Taxpayer says

You GO Rick Santorum!!

mikel says

not trying to steal santorum's blog but:

mr romney: if an effort to shore up the rapidly approaching default of the social security due to the inadequate funding by obumbles and the raping of its funds by many you recommend that the age requirement be moved to an older age.  may i offer these recommendations as alternatives: 1) repeal the recently passed tax act.  this only deprives the fund of much needed monies. 2) get serious about fraud. 3) re-evaluate all who are currently disability benefits. 4) eliminate funding to all individuals that have lost a parent and their surviving parent has been remarried.  however, only if the joint income of both individuals is more than $60,000. 5) last but not least.  PAY BACK all funds that the gov't has raped from this entity.  problem solved.

i have been somewhat of a supporter for you until this point.  so, to get my vote you better re-consider this issue.

Marcus M says

gosssh, big mut, ake bfrutie, once again on the wrong side of the facts, sort of like your golf cart incident?

typical democrapper.......

The Big Dog's back says

 Ahhhhh marcass, who is spreading the rumors?

Marcus M says

big mut, aka bfrutie from Snopes "Because snopes.com is all about rumors, it was only a matter of time before rumors began to circulate about it and its operators, such as the following:

Snopes receives funding from an undisclosed source. The source is undisclosed because Snopes refuses to disclose that source. The Democratic Alliance, a funding channel for uber-Leftist (Marxist) Billionaires (George Soros etc.), direct funds to an "Internet Propaganda Arm" pushing these views. The Democratic Alliance has been reported to instruct Fundees to not disclose their funding source.

typical democrappers

The Big Dog's back says

 Georgr Soros has absolutely nothing to do with Snopes. Another right wing lie.

man4451 says

EZOB says

  Just check and you'll find out who is involved with Snopes, none other than old billionaire George Soros.  It's no longer considered a factual source of information by many.

The Big Dog's back says

 Right wingers like winnie always moving the goal posts.

6079 Smith W says

@ stevie:

Where would the Export Import Bank get the money to loan out if not from taxpayers????

Who's on the hook if the loans go bad????

Think stevie boy, think!

sanduskysteve says

Goofus - thank you - I generally do research, but didn't think it was my job to prove myself right - but someone else's job to prove me wrong.

Those Skywarn classes are held each year by the NWS in Cleveland and they are more informative than my post was.  A person can gain excellent information and possible report something that would prompt a warning which was not otherwise noticed.  Remember, the radar can only see in the air - what's on the ground is much more important.  At the end of the class you will get an ID card which wil have a direct number to the coordinating meterologist desk to make timely reports on what you are seeing within their criteria.  Excellent as well for someone who loves to look in the sky as you will know what you're looking at.

Thank you again.

goofus says

Sandusky Steve, congratulations guy, you finally researched an issue through diligence rather than opining without sometimes a clue. Very good job! My goal is to get people off their duffs and research without the political parties talking points. Maybe my approach is alittle brutal but it got results from you in two weeks. Once again good job!!!  However when ex im was started back in the thirties, where did the start up money come from? Next question, when a government agency with no checks and balances makes loans to whomever they want to "foster" export growth, isn't this a form of corporate welfare. From research or your own opinion what is the difference between the loans of ex im versus the subsidies to domestic oil companies?

Keep up your research then opine philosophy and a blogger you shall make. KEEP AN OPEN MIND!!!!

P.S. you article about tornado safety was very informative, I never knew about the classes, Thank you!

sanduskysteve says

This is from ex-im's website:

Charge: The U.S. government is giving away more than $2 billion in taxpayer dollars to Brazil's largest oil and gas company to drill for oil in Brazil.

Fact: The Bank has established a $2 billion financing opportunity for Petrobras to use solely for the purchase of American-made goods and services. So far, Ex-Im has approved $300 million to finance Petrobras' purchase of U.S. oil and gas equipment and services.

The funds go to American exporters as payment for their sales to the Petrobras.

If Petrobras fails to award contracts to U.S. companies for the remaining amount, it will not access those dollars.

Of note, the Bank is self-sustaining and no taxpayer dollars are involved.

Charge: The loans to Petrobras represent a giveaway of U.S. tax dollars.

Fact: Ex-Im is a self-funding, independent agency which operates at no cost to the taxpayer. Ex-Im does not make grants, and charges fees and interest for the financing it provides. In fact, since 2006 the Ex-Im Bank has generated more than $3.4 billion in revenue for U.S. taxpayers.

End of quote.

Doesn't this change the so-called facts that the right nutcases on the radio are spewing around and then being used as facts and talking points here by some of their followers?

Hmmm - looks like this bank is actually contributing to the revenue rather than taking from it.  More bad information being spewed from the right to make the left look horrible.

origen says

@El Guapo

 So you are saying we did not loan 2 billion to brazil? Hmm The bank has already admitted it, Read some. And as for the leak i know industrial mistakes happen, So when you start starving because no food can no longer get to you and you cannot buy a gallon of gas remember who put in the moritorium on drilling. Have fun this summer while Energy cost "Skyrocket" as the messiah has said it will do. (Oh By the way Who is in charge of the bailouts i want my money back?)

Who is The bank you may ask? "The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is the official export credit agency of the United States. Ex-Im Bank's mission is to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets." Guess its not the government, its only the official export credit agency of the united states...........................Wait a min arent those two related in some way? Wonder whos in charge, Surely not the president he isnt in charge of anything it seems.

sanduskysteve says

Thanks EG - everytime I say the exactly same  thing I get called names and told that I am ignorant and have no clue what I'm talking about. Then they use Wikipedia to prove their side of things - but if someone mentions snopes and factcheck, they are using unreliable sources - these are both sources who cite their sources as well.

I'm about to wonder how this country survived with all of those lying republicans in office from time to time.

sanduskysteve says

Smith - according to the information online - there is no taxpayer money being loaned - of course no one believes truth - only what they believe to be true - wikipedia's informaiton could be updated by any republican or anyone else at anytime - I don't bleieve most of what I read there - unless I find facts to back up their "facts".

El Guapo says

I really cant believe Origen had the audacity to bring up the " Obama gave Brazil 2 Bilion for oil" lie again.   I really, really cant understand how you republicans can lie so often and claim to hold some moral high ground over dems.   I have personnaly debunked this Brazil lie several times on here and it still keeps getting brought up.   Origen claims to get his news info from legit sources but yet he repeats every single lie Fox and other shady republican progaganda outlets spew. 

Where do repubs like Origen get their lies from.   Here is a good example, good ole Fox News and Karl Rove (Bush's Brain), who is still, to this day, spoon feeding republican sheeple lies and proganda as best he can.  Video of Karl/Fox recent lie in action. : http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201202200006

And Origen, are you aware of a small oil leak we had in the Gulf that kind of couldnt be stopped.   It harmed and seriously threatened a large chunk of our food supply.   With the gulf water currents the oil from the BP spill was predicted to go along the gulf around the keys and up the east coast of the US.   A wide range of tourism and fishing industry was damaged and could have been destroyed.   Dont ya think it might have been a good idea to see what went wrong and maybe get it fixed, have better safety devices on the drills/wells before continuing on business as usual.   I still cant get over the rights bloodlust for pollution, if they are not promoting contamination of air, water, or food, they just arent happy.   Repubs were even angry that dems wanted BP to pay for their damage to the Gulf, IE - GOP senator Joe Barton - http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-06-17/news/27067479_1_bp-chief-executive-shakedown-big-oil

6079 Smith W says

@ stevie:

It doesn't matter who said what about what.

The Export-Import Bank should be defunded and sent to the trash heap.

It loans U.S. taxpayer money to countries so they will buy our products. Mostly from those evil multi-national corps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export-Import_Bank_of_the_United_States

origen says

@steve

So Obama can control the bailouts of GM, Guarantee billions to fannie freddy, GE and extend loans to "Green jobs" He cannot control a bank to loan to Brazil? So lets see here everything under his admin is not his fault or under his control but Anything that happends that make the masses happy is entirly to his credit? Yeah more of the same plausable deniability from the admin, "It wasnt me" Deal when if ever will they take responsibility for anything? What happend to "The buck stops here" instead of "That guy did it"? The fact is a government agency guaranteed a loan to a foriegn country to jump start thier oil production while stopping it here at home, So now we get to purchase oil from the same people who owe us. If the president cannot control anything he shouldnt be in office.

Oh another Border agent got killed with a "fast and furious" weapon, I wonder whos gonna take credit for it?

sanduskysteve says

Thank you BD, the snopes.com fully proves that Obama didn't have anything to do with this - it also quotes Beck as acknowledging that those oil wells would NOT be in the US Gulf of Mexico but off the shore of Brazil instead.  Some people here do not have reading comprehension - and it is very obvious that although they claim not to pay attention to Fox news, they do a lot of quoting of Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh - but they do not listen to them.

Big Dog, you and I may be the minority here, but we are the ones that seem to be able to get away from those FNC supporters.

Origen, then you stated that Obama should be able to control a bank?????  If Obama attempted to control anything, you guys would run him into the ground for trying to interfere with free enterprise and he can't tell businesses how to operate.  And you can't deny that at all - it happens all the time.  It actually is still happening with the argument over controlling insurance companies and the Catholic Church.

You guys on the right can't have everything your way.  And in this case it's called flip-flopping in my opinion.

And you can't seem to let go of the fact that it was under Obama's control of the military that we killed Bin Ladden and when Bush was asked about him, the answer was that we were not concerned about him any longer.

live with the facts that some things aren't always Obama's fault and Bush is responsible for things that are still happening today (not all things, but some of them.).

mikel says

man4451 - what does you being of the same race of santorum have to do with it?

man4451 says

The Big Dog's back says

 http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/braziloil.asp

origen says

@Steve

I did copy and paste the bank loaning money, Thats the admin. Factcheck was linked to me, i used it to make a point, yes the banks did the loans. Obama said himself the moratorium on drilling was due to safety concerns and turned around and allowed a bank directly tied to his admin jump start drilling in the gulf by foriegn countrys. So a question now, Did he stop for safety concerns or just against Big oil in the us? I never flip flopped, Its Obama's admin he is in control, He said one thing and circumvented the US companys for a foriegn one. I figured Obama could take credit for killing Osama 6,000 miles away he could control a bank 2 blocks down from the white house. My bad i guess, He takes credit for some things and has plausable deniability for everything else.

(Persoanlly i dont care for Factcheck or the other ones like that as much as i like watching the actual actions of the people in question.)

The Big Dog's back says

 goof, who gives a Flying F.

sanduskysteve says

Origen, I will never understand why you can't just say - oh oh, I was wrong on that one.  And you are just exactly like a republican - double talk and you will say whatever you need to to win an argument.

In your reply to me - you stated that Obama did not stop drilling in the gulf for safety reasons, yet your reply to erievoter you stated "Now he stopped drilling in the gulf for safety concerns..."

Please stop doing the GOP flip-flop when it would help your side. 

It's also funny that if "factcheck.org" will benefit you're opinion, then it's gospel, otherwise it isn't to be trusted.  I think fact check does a good job of investigating things and explaining them - a lot like snopes.com does.  I would trust both of those sources before I would trust any media adn especially FNC, which I know most of you who repeat everything they say claim you never watch.

And as far as safety in drilling in the gulf - how do I care if there are oil spills in Brazil compared to oil spills in the Gulf?  Protect our own and screw the others - like we should be doing around the rest of the world.

goofus says

Hey People did you know that Obama fundraiser David Fisher is with the Capital Group one of the five top investors in Petrobas?

goofus says

So I am to believe that a bank just pops up and has oodles of money to loan so sayeth the Leftist Annenburg Center. Nobody knows where or how they got the money. Erievoter, your annenburg fact check is lame but I know where your heart is, after all your an erievoter. A few references from both sides of the political fence Ron Paul and Common Dreams (progressive)

http://paul.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=349&Itemid=60

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0515-09.htm

http://www.cagw.org/newsroom/waste-watcher/2011/february/four-myths-ex-imp-bank.html

origen says

"In April 2009, Ex-Im Bank formally offered to consider up to $2 billion in financing to secure the purchase of U.S. goods and services by Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), Brazil's national oil company. Ex-Im Bank told Petrobras it would consider increasing its offer above $2 billion if requested. Potentially, Petrobras $2 billion of purchases financed by Ex-Im Bank will help create and maintain over 16,000 American jobs."

You are correct in who sent the money, Now he stopped drilling in the gulf for safety concerns and another agency within the government sent the money to "Jump start" more foriegn drilling. The shell game continues, Maybe if whoever was in control of the government would take responsibility for anything we could find out why, With as much debt as we are in, We are loaning foriegn countrys to drill in a area that our own country cannot because of safety concerns? That would seem fair to me, Besides that the admin will eventually take credit for the loan if it turns out benifitting the US and blaming Bush if it blows up in thier face, Its the admins way.

erievoter says

origen,

     Just the facts, please. The board of directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States approved the$2 billion not Obama. The board consisted of 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats all of which were appointed by George W. Bush.  The president had nothing to do with the loan, which the Export-Import Bank approved for Brazil to buy U.S.-made equipment and services.

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/bogus-brazilian-oil-claims/

mikel says

steve - the whole point of my last post is that obumbles thinks he can spend his way out of this financial quagmire.  yet, he says we can't "drill" our way out of the oil/gas situation.  it is the SAME theory! 

origen says

Safety in the gulf is not a concern, If it was obama would not have givent 2 billion to Brazil to jump start thier drilling operation in the gulf. Bleeding money and jobs over seas while we monetarily support it is not good economic nor energy policy.

http://www.examiner.com/finance-examiner-in-national/obama-to-brazil-we-will-buy-your-oil-after-giving-you-2-billion-to-drill-it

6079 Smith W says

@ stevie:

The U.S. and Mexico agreed to joint Gulf drilling:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-mexico-sign-pact-drilling-gulf-mexico-article-1.1025932

Try to keep up will ya?

6079 Smith W says

@ sanduskysteve:

Your economic, financial, political and historical ignorance never ceases to amaze me.

It ain't the oil - it's the refiners.

http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2012/01/31/refinery-closures-lead-to-rising-gas-prices-and-job-losses/

And, who owns the oil cos.??? Do you have retirement investments? Chances are YOU own oil cos.

Better sell all your retirement investments if you have any - you're part of the problem.

http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2007/09/18/who-owns-big-oil/

sanduskysteve says

Mikel - unfortunately, the gas price issue is not because there isn't enough oil or gas - it's because the oil companies don't want to lower to cost of gas in order to increase sales in the US, they would rather sell it to Mexico instead of allowing Americans to buy more gas and spend more money - so in this case, we will not be able to drill out way out the problem.

Also, if we start drilling in the Gulf again and there are not enough safety features in place there could be another accident - the cost of cleaning up that kind of a mess would just increase the gas prices even more.

I'm not sure that either situation would improve the gas price issue - drilling won't help - the only thing that would help the gas price situation is to stop seling the case to Mexico and lower the price for Americans.  They would also spend more money in the stores which would help the economy.

Talk about sending profits and jobs outside the country - again the big rich oil companies are on top of this.

mikel says

"Obama slams GOP for politicizing gas prices

"Anyone who tells you we can drill our way out of this problem ... isn't telling you the truth," Obama said."

what???  then why, prez obumbles, do you think that we can SPEND our way of this financial crisis?

origen says

If the government wanted to put everyone in a home instead of buying existing homes and land why dont they donate some of what they already have (30% of the US from most statistics) and use the land and money for upkeep to put people in homes? Oh yeah empty land gives lots of room to claim upkeep for.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/21343

@steve

If the guy doesnt want his kid in girlscouts thats his business, In this political maelsrom with all the rhetoric you can expect more people to do this. When fiction becomes stranger than reality expect people to believe fiction.

goofus says

El sooper trooper, can I give you a little lesson about Open Secrets. This liberal propoganda website is sponsored by donations from Open Society a George Soros organization. Sunlight Foundation and curious none of the links work on it's donors. The Rockefeller Brothers Board adviser to Obozo and responsible for blocking Keystone and made a recent donation to the China Youth Climate Action Network. Strangely the rest of Open Secrets donors are not connected with websites

goofus says

Sooper Trooper, did you study any economics? If you add a non budgeted liability to a business who do you really think is going to pay for the liability. Certainly not the company who has a responsibilty to their investors and a set profit margin.

Looking forward to my first airplane ride in a solar plane and cruise in a solar powered cruise ship. How's the military going to operate an M1A1 tank on a cloudy day.

Did you know 4 out of the 20 biggest oil companies are investor owned, the rest are nationalized companies(owned by their government)

Educate your self          http://www.api.org/statistics/earnings/upload/earnings_perspective.pdf

mikel says

el guapo - no where in my post did i allude to campaign contributions.  so, if you must, please re-read.  also, no where did i state in that post that i am against green energy.  what i am against is the gov't giving money to companies that: 1) have no track record  2) although advised not to give, obumbles felt that this was, for no other reason, a great photo/political op has ended up costing the taxpayer $500+ mil.  

but, if it helps, green energy is a bigger drain on the economy than it is positive.

6079 Smith W says

@ El Guapo:

You're living in Obama's "green energy" dream. It's full of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.

The European socialist paradise is bankrupt and is cutting back on green energy subsidies:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2106390,00.html

Germany recently had to import electricity from an old oil fired Austrian power plant. LOL.

They're importing nuke power from France!

 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-30/germany-becomes-net-power-importer-from-france-after-atomic-halt.html

Marcus M says

El Guapo, how is the Solyndra & Chevy Volt working out for the green energy movement. While Brazil sells oil to China from new off shore drilling that we help pay for and Canada sells oil to China that we could have had from a stable source, enjoy the $5 a gallon gas while you can.  You worry about the deficit, and yet the increase of the federal debt by 33% in just 3 years under obozo and any new jobs created costing on average $300,000 does not concern you, maybe as Taco Bells advertises, "time to run to the border".

typical democrappers

The Big Dog's back says

 Ya win some ya lose some mikel. That's life!

El Guapo says

Lol @ Mikel and the republican sheeple.   They are so against clean energy.  Solar energy produces NO pollution and is there to take as long as the sun exists, what is so bad about it.   I know repubs love pollution and fight for it at every chance but come on, think about it.  

So repubs think dems pushing for clean energy is bad but repubs fighting for pollution = good, yea that makes sense.

Repubs block repeal of oil industy subsidies, blocking $20 bilion which could help us get out of that deficit you repubs whine about so much but prevent dems from fixing it every chance you get.  http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-17/politics/senate.oil.subsidies_1_oil-companies-gas-prices-maine-s-olympia-snowe?_s=PM:POLITICS

Talk about campaign contributions that Mikel claims so horrible with Solyndra, what about big oil contributions, most of which goes to repubs.   I guess thats ok ,right MIkel, as its pro pollution.

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=e01

sanduskysteve says

Origen - finally you and I agree on pretty much everything you stated in your post!

Something else to take into consideration though. An Indiana republican lawmaker has publicly stated that the Girl Scouts is a hidden agent for planned parenthood and they are teaching the girls abortion and gay rights agendas.

This is about the most rediculous thing I have ever heard.  This lawmaker has stated that he has removed his girls from this horrible organization and they now belong to a christian girls organization.

Both the girl scouts and planned parenthood have denied these claims - which I do not believe in the slightest little bit either.

mikel says

and you libitards continue to bash the gop why????  read on:

"Feb 22, 2012

Judge approves $370,000 in Solyndra bonuses"

""Griffith was among 53 lawmakers to write President Obama last month and call on the administration to formally oppose the bonuses. The Virginia lawmaker said in a telephone interview that his coalition never received a response to the letter from the White House.

Solyndra, whose investors included a foundation tied to Obama fundraiser George Kaiser, won a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy in 2009 and filed for bankruptcy last year. Obama visited the company's California headquarters before its collapse."

looks like obumbles is as big as liar and cheat than any one else!!  only in america and under a libitard admin can you scam the gov't out of $500+ million, go bankrupt and then get a bonus for doing so!

mikel says

dawgggg - there is a lot of legislation that is started and breast fed by one prez and signed by another.  this is a prime example!  this was all but a done deal when bush took office.  already cleared both house and senate and just needed a signature.

6079 Smith W says

The stated mandate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is to provide "affordable" home ownership. One need not look much further for the root cause of "liar loans."

Also:

"As things now stand, Fannie and Freddie continue to guarantee about three out of every four new mortgages originated, or about $100 billion a month. Other government programs account for almost all the remainder."

The feds have moved private housing debt to public (taxpayer) debt - there will be blood.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204131004577237512829249188.html

---------------------

Remember: Maxine Waters is set to take over for Barney Frank as the top Dem on the Financial Services Committee.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/195645-maxine-waters-in-line-to-take-over-from-frank-on-financial-services

"“We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and particularly Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Frank Raines.”  - Maxine Waters, 2004

Must watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTbIb75JdwY&feature=related

Marcus M says

Who's to blame for the housing problem?  Remember Bill Clinton and his "The National Home ownership Strategy"

Who blocked the Bush administration from reforming Fannie Mac & Freddie Mac?  Answer far left Chris Dodd (D) and Barney Frank (D).  Who received "special" treatment in his own housing finance from Freddie Mac, can you say Chris Dodd.(D)

Captain Gutz says

Gee whiz big dog, sounds like Bush was one of those left wing share the wealth whackos. Do you know anybody like that?

President Bush’s aggressive housing agenda to dismantle the barriers to homeownership includes providing down payment assistance through the American Dream Downpayment Fund; increasing the supply of affordable homes through the Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit; increasing support for self-help homeownership programs like Habitat for Humanity; simplifying the home-buying process; and increasing home-buying education.

Dismantling the Barriers to Homeownership

President Bush issued America’s Homeownership Challenge to the real estate and mortgage finance industries to encourage them to join the effort to close the gap that exists between the homeownership rates of minorities and non-minorities.