Obama has done "Nothing", PT. 4

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed his first bill into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which overruled the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. which I wrote about in a previous blog post.

The bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stating that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new discriminatory paycheck.

A first bill to amend the statutory limitations period and supersede the Ledbetter decision was introduced in Congress but was never enacted, as after having been passed by the House it failed to survive in the Senate due to the opposition of most of the Republican Senators.

President Obama has long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter's cause, and by signing it into law, ensures that women like Ms. Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay. Read more!

alildabwilldoya on Twitter

I failed to post a note on the blog that I am on Twitter now. I can be found at http://twitter.com/alildabwilldoya.

Forget what you heard Twitter is a good resource for news, information, commentaries from the pundits of your choice, and keeping up with the happenings and thoughts of your bff's! What makes it really great is that it does all that in only 140 characters per tweet.

Perfect for someone that tends to drag on their thoughts like me........ Read more!

Obama has done "Nothing", PT.3

This one is called:

"Cleaning up after the Bush Bank Bailout"

I was never convinced of the necessity of Bush's Bank Bailout, but as Vice President Joe Biden stated, "Instead of being in the middle of a depression, we are talking about coming out of a recession."

I see the bailout as part of the strategic vision of Republican strategists to maintain their relevance. The largest transfer of wealth to the wealthiest of Americans ever. They saddled the next administration with debt beyond what most of us could even comprehend which has severely limited the Obama administration from achieving their own initiatives as they try to clean up the mess that was left.

Lastly, the best part of their strategy is in play now, as they have spent the last several months painting the Democrats as the ones responsible for the bailouts and uncontrollable federal spending. Brilliant strategy and it has worked masterfully.

In steps the Pay Czar, one of Obama's much maligned "czars" (a conservative media phenomenomem that is dismantled here on http://factcheck.org/). When Obama took office he mandated some structure be put around the reckless management of the billions of funds released by the Bush Administration that was largely (if not completely) unaccounted for.

The Pay Czar is delivering a payback in his latest move to deny salary or bonus from Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. Lewis was set to receive millions in salary and bonuses while his company posted $2.24B in losses for the 3Q after accepting $45 billion dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) (a.k.a Bush Bank Bailout).


Kenneth Feinberg, is the U.S. Treasury Department's special master for compensation and is scrutinizing pay packages at bailed-out banks. In fact Lewis will pay back about $1 million he has received so far out of a $1.5 million annual salary. Lewis will be the first of many CEO’s to have their pay packages scrutinized which under the Bush administration had little to no accountability for the funds they had received.

Read more!

Obama has done "Nothing", PT.2

This one is called:

"Why do they hate you?"

Wonderful video, I love President Obama's attitude! Spoken like a Nobel Peace Prize Winner!!!After this I bet he asks Michelle Obama if she wants to try for a son.....


Watch CBS News Videos Online Read more!

Obama has done "Nothing", PT.1

Starting a new series chronicling this notion that Obama has done nothing. Since I don't blog with regularity this is probably a bad series for me to take on, but I am going to give it a shot. Debating whether I want to do some investigative reporting and chronicle the hundreds of things that he has already done or just highlight the many things to come. We'll see.

Today's entry: Obama's first trip to New Orleans

While it's Obama's first trip to New Orleans, it's the administration's 18th trip to the city and administration officials have made 35 trips to the Gulf Coast since March.

When Obama became president, FEMA said there were more than 120 Louisiana reconstruction projects stalled in federal-state disputes. Since January, 76 of those have been resolved.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, has credited Obama's team with bringing a more practical and flexible approach to the reconstruction process. "There's a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done," he said in August. Read more!

2009 NFL for Dummies (Weighing in on Week 5)

I haven’t really made any predictions this season, but outside of the Broncos, Bengals, Titans, Saints, and Panthers I don’t think it would have changed much if I had done this pre-season. Keeping this one simple I am going to divide up all 32 teams by conference and place them in categories as to how they have performed and how I think they will perform this season. Having signed up for the NFL Red Zone package this season I am hoping I am better equipped than ever! After 5 weeks of NFL football as the fat fish (Coach Bill Parcells) used to say, “you are what you are:"

NFC

Elite Teams – best teams in the league, the teams you should sit down and watch every week

• Saints - They have been here before and always leave the critics wondering if they have staying power, but with their schedule unless Brees goes down I don’t see them losing more than 3 or 4 games. Aside from QB their overall depth has vastly improved.
• Giants – They are probably the best and most consistent team in the NFL. Even with injuries they find ways to win.
• Vikings – This was destined to be a good team w/o having a decent QB. Now with Favre surrounded by all of this talent and a great defense if he can hold up this team is scary!
• Eagles – Just to show I am not just going down the line and picking the teams with the best records, this team has a top 5 player at so many positions and backups that would start on some teams. Their only loss is to Saints and they kept rolling w/o arguably the NFL’s best QB in McNabb. Unlike previous years if McNabb or Westbrook goes down expect this team to keep rolling

Likely Playoff Teams – these teams should be in if they win the games they are supposed to win

• Falcons – More than anything with the NFC South having 2 inept teams, the Falcons are playing pretty good football and likely to win 10 or 11 games.
• Cardinals – Someone has to win the NFC West! I would like to pick a pretty talented Seattle team but they will have a hard time fighting through all of the injuries and also have a pretty tough schedule. The 49ers are the hot pick but I doubt they have the staying power. Although Super Bowl losing teams often miss the playoffs the following season, the Cardinals only need 6-7 more wins to get in and with the Rams twice, the Lions, the Titans, and the Panthers remaining on the schedule this is almost a lock!
  

In the Hunt – teams that will make it hard for their conference and divisional foes

• 49ers –In a mediocre NFC West basically all of the teams have a shot! This will come down to head-to-head matchups in the division of which they have already won in games against the Cardinals and Seahawks, but with no depth on this young team injuries are going to take a toll.
• Seahawks - This is a very talented team, but w/o QB Matt Hassleback for a few weeks they looked awful. When Hassleback is laying this team has a chance to win, but with key injuries on the OL I don't think this team will keep there key players healthy enough to hold up.
• Bears – This was a decent team without a QB, now they have a franchise QB in Cutler. Team that up with some good coaching and this is a team that definitely has a shot. If they can hold serve against the Vikings late in December this could be a Wild Card team.

Window Shopping – teams that will find themselves a play or two away when they look back on the season

• Packers – this team will likely be 9-7, but this year I don’t think that is going to get you in the playoffs in the NFC (except for the NFC West where the division winner may be 9-7). They are going to have to beat one of the teams in the hunt head-to-head. Fortunately they will get a shot!
• Cowboys – not only will they not beat any teams in which they are the underdog, but they will certainly lose to teams when they are the favorite. Looking at the December schedule they could possibly lose all of their last 5 games.

What Happened? – These teams can’t be this bad...

• Redskins – I think I am one of the few people surprised as the Redskins were picked to wallow by most critics, but I just thought they had too much talent. Another early 1st RD draft pick will be great for their new coach.
• Panthers – this is actually a recurring theme for the Panthers, up one season down the next….

Looking forward to the 2010 Draft – stockpile more talent, it may be a few more years

• Lions, Bucs, and Rams – not even worth the editorial……

AFC

Elite Teams – unlike the NFC, this team is in a class all alone

• Colts – Manning is having his best start to a season, which is actually better than pretty much any QB ever!! Good to see this team pass the torch and keep rolling. We are going to need at least 2 teams to beat them to show the rest of the league it can be done

Likely Playoff Teams – these teams should be in if they win the games they are supposed to win.

• Broncos – not sure how the other critics see it, but I still can’t call the AFC’s only other unbeaten team “elite.” Fortunately for them they play well at home, but they go on the road now. The Broncos kind of remind me of the Steelers last season, you keep wondering how many games can a team win going down to the last play of the game?? The Steelers rode that all the way to a 6th Super Bowl. This team will likely win 11 games!
• Chargers – For whatever reason the critics are down on the Chargers, but I see this team at worst only losing 2-3 more games and actually winning the AFC West. Pound for pound the most talented team in the AFC.
• Jets – Although the critics want to make them an “elite” team because of the outstanding play of Rookie QB Mark Sanchez what I see is the best OL in the NFL making it easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy for the young QB. The scheduling gods set it up good for this team to make the playoffs…
• Patriots – As long as Tom Brady is the QB and Bill Belichick is the coach I am picking this team for the playoffs.
• Ravens – I am looking for the Ravens to do what the Steelers did last season, battle close and win a lot of tight games. Fortunately for them the schedule has most of their toughest games at home.

In the Hunt – teams that will make it hard for their conference and divisional foes

• Steelers – last year’s Super Bowl champs are similar to the Panthers in being unable to string along consecutive strong seasons. They won their fair share of close games last season, but luck is starting to run out! They will make it hard on every team they play.
• Bengals – When the scheduling gods smiled at the Jets they decided to unleash their wrath on the Bengals. They have fought through a tough schedule already, but it just keeps getting harder. This is a good team, unfortunately they are undoubtedly in the toughest division in the AFC and there will not be room for letdowns.

Window Shopping – teams that will find themselves a play or two away when they look back on the season

• Texans – basically the AFC’s version of the Cowboys, just a coincidence they are in the same state
• Dolphins – unfortunately for the Dolphins they just ran out of room at the top of the AFC.

What Happened? – These teams can’t be this bad...

• Titans – This team is the biggest surprise of the season. No one picked them to be bad, more less potentially the worst team in the league. We knew the QB Kerry Collins would eventually fall off, and the hole in the middle left by Albert Haynesworth leaving for the Redskins appears to be like a tire punched in the sidewall.
• Jaguars – This one you could kind of see coming, but never thought this would be a team that would be getting blown away. They have too much talent and have always been too fundamentally sound to be playing as inept as they have shown thus far.

Looking forward to the 2010 Draft – stockpile more talent, it may be a few more years

• Browns, Raiders, Bills, Chiefs – not even worth the editorial……

So to sum all of this up my playoff picks are the teams I listed as “elite" or “likely playoff teams.” I hope the teams “in the hunt” make it interesting down the stretch. My Super Bowl picks this year are the Eagles (NFC) and the Colts (AFC). I will admit this is a change from my pre-season picks (as it pertains to the Colts) as I thought there would be more of a drop-off under a new coach, but I forgot Manning does the “real” coaching on this team. I look for the Ravens and Chargers to really ride the Colts to the bitter end. The Eagles will have an extremely rough road in the playoffs, as they may not win their own division, but their potential to make big plays will give them a shot to come out victorious in any situation. I can’t help but get excited predicting a Super Bowl that puts what I believe are the 2 best QB’s in the NFL on the field to battle it out, and to sweeten the deal we will have the Black QB (McNabb) on one side, and the Black HC (Caldwell) on the other. Pretty Sweet!!!

Read more!

Choose the Better Right

Using the sermon points of the the believer, the Bible, and the ballot box I have scored these principles with my own commentary to reach what I see as an obvious conclusion.

I. Participate in the Process

This election had the highest voter turnout of any election. I believe more Christians voted in this election than any election before. Christian pastors made an outcry to White Evangelicals to go out and vote Republicans and President Obama prevailed overwhelmingly. I believe many were like me and after truly evaluating Biblical principles and not divisive talking points and wedge issues came to an obvious conclusion.

Score: It is unfair to assume that because more people participated in the process that the winner of the election was the benefactor of this participation so we will call this one even.

II. Vote Biblical Values

a. The Sanctity of Human Life
If you read the context of this question it put a much larger context around this principle than the typical non-negotiable pro-life rhetoric. Candidates should be chosen based on who has the best chance to pursue the practical and proven policies which could dramatically reduce the number of abortions in America and therefore save precious unborn lives, rather than those who simply repeat the polarizing legal debates and "pro-choice" and "pro-life" mantras from either side. Republican candidates have received a free pass from upholding all other Biblical and Conservative principles by stamping Pro-life on their campaign poster.

Score: That being said I do believe that God’s Word is non-negotiable so I will ignore the other principles on the sanctity of human life and score this for McCain.

b. Justice For All
With more than 2,000 verses in the Bible about how we treat the poor and oppressed, candidates must convey what they will do to overcome the scandal of extreme global poverty and the shame of such unnecessary domestic poverty in the richest nation in the world. Such a central theme of the Bible simply cannot be ignored at election time, as too many Christians have done for years. Any solution to the economic crisis that simply bails out the rich, and even the middle class, but ignores those at the bottom should simply be unacceptable to people of faith.

Score: This one is not even competitive the candidates are on complete sides of this principle score this one for Obama.

c. Peace on Earth
From the biblical prophets to Jesus, there is at least, a biblical presumption against war. We must choose the candidates who will be least likely to lead us into more disastrous wars and find better ways to resolve the inevitable conflicts in the world. The candidate that best understands that our security depends upon other people's security (everyone having "their own”, so no one can make them afraid). I do not want a pacifist president, but we can insist on one who views military force only as a very last resort, when all other diplomatic and economic measures have failed, and never as a preferred or habitual response to conflict.

I would also regard God's fragile creation and choose the candidate who will likely be most faithful in our care of the environment. A candidate that will take on the growing threat of climate change, and show a strong commitment to the conversion of our economy and way of life to a cleaner, safer, and more renewable energy future. This could accomplish at the same time a key priority like reducing our Middle East oil dependence. In addition job creation and economic renewal from a new "green" economy built on more spiritual values of conservation, stewardship, sustainability, respect, responsibility, co-dependence, modesty, and even humility.

Score: Again this is not a competitive comparison Even if you don’t believe in global warming; McCain has pronounced himself as war-monger who is only rivaled by former Vice President Cheney in his desire to see the destruction of all conflicting nations. Score this one for Obama.

d. Moral Conviction
If you read the explanation of this principle this really needs know explanation. Healthy families are the foundation of our community life, and nothing is more important than how we are raising up the next generation. Only one candidate exemplifies and articulates strong family values. The White House should be used to speak of sexual restraint and integrity, marital fidelity, strong parenting, and putting family values over economic values.

Score: You have one candidate that divorced his wife after she was in a car wreck and began an affair with hispresent wife. In addition selected a running mate that had an illegitimate child (do the math child’s age minus years married), and raised a child that did the same thing. In the middle of all of the backlash made false claims that they would marry (which still has not happened) and the baby daddy (never thought you would hear this term applied to someone proposing to be in the White House) is contemplating posing in Playboy magazine and the proposed mother-in-law has been arrested for six felony drug counts. The moral valley actually goes much wider and deeper than the few items I have mentioned.

This would basically disqualify McCain from the position if there were NO other opponent, but there is… Obama is married and actually loves his first and only wife, he has 2 beautiful children and almost let’s no occasion pass when he is not speaking passionately about the important role of a strong father and mother and the strength of the American family as the backbone of all that is good in our great Nation. Throw in his running mate that lost his wife and raised his children as a single father commuting from DC to Delaware daily so that he could be with his family at home. Even if you absolutely hate Obama with every fabric of your being, you have no choice you have to score this one for Obama.

III. Choose the Better Right

Just reviewing the 4 basic Biblical principles above I amazed that anyone could come to any other conclusion than to vote for Barack Obama. Even if you disagree with my opinions if you listed it out every single component of each of these Biblical principles and actually evaluated the candidates positions based on facts (not rhetoric that you hear on MSNBC or Fox News) it is undeniable that the agenda being promoted by Obama lines up significantly more so than what is being promoted by McCain. I believe if a lot of liberals or progressives actually took time to evaluate the specifics of his views they would be a little more tentative about their support. The “Change” Obama speaks of is not just rhetoric to be more tolerant it is actually pursuing the teachings of the Bible not just cherry-picking them for political gain.

IV. Ask for Wisdom (Proverbs 29:2)

If you note in the scripture referenced it says that when the “evil rule the people groan.” The people have never groaned as loud as they did this November and throughout the campaign season. Obama won more so from the people’s displeasure with the Bush administration than he did on his own merit or anything that John McCain did or said. Only the wealthy thrived under Bush the rest of us are left to support the burdens of their prosperity.

V. Pray for our Leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Regardless if the candidate you supported prevailed as Christians we are called to pray for our leaders. I fault all of the so called Christians that failed to pray for President Bush as we watched him digress from the Christian and Conservative principles that he campaigned for to succumb to his ambition for economic gain and power. Let us not allow President Obama to lose his tenacity to pursue God’s agenda because Christians fail to support him with our prayers.

VI. God continues to Sit on the Throne (Daniel 12:20-21)

In verse 21 Daniel says God sets up Kings and disposes them. I truly feel that God allowed President Bush to lead this nation for two terms to prepare us for President Obama. Obama could have never succeeded under the mindset that Americans held at the turn of the century. God allowed us to see a disintegration of everything Americans believe before they could see beyond their fear and hatred and accept one that is truly capable of promoting God-centered qualities and equality. President Obama presents the best picture to both sides. To liberals he represents a purer representation of Biblical and moral principles that go beyond your personal faith, but just make plain sense to all men. To conservatives he stands as one that can actually articulate actionable items to achieve those moral and biblical standards not just use them as rhetoric to score political points.


In closing, to me this is such an obvious conclusion I cannot help but be disturbed by many Christians that have chose to disregard the teachings of the Bible and aggressively demonize President Obama. I have actually heard him ridiculed for statements that are specific principles and teachings from the Bible that all Christians supposedly use as instructions for our life. What is it that blinds you to the abhorrent symbol that McCain and Palin represent of morality, conservatism, and human decency. Is it really Obama’s stand on abortion (which is a topic for another day) that bothers you?

"God's Politics" will often turn our partisan politics upside down, transcend our ideological categories of Left and Right, and challenge the core values and priorities of our political culture. There is no easy jump from God's politics to either the Republicans or Democrats. God is neither. In any election, we face imperfect choices, but our choices should reflect the things we believe God cares about as people of faith. Therefore, people of faith, should be "values voters" but vote all our values not just a few that can be easily manipulated for the benefit of one party or another.

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