err, pleased to meet you (and your dog) too

President Obama greets people waiting outside Island Snow at Kailua Beach Center, Kailua, Hawaii, Jan. 3

Sduncan: “The dog seemed so disappointed. It was like, “where is BO, I came all the way here to see BO and this guy shows up alone”.

🙂

hands up: who likes shave ice?

President Obama soaked up his last hours of vacation time with his family and gave locals in the small town of Kailua, where he’s been staying for the past 11 days, a bit of face time. 

After a couple of hours at Pyramid Rock Beach on the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Obama treated his family and friends to shave ice, the Hawaiian version of a snow cone. 

As usual, the president paid for the order, handing a $100 bill over to a nervous clerk. 

Outside, the parking lot was blocked off with yellow caution tape. Crowds had gathered behind it in all directions – in front of Bob’s Pizzeria on one side and San Lorenzo Bikinis and Clothing on the other. 

…The President walked over to a corner of the small shopping center to greet a group of people who were practically standing on top of each other with excitement, their cameras out and smiles on. 

He finished his ice and then greeted the crowd outside Bob’s Pizzeria, which had a sign outside that said, “Obama family welcome home! We have really good pizza.”

Star Advertiser: President Obama made the most of his last day of vacation starting with a morning workout followed by a beach outing with family and friends, a second visit to Island Snow for shave ice and a late afternoon visit to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific with his daughters.

The president last visited Punchbowl one year ago today. Obama’s grandfather Stanley Dunham, who served with Gen. George Patton’s 7th Army during World War II, and his grandmother Madelyn Dunham are interred at Punchbowl. Reporters and photographers traveling with the president were kept at a distance during the visit just before sunset.

Island Snow in Kailua, Hawaii, January 3. President Obama and his family will leave Hawaii late tonight from Hickam Air Force Base.

;-)

National Journal: As Pres. Obama returns from a Hawaiian vacation to a more Republican Washington Tuesday, his approval rating in the latest Gallup Daily tracking poll sits at its highest point in eight months.

Fully half of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing, while 42 percent disapprove. The last time Obama’s approval stood at 50 percent was for the three-day, rolling sample conducted last May 29 to June 1….

The jump in Obama’s approval rating comes shortly after a lame-duck session of Congress that Obama hailed as “a season of progress” before departing on his Christmas vacation.

Hmm, I wonder if the LA Times’ Andrew Malcolm feels a little embarrassed now?

Malcolm: “Obama pays no attention to opinion polls, of course, because he’s so focused on the nation’s well-being. Which is probably another good thing because the president’s job approval has started down again. After all the pre-holiday hoopla over the “productive” lame-duck session of Congress that only added a trillion dollars to the national debt, the Democrat’s end-of-his-second-year approval rating has declined to 47% from 49%, with 46% disapproving of his job performance, according to Gallup.”

Meanwhile…..

Media Matters: We already noted that Andrew Breitbart blogger Dana Loesch posted the confused claim that the New York Times, among others, “underreported” the Tea Party story last year, when in fact the Times managed to publish more than 1,000 articles and columns mentioning the Tea Party in 2010.

Oops.

Well, look what else appeared on Loesch’s soggy list of stories the biased mainstream media have ignored: Obama’s sagging popularity

Gosh darn it, why won’t the press cover “Obama’s sagging popularity”?!

Possible answer: Because when a president’s approval rating remains essentially constant over a 12-month span, there’s not much of a news story to cover. But that’s just me thinking out loud.

Sadly for Loesch, her latest post appears on the same day that Obama climbs to a 50 percent approval rating at Gallup. But Loesch wants to know why the press won’t cover Obama’s sagging popularity.

Oh bother.

🙂

ah, their dishonesty is just breathtaking…..

‘Charles Krauthammer’s Selective Attack on Obama‘

Howard Kurtz (The Daily Beast): After two years of carping about President Obama ramming his ambitious and costly proposals through Congress, some on the right now fume that he is determined to get his way by using — the nerve! — his executive powers.

Charles Krauthammer’s latest column, on this very subject, contains a curious omission, almost a sense of amnesia. The esteemed scribe details how the Obama administration is pushing through three important changes in federal policy, accusing the president of trying “to impose a liberal agenda on a center-right nation” through “regulatory stealth.”

….but here’s the thing: Every president uses the federal bureaucracy to push the country in his preferred ideological direction. That, in fact, is part of what elections are about. Each White House occupant appoints agency chiefs who agree with his philosophy ..… the Krauthammer column implies that Obama practically invented the nefarious practice.

Take, for example, George W. Bush. His EPA moved to loosen clean-air rules near national parks. His Interior Department cleared the way for oil drilling on 130,000 acres of pristine federal land near national parks in Utah (which Obama has since reversed) …. his Minerals Management Service, which referred to oil companies as “clients,” told the firms they did not have to provide detailed response plans for blowouts because such plans were “purely speculative or generic.” This was five years before the BP oil disaster …. his White House Council on Environmental Quality edited an administration report to emphasize scientific uncertainties about global warming …. his Securities & Exchange Commission mounted 87 percent fewer fraud investigations that led to federal prosecutions…..

….Obama may well be engaged in a “leftward lurch” toward stricter federal regulation, as the conservative Krauthammer views it. But when it comes to using the Executive Branch to achieve political goals, he’s had plenty of company.

Full article here

‘new education benefits for wounded warriors’

White House: …. in the last days of the Session, both the House and the Senate passed a Bill, S. 3447, that significantly enhanced and changed the Post 9/11 GI Bill and other educational benefits…. This Bill made a lot of important changes to these programs specifically for wounded warriors and disabled veterans….

Vocational Rehabilitation Program Stipend. …. a disabled veteran receiving the housing stipend under the Vocational Rehabilitation  Program …. can now opt to receive the more generous amount under the Post 9/11 GI Bill …. this will be hundreds of dollars more per month for tens of thousands of eligible beneficiaries.

Vocational School Training and Apprenticeships Now Covered. The Post 9/11 GI Bill can now be used at many more vocational schools, apprenticeships, and on-the-job-training programs, which means that you can use it to enter into almost any field that you want.

Housing Allowance for Online Learners. A housing allowance is now available for exclusively online learners, so even while you are recuperating and cannot attend class in person on a campus, you can start your education online and receive the housing support allowance you need.

Book Allowance for Active Duty. If you are still on active duty, and want to start your education, you can now receive the $1,000/year book stipend that was previously not available for active duty personnel.

Prep Courses and Test Fees Now Covered. If you have not yet applied for schools, and want to bring your SAT/ACT scores up, the Post 9/11 GI Bill can now be used to fund prep courses and the test fees themselves so you can be more competitive when you apply.

Time for Eligibility Tolled During Recovery and for Caretakers. The Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30), which has a 10-year expiration date, has been extended for wounded, injured, and ill veterans and their caretakers for the length of their recovery time…

More here

aw, it’s no-go, joe

September…..

December…..

For Sale: Unused Teabag Coaster – Bought for new Washington office, but due to unforeseen circumstances the move is now off. Contact me at AlaskaJoe@ArrogantFool.com

optimism….

CNN: After three years of economic pain, a growing number of economists think 2011 will finally bring what everyone’s been hoping for: More jobs and a self-sustaining recovery.

“We’re looking at some leading indicators on employment, and they’re all flashing green lights,” said Bernard Baumohl of the Economic Outlook Group…

Though most economists still expect a painfully high unemployment rate of about 9% at the end of this year, some think that stat masks more important signs of strength.

Baumohl and some other economists forecast between 2.5 million and 3 million jobs being added to U.S. payrolls in 2011, about triple the gains likely to be recorded in 2010 and what would be the best one-year jump since the white hot labor market of 1999.

That wouldn’t be enough to climb out of the 8-million job crater created by the Great Recession and won’t bring down the unemployment rate by a significant amount … but the forecasted hiring boom could get the economy back into gear and provide real relief for many Americans.

….The more bullish outlook is widespread. Of the 19 economists who responded to CNNMoney’s surveys at the end of both the third quarter and fourth quarters, 16 had raised their growth forecast for 2011 from three months earlier.

Full article here

hopeful …

Gallup: Majority of Americans Say 2011 Will Be Better Than 2010 ….  Americans enter the new year with considerably more optimism than pessimism about what it may bring: 58% say 2011 will be better than 2010, 20% say 2011 will be worse, and 21% say it will be the same.

(I’m guessing the 6% who say things will be “a lot worse” in 2011 are actually hoping they will be …. you know, the ‘I hope Obama fails’ mob)