Democrats divided on health care overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats put their divisions on display over the details and timing of health care legislation Tuesday despite fresh attempts by President Barack Obama to hasten a compromise on the issue that looms increasingly as a major test of his clout.

With a self-imposed deadline for action in jeopardy, the Democratic leadershipjuggled complaints from conservatives demanding additional cost savings, first-term lawmakers upset with proposed tax increases and objections from members of the rank-and-file opposed to allowing the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry.

"No one wants to tell the speaker that she's moving too fast and they damn sure don't want to tell the president," Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a key committee chairman, told a fellow lawmaker as the two walked into a closed-door meeting. The remark was overheard by reporters.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., vowed weeks ago that the House would vote by the end of July on legislation to meet two goals established by Obama months ago. The president wants legislation to extend health coverage to the tens of millions who now lack it, at the same time it restrains the growth in the cost of health care far into the future.

The president also has vowed that the legislation will not swell the deficit, although a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday that the pledge does not apply to an estimated $245 billion to increase fees for doctors serving Medicare patients over the next decade.

Peter Orszag, the White House budget director, said that was because the administration always assumed the money would be spent to avert a scheduled cut of 21 percent in doctor's fees.

At the White House, Obama and moderate and conservative Democrats verbally agreed on "some type of hybrid of a Medicare advisory council," said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark. Obama last week urged lawmakers to adopt something along those lines, saying it would slow the growth in the health care program for seniors.

In the Senate, a small group of bipartisan lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee met behind closed doors, pursuing an elusive agreement.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, described the process as a grinding one. "Basically, it's filling in the blank pages. There are about a thousand" of them, she said.

It was unclear when - or whether - the White House or Democratic leadership would intervene in hopes of expediting legislation that has yet to materialize despite months of negotiations led by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

But increasingly, it appeared that the best Democrats could hope for this summer would be a vote in the full House by the end of the month, and some sort of agreement on a bipartisan plan in the Senate before lawmakers head home for their summer vacation.

Even that remained a difficult challenge, though.

"If we can get to consensus, we're going to move," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters. "If we can't get to consensus, we're going to continue to work on creating consensus."

At the White House, Obama clearly had Republicans in mind, not Democrats, when he demanded action.

"So I understand that some will try to delay action until the special interests can kill it while others will simply focus on scoring political points," the president said. "We've done that before. And we can choose to follow that playbook again, and then we'll never get over the goal line and will face an even greater crisis in the years to come."

He said that despite the controversy, months of debate have produced agreement on numerous health care issues, and he summoned lawmakers to complete the work.

"When we do pass this bill, history won't record the demands for endless delay or endless debates in the news cycle. It will record the hard work done by the members of Congress to pass the bill and the fact that the people who sent us here to Washington insisted upon change," he said.

Obama has spoken in public nearly every day for more than a week on the issue, some times more than once. At the same time Republicans have upped the political stakes.

On Monday, Michael Steele, the Republican chairman, likened Obama's proposalson health care to socialism, and said the chief executive wanted to conduct a "risky experiment" that will damage the nation's economy and force millions to lose the coverage they now have.

Last week, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., was quoted as telling fellow conservatives, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," a reference to the site of French Emperor Napoleon's defeat in 1815.

Given the struggle, the polls show slippage for Obama, although he remains popular.

Still, with details unsettled and Democrats in disagreement, the president is battling the impression if not the reality that his proposal is stalled.

He met at the White House during the day with so-called Blue Dogs, moderate and conservative Democrats whose call for additional cost savings has slowed work in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The panel is the only one of three that has yet to approve its portion of the legislation.

Separately, nearly two dozen first-term lawmakers have called for changes in tax increases in the legislation that would apply to individuals making more than $280,000 a year and couples over $350,000.

Pelosi said on Monday she favored a change so the tax wouldn't take effect until income reached $500,000, a statement that cheered Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., one of the lawmakers who had expressed concern.

But Rangel told reporters that neither Pelosi nor the rank-and-file critics have spoken with him about the suggested change. "I support what we have put out. If anybody has a problem with it I'm anxious to listen to it," he added.

In a measure of the complexity of the task, Orszag said conservative Democrats had reacted favorably to proposals to create an independent commission to recommend future increases in health care provider payments under Medicare.

It is one of only a few proposals in circulation that officials say has the ability to restrain the skyrocketing growth of health care costs.

But accepting such a proposal would require lawmakers to surrender their current power to set fees, which they can adjust to favor constituents.

"I think that we always need to be reminded that members of Congress don't serve under presidents, they serve with presidents," said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

IM BACK

sorry for the vacation but everyone needs one ill try my hardest to keep up with the blog

N.H. 6th state to legalize 'gay marriage'

CONCORD, N.H. (BP)--New Hampshire became the sixth state in the U.S. to legalize "gay marriage" Wednesday when Democratic Gov. John Lynch -- who less than two months ago said he opposed such unions -- signed into law a bill redefining marriage to include homosexuals.

Lynch's signature on three bills related to the issue came after the legislature earlier Wednesday passed H.B. 73, a bill aimed at protecting religious liberty but one that critics say falls fall short of its goal. The House passed H.B. 73 by a margin of 198-176, hours after the bill had passed the Senate along a party-line vote of 14-10, with Democrats in the majority.

His signatures on H.B. 73 and H.B. 436 -- the actual "gay marriage" bill -- leaves Rhode Island as the lone New England state not to have legalized "gay marriage" and caps a flurry of activity in recent months on the issue from that corner of the country.

H.B. 436 passed the legislature more than a month ago but had been held up until the religious protections bill cleared the both chambers, which are led by Democrats.

The "gay marriage" bill will go into effect Jan. 1.

Passage of the religious protections bill in the House came a mere two weeks after it was defeated there, 188-186, forcing a House-Senate conference committee, which made minor changes and sent it back to the full chambers. H.B. 436 also had several near-death experiences along the way and squeaked through several stages of the process.

Conservatives had lobbied against H.B. 73, hoping to force Lynch to veto the "gay marriage" bill, as he said he would if the companion bill wasn't passed.

Kevin Smith, executive director of the conservative New Hampshire-based Cornerstone Policy Research, criticized legislative leaders' handling of the bills, particularly the Senate president's removal of a member of the conference committee who opposed "gay marriage." Without that removal, S.B. 73 would not have cleared the committee.

"The process in which the legislature has rammed this legislation through from the very beginning reeks of backroom deals and a subversion of the legislative process," he said. "It has certainly tainted the validity of the gay marriage bill in minds of many citizens."

Vermont's Democratic-controlled legislature overrode Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' veto in April in legalizing "gay marriage," and Maine Democratic Gov. John Baldacci followed one month later by signing a "gay marriage" bill that had been backed by that state's legislature, also controlled by Democrats. Connecticut and Massachusetts previously legalized "gay marriage" via court order. Rhode Island's legislature is not expected to act on such a bill this year.

Conservatives in New Hampshire have few options other than voting out the politicians who support "gay marriage." State law does not allow citizens to gather signatures for a constitutional amendment as citizens in California can do, and it also does not allow the gathering of signatures for a Maine-like "people's veto," a unique law in that state that allows citizens to overturn recently passed laws. Maine conservatives hope to reverse that state's "gay marriage" law as soon as this fall.

Advancement of "gay marriage" in New Hampshire has been particularly disheartening for opponents, who thought they had a solid chance to defeat it. But it narrowly advanced at each stage. H.B. 436 -- the "gay marriage" bill -- actually lost by one vote in its first test in the House in March, only to be revived the same day and passed. From there, it went to the Senate, where a Democratic-led committee voted against the bill in a 3-2 vote. But on the full Senate floor an amendment was added, and Democratic Sen. Deborah Reynolds, a committee member, switched positions, allowing it to pass 13-11.


-content from townhall.com all rights to townhall.com

Obama’s bro lives in a Kenyan shack

President Barack Obama’s lost brother has been tracked down in Kenya. George Hussein Onyango Obama, aged 26, was found by journalists from the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. He reportedly lives in poverty in a shack on the outskirts of Nairobi.

He has the same father as the U.S. senator, Barack Hussein Obama, but a different mother. Her name has been given as Jael.

The youngest of Obama’s half-brothers says he lives on less than a dollar per month in a 2m x 3m shack. Its walls are decorated with posters of famous footballers and a calendar featuring exotic beaches. The magazine also noted George has a newspaper picture of his brother.

He has only met his famous brother twice. Once when he was five and then in 2006 when Senator Obama visited Nairobi. George admits their meeting was very brief and cool.

$250 government stimulus checks going to 50 million retirees in May

$250 government stimulus checks going to 50 million retirees in May-

Provided by:

More than 50 million retirees can expect to receive $250 payments from the government in the next few weeks as their share of the economic stimulus package enacted in February.

Economists say the payments will be a timely boost just as the recession is showing signs of easing a little.

The payments are part of the $787 billion package of spending and tax cuts enacted in February to help boost the economy. They will go to people who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement or veteran's disability benefits.

Mary Glenn-Croft, deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration, told a congressional panel Tuesday that the payments are intended to inject more than $13 billion into the economy while helping beneficiaries of the four programs meet everyday living expenses.

The payments are meant for people who did not qualify for the new "Making Work Pay" tax credit that provides up to $400 to individuals and $800 to couples. Taxpayers who would otherwise qualify for both will have the $250 payments deducted from their tax credits.

The tax credits started flowing to most workers in weekly paychecks this month. The $250 payments will be delivered in May, Glenn-Croft said.

The effect on the economy should be known in the next few months, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

"We are at the moment of truth for the tax cuts and probably the stimulus more broadly," Zandi said. "If we don't see an improvement in retailing and if the job cutting doesn't abate in response this summer and fall ... it either hasn't worked or it wasn't enough."

The U.S. economy has shed more than 5 million jobs since the recession began, and unemployment remains high in most of the country, but there are signs that investors, shoppers and home buyers are less jittery.

Zandi said the economy is still in decline. But, he added, "The rate of decline is slowing; the free fall is over."

The goal of the stimulus package is to get people to spend money at a time when most are reducing spending and saving more. It makes sense to be frugal when the economy is in such bad shape, but it hurts the economy when everyone does it.

The extra Social Security payments should boost spending because retirees on fixed incomes are more likely to spend them than workers earning more money, said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.

"The people who live closer to paycheck-to-paycheck are more likely to spend it," Swonk said.

The payments are also expected to provide relief to many struggling seniors. Glenn-Croft said the bad economy -- coupled with aging baby boomers nearing retirement age -- has more Americans applying for Social Security and disability benefits.

The agency expects retirement claims to increase by 300,000, or 9 percent, this year, Glenn-Croft said. The agency expects disability claims to increase by 30,000, or 12 percent, she said.

Swonk said some aging baby boomers are being forced into early retirement through layoffs and they are using Social Security benefits as an "alternative form of unemployment insurance."

"You're 62, you're eligible, you just lost your job," Swonk said. "It's better to get something than nothing."

Copyrighted, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. This page was copied from Yahoo.com.

100 days

Many news networks marked this day on their calender and celebrated the day when the anointed one made it to 100 days or terror! Obama,yes the messiah for brain dead liberals, has spent ssooooo much in just 100 days what kinda president,other than a french one, would spend that much? Well because everybody is partying over the 100th day im going to keep it short soo see yah next time.

Pictures from VT tea party

As You See

The site name and address has been changed because of the political time,its not election season, and will probably remain this way. Spread the new site name, because of the site name change there was a drop in viewership.

The Beckoning

As we go about our daily lives we might never stop and think"Im free" no we take advantage of the fact that we are not being persecuted for religion, race, or what we write no because we are free. Even if we think that, we never think who gave us those freedoms! We see our problems in our life and we almost never see to it to solve it, or we ask the government to solve it. Solving many problems is not a political thing and especially not a government thing. It is a moral thing that can solve many of the problems we face in our nations cities such as: drugs,prostitution, and gangs. Our nation was created with the understanding that people would "do the right thing" not because they were compelled by law or force but by conscience. When the government gets out of control and think that they should tell you what you should eat, drink, read, and who you pray to, then it is classified as something called tyranny. Tyranny can be classified as: communism, socialism, tolitalisim, and,fascism. It is when the government thinks they are doing something for your better good or the better good of the nation. But the way to get to this better way is to suppress your rights and liberties. The statist believe that this suppressing of your right is ok, because your helping the little guy. They also believe that a little class warfare is ok. Hurting the big guy because they take advantage the little guy, just to further their gain. The poor and the rich alike have to make important moral choices in their life such as: a poor person can become a drug dealer and like-wise a rich person can become a drug dealer. Its choices that lead him to a certain path. Many poor people become rich and who are we to punish their success? How can we as a country selectively tax people more than another group? These misdeeds are nothing other that a government turning into tyranny. It is a government that thinks it can solve moral problems with political ones. We cant stop someone from doing something morally wrong with a right or left solution you can't lower taxes to solve drug problem and we cant stop it with higher taxes its not a right or left solution but a vertical one. And if moral problems cant be fixed with political ones then it has to be a religious or spiritual one. The statist believe that the government can solve or problem, instead of individual ingenuity. They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. The statist has turned our country from speaking softly and walking with a big stick to appeal to others and disarm. When you have a government telling you what is right or wrong instead of normal common sense and reading the Bible, then you have a way of life that is suppressed. You know you are on your way to tyranny when a government thinks that the life of a terrorist, or a criminal is deserving rights, or even more rights than a baby child, who die daily.The government thinks its beckoned to tax and we think we are beckoned to pay. Well the beckoning on big government to our nation must stop. The conservative movement is not a political movement but a moral one, it is telling the government they have gone to far. I know leave you off with this quote from Ronald Reagen: "Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."

Obese Nation

Some people might read the title and say wow he thinks that politicians should decide our lifestyle and how much we weigh. NO thats what I am addressing, I have a good feeling that under the Obama presidency a bill will be passed regarding our eating habits. The eating habits and exercise habits have gone out of control, our waist sizes have tripled in the last decade, and our exercise is almost gone out of our normal daily lives! This is a large problem, and when i mean large i mean large!, and most liberals think that the big-ole government should take up the responsibility in fixing it! Well I am here to say other-wise and here are the reasons:
1. It is a fascist move to make the government govern our daily lives, who's to say they wont start governing what kind of soap you can use? Or what religion you will belong to? Where is the end if they can govern that part of your life?
2.Higher taxes one of the easiest ways to accomplish problem is higher taxes, we have already seen in New York where there are taxes on sweets and most items containing sugar, Why would we tax in the middle of a recession? What kind of move would that be, i know a stupid move!
3.More debt more debt on our kids dont need even more debt, with a stimus plan in the chamber the last thing we need is a runner up to finish us off.
4.It will kill jobs in the private sector people will stop buying coke if it cost too much, and we might not be able to get that Hersey bar we wanted. soo people who make these items will be losing jobs because who's going to by a 5 dollar coke?
5.The government fails at everything else they start up soo why would we trust them with another program to screw up?
How to fix it? i think we should have tax breaks for companies who sell healthy snacks, because many healthy snacks cost more than unhealthy ones soo people buy the unhealthy ones, we should give incentives to companies like Little Debbie is they make their snacks a little healthier. We can solve this problem without spending a dime! We can give tax brakes on gyms, we can ask not mandate companies to make their employees drink an adequate amount of water. What i dont understand is why exercise equipment is soo expensive! Ohh yeah because because it cost soo much to make! Soo incentives for all companies supplying products that help weight-loss. This will not only help Americans waist-line but also their wallet, and help create jobs, because we are not killing off coke or Frito-lays what we are doing is giving tax breaks and incentives soo they can also get with it! soo in the end it will help all of America the conservative way!

What?

"A woman accused of helping recruit dozens of female suicide bombers looked into the camera and described the process: trolling society for likely candidates and then patiently converting the women from troubled souls into deadly attackers." yahoo news reports. you here this and you really wonder where the world has gone and where it will end up! In a separate prison interview with The Associated Press, with interrogators nearby, the woman said she was part of a plot in which young women were raped and then sent to her for matronly advice. She said she would try to persuade the victims to become suicide bombers as their only escape from the shame and to reclaim their honor. When i heard about this I said wow, and i thought men took advantage of women, well its women taking advantage of women! That is the worst thing you can ever imagine is being raped then being persuaded into blowing yourself up! Things like this makes you really wonder where our society has gone. All i wonder is where this terrorist is going to be jailed, I hope sure as hell that she doesn't end up near me!

Unity?

So maybe liberals can stop acting as if the entire nation could at last come together in a "unity of purpose" if only conservatives would stop fomenting "conflict and discord" -- as Obama suggested in his inaugural address. We're not the ones who booed a departing president. Reagen was way nicer to the departing president which was Carter!! The hope-and change crowd completely showed the departing president in boos. This doesn't sound like unity to me!! On top of this liberals continued to ask meaningless stupid questions like " Have you ever made a mistake in your administration." i dont know if they wanted God himself to be president but i guess they did the man,Bush is only human he has made mistakes and thats bad, but we as American can get though it. Every president has made mistakes, even Reagan who i quote a lot and especially FDR, i dont know why they suddenly expect the president to be perfect. Then CNN asks stupid meaningless questions to the viewers like " Is this president the worst in history?" Then they try saying they represent both sides if the political sphere! Im sorry liberals but Obama does not represent unity!!! First of all in the first days of his presidency he goes about his one-sided liberal deals to make his liberal supporters happy and now he's doing a half compromised Stimulus bill, or the government expansion bill as i call it, these deeds in his first days dont seem too in the middle to me! At first with Rick Warren and talking with conservative writers i thought wow maybe just maybe he means what he promises, but no just a few days in his presidency he goes about his liberal agenda! yes these ball less cowards in the press still make fun of and ridicule Bush and his policies ill ask liberals who like to deny the sobering lovefest honeymoon with Obama and the media have one question: When was the last time Obama was asked about his mistakes by a member of the press?.......................................Answer NEVER.

Transparency & Obama

"Every time the American people want to know something that I, or a former president, want to withhold, we will have to consult with the Attorney General and the White House Council; whose business it is to ensure compliance with the rule of law. Information will not be withheld, just because I say so... Let me say it as simply as I can, transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstone of this Presidency." Merely three days after these words were spoken by President Obama, the American people want to know the events surrounding the US air-strikes that killed at least 20 people in Pakistan. And the reply, from the Presidency that has made transparency a top priority? We all know that most promises made in the race to the White House, or at least the Conservative promises will never happen, wont ever happen but a man who ran his race off of this soo called change and transparency has gone back to old partisan and well a bubble of confusion! I do wonder though why Obama for his first interview with the press would pick the Arab news network! I am not racist i believe the Muslims are great people but we need to talk to the extremist not the normal people!!! Well that was a quick rant from the right!

LOOOK MOM IM ON TV!!!!!

The governor or Illinois, you know the guy with the weird name!!umm umm it was well i call him Blogo, has been in New York i guess trying to make his case to the tv networks of America!! And well recovering after trying to sell a senate seat and shaking down a children's hospital in Chicago, i really think try to jump with a good rating might be tough, not for the media networks their ratings are going though the roof with Blogo and Mr.Government in two weeks! I guess it might be possible to win back the Illinois people, like the snuggy blankets they are sooo point and horribly put together commercials which shows people enjoying a high five which makes it look like an excited Satanist cult but have managed to sell since September 3 million snuggies,but back to subject i think Ralph Nader has a better chance of becoming president! This impeachment is crazy!! A group of corrupt people are trying impeach a corrupt person in a corrupt state!!! That's like the mafia arresting a mafia member! This is insane not to mention that we just elected a man as our president who came out of this Chicago politics!! I really dont know wat Blogo is trying to prove by being on tv. But him not being guilty is more real than his hair! That was a short rant from the right!

What?

Yeah, Mr.President ok lets calm down a little i told you i would not stand for a freak liberal farce!!! And i meant it! In this week alone he has reversed the Abortion issue, which means federal funding goes to help abortions internationally which isnt only morally wrong but its a waste of money!!!!, and has declared that "Gitmo", The Guantanamo federal military prison in Guantanamo bay, Cuba, and doing this before he even has a plan where to put these terrorist, everyone wants them out but no one wants em in their backyard! Soo he will close it but has no plan!!!! Did you know even France has offered to take prisoners but only the innocent ones!! You know France they would rather take a terrorist into its country than an American,DAMN FRENCHY FRENCH!!!! You know most people dont know,because the liberal education doesnt teach them!, about how FDR,Franklin Delano Roosevelt, during World War Two the C.I.A. captured two German spies,who were collecting information on the United States defence, and integrated them, nowadays known as torture, and the spies revealed the rest of the group and the Government found them and captured them also, and they were held in a federal prison for two years then the president deiced to execute every single one. the liberal messiah wasnt really perfect they dont tell you a lot bout him, that is very bad and they dont tell the truth but thats for another day. The point is this i think is what Bush should have done is execute everyone guilty of terrorism, i know liberals will call me heartless for the rest of my life but it is true and now its too late because of Obama. That was the post 30 of the rants from the right.

Welcome Mr.President

I don't want to be like those bush-bashers who were on his back for eight years for anything, most of the time it was stupid stuff like "He PUT mayonnaise ON HIS SANDWICH NOOOO WAY!!!!!!" I wouldn't waste my time or energy. I do not agree with Obama on everything but i do support him as the president and i will challenge him on wrong decisions. I really hope he does good, i doubt he will though, you know "hope" as his slogan goes says i do "hope" he does it with not one mistake. You could say his speech today was sucky, i think soo, he had no substance no issues that we are facing to talk about all it was, was his normal poetry. Well if Obama won this thing with poetry it had to be damn good, he should tip his speech writer. He did his usual Bush rant he compared the Bush years with coming out of the dark age and numerous other quotes of him implying that the Bush years were evil. He like Hilliary is proud to be a "progressive" which well if you look at their history, beginning with president Wilson, isnt to pretty they started big government and prolonged the depression. Ronald Reagan once said " We are in tough times, but government created this mess." And he is right again they created this recession and wont claim to be their demon possessed child but says its capitalism gone wrong, which is far from the truth. Mr.Obama i mean President Obama please I beg you dont screw up, please. I really dont know why anyone can want to run for president with these problems laid out in front of them, i give it to Mr.President for having the courage to take up these problems. But i am deeply saddened to know that his solutions to all these problems is more and more Government, which got us in the problem, he is going to force feed us government and well i hope the Americans puke it back up. Ronald Regan solved the recession in 1982 by not doing anything at all, and what do you know he solved it fast through criticism he solved. Look at our recession and the 90's for the Japanese they are and were prolonged because of what more government. Reagan's popularity rating fell to 35%—approaching levels experienced by Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter at their most unpopular moments, but if you look back in time what he did solved it lowering taxes works! He solved it and the American people saw that they could trust this man and with an amazing come back Reagan was subsequently re-elected by a landslide electoral and popular vote margin in the 1984 Presidential Election. So President Obama please i beg you learn from the past mistakes and achievements and stop your big government plans.

The World actual loves the US

Country to what many people believe that the world hates us, well its plainly not true if you go to a third world country,not a snobby European country(or an Arab one), like wat i did i went to Honduras, sorry for being gone soo long,readers, we help all these countries ask someone on the street there, as i did and they will most say the United States is a loving caring Christan nation, i ask one man and he said " The United States is probably one of the most giving nations i have ever seen." And it is true. Our president at his last press conference he was ask a question referring to how the world views his presidency and the United States after his presidency, i personally think he has done a pretty good job with only some errors, liberals like to paint a picture that the world hates us and the we are an evil country. We the United States started as a we dont care what other nations think and we dont take BS from anyone, but I guess Obama doesnt get that in the Washington Times they state: ""His proposals are more reflective of Canadian values than American national ideals" and implies: ""Mr. Obama is also proposing a host of government programs. He is suggesting increased spending for health insurance, homeowners who might default on their mortgage, the nation's infrastructure, and college tuition in exchange for public service, among others. As a result, he will render America less the land of the brave and the home of the free — and more the land of those who depend on the state" I agree with them and i am saddened. Obama doesn't have the guts to make tough decisions Bush whether you liked em or didnt did he stated: "You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made, but I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions."