Charlotte Front and Center

We The People

Obama's "Cash for Clunkers" Big Disappointment

Obama's  plus billion dollar effort to get the old gas guzzlers off the road ignited some initial enthusiasm among car buyers for the Cash for Clunkers program.  Unfortunately, as some Americans thought they could head out to the car dealers and receive a $4500. voucher for their trade-ins, restrictions abound for what car qualifies.

According to Shawn Langlois at Market Watch, he says : Essentially, the government will offer vouchers of up to $4,500 toward the purchase of a new car or truck for the consumer who brings in a qualifying car to be crushed - provided the old car was built after 1984 and gets less than 18 miles per gallon. The new car also has to achieve at least 4 mpg more than the old one, which has to have been insured and operated by the buyer for one year. Oh, and the replacement vehicle's value can't exceed $45,000. There's more: Different rules apply for SUVs and trucks, and it doesn't help at all if the old car or truck is worth more than the voucher. The buyer would lose money.

Monitor Bank Rates says the big "gotcha" to many customers is " your trade-in vehicle must be registered and continuously have auto insurance coverage for the prior year to the trade-in date. You can’t buy a $500 clunker and expect to get a $3,500 or $4,500 credit. Your trade-in vehicle must also be destroyed, which lowers the estimated value to scrap value".

The "Cash for Clunkers" is respectfully known as the Car Allowance Rebate System.

Another concern some have towards the program is that many Americans who can not afford 2010 year new cars will have these less efficient ones removed from the market.

Problem: Obama isn't the Pope of American Catholics

From Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's article in Newsweek, she seems to think that Pope Benedict XVI has given his blessing to Obama's stimulus bill,health-care legislation,and anything else that can be done to squeeze the taxpayer in the name of Obama, Pelosi, and the Democrat run Congress.... all except abortion, that is.

Townsend said that Obama related better to American Catholics than did Pope Benedict. Townsend should rephrase that in her article to mean "liberal, American Catholics".

Kathleen Townsend quotes from the Pope's latest encyclical "Charity In Truth":

"Even more intriguing is the pope's support for political activism, which he refers to in the encyclical as 'the institutional path … of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbor directly'."

Actually,Townsend's use of the Pope's encyclical quote might just give moral credence to the "Tea Party" activists as well as any vague humanitarian impulse Obama preached about. After-all, these activists are trying to encounter their congressional neighbors and President directly with a message: that they don't find this taxing, spendthrift government very humanitarian as Obama chooses to place burdens on the back of taxpayers.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend made mention of her father, Robert F.Kennedy, who said that politics was an honorable profession. She believes that the Pope is opening the Church to more purposeful roles, and that Obama could teach the Pope about politics. This is definitely where a lot of us get off the last train for the coast.

Townsend finishes by lamenting the fact that the Pope will not budge on abortion.  Let's remind Townsend the laws of the Church weren't instituted to conform to American politics. 

Yet whether or not Obama and Pope Benedict agree on anything,we can be certain that many of these American Catholics are in Church each week praying for a way back into the workforce.

Even "Light Poles" Packed in the Pork of Obama's Healthcare Plan

At least Americans are becoming aware of the hidden pork ("add-ons") being packed into Obama's health care legislation.  The pork request comes from a non-profit group known as "Trust for America's Health".  According to the Boston Globe the language in the senate bill is phrased with this non-profit group's own words which calls for “creating the infrastructure to support active living and access to nutritious foods in a safe environment.’’ The group provided examples of grants for bike paths, jungle gyms, and lighting, though the Senate bill doesn’t list those specifics.

In other words, billions will be going to communities around the country and it is called "infrastructure". 

We discussed on this blog last January a worry that Obama's stimulus bill would take advantage of "infrastructure" to be interpreted as community projects such as parks,etc.

Oddly enough, we see spending for these community projects being packed into health-care laws.  Now we hear excuses coming from Ted Kennedy's spokesman, Anthony Coley: “If improving the lighting in a playground or clearing a walking path or a bike path or restoring a park are determined as needed by a community to create more opportunities for physical activity, we should not prohibit this from happening...’’

Think about it! We have politicians that can take a light pole and relate it to health insurance!

 Bonnie Erbe reports that CNN pollsters reveal '58% of American adults are concerned major changes will result in less quality for their own present health plans.'

These 58% of our citizens are correct. No health care plan will stay the same as government requires every health plan to meet its requirements. After-all, we need to find a way to pay for these new parks and paths that get our obese citizens walking.

Healthcare: The Atrocious Care Of Our Veterans

As Obama pushes national healthcare among many Americans who are satisfied with their present plan, we hear no follow-up about the job our government seems to be doing with our veterans.

On June 24th, the AP reported:

The chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is calling for more centralized control of the VA medical system after recent breakdowns in cleaning colonoscopy equipment exposed thousands of veterans to the risk of contracting HIV and other infections.

A report from Fox News noted that 10,000 veterans were exposed to the AID and Hepatitus viruses and that the Dept. of Veteran Affairs is bracing for news that one of its Pennsylvannia V.A. facilities botched radiation treatments for over 100 Veteran cancer patients.

According to congressional investigations,V.A. facilities are 49 years old as compared to private sector medical facilities with an average age of 12 years.

The tales of wrong treatments being administered to our veterans because of broken and unclean medical equipment is shameful, and is due to lack of money and oversight.

In viewing our government's record on Medicare, Medicaid,and veteran's care, what assurances do we have of well-managed healthcare for all of our citizens?

Let's Sign Congress Up for Social Security

How could putting the House and Senate on Social Security save us money?  Isn't our bankrupt government having enough issues without giving this cauldron of crooks more of our tax dollars?

Palin Media Accountability Task Force (Kathy Ross) has plenty to say about our Congress and spending. Here is the message she would like you to spread far and wide:

First: Those who gain from the law won't vote to change it. 

Second: The voters have control. 

Third: Call your Representatives; tell them if they haven't sponsored a Bill to include congress on S.S. they will lose your vote and thousands more. 

Fourth; When in doubt "Don't RE-ELECT Anyone. 

By the way the internet has many web sites to follow how every legislator votes.

Social Security 2009 LET US SHOW OUR LEADERS IN WASHINGTON "PEOPLE POWER" AND THE POWER OF THE INTERNET. PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS.. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT! KEEP IT GOING!!!! Propose this in 2009: START A BILL TO PLACE ALL POLITICIANS ON SOCIAL SECURITY. 

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years.

Our Senators and Congresswomen do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it.

You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves.. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan. 

In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan. For all practical purposes their plan works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die.  Except it will increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments. For example, Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7, 800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275, 000..00 during the last years of their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each of those two Dignitaries.

Younger Dignitaries who retire at an early age, will receive much more during the rest of their lives. *Their cost for this excellent plan is $0.00. NADA!!! ZILCH!!! * This little perk they voted* *fo*r *themselves* is *free to them*. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds; "OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!

From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into, every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer), We can expect to get an average of $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!

Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. That change would be to Jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the *Senators and Congressmen*.... *Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us **Then sit back...... And see how fast they would fix it! 

by Kathy Ross