MORTGAGE BAILOUT: "COST ROUGHLY ZERO!" - Just a Minute Radio for Friday 2-20-09

            According to the Almanac ‘winter broke its back’ last week – but I guess the thermometer didn’t get the memo.

 

            So here we are – “very cool” – Discovering what the President means when he says if we don’t do anything, everything will get a whole lot worse. I find it hard to reconcile with other pronouncements he’s made – and here we are hardly 30 days into his Presidency. What a mess already!

 

            “ T’was ever thus!” says the poet… But we hoped for some breathing room. Six or so – depending on how one is counting – Cabinet (or sub-Cabinet) offices have had significant difficulties with finances, experience or not paying Nannies’ withholding taxes – all of which seem rather elementary for the scope of the responsibilities they are shouldering. [But some GOP appointees have had the same types of problems… so glass houses and all that.] Even the appointee to succeed the President in the Senate has made a huge tangle of his testimony – or has overseen a making of a tangle by not ‘remembering’ to whom he told what. That one’s going to hang around a long time I believe.

 

            In any case it does seem the White House speechwriting crew – and those checking such things – would do a more thorough job of vetting what they wrote, or at least reading it over in advance of giving it. But there too… there are many who have and continue to make such errors. About the best we seem to be hoping for is we’ll have a flat tire or broken axle – something to have a break-down *before* we get to the edge of the cliff. Sort of like hoping you’ll break a leg before you run the wrong way and make a touchdown for the opposing team.

 

            But – we know Spring *is* on the way. We’ve seen the daffodils and a few sprigs of Forsythia trying to bloom. I even have one small lonely little buttercup peeking out beside the patio step letting me know no matter how the markets fall, there’s always new life and it’s the season of the resurrection.

 

            Have a wonderful day and a blessed week-end.

 

            Cordially, IN HIM

 

            Jack

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

MORTGAGE BAILOUT: “COST ROUGHLY ZERO”

Just A Minute – I’ve got a question:

President Obama reading his speech off a teleprompter in Mesa, Arizona, on February 18th two days ago, talking about homes “underwater” meaning more is owed on them than they are currently worth and saying how his plan will allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance loans currently not allowed.

The President said his plan [and this is lifted directly from the White House transcript.] (Quote) “…will allow millions of families stuck with loans at higher rates, to refinance. And the estimated cost to taxpayers would be roughly zero.” (Unquote)

My question is: “Mr. President -- if the cost to the taxpayers is ‘roughly zero’ why in the world are we taxing ourselves and generations to come with this $787 Billion porculous bill that promises to keep us in financial slavery for decades to come?

“Please explain to us -- and to Congress – in small words we can all understand, why we are going through all this pain and trauma?” 

The relevant part of the President’s speech is posted at justaminuteradio.blogspot.com as well as the White House Press Office.

<> I’m Jack Buttram   (END)

 

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-the-mortgage-crisis/

 

 

   

JUST ONE THING CERTAIN, UN-CERTAINTY - Just a Minute radio for 02-18-09 -- Wednesday.

            Hello again… It’s the middle of another week…

 

            The President signed the Stimulus/Rescue/Certainty Bill out in Denver, a little more than 24 hours ago… and we’re off downhill on a crazy  toboggan slide into --- who knows what?

 

            Certainly the Secretary of the Treasury has apparently been too busy catching up on his back tax returns (although he missed a LOT of them) to give us more just a few vague hints. The President apparently decided Denver was a more attractive climate so he broke away from Washington and the ongoing squabble over his Senate seat – which threatens yet another chapter—and ended up in Denver to try and give a green environmental cast to this huge recipe for disaster that has all the money managers turning green by themselves.

 

            No one has yet ventured a guess with any support as to when this miracle is supposed to take place – because nobody has had time read not to mention study, the bill. It’s rather like riding a bicycle down Mammy-Morgan’s ice covered hill in February, with both hands in the air yelling “Look, Ma – No Hands.” You might get to the bottom unscathed – but the chances don’t favor it.

 

            It’s been a rough winter up North – and a rather uneventful and mild, though too dry, for us down South. But there’s nothing we can actually DO about that – except for prayer (And I’m serious on that score.) However, there is a primary thing for Bible readers to cement in their remembrance: the Word of God is absolutely full of demonstration after demonstration of the idea – “You (in this case Joseph’s brothers) meant it to me for ill; but God meant it to me for good!” And that same result is repeated over and over in say, Job, Esther, Jeremiah, Jesus unlawful conviction and crucifixion, Paul, Peter, Thomas and John (among others) who endured hardships for the Gospel – and countless martyrs from the first century onwards.

 

            One message comes through the ages: God is still on the throne – and HE is in control. All things were created by HIM and by HIM all things consist. That’s the message which needs to be tattooed on the inside of our eyelids in these days.

 

            Cordially, IN HIM

 

            Jack

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama02-18-09.mp3

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

THERE’S ONE CERTAINTY- UNCERTAINITY!

BB: Jist A Minit – Mr. Jack  -- Ah done figgered out how ta' be shore th’ Stimmilus Plan works!

Jack: Billy-Bob – you’re saying you know how to make sure the stimulus plans works?

BB: Why shore… hit’s plain as th nose on m’face.

MizP: Mr. Beelie… beggin’ your  pardon… How is it tha-ut Yew know how ta' make th’ thang work when …

Homer: When nobody – ah mean NOBODY else knows whut’s a-gonna happen.

MizP: OK – how you gonna make hit, happen Mr. Smarty?

BB: OK on th’ T and V ah’ heered him say many times :”Ah know one thang fer certain…”

Homer: But tha-ut don’t mean he knows

MizP: Hit means he don’t know  perzakly how his plan is a-goin’ ta' take hole.

BB: He’s said: “Ah know fer certain if’n we don’t do nothin’ hit’s gonna be a catastrastroke.”

Homer: But he ain’t said he knows how ta' do hit.

Jack: Homer’s right Mr. Billy … All I’ve heard is that “something” has to be done or things are going to be worse.

Homer: Yeah…

BB:  See – hit’s plain both of you has done missed hit. See Mr. Obama an me – is both great students of his’try

Homer: Oh you air, huh?

BB: Yeah – You ever heered ‘bout King Kan-nuute?

MizP: King who?

BB: See – Ah done tole you – yawl ain’t studied eenuf.

Homer: Well don’t keep us on tender feet… tell us ‘bout him.

BB: He was a king, see – over in Norway er sommers.

Homer: Yeah – And?

BB: He got his court people ta' carry his thone out to th’ seashore – saddown ther an commanded th’ tide not to come in.

MizP: That don’t seem ta' be too smart.

BB: Look th’ Prezdint kin jist passed anothern’ like the Stimmilus Bill that says hit’s illegal ta' fail. …

MizP: I never heered such foolishness… Mr. Jack ain’t hit time ta' quit?.

Jack: You’re right Miz Pearl.  See you all next week. I’m Jack Buttram.  (END)

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HIDING HEALTH CARE UNDER THE STIMULUS - Just A Minute Radio for Monday Feb. 16, 2009

            Howdy Once Again –

 

            Monday was forecast to be a bit cloudy… actually earlier forecasts called for snow – but this hasn’t been the absolute *best* year for weathercasters. In fact they’ve had a string of poor years. Problem is the weather is -- well… unpredictable. Why do we keep on trying? 

 

            Same with the stock market… or all the financial markets. Why then do we think that throwing a couple more trillion greenbacks in the hopper will do the trick?  The answer is in the word PERCEPTION or Faith… or belief in what may happen. It’s been fairly evident since Alan Greenspan admitted before a Congressional Committee that he – the long standing ex-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board [who, it is said claimed for himself the title of the world’s greatest, living economist] -- that body that is supposed to know everything about everything – possibly made a mistake in the management of interest re-discount rate between banks (whatever that is) and contributed a teensy-bit to the problems than now plague us.

 

            Oh well… no one wins in the blame game. Even historians will never get it right on who is, or was, at fault. For years we’ve heard FDR America spending its way out of the Recession… Now some people have the temerity to question that. There are folks even writing books about how wrong we were. But old legends die hard – and we tend to cling to our Teddy Bears and Fairy Tales.

 

            All that to say – it became evident there might have been a lot of highly touted people (as well as highly compensated people) arguing over the levers of power but *nobody* really knew (or knows now) just how these problems are going to work out. It’s somewhat like that ill-fated crew flying the Continental Connection flight into Buffalo – they didn’t know what they were getting into until it was too late – and disaster resulted. The plain fact is – as most experienced pilots will tell you – there’s nothing certain about ice build up, how fast or with what effect. Because there’s nothing certain about the weather… how much moisture, exactly what temperatures are encountered, or the conditions those effects will have on the aircraft as you lower gear and/or flaps. They aren’t known – but they *are* real! So the only real solution is to change equipment, change locations, go back – or don’t fly at all! That’s what they do on AF One.

 

            That’s exactly the same situation with America’s economy right now. We’re flying in conditions which have varying parameters and their effects are not accurately predictable. Our best – or put another way – most useful tool, is the market. It predicts with considerable accuracy how much milk will be needed in New York tomorrow. No government bureaucracy can do that. If you don’t want to fly in those conditions – don’t. Go back… or don’t take off.

 

            Cordially, IN HIM

 

                        Jack

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama02-16-09.mp3

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

HIDING HEALTH CARE BEHIND STIMULUS

Just A Minute – Friday, I said we’d try to say more about health care if the stimulus plan wasn’t signed. It’s now passed the House and Senate and is being flown to the President in the West. But you should still let your Senators and Congressmen know what you think.

It generally follows what Tom Daschle and Hillary Clinton didn’t get in 1994.  A year ago Daschle wrote: “… the next president should act quickly before critics mount an opposition. If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it,” he said.

OK – he said it – that’s what’s happened. Just remember, it’s the largest employer in the U.S. – accounting for almost 17 percent of GDP – but it treats health care like the Europeans do: a cost problem rather than a growth industry. If autos or electronics were treated the same way – we’d have no innovation – in fact it’s probably dangerous to your health – just like in Canada or Great Britain -- but Obama demanded it and it passed it in less than 24 hours, Crazy.

<> I’m Jack Buttram

(END)

 

 

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HERE COMES EUTHENASIA - Just a Minute Radio for Friday the 13th, 2009 in February.

Howdy… It’s been a warm week.

 

Not just the weather – but in some places the rhetoric. I think they’ve run out of ‘negotiation powder’ on Capitol Hill – and Madam Speaker thought she’d laid in a whole season’s supply.  Here the first month of the Obamanation has hardly gone by and they’ve nearly run out. But never fear… there’s always more where that came from.

 

What’s really running in short supply is bi-partisan good will. I watched some of the House speeches after they took the second vote on the stimulus plan – and I thought I heard a gurgle from a stopped-up drain. Everyone – almost – having watched the Obamanation Campaign Train in operation for two years – figured running the nation would be a snap. The Republicans would be totally dispirited (and possibly they are) and the Democrat Donkeys could run free in the pasture. They just didn’t figure being tripped up on their own tax-trip wires. A strange omission indeed.

 

So now the President has to make another trip to the well to find a Commerce Secretary who is willing to run a Department stripped of one of its major plumbs – taking the census. Meanwhile the unions have written their demands into law in the coming omnibus package – as have the NEA icons and the ACLU, the NAACP and a *host* of other special interests.

 

Of course that canal to be built across the property in Speaker Pelosi’s district isn’t made of PORK…it’s water… and every other rock turned over in the ‘surprise package’ which – according to the President’s campaign rhetoric and promises, will rest on his desk for five days while people may use the Internet to examine it carefully (it’s only seven or eight hundred pages long… roughly a billion dollars a page) and we can rewrite the history books on this one. This will be the age forecast by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin when the populace realize they may vote themselves goodies out of the Treasury and thus destroy the integrity of the Nation – which heralds the slow (or perhaps not so slow) decline of America from a representative Republic into something akin to a giant-sized and thereby all the more inefficient ‘Banana Republic.’

 

It’s not nice really – to have such a dismal outlook on a Friday… but it is the 13^th – and black cats have been seen scampering across the path.

May the Lord bless us all.

 

Cordially, IN HIM

 

Jack

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama02-13-09.mp3

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

HERE COMES EUTHENASIA

Just A Minute – You want to know what’s in the Obama Health Plan… Here are a few ideas originally proposed in Tom Daschle’s book before being rejected as Secretary of Health and Human Services:

           First, Daschle said health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. … Medicare now pays for treatments deemed “safe and effective.” but the stimulus bill would change all that and a government board, like one under the British system, would approve or reject treatments using a formula which divides cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to live so younger patients are more often approved than those that affect the elderly.

An example: In 2006, a U.K. health board said elderly patients with macula degeneration must wait ‘til they go blind in one eye before they would be approved for a costly new drug to save the other eye. It took almost three years of public protests to get the board to reverse its decision.

More on Monday if it’s not been signed by then.

<> I’m Jack Buttram

(END)

 

 

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AIR FORCE ONE'S CARBON FOOTPRINT -- Just A Minute Radio for Wednesday 02-11-09

            Howdy everybody –

 

            Here in SC one would have thought it was June 1 – but we have to be careful and pray lest the peach crop get blasted in the bud. One thing is encouraging. The seasons go on no matter what Washington does. In fact – taken in the light of eternity – whatever Washington does or doesn’t do does not escape God’s control and His plan. I’m still convinced of that and that conviction grows stronger and stronger with me every day.

 

            Billy-Bob and the crew at the Bait Shop and Sushi Bar over at Playfair on the Caroliner line just keep pluggin’ along. And I suspect much of America does too. Frankly I find it increasingly uninteresting to listen to the same arguments over and over. I realize “Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty.”  I just wish they’d change the record every now and then. I spent about a half hour listening to what passes for debate in both the House and the Senate… at least the speeches in the House are generally shorter. I realize the fellows and girls are not on TV to entertain us – and thankfully the cable companies pay the bills on C-Span. It just gets awfully boring. I’m afraid I found it that way even when I was there in person.

 

            Anyway… America is great!  God is Great – and Just – and Good. If you’re trusting in his Son Jesus Christ – then in this world you really have nothing to concern you no matter what the circumstance. I say that fully recognizing what heartache and pain people often go through – but I also say it realizing that God, the creator and sustainer of the Universe – of all things that are – loved us enough to send His only son to lovingly give his life – die the shameful death which we deserved -- to redeem our souls from the clutches of the Destroyer… Satan. These beautiful spring- like days remind me HE IS RISEN and has overcome death and sin. Our redemption is assured by the person and work of Christ – there is no greater security. May God bless us all.

 

            Cordially, IN HIM

 

            Jack

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama02-11-09.mp3

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

AIR FORCE ONE – CARBON FOOTPRINT

MizP: Jist A Minit – Mr. Jack  -- Has you been hearin’ strange noises?

Jack: Why no Miz Pearlie – why do you ask?

MizP: I saw the pitchers wheah Mr. Presdint Obama done smacked his head on th’ doah way of Marine One…

Homer: Mr. Jack don’t ride Marine One… thass th’ Presdint’s helicopter….

BB: But they is ‘bout th’ same hite…

Jack: Right Billy Bob – he’s an inch or so taller.

MizP: Well Ah saw fowah sho he conked his noggin a gittin’ in the helio ta' get out to Andrews.

BB: Speakin’ of a-goin’ out theah ta' ketch AF One…

Homer: Yeah -- whut about hit?

BB: He was on his way ta' meet th’ Demicrats in Williamsburg…

Homer: Rite…

BB: An he took AF One down theyuh  -- he tole hit to one of th’ rporters on th’ plane.

MizP: An tha-ut was nice of th Air Fowus ta' let him borrer hit.

Homer: He din’t borrer hit, Miz Pearl – th’ Demicrats is s’posed ta' pay fo hit… Hit’s a political thang not gummit.

BB: At’s rite… at’s th’ rule – But Ah wonder – ‘bout one thang?

Jack: What’s that Billy?

BB: You member tha-ut speech where they crawled awl ovah them automobile executives fer a-flyin’ they-uh

               air planes frum DeeTroit ta' Washinton… ta' cllect them bail outs?

MizP: Ah ‘member tha-ut reel good. Next time they had to drive and in them HIbread cars.

BB: Yeah… th’ press reely gigged them fer bein’ so hi-falutey.

Homer: Yeah… and a-spending awl that bail out money on them corporate jets.

BB: An messin’ with th’ carbon footprint.

MizP: Yeah…

BB: Ah din’t heah nobody complainin’ ‘bout Presidint Obama’s carbon foot print – he coudda gone to Williamsburg

               in Marine One…

MizP: Or in a cah … an he wountn’t a bumped his haid.

Homer: An he ain’t a havin’ no bettah luck gittin his stimluss pakage of’n th’ groun.

BB: It’s a-gittin’ a lotta turbulence awright.

Jack: Turbulence is right… and our time is up for this week <> I’m Jack Buttram  (END)

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REVERSE PRODUCTIVITY CURVE -- Monday, February 9, 2009

            Hello again on a Monday… Nice temps over the weekend…

 

            Like the mushrooms in certain parts of the forest – government just grows – no stimulus needed. That’s detailed today on the program JUST A MINUTE at 11:30 AM and 5:15 PM – on 94.5 in the upstate SC area and parts of NC, TN and GA… if you’d like to get the news on the air. It was released last week but so much news is passing nowadays with news of new ways NOT to pay your taxes and then say you’re sorry… it’s hard to get time and space for the ‘new’ news.

 

            In any case things continue to progress or regress as the case may be. Mrs. Palin visited the lower 48 for some appearances after she had turned some of the newshounds down on the grounds she was too busy with Alaska Business… They griped and complained. Relations don’t seem to be improving in that quarter. I’m wondering just what kind of media advice she’s getting. And probably there are a lot of things I don’t know. All the same the old adage holds – in general – it’s not really helpful for your cause to get into an argument with people who buy ink by the tank care load.  But then… there’s only one Sarah. – Just don’t use up all your ammunition on a newsperson with a pop gun.

 

            The Media wars are awfully tiring – especially since we’ve been engaged on this same battleground for more than two years. Nonetheless… we conservatives are down and very nearly out without any legislative weapons to fight with – and deserters like Senators Snow and Specter who jump ship every time we hit a wave. President Reagan had similar problem. On the MX missile system’s first House vote he lost 50 “Republican” votes to Tip O’Neil – if his Rino or Rabbit Republicans had stuck with him that battle would have been lot shorter and less ulcerating. But history repeats itself.

 

            There is still a bright outlook. The Apostle Paul was killed, Christ was crucified, Jews were scattered all over the Middle East when Rome was at the height of its power and dominion. And look how the tables have turned these days. We (Christian Bible believers) still have much to be thankful for… Primarily in the knowledge that God IS still on the throne and HE IS in charge no matter how things may look. So… I’m going to relax… it’s in HIS hands.

 

            Cordially, IN HIM

 

 

            Jack Buttram

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama02-09-09.mp3

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

REVERSE PRODUCTIVITY CURVE

Just A Minute – When Americans ask for a smaller government – they don’t mean a less efficient one. Investor’s Business Daily printed a recent graph showing the dismal truth:

Since the end of World War II, Government shows … consistent job growth: Since 1947, local, state and federal governments have added nearly 17 million jobs, with 22.5 million people on payrolls funded by your tax dollars. Government job growth has more than kept up with population: Today, there are about 13.5 Americans per government employee – in 1947 there were fewer workers but also fewer people. One bureaucrat served 26 taxpayers: Now one worker serves only 13.5 people – despite technology productivity is cut in half. Government grows on its own -- no stimulus needed – it just grows. 

My Dad was a Postal Clerk in the days when there were two mail deliveries every day in every town: Also you could put a penny post card in your front porch mailbox in the morning – it’d be delivered cross town in the afternoon. First class stamps were three cents.

Shall we pray for improvements like that?

<> I’m Jack Buttram

(END)

 

 

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SO IS IT SPEND, SPEND, SPEND...? -- Just A Minute for Friday 2/6/09

            Hello again – another week racked up…

 

            And “racked” seems to be the correct word. The weather’s been cold; the rhetoric has been hot; and the progress has been spotty.

 

            Just a little over two weeks ago was Inauguration – and news anchors were speculating how long the “honeymoon” would last. Apparently soap bubbles have had longer lives. Not to mention the difficulties President Obama has encountered with his Cabinet appointments. Former Senate leader Tom Daschle was supposed to be the cabinet’s crown jewel. Within the past two days it’s become apparent if he didn’t walk the plank he would have been pushed. A rather inglorious ending to a Cabinet career that never got started.

 

            And have you ever heard such a chorus of whining excuses for not paying taxes… beginning with the Secretary of the Treasury. Now it appears President Obama is taking off the velvet glove which heretofore concealed the IRON FIST.  So last night he goes down to Williamsburg to a Democrat House Members party while the Senate under Harry Reid’s leadership planned to stay up all night in order to please the new White House Taskmaster – and as I was writing this they were still in session.

 

            So… well nobody ever held the Presidency out to be a “cushy” job… but I think that’s about the first time AF ONE made such a short trip. I guess President Obama wanted to ‘break it in.’ I think there are going to be a lot of other things broken. Record debt levels for one thing… and perhaps the Bank of the United States of which there really isn’t one. Unfortunately one can hear the printing presses warming up… and get ready folks for a flood of paper money to pay for it all. Remember the pictures of German citizens carrying bales of paper money to buy a loaf of bread. The dark clouds are out there – but Congress has blinders on already.

 

            Well… have a good weekend. Enjoy your family. And we’ll pray for those jobs to come back soon;

 

            Cordially, IN HIM

 

            Jack Buttram

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama02-06-09.mp3

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

SO IS IT ‘SPEND, SPEND, SPEND …

Just A Minute – The President and Senate Republicans agree their fight ought not to be about politics. The President says bluntly: “I won.” In the Washington Post op-ed page he wrote:

“This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending--it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education.”

James Taranto, Opinion Journal Editor of The Wall Street Journal, wrote: “If we are really in an emergency, and ‘science’ tells us we need to spend money now in order to deal with it, why not just do that and deal with the long-term agenda in the long term? Is it irresponsible to question a new president who seems to be cynically using a crisis in order to grab new power…?” 

He says it’s irresponsible not to! So the tax cheats take over -- the President repeats --“I won.” And … get used to it, folks – this is just what happens when you lose … This is the first flock of chickens comin’ home to roost. Pray we’re still around in four years. 

<> I’m Jack Buttram                                                            (END)

 

 

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...AND ALL ON BOARD DID SHRINK! -- Just a Minute for 02-04-09 Wednesday

            G’day folks –

 

            It’s reckoning time up on the District Line – and some are finding in the words of the High School Football cheer: ”When you’re up, you’re up – when you’re down, you’re down. When you’re up against Obama – you may be upside down.” At least that’s the way Tommy Daschle must feel after the thrashing around that happened at the White House yesterday afternoon.

 

            Just before noon… the ex-Senate Majority leader was still aiming for the top slot at the Food and Drug Administration – which does a lot of regulating. In addition he was going to get a coveted office right in the West Wing of the WH because of his Washington experience. And by 1PM he had offered his resignation and the President had accepted. I guess he heard the door slam on his way out. It was one of the shortest cabinet careers on record… in fact never even began.

 

            The Obama White House has not had an auspicious beginning. The new Cabinet Organization Chart has begun to look like a Wanted for Tax Evasion Poster in the local Post Office. It appears Mr. Obama decided it was time to cut his losses and Mr. Daschle was the point at which the buck stopped – or the blade fell – which ever picture conveys the meaning.

 

            Meanwhile the *urgent urgent* Rebuilding Bill… keeps getting sidetracked – at least in the news media. It seems new Obama appointees have a difficult time with their “vetting” record when it comes to paying their taxes. Mr. Daschle is but the latest example – the Secretary of the Treasury, of all things, has walked into his office trailing a string of unpaid tax bills on which the collection time has run out.

 

            Not an auspicious beginning. The New York Times says Mr. Obama should hit the rewind button and try to get back to Inauguration Day.

 

            But the Good Fairies of Washington have no rewind button on events of this nature… and the beat goes on. Stay tuned.

 

            Cordially, IN HIM

 

            Jack Buttram

 

 http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama02-04-09.mp3

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/scripts/jamt02-04-09.doc

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

… AND ALL ON BOARD DID SHRINK

MizP: Jist A Minit – Mr. Jack do you thank Mr. Obama really wants Miz Pelosi ta' write bailout bill?

Jack: I don’t understand…

Homer: They don’t cawl hit tha-ut now MizPearl  -- hit’s the Reconstitution Bill

BB: Ah don’t thank tha-ut’s right neither.

MizP: Well Ah don’t ca-uh … Ah jist don’t know whut’s a-goin’ on. Han’t ennybody paid taxes.

Homer: ‘Parently not… Ah wonder if’n tha-ut’s how my job ‘pointment never got done?

BB: You mean some beaurocrat dropped th’ bawl…?

MizP: Mebby they was all a puzzlin’ over how ta' ketch up on th’ back taxes.

BB: Whut ‘bout tha-ut lady?

Homer: The one tha-ut din’t pay her nannies payroll taxes and awl.

Jack: I think you’ve got it all mixed up.

BB: Ah know sumbody’s got a whole lot mixed up. Ah been readin’ how thousands of peepul with purpul

               tickets ta' th’ ‘naugural din’t never git in.

Homer: Some of ‘em finally got ta' watch th vice Pres dint get sworn in when they got inta a eatin’ place that

               had th’ TV on…

MizP: Hmmph… if’n Ah had paid fer a ticket ta' Washinton.. and a hotel an all and still din’t get to th’

               ceremony…. I’da shore been angry.

Jack: I guess lots were… but what about the folks like Tom Daschle who’s been practicing being head of

               the FDA since last summer?

Homer: An now he’s out – don’t have no job a-tall…

BB: Don’t worry – he’ll pick up sumpin’.

Homer: Yeah… I reckon if’n you kin pick up five million or so without a job…

MizP: Tha-ut makes the folks over at th’ Bait Shop and Sushi Bar mad…Well .. ah wants you to know Ah

               paid my taxes on time… Got my ree-fund b’fore February first.

Jack: Good for you Miz Pearl.  Sorry about your job Homer.

Homer: Looks like thanks ain’t got off ta' such a good start anyway.

Jack: Guess not… We’ll be back next week – I’m Jack Buttram   (END)

 

Jebco Editorial Service

www.justaminuteradio.blogspot.com

e-mail n4zhk@arrl.net

 

 

 

CELEBRATE GROUNDHOG DAY BY...? -- Just a Minute for 02-02-09

Howdy… Here we are again – Glad you could drop by –

 

I think I emptied out my Groundhog Day note file Friday… but it’s come around again… and we’re getting the bulletins from Puxatawny and the handlers at Gobbler Knob…-- so you’re sure to get Puxs Phil’s 2009 prediction right here at 94.5 in Greenville… if you’re within range.

 

But if not…never fear… just click on the link and you can hear the program for today on your computer.

                       

Once we’re through January I’m prone to believe we have the worst part of Winter behind us… but the heaviest snowfall in recent memory around here occurred in March… so don’t let down your guard, yet. Nonetheless… there are faint stirrings in the plant world – and in the words of Stephen Vincent Benet’ … “The little new year – the weaking one – can lie outdoors in the noonday sun – blowing the fluff from a turkey wing – at skies already haunted with Spring.”  So… let us take heart.

 

It would be nice if the political world could stop the continual sniping and just ‘smell the flowers’ for a season. But everyone’s already buying powder and ball for the next round in two or four years. I think we really ought to have something more productive and rewarding to do – like reading poetry or writing sonnets. How about starting off with Psalm Eight. Look it up if it’s not in your memory. You’ll enjoy.

 

Cordially, IN HIM

 

Jack

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama02-02-09.mp3

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/scripts/jamt02-02-09.doc

 

If the links don’t work please try copying to your browser.

 

 

“JUST A MINUTE”

CELEBRATE GROUNDHOG DAY BY …

Just A Minute – In what activity does one engage on Groundhog Day? Right now in the national capital even though the inauguration is two weeks old tomorrow – hatred of “W” while exalting “O” seems to be the winter sport.

Bush hatred and Obama euphoria – laid out on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal’s Online Edition, reveal more about those engaging in those emotions than their targets. Why? They are flip sides of the same coin; both are extreme expressions of passion trumping reason – neither can stand the other. 

If you disport yourself hating George W.; or go ballistically euphoric over Obama – it’s likely you regard those whose feelings do not match yours, as contemptible -- they fail to reach the boundaries of intellectual discussion. In other words you’re another Al Gore or Ron Paul. Often this conflict coexists in a single individual. And, strangely enough, reaches epidemic proportions among members of the intellectual and political class.

Declare yourself free of it on Groundhog Day!

<> I’m Jack Buttram

(END)

 

 

Jebco Editorial Service

www.justaminuteradio.blogspot.com

e-mail n4zhk@arrl.net