Obama: "A 'Sputnik' Moment" State of the Union, 'Date night'

[amicus]

No, the speech has not been read from the teleprompter just yet, but sources say the 'Sputnik Moment' will be in it...an apparent urging of a 'Manhattan Project Like', government investment into the economy and the infrastructure, implying that the Russian Satellite spurred government spending that lead to the race to the Moon.

As if government can solve the problems government created by wasting more tax dollars...yeah, sure, gimme a fucking break!

Amicus

 

[amicus]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/obama-state-of-the-union-_1_n_813478.html

Full text above…

This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race. In a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology - an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people.

der Amicus delivers

 

[Stella_Omega]

Letter from Alan Grayson

What Will He Say?

Dear Stella,

President Obama is delivering his State of the Union message tomorrow. This is the speech that I would like to hear:

“My fellow Americans. Two years ago, 69 million of us voted for me to be our President. It was the largest vote for President that any person has ever received. But I understand that you did not support me merely because I have an unusual name. Especially the middle one. No, you supported me because I promised the change we need.

“We have been through two hard years, with many people losing their jobs, and many people losing their homes. You know that I did nothing to cause these problems, and I tried hard to solve them. Although our accomplishments have been substantial, an intransigent Republican minority in the Senate has blocked much of my legislative program.

“But a President is more than a legislative program. Although my title is ‘President,’ you did not elect me to preside. You elected me to lead.

“We are at a fork in the road. The Republican House Leadership demonstrated last week that its highest legislative priority is to prevent 30 million Americans from seeing a doctor when they are sick. We can let Republican control of the House of Representatives doom us to no progress, no change, for the next two years. Or I can exercise my powers under the Constitution and our laws to deliver the change we need.

“I choose the latter. As for the Republican leaders, they can lead, follow, or just get out of the way.

“These are the things that I will do now, to give us the good government that we Americans deserve, and the change we need:

“First, to give the economy an immediate boost, I will direct the executive agencies to accelerate the obligation of federal contracts and grants, rather than waiting until the end of the fiscal year.

“Second, I will recognize the obvious, declare China a ‘currency manipulator,’ and end the forced currency union with China that we never asked for and we don’t want, which has cost us 5 million manufacturing jobs in the last decade. I will institute ‘anti-dumping’ actions to protect American jobs.

“Third, I will direct Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA and the VA to include in every home loan that they issue or finance a provision that requires mandatory mediation, at the bank’s expense, before foreclosure. Families who are in danger of losing their homes deserve at least that much.

“Fourth, I will direct both the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department to break up any financial institution that is considered ‘too big to fail.’ Too big to fail should mean too big to exist. There will be no more bailouts, no more Wall Street welfare.

“Fifth, I will ask the FBI to investigate and DOJ to prosecute anyone who committed criminal misconduct in connection with the collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Merrill Lynch, and all the rest. I will ask the SEC to bar such people from publicly traded companies and the capital markets. In the 18 months before I took office, twenty percent of our national wealth was wiped out, and no one has been punished for that. If we leave the same people doing the same things, then those same disasters may well happen again. We can’t take that chance.

“Sixth, because corporate income tax revenues have dropped by half in the past decade, while Big Business is enjoying record profits, I will ask the IRS to audit every one of the Fortune 500. This will ensure that they are paying the taxes that are due, rather than evading taxes through transfer pricing and offshore tax havens. And I will ask FASB and the SEC to mandate that public companies keep one set of books, rather than one set for investors and a different one for the IRS.

“Seventh, I will direct the EPA to exercise its authority to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. I expect to be able to reduce our emissions and pollution as much as other countries do. If they can do it, then so can we.

“Eighth, I will ask the SEC to direct that shareholders in public companies must authorize all campaign expenditures in advance, and that public companies disclose all such expenditures within 48 hours. We cannot allow trillion-dollar multinational companies to dictate the outcome of our elections secretly. We have to keep sewer money out of politics.

“Ninth, I ask the NLRB to take all available steps to ensure that the right of employees to organize, which is rooted in the Constitution’s ‘freedom of association,’ be defended – including the promulgation of ‘card check’ by regulation under the National Labor Relations Act.

“Finally, as Commander in Chief, I will bring all of our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of this year, if not sooner. After a decade of war, it’s time for peace.

“Many of you heard me for the first time six years ago, when I said that I believe not in a Blue America or a Red America, but rather, I believe in America. I still do. Americans deserve a good government, which delivers public services effectively and economically. America also deserves leadership that recognizes our problems, attacks them, and solves them. That’s the change we need, and the change we deserve. I won’t settle for less.”

http://salsa.mydccc.org/o/30019/images/contributebutton.gif

 

[amicus]

Well...the speech is over and done and the pundits are flying high, well, fluttering around a bit from pillar to post in a most amusing way.

Obama didn't just move to the Center, he made a Reaganesque plunge to the right, adapting and adopting the Republican, even the Tea Party platforms....ahm, in words, in specific, but in general, overall, the content of the speech was, 'why can't we be more like China and really invest in our society; our schools, our R&D, our infrastructure. How wonderful Communism must be from an American perspective of naivete'.

I am listening to Pelosi, usual crap, and Maddow, petulant, along with Chris Matthews and Laurence O'Donnel, pap, listened to Rep. Ryan and his response and to Bachmann with hers.

I remember attending a pre election speech in the 90's by Clinton, who said all the right things, and I do mean Right, with a big R, and then take office and reverse every promise made. Obama's speech writers creative the same 'Exceptionalism' of America, created by her people, not her government, except that Obama delivered it dead pan, cold and without emotion until a phoney outburst at the very end, surrounding, "America does Big things..." I was embarassed, even Clinton was a better actor than Obama, sad.

The speech was professionally crafted, and if one did not know it was a far left wing socialist delivering the words, one might have been impressed by the perspicacity of the rhetoric.

Empty words are meaningless words and that sums up the content of Obama's offering this evening; it won't continue in the news cycle for more than the next 24 hours.

Useless.

Amicus

 

[TE999]

Well...the speech is over and done and the pundits are flying high, well, fluttering around a bit from pillar to post in a most amusing way.

Obama didn't just move to the Center, he made a Reaganesque plunge to the right, adapting and adopting the Republican, even the Tea Party platforms....ahm, in words, in specific, but in general, overall, the content of the speech was, 'why can't we be more like China and really invest in our society; our schools, our R&D, our infrastructure. How wonderful Communism must be from an American perspective of naivete'.

I am listening to Pelosi, usual crap, and Maddow, petulant, along with Chris Matthews and Laurence O'Donnel, pap, listened to Rep. Ryan and his response and to Bachmann with hers.

I remember attending a pre election speech in the 90's by Clinton, who said all the right things, and I do mean Right, with a big R, and then take office and reverse every promise made. Obama's speech writers creative the same 'Exceptionalism' of America, created by her people, not her government, except that Obama delivered it dead pan, cold and without emotion until a phoney outburst at the very end, surrounding, "America does Big things..." I was embarassed, even Clinton was a better actor than Obama, sad.

The speech was professionally crafted, and if one did not know it was a far left wing socialist delivering the words, one might have been impressed by the perspicacity of the rhetoric.

Empty words are meaningless words and that sums up the content of Obama's offering this evening; it won't continue in the news cycle for more than the next 24 hours.

Useless.

Amicus

This 'swing to the Right' by Obama is a refutation of his actions these last two years, which is why it's empty rhetoric. It's a damage control response to the last election when his party was trounced. If anybody believes this bullpucky, I've some bottom land in the Big Cypress Swamp that's great for farming and I'm willing to sell it to them cheap.

 

[amicus]

I think not many watched or listened; to the speech or the interpretations. Some wag said he/she wasn't going to watch it because the 'Kardassians' were on, whatever that is...Star Trek aliens?

Ah, Spring will arrive soon and I will have baby carrots to kill.....

ami

 

[stephen55]

No, the speech has not been read from the teleprompter just yet, but sources say the 'Sputnik Moment' will be in it...an apparent urging of a 'Manhattan Project Like', government investment into the economy and the infrastructure, implying that the Russian Satellite spurred government spending that lead to the race to the Moon.

As if government can solve the problems government created by wasting more tax dollars...yeah, sure, gimme a fucking break!

Amicus

I'm not sure if Lit has ever seen this before but it just might...might...be possible that ami is out to lunch on this one.

Obama and perhaps a few other people realize that other counties have overtaken the US in things like technology, Research and Development, advances in all areas of science and engineering, innovations in manufacturing, communications, transportation, agriculture, materials science...

Obama and perhaps a few other people know that students in counties like Japan, China, Singapore, Germany and well, just about everywhere except Haiti and Sudan, have consistently outscored American students at math, sciences and language skills.

The US is still the world's largest economy, but for how long?

The US is still the world's only true superpower, but for how long?

China is rapidly catching up in both areas and India is not far behind.

When the Soviet Union successfully put a satellite (Sputnik) into orbit back in 1957, while the Americans were regularly blowing up rockets on or just above the launch pad, it made a statement. The American people could no longer fool themselves into thinking they had all the answers. Good old American know how had been trumped in Spades. Now the US was in a real horse race and their jockey was sipping a cold one back at the bar.

So, Obama had this to say...

This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race.

Or, you can become the second rate country you are definitely heading towards.

 

[stephen55]

One more thing about the remotest of possibilities that ami is not thinking on all cylinders....

'why can't we be more like China and really invest in our society; our schools, our R&D, our infrastructure. How wonderful Communism must be from an American perspective of naivete'(sic).

Does anyone else besides me fail to see any rational connection between the two parts of this quote? Does anyone on this planet, other than ami, think that a government investing in society, schools, R&D and infrastructure, makes that government communist?

ami, not only am I convinced you don't understand the US Constitution, you clearly don't have a clue about communism, much less any concept that requires more than one syllable.

I'm beginning to think that your personal library consists of two books, one of which is of little value to you since you finished coloring all the pictures. As for the second, do you look at anything other than the centerfold?

 

[amicus]

As evidence accumulates suggesting the existence of a Canadian Gene of Ignorance, I become more inclined to think the hangover of Monarchy has truly become inherited in the Canadian Gene Pool.

The Germans had the V2 Rocket and the, ahm, Me 362, the first Jet fighter and bomber in operation long before any of the Allies...

China is a Communist Slave State, like the Soviet Union who used spies to gain atomic secrets, Chinese spies delivered Stealth technology to the Chinese.

A totalitarian government can indeed enforce a 'one child policy', or a 'Final Solution', to solve perceived problems, the question is, of course, should they be permitted to?

The free market, capitalist engine of the United States is being stalled by government rules and regulations, restrictions and controls, but even worse by replacing the genius of the free market with the idiocy of government central planning. Green Energy, for example, is a complete and utter farce, boondoggle, which will never suffice to meet the energy needs of any nation anywhere.

Mandated public education, the absolutely dismal state of the public school system in America, the narcissistic Teachers Unions, the conveyor belt, social education, force fed to unwilling students...there....right damned there, is why US students are falling behind.

America is not and never will be a collectivized centrally controlled State as Obama intends; we will march on DC and burn the fucking place before that ever gets close!

Amicus

 

[Boxlicker101]

Letter from Alan Grayson

What Will He Say?

Dear Stella,

President Obama is delivering his State of the Union message tomorrow. This is the speech that I would like to hear:

“My fellow Americans. Two years ago, 69 million of us voted for me to be our President. It was the largest vote for President that any person has ever received. But I understand that you did not support me merely because I have an unusual name. Especially the middle one. No, you supported me because I promised the change we need.

“We have been through two hard years, with many people losing their jobs, and many people losing their homes. You know that I did nothing to cause these problems, and I tried hard to solve them. Although our accomplishments have been substantial, an intransigent Republican minority in the Senate has blocked much of my legislative program.

“But a President is more than a legislative program. Although my title is ‘President,’ you did not elect me to preside. You elected me to lead.

“We are at a fork in the road. The Republican House Leadership demonstrated last week that its highest legislative priority is to prevent 30 million Americans from seeing a doctor when they are sick. We can let Republican control of the House of Representatives doom us to no progress, no change, for the next two years. Or I can exercise my powers under the Constitution and our laws to deliver the change we need.

“I choose the latter. As for the Republican leaders, they can lead, follow, or just get out of the way.

“These are the things that I will do now, to give us the good government that we Americans deserve, and the change we need:

“First, to give the economy an immediate boost, I will direct the executive agencies to accelerate the obligation of federal contracts and grants, rather than waiting until the end of the fiscal year.

“Second, I will recognize the obvious, declare China a ‘currency manipulator,’ and end the forced currency union with China that we never asked for and we don’t want, which has cost us 5 million manufacturing jobs in the last decade. I will institute ‘anti-dumping’ actions to protect American jobs.

“Third, I will direct Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA and the VA to include in every home loan that they issue or finance a provision that requires mandatory mediation, at the bank’s expense, before foreclosure. Families who are in danger of losing their homes deserve at least that much.

“Fourth, I will direct both the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department to break up any financial institution that is considered ‘too big to fail.’ Too big to fail should mean too big to exist. There will be no more bailouts, no more Wall Street welfare.

“Fifth, I will ask the FBI to investigate and DOJ to prosecute anyone who committed criminal misconduct in connection with the collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Merrill Lynch, and all the rest. I will ask the SEC to bar such people from publicly traded companies and the capital markets. In the 18 months before I took office, twenty percent of our national wealth was wiped out, and no one has been punished for that. If we leave the same people doing the same things, then those same disasters may well happen again. We can’t take that chance.

“Sixth, because corporate income tax revenues have dropped by half in the past decade, while Big Business is enjoying record profits, I will ask the IRS to audit every one of the Fortune 500. This will ensure that they are paying the taxes that are due, rather than evading taxes through transfer pricing and offshore tax havens. And I will ask FASB and the SEC to mandate that public companies keep one set of books, rather than one set for investors and a different one for the IRS.

“Seventh, I will direct the EPA to exercise its authority to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. I expect to be able to reduce our emissions and pollution as much as other countries do. If they can do it, then so can we.

“Eighth, I will ask the SEC to direct that shareholders in public companies must authorize all campaign expenditures in advance, and that public companies disclose all such expenditures within 48 hours. We cannot allow trillion-dollar multinational companies to dictate the outcome of our elections secretly. We have to keep sewer money out of politics.

“Ninth, I ask the NLRB to take all available steps to ensure that the right of employees to organize, which is rooted in the Constitution’s ‘freedom of association,’ be defended – including the promulgation of ‘card check’ by regulation under the National Labor Relations Act.

“Finally, as Commander in Chief, I will bring all of our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of this year, if not sooner. After a decade of war, it’s time for peace.

“Many of you heard me for the first time six years ago, when I said that I believe not in a Blue America or a Red America, but rather, I believe in America. I still do. Americans deserve a good government, which delivers public services effectively and economically. America also deserves leadership that recognizes our problems, attacks them, and solves them. That’s the change we need, and the change we deserve. I won’t settle for less.”

http://salsa.mydccc.org/o/30019/images/contributebutton.gif

Although an incumbent, Grayson lost in a landslide, because the voters saw what an asshole he is.

 

[stephen55]

The Germans had the V2 Rocket and the, ahm, Me 362, the first Jet fighter and bomber in operation long before any of the Allies...
Amicus

ami, your inability to get your facts straight is exceeded only by your inability to admit the same.

The first operational jet fighter-bomber was the Me 262. There never was an Me 362. The first thing Chuck Yeager (in his P-51 Mustang) did when he came across an Me 262 was to shoot it down. The thing was a piece of crap. It would have been a fearsome airplane had Hitler allowed Willy Messerschmitt to design and build it as it should have been designed and built (as a fighter) but Hitler insisted, half way through design, that it become a fighter-bomber. So much for idealism. You should be taking notes.

As for the V-2, when the Americans got their hands on a few of them after the war ended, they found nothing that Goddard hadn't already figured out. As for the on board systems, Goddard's were better.

PS; just what is "ahm"?

 

[stephen55]

PS; as for the "evidence accumulates suggesting the existence of a Canadian Gene of Ignorance", please try again. And again...ad naseum...ad infinitum....moron...

 

[Miss_Pixie]

I think not many watched or listened; to the speech or the interpretations. Some wag said he/she wasn't going to watch it because the 'Kardassians' were on, whatever that is...Star Trek aliens?

Ah, Spring will arrive soon and I will have baby carrots to kill.....

ami

I didn't watch it live because I was working, but I watched it on you tube later. It amused me to see the people playing with their phones. I wonder if they were tweeting

 

[amicus]

I swear...take that either way you wish...that not a single pundit, left or right on five different news outlets, used the term 'Reaganesque', as I did, in my critique of the State of the Union.

But today, there it is, a dozen times from a dozen different pairs of lips....I almost think they are reading my commentaries here on this little platform; more likely, I am just quicker and more experienced than they and it takes them a night of sleep and a joint to catch up.

But I was wrong in one apsect, it has lasted longer than one 24 hour news cycle. I am still puzzled by that as there was not a memorable thought in the entire Obama speech.

Amicus

 

[amicus]

The Germans had the V2 Rocket and the, ahm, Me 362, the first Jet fighter and bomber in operation long before any of the Allies...
Amicus

ami, your inability to get your facts straight is exceeded only by your inability to admit the same.

The first operational jet fighter-bomber was the Me 262. There never was an Me 362. The first thing Chuck Yeager (in his P-51 Mustang) did when he came across an Me 262 was to shoot it down. The thing was a piece of crap. It would have been a fearsome airplane had Hitler allowed Willy Messerschmitt to design and build it as it should have been designed and built (as a fighter) but Hitler insisted, half way through design, that it become a fighter-bomber. So much for idealism. You should be taking notes.

As for the V-2, when the Americans got their hands on a few of them after the war ended, they found nothing that Goddard hadn't already figured out. As for the on board systems, Goddard's were better.

PS; just what is "ahm"?[/QUOTE]

~~~

The 'ahm' before the '362' was to indicate I was relying upon memory instead of doing a search....and, as usual you are wrong:

Did the Nazi have jet planes?Yes. And rocket planes too. And they both shot down allied bombers. they had developed a jet plane towards the end of WW2. the most well known was a ME 262.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_the_Nazi_have_jet_pl...
Does anyone know anything about Nazi planes?The jet engine, jet fighter and jet bomber (Me 363). The pilotless bomb, both V 1 and V2. The V2 was the first supersonic missile (when it hit london streets, the street would explode and the sound of the bomb ...

As I spoke spontaneously on the radio, I write the same way, trusting to memory on occasion and I do not wish to interrupt my train of thought with a 'google'. As far as I am concerned I was close enough for conversational purposes, were I writing a paper, it would be different. You, on the other hand, with your, 'sic' after each typo or misspelling, (which I leave just for people like you), are just being petty and picayune as usual suspect are wont to be when they have no content to offer and only lame criticism.

Amicus

 

[mynameisben]

Big freakin' deal. I have a sputnik moment 5 or 6 times every week. I understand the need some people have for being watched, but I don't think I'd ever have the cahones to turn my male maintenance ritual into a national public address.