event ought to change the dialogue. Lemme tell you, something is brewing this coming November that few will anticipate in its scope, breadth, and impact. I can only speak for hundreds of thousands - if not millions - like me: I can’t wait to vote and do my part to derail the Obama / Pelosi / Reid agenda that has been hell-bent on destroying this country.

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P.S. Happy birthday, Mom!!

Pool temp: 89 degrees

Congrats to Senator John McCain and Governor Jan Brewer on their Republican primary victories tonight. May you wipe the floor with your Democratic opponents in the general election a little over two months from now.

One comment about my support of John McCain: you’ll see a lot of conservative outposts - like this, for example calling people in Arizona idiots for supporting someone who, if not a RINO (Republican in name only), is all over the board when it comes to issues. But I’m sorry: take your rigid, sanctimonious attitiudes and go screw yourselves. The fact is, J.D. Hayworth ran a lousy campaign practically from the start, allowed McCain to put him on defense throughout the entire race, and, frankly, gave few people a good enough reason to vote for him. My feeling is this: if you can’t run a competent primary campaign, what makes anyone think you’ll be a competent elected official in Washington?

Hey, all you Obama fans who think The Great White Shank was just blowing smoke about reckless spending and spiralling deficits? Better get used to seeing this chart - it’s about to go viral in the days ahead. Key points to consider:

So the following are facts, based on the government’s own figures. Whenever you hear some Democratic strategist blame Obama’s deficit and his reckless spending on the Iraq war, you’ll have the truth before you.

* Obama’s stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War — more than $100 billion (15%) more.
* Just the first two years of Obama’s stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.
* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.
* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.
* Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.
* The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).
During Bush’s Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education that it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.)

(Hat tip: Instapundit). Expect to see the Dems drag out poor old W’s carcass in the days and weeks ahead, hoping to blame the economic mess we find ourselves in on W and the Iraq war, but they’re only masking their own gross (and, in my view, criminal) incompetence since they took Congress and then the White House. Fortunately, I think the American people are smarter than that and see what’s really going on. We’ll see come November, won’t we?

I might be wrong - predictions are hardly my strongest suit - but I think this will be the most important political development, not just in this fall’s midterms, but for the 2012 presidential election. The angry, bitter, self-centered “it’s my body, everyone else be damned!” feminism from the ’60s is, thankfully, in its final dying gasps, being replaced by a more positive, intelligent, less self-serving, and more socially-empowered, family-oriented perspective. Keep an eye out for this, I’m telling you. This “new feminism” crosses every demographic and will be a force to reckoned with.

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Pool tyemp: 95 degrees

Yes I do. I need to find another station to wake up to, but I like waking up to classical music, OK?

I’ll tell you, the leftists at NPR are so damned predictable. Had John McCain been elected President, today’s discouraging news on the job numbers would have been introduced with something like the following:

“His job approval numbers plummeting in the polls, President McCain this morning was greeted with the news that new U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, dealing yet another setback to the nation’s economic recovery and his failed economic policies. This not only confirms experts’ views that the President’s tepid attempts to turn the economy around have failed, but also call into question his ability to govern, given his advanced age.”

With St. Barack in office, we heard about the floods in Pakistan, the U.S. getting out of Iraq, Jennifer Aniston wanting another baby, and, oh, by the way, just seconds before signoff…

“New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery. This is NPR.”

Lemme tell you, I was never much of a George W. Bush (or, for that matter, a Bill Clinton) fan, but compared to this adult adolescent, this socialist, this clueless clown, this Manchurian candidate, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton look like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, respectively.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so. At least with W and Bill you felt like they understood what being President meant or signified (i.e., being something bigger then them), and (at least in public) acted, y’know, presidential. Now I don’t know exactly what being “presidential” means - I guess it’s like pornography, you can’t define it but you sure know it when you see it. What I see from President Obama is a self-righteous, self-absorbed, arrogant narcissist who loves being President but doesn’t want the responsibilities that go along with it. I see someone totally in over his head, someone who has been told his whole life that his you-know-what doesn’t stink, and how he’s God’s gift to creation.

Well, just like in Greek mythology, even the gods fall. And the bigger they are the harder they fall. I’m with the American Thinker on this, Barack Obama’s best days are behind him, his presidency doomed to the worst of failures. And why? Because doesn’t understand the office or the role of the President - never did, nor was he ever qualified to be President to begin with. Oh, I’m not talking about him not being a natural-born American citizen (which I’ll bet he’s not), I’m talking about the fact that people actually expected someone who had never run so much as a lemonade stand in his life to somehow become a respected leader of peoples.

If he was a more likeable fellow, I’d actually feel sorry for him. But he’s not, so I don’t.

It’s awful to feel this way about your President. But this guy in my mind doesn’t deserve the office or the respect that comes with it. He’s not only lacking in ability, but more important, he’s lacking in those things Americans look for in presidents: class and grace. What’s worse is that it’s not just him holding the keys to power, it’s Nancy Pelosi (who wants to investigate those opposed to the Ground Zero mosque) and Harry Reid (who insults Hispanics who dare align themselves with Republicans or conservatives) as well. Together, they are an embarrassment and a disgrace to the offices they were elected to.

Enjoy the Cape, Mr. President.

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Pool temp: 92 degrees

I’ve been so wanting to post something on the controversy around that attempt to build a 15-story, multi-use mosque near the site of the 9/11 attacks, but work is very, very crazy this week.

The only thing I’ll offer up in my own humble opinion is that, for all the talk of Muslims wanting Americans to be more sensitive and accepting of Islam in our historically-ordered Judeo-Christian society, there seems precious little sensitivity toward setting a mosque near a site where body parts are still being found nearly a decade later. No one is questioning the right of the imams to place their mosque there - that’s a local question - but whether it’s the right thing to do is where the rubber hits the road.

This isn’t a question about politics, it’s a matter of this country’s heart, mind, and spirit. Ground Zero is hallowed ground where Muslims, Christians, Jews, and non-believers all perished in the most horrifying of ways. To put a mosque at that site is not only ill-conceived and ill-advised, it shows an astounding lack of sensitivity and grace - not that either of these are in great supply these days in this culture we inhabit.

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Same thing with President Obama’s horrendous “Recovery Summer” that not only hasn’t featured any kind of recovery, but is going down as the worst three months of dude’s Presidency. He’s catching fire from the Left because of Afghanistan and his tepid response to the BP spill, he’s catching flack from the Right for ObamaCare, a spiralling deficit, his war on Arizona, and a federal government completely out of control, and Independents are deserting him in droves. His poll numbers are in a death spiral, and the November mid-terms are looking worse for the Democrats with each passing day. Yet with all this, “Mr. HopenChange” moves to the beat of his own Alinsky socialist marching band and heads off on yet another vacation.

I dunno, I suppose I could wonder how someone who could ran such a fantastic campaign to get elected could be such a poor President and an even worse leader of a nation. Oh wait, I’ve already posted about why that is. But no one listens to The Great White Shank. Sometimes not even The Great White Shank.

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Pool temp: 93 degrees

Heard on a local radio show a few days ago. I thought it just about summed up my political worldview rather nicely.

“Liberalism is child-like behavior applied to adult issues. Conservatism is the adult approach applied to the rule of law.”

I kinda like it, although I’m certain not all would agree with me.

No excess commentary, just four stories for your consideration:

1. The Obama administration through a ObamaCare provision starting in 2011 puts the screws to special-needs families.

2. Mass. senator John Kerry, who has been pushing climate change “cap and trade” legislation that would destroy the livelihoods of thousands of coal miners throughout West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, thought he would dodge paying $500,000 in state taxes by lodging his posh yacht in nearby (and oh-so-convenient) Newport, RI. Until he got “yachted”, of course…

3. Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, who has no problem forcing private banks and lending institutions to pony up their own money to underwrite loans to high-risk home buyers, raises a stink about not receiving his $1 senior discount on a ferry to a trendy Fire Island gay haunt.

4. The Democrat-controlled Senate pushing a so-called “DISCLOSE Act” that would allow greater union spending while suppressing the ability of grassroots organizations to contribute to election campaigns. The latest vote failed today, but with the unions (especially the purple people-eaters of the SEIU) so deep in the Dems pockets don’t expect this to die easily.

Such is the true face of modern-day liberalism. Anyone who thinks today’s Democratic Party still stands for the have-nots in this society and are rightful heirs of the honorable tradition of the likes of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and JFK and RFK better set their internal clocks for a political wake-up call come this November. Because it’s coming, and it can’t come too soon.

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Pool temp: 93 degrees

I haven’t posted anything to this point about the horrendous BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico because I don’t know enough about oil drilling by nature, who did what when they shouldn’t have, and how do you expect to easily handle something when that something turns into a catastrophic event. I’ll only say this: 1) I prefer my drilling on the land, not the sea, thank you; 2) I don’t like this “us vs. them” reaction from the Obama White House, 3) Most - if not all - politicians are dumb; and 4) When all is said and done, this story will have a fundamental impact on the way people view Washington and the Obama administration, and will have a major impact this fall’s elections.

Regarding #1: Environmentalists have to assume some of the blame for what’s going on right now because they have forced oil companies to drill deeper, and in more riskier ways, and increasingly in the oceans. Think about it: while this spill is threatening Louisiana’s fragile coastline and economic stability, big ol’ ANWR is sitting up there thousands of miles away in the middle of nowhere just twiddlin’ it’s crude potential thumbs. I cannot believe drilling in ANWR would be anywhere near as risky as deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

And the same holds true for nuclear power. But don’t get me started on that.

Regarding #2: I have to admit that the Obama administration lives down to my expectations every opportunity they get. It’s been, what, nearly three months, and most of what we’ve heard from the White House is that it’s BP’s problem. Well I got news for the White House, it isn’t just BP’s problem. It’s Louisiana’s, Alabama’s, Florida’s, and the problem of Americans who don’t live there, but make their living, either directly or indirectly in the oil industry, tourism industry - heck, practically any industry affected by energy. The American economy is fragile enough without this being lumped on top of it. I find the Obama administration’s attitude insulting, incredibly short-sighted, and perhaps even criminally negligent. Mark my words, there will be people in this administration forfeiting their jobs by the time all is said and done.

Regarding #3. You’re Barack Obama. Your presidency follows George W. Bush’s - you know, that presidency that criminally mishandled the Katrina flooding. In, like, Louisiana. And now you have on your watch a devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that threatens the ecological and economic well-being of, yup, Louisiana, and what do you do? Take a hands-off approach? What on God’s green earth are you thinking? Are you that clueless?

Look, I’m no political genius, but if I’m a Democrat president following a Republican president who was castigated each and every way for his administration’s incompetence involving a natural disaster in th Gulf region, I’m going to go out of my way at the first sign of any potential disaster to show the contrast in competence and efficiency between my administration and his. Because of his own administration’s stupidity, arrogance, or ineptness, the Gulf oil spill is destined to go down as Obama’s Katrina. The time for decisive action and credibility was more than two month’s ago, and he chose poorly to punt it as a legal problem, not an ecological disaster. What an idiot.

Regarding #4. I have to ask the question. What does Washington presently do well? It’s not a rhetorical question. The American people ought to expect that, at its most basic, fundamental state, the government should be watching out for the welfare of the American people. Whether it’s protecting our borders, fighting our wars, or regulating our industries while still leaving room for free-market approaches that stimulate economic growth, the federal government should be looking out for the welfare of this nation. And in this case, yet again, the government has mishandled yet another crisis.

Does anyone doubt that, in the end, this devastating oil spill could have been prevented by simply enforcing the laws already on the books? Or that there were shortcuts and needless risks taken? Or that money changed hands and eyes looked the other way in return for political and financial payoffs? I’m not going to make the conspiratorial leap that, because BP has/had been a heavy contributor to Democrats and the Obama campaign, the oil spill is a result of some kind of political graft or corruption. But I will say that the overwhelming evidence was that the BP oil spill was a disaster that could have been prevented, had warning signs been followed and rules and laws already on the books adhered to.

…from all the Goodboys talk this week. Over dinner this afternoon my good friend Pasquale told me this blog was interesting, except for those posts that were critical of President Barack Obama. OK, I’ll make the President a deal: I’ll stop being critical of him if he in turn will do the following:

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1. Stop his declared war on the private sector and small business by reducing the expansion of government and its attempt to regulate everything we do.

2. Stop his declared war against Arizona and its honest attempts to fight illegal immigration.

3. Close Guantanamo Bay and get out of Afghanistan.

4. Stop apologizing to the world for America’s greatness.

5. Stop cozying up to third world dictators and despots and start standing up for freedom.

6. Stop dividing the country with rhetoric that pitches one group, class, or race of Americans against another.

7. Start condemning the true enemies of America and freedom like Al-Qaeda, Iran, and the New Black Panther Party with the same speed and passion you did against the Cambridge, Mass. police in the Henry Gates affair and Arizona for passing its anti-illegal immigration legislation.

8. Stop the incompetence and government red-tape preventing a more effective clean-up of the Gulf oil spill.

9. Stop playing golf every weekend when there are people across the United States who are hurting because of job losses and rotten economy you have done nothing to improve.

10. Tell the truth that you were not born in Hawaii, but actually in Kenya.

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I think a competent and engaged Chief Executive could start working on #s 1-9 immediately. As for #10, it’s not possible.

Thank you all for this opportunity. Now, back to Goodboys week…

“”Washington D.C. is 12 square miles bordered by reality.” - President Andrew Johnson.

Is this the height of incompetence and arrogance or what? Seems the federal government is opposed to Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal’s plans to mitigate the impact of the Gulf oil spill on his state’s coastlines, saying it will do more harm than good. More harm than good!! Typical - bow-tied, bum-kissing bureaucrats who couldn’t tell the difference between crude oil and olive oil telling a sitting governor his planned course of action is worse than them sitting their on their fat asses, doing nothing but getting in the way of progress.

And then you have the growing scandal over the Department of Justice’s refusal to prosecute two black racists for intimidating voters outside a Philadelphia voting site during the 2008 elections. Put it this way: if John McCain’s Justice Department refused to prosecute two KKK klansmen intimidating black voters outside, say, a Birmingham voting site during the 2008 election there would be calls for his impeachment. And from the mainstream dino-media? Not a peep. Not that I’d expect anything less…

Lemme tell you, I despise Washington and everything associated with it, and can’t wait for the November elections. Be assured, I will vote for no incumbent - Republican or Democrat.

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Today it’s out of the dry heat for me, as I’m off to Massachusetts for a week of preparation and the Goodboys Invitational. For most of the time I’ll be on vacation - the operative word being “most”.

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Pool temp: 93 degrees

“It’s time we stop hey what’s that sound? Everybody look what going down.”
– Stephen Stills, “For What It’s Worth”, Buffalo Springfield, 1967

After a nice relaxing weekend it’s back to work and, unfortunately, back to reality. Some things, like that soft grinding sound eminating from my Saturn’s left front brake (ever since the AAMCO place down the road replaced my front brakes) just won’t go away, and no amount of avoidance is going to make it better. At some point you have to re-focus your attention on the problem or it won’t get resolved. The same with the ill wind that appears to be blowing across the country in this summer of discontent.

Tomorrow, it’s back to the shop as far as my car is concerned. As far as that ill wind, it looks like the country is going to have to wait for the November midterms.

I write this because over the holiday weekend I had the opportunity to speak to several friends who either checked in on me, or I on them. One is a small business owner in northern Mississippi on the outskirts of Memphis. Another is a long-time friend in Massachusetts who works for a large financial company in Massachusetts. The third is a pal I know who designs surf boards in Huntington Beach, California. I’d call my Mississippi friend a conservative, the other two unabashed liberals. All three voted for Barack Obama in 2008. All three are now regretting their decision and expressed great concern - if not outright fear - as to what is happening in the country right now.

I don’t think my friends are wrong or misguided in their sentiments, for anyone with ears willing to hear and eyes willing to see can tell you what’s going on out there right now. It’s not just concern, but fear. The sense that this ship of state, if not actually going down, is taking on serious water and it’s not getting any better. The economy. The deficit. Jobs. Afghanistan. The Gulf oil spill. State and local government pension funds. You look at all of these things, and can anyone say they have confidence in our elected leaders in Washington - most especially in the White House - to right this ship?

It’s not just the Democrats’ passage of ObamaCare without any apparent concern either for the way it was passed with all its slimy and sleazy backroom deals, its lack of public support, its projected negative downstream impact on the deficit, and its impact on the quality of healthcare.

And it’s not just the Obama administration’s job-killing programs and policies that continue to stifle job growth in any other sector except the federal government.

And it’s not just just the blatant and reckless incompetence displayed by the Obama administration and the federal government in response to the Gulf oil spill. The feds don’t want you to see it, but this is Obama’s Katrina.

And it’s not just Obama declaring war on the state of Arizona simply because it felt the need to do something in the face of federal inaction on protecting our southern border against illegal immigration.

And it’s not just the lack of focus and direction on Afghanistan. What is the goal there? Is it some form of victory? If so, what would “victory” look like? If not, why the hell are we bothering to put our men and women in harm’s way?

What it is, in the end, is the sense that all these things show both a President and a federal government completely out of touch with what the people they have been elected to serve, and serve at the behest of. There’s no “we’re all in this together” sentiment, instead there’s only anger, hostility, finger-pointing, race-baiting and class warfare.

If you want to see the true face of this administration, how it really thinks and really feels about the anger, frustration, and fear out there, look no further than the Vice President calling a small shop owner a “smart ass” simply because he made a joke about having his taxes lowered. While it is shameful, at least it shows how they really think and feel. They could care less about you, about me, about anyone except for themselves.

And that’s where the fear comes from, that no one at the top who has a clue as to to how to stop this country from sliding into greater economic and societal decline. Or, even worse, that they could stop it would if they truly wanted to, but it’s in their political interests to “never let a good crisis go to waste”.

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Pool temp: 91 degrees