plus the prez can do very few things alone

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The way I look at it, the Obamas will have more help taking care of the dog (they can be a lot of work!) and also, IMHO, the girls are old enough now to have one and learn responsibility.

Off topic, but if I were in White House, I would follow in Calvin Coolidge's footsteps: He had 6 dogs, a bobcat, a goose, a donkey, a cat, 2 lion cubs, an antelope, a wallaby and a pygmy hippopotamus.

and what we have is a lame duck. I don't know what will happen with Obama but Bush has left him a huge moutain of problems to deal with. I expect Bush will replace Herbert Hoover in history as the worst president in history. Of course the republicans will try to blame his 8 years in office on the previous 8 years and the next 8 years. Sad thing is, some people will believe it, but not many I guess with his approval ratings.

really does need that teleprompter to get it right . . . What's this I hear about him being such a great orator? Sorry, but I think not.

Obama apologizes for gaffe on Special Olympics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) � President Barack Obama has apologized for a gaffe in which he described his bowling skills as akin to participants in the Special Olympics, a sports program for people with intellectual disabilities.

Obama made the mistake during an interview on Thursday night on "The Tonight Show" with host Jay Leno, the first time a sitting U.S. president had been on the show.

Talking about living in the White House, Obama said he had been practicing his bowling in the home's bowling alley and had scored a 129 out of a possible 300.

It was an improvement on the embarrassing 37 he had rolled during a stop on the presidential campaign trail a year ago.

"It's like -- it was like Special Olympics or something," Obama said.

The Special Olympics is a global nonprofit organization serving some 200 million people with intellectual disabilities, with a presence in nearly 200 countries worldwide. They compete in sporting events like the real Olympics.

Soon after the Jay Leno interview, Obama telephoned Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.

Shriver told ABC's "Good Morning America" television show that Obama had apologized "in a way that I think was very moving" and that he said "he did not intend to humiliate the population, didn't want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain or kind of suffering."

Shriver said people should gain a lesson from the incident.

"I think it's important to see that words hurt. Words do matter. And these words in some respect, can be seen as humiliating or a put-down to people with special needs, do cause pain. And they do result in stereotypes," Shriver said.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama "made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics."

"He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world," Burton said.

Shriver said he knows of a Special Olympian in the Detroit area who has bowled three perfect games of 300 and "he said he would be more than welcome to find the time to come to the White House and teach the president."

(Reporting by Caren Bohan and Steve Holland, editing by Vicki Allen)

backwards stance he is taking and all the trips Michele is taking, or are we going to sit here and take it?

Sorry, but at least GW mostly stayed in Washington if not in Texas and ran the government. They did not take "geography" classes on the road. How's the garden doing Michele? Do we hear about that? Nope. Just another publicity stunt.

When O became president, I figured I would give him a chance....but I figured okay, some of those bailouts he did might work Today, he is pushing for the CLNE, clean energy bill, which Pelosi has a big stake in, and now I know he is just a puppet of Pelosi and the others. I will not sit here and take his lies any longer. If i have to I will send an email every day to the WH telling him where to get off.

We get a magazine on country living and they are telling us to brace ourselves for the coming new policies on food. They are telling us to stock up on food for at least 3 years especially if H.R. 875 passes. Now, I don't know when this is coming up for a vote but I read the bill and it doesn't make me happy with the wording. If what the magazine is stating, they can stop us from producing family gardens if they will it. I'm hoping they straighten this out because as I read through it, it directly aims at the larger food production facilities, but the words that bother me are "any farm, .....or facility.... that produces food for resale." That means you will not be able to sell your garden grown extra foodstuffs unless you have a registration number....which also means government intervention. If anyone is interested, I can post the article pertaining to that.

O is finding out that his words aren't penetrating those who hate us a lot, so, as of this week, he has decided to pull back on international "friendship" and just deal with the USA because he knows we are getting disheartened with his policies. This gets our minds off the real issues of the world and we are supposed to believe every word he says, yet some are still idolizing him. Just wait another year. Then it will be too late..

Sorry, not in my book. I think it's time for all Americans to stand up and fight, deluge the goverment with emails, etc., whatever gets through to our President. Heck, I've been emailing every time I hear something new that goes against the laws of the land. Does it fall on deaf ears? Certainly....but I still do it. Guess I wil lbe on he UnAmerican list soon but I don't care. I've been quiet too long and am actively taking a stance in the American way of life....which is almost gone already after the 100 days. So sad.....

My, how classy. That so-called retardate graduated Yale & Harvard. Now who's retarded? Bill Clinton is plenty of things, too, but stupid, retarded, etc. are things that I've never heard a conservative say...ever.

WASHINGTON � President George W. Bush's "after-life," as Laura Bush calls the post-presidency, is shaping up to be pretty comfortable, with a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers' expense.

However, Bush will be the first president not to benefit from one former lifetime benefit: Secret Service protection.

"He'll be the first one to receive it for 10 years," said Malcolm Wiley, Secret Service spokesman. Congress changed the law in the 1990s so that any president elected after Jan. 1, 1997, and his or her spouse will receive the federal protection for only 10 years.

The Bushes will move to their new $2 million, 8,500-square-foot Dallas home � not paid for by taxpayers � on Jan. 20, and there Bush will be close to his future presidential library at Southern Methodist University.

"We're working on a conceptual design for the building," said Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Foundation. The president will help develop the $300 million structure, which will include a library, museum and policy institute.

Fundraising is just beginning, Langdale said. Once the project is finished in 2013, the National Archives and Records Administration will take over the operation of the library and museum, at federal expense. Construction will be paid for with private funds, and Bush is expected to be involved in organizing the fundraising drive.

"He is enthusiastic about spending a lot of his time and effort working on the programs of the institute," Langdale said.

Bush will maintain an office nearby in space acquired by the General Services Administration, which, under the Former Presidents Act, will pay for the office suite and staff to assist him for the rest of his life.

Bush's pension, which is tied to the base pay of the most senior government executives and increases with federal cost-of-living adjustments, will be about half the $400,000 annual presidential salary. He and Vice President Dick Cheney will receive transition expenses as well for seven months � one month before the inauguration and six months afterward � "to facilitate their transition to private life," according to the Congressional Research Service.

The GSA also covers travel expenses for any official activities attended by a former president, as well as two staff members. Former President Bill Clinton was allocated $50,000 for travel in fiscal year 2008 and former President George H.W. Bush, $56,000.

Former presidents and their families are entitled to health care in military hospitals, although they have to pay a reimbursement rate set by the Office of Management and Budget.

Bush will receive a state funeral upon his death, with full military honors for the former commander in chief.

1: His approval rating as I write this has now decreased to 29%. (However, by the time you read this, it may be even lower yet. He is most definitely *a work in progress,* and the number of Americans who are waking up and smelling the proverbial coffee is increasing at a rapid rate.

2. The fact that the government has been tracking phone calls of hundreds of millions of Americans may be nothing more than a political *parking ticket* compared to what we might discover next week.

NSA Whistleblower: There's More, People Are Going To Be Shocked

by georgia10

Fri May 12, 2006 at 04:38:00 PM PDT

From the subscription-only Congress Daily, Chris Strohm reports that NSA whistleblower Russell Tice will make some on bombshell revelations on Capitol Hill next week:

1. My eyes watching Scooter's conviction.. 2. Valerie Plame, the person who knows her situation best. 3. Patrick Fitzgerald. Now there's a guy with a high IQ that was not manufactured by professional fact fixers.

Can someone explain what those things are outside the RNC. I understand wanting to protest and you hold a sign up showing your viewpoint and maybe you yell out something you believe in, but I can't understant what those things are that are wearing masks, being dragged away, having to be hosed down by the police.

What a nonsense and insane world they must live in. I'm all for freedom speech, but this is beyond my understanding.

Also - don't they have jobs? Do their employers allow them to take time off work to go do this and get arrested? I want that job. HA HA

You do not have the right to call someone ignorant just because they interpret those quotes as racist. If you don't think they are racist, fine.....after all we are all entitled to our own opinions. If you can't handle people having a different opinion than your own, don't bother reading or posting on the board. Calling people names does not prove your point.

Obviously there are other people on the board other than the original poster who feel those quotes were racist. I have always thought Obama and his wife were racist and these quotes are just more proof of that.

posting for discussion. they are recycling the old attacks about flag pins and trying to provoke silly discussions to distract from the precipitous plunge of the McClain campaign in the face of the wall street debacle.

turned around and said about Obama. The lack of his experience. He has never run anything. He has consistetly voted present instead of making an executive decision of yes or no. He has only been in the senate for 4 years and has spent more money on pork and earmarks in those 4 years than McCain has his whole political career. Palin got rid of the personal jet the prior governor had. She has made her state a success and she has given money back to her constituents. She has the highest approval rating as governor. You care about the money the RNC spent of Palin's clothes which will be given to charity and you don't comment about the millions and millions of dollars that Obama has spent during his campaign....not to mention the 2 million dollar shindig they are planning in Chicago during election...who is paying for that? you bring up troopergate with Palin and yet you refuse to see Obama on committees with terrorists who gave money to radical groups. All the money that Obama raised for educational purposes didn't improve the schools in his district at all. The housing that was in his area for community organizer....especially the ones owned by Rezko were so bad that people had no heat during the Chicago winters. The same Rezko who he had sketchy dealings with in order to buy his mansion for way less than what it is worth. Obama the same man who attended church for 20 years where the preacher did nothing but preach about how America sucks because it was run by whitey and blacks should take over. Not to forget his cousin in Kenya who Obama campaigned for and gave money to and when his cousin lost the election....his followers rioted and killed innocent people. Obama campaigned for him when he visited kenya. What has Obama run successfully? The housing in his district were not up to snuff. The school he pledged to help with the committee he was on did not improve. Are you not seeing a pattern here.

So go spout your BS somewhere else because this person, who has done her research, isn't listening. Obama has many more sketchy things in his life than Palin and he has just as little experience.....and he is running for president....NOT VP.

To me there are 2 glaring problems with this (besides the fact that she can't care for that many children)

1. She is supposed to be on workers comp for her back, but she can carry a pregnancy of octuplets? I would think workers comp would be investigating that. It's one thing to have a bad back and accidentally get pregnant, but this was intentional.

factor into the car industry crisis. First off, unions, in my opinion, are the bane of the car industry. States that force unionization show a lower number of production, lower number of job growth, etc. The states that do not force unions have a higher rating in production and job growth. When the economy was booming, the unions didn't help but they weren't running business into the ground. Now that the economy sucks....the unions are sucking the life out of the car industry.

Next we have Americans buying foreign cars. Not only does that send money to other countries but it is hurting American auto makers, etc.

Then you have the legacy costs that, just like the unions, were okay during a good economy but are now sucking the life out of the car industry. To allow people to retire at 50 and then receive that kind of pension is insane. They shouldn't be letting people retire that early....unless their health doesn't allow them to work.

Then you have the CEOs making huge amounts of money and other higher ups who are making millions to do absolutely nothing.

Now our economy stinks and people can't afford to buy cars and the ones who can are too afraid because the car industry is struggling as well as they are also scared of their own finances if this gets worse.

All in all....we have succesfully killed the car industry. Dealerships are closing doors like crazy. Dealerships go a whole day with no traffic on the lot. People are losing jobs left and right. Factories are closing. People are forced to take a week off each month, etc. It is truly scary and we have greed to thank for this whole thing. Greed in government.....greed in the unions.......and greed in CEOs, etc.