State of the Union Speech

[longknife]

Morning Bell: Heritage Experts Analyze the State of the Union

by Amy Payne @ The Foundry

President Barack Obama laid out an ambitious agenda last night. Here are some highlights of our experts’ analysis of his claims, his plans, and his promises.

For those of you who adore King Barry Hussein, don't bother to click on Heritage Experts React to the State of the Union 2013: Analysis

or State of the Union 2013 Expert Analysis

IMHO, just more hot air by The Campaigner-in-Chief with a lot more Big Government. And no, I did not bother to watch it as there were more interesting things to see such as a re-run of NCIS-LA and Castle.

And, oh yes, Scott Johnson at Power Line SOTU, Jeopardy style | Power Line asks some interesting questions about the speech to include:

When Obama describes the “sequester” budget cuts as a looming disaster, does he expect us to forget that he is their author? Is he counting on his friends in the media to keep a secret? (Okay, foolish question.) How is it possible to take anything he says in good faith?

How many noticed the absence of Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia at the speech? Free Republic didn't and wrote this piece about it - Three conservative justices absent themselves from SOTU

And yet this - Healthcare Paid for With Unicorn Farts

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | February 13th, 2013

There will be many words from many people about much of the President’s State of the Union speech from last night.

I will only focus on one line, which distinctly highlights again just how out to lunch the man is when it comes to real healthcare reforms in this country.

Read more @ Healthcare Paid for With Unicorn Farts | RedState

 

[Staidhup]

I loved the part about recycling dollars and that we don't have a spending problem just need to spend more efficiently. Talk about disconnect from reality, he now is actively distancing himself from his own sequester proposal and still ignores the consequences of his own agenda on the elderly and middle class. I guess this is the new definition of leadership.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dey need to balance the budget an' quit spendin' money fliverlously...

Boehner: Sequester Will Happen Unless Congress Balances Budget
February 14, 2013 -– House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester will go into effect unless Congress balances the federal budget over the next decade.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told my Republican colleagues at our retreat: The sequester will be in effect until there are cuts and reforms that put us on a path to balance the budget over the next 10 years. Period,” Boehner said at his weekly press briefing. The sequester is a package of automatic spending cuts – spread between defense and non-defense spending – that will cut about $44 billion in federal spending in 2013 and is estimated to cost about $1 trillion over the next decade if it is allowed to fully go into effect.

Boehner has said repeatedly that while he thinks the sequester’s across-the-board approach to cuts is bad policy, he is willing to allow it to go into effect unless Senate Democrats and President Obama present a plan to avoid it that cuts spending without raising taxes. In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, President Obama called the sequester “sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts” that would harm vital government programs. “These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness. They’d devastate priorities like education and energy and medical research,” he said.

Boehner said Thursday that the only reason the sequester exists is because Obama insisted it be included in a debt ceiling and budget deal the two negotiated in 2011 and if Obama thinks it is such bad policy, he should present a plan to fix it. “This sequester was the president’s idea. His party needs to follow through on their plans to replace it,” Boehner said. “I’ve made it very clear. The sequester – I don’t like it. Nobody should like it, but the sequester is there, because the president insisted it be there. Where’s the president’s plan to replace the sequester that he insisted upon?”

Source

See also:

Administration Will Spend $1.8B to Build 20-Mile Railroad on 30-Mile-Wide Island
February 13, 2013 -- The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that $1.55 billion in new federal tax dollars will be allocated for the first-ever Hawaiian Transit Rail system on the island of Oahu, which will serve downtown Honolulu, at a total federal and state cost of $5.1 billion.

The train circuit will be 20 miles long, with 21 stops on an island that is 30 miles wide. The transit system will span from the lesser populated island area of Kapolei, and will end at Ala Moana Center Station, approximately 1-3 miles from the University of Hawaii and Punahou School, the high school once attended by President Obama. The most recent DOT announcement brings the total amount of federal funds going to the Rail project to just under $1.8 billion. Funding will not been given in a single appropriation, but will instead be doled out in increments over the coming fiscal years.

An additional $4 million has been obligated from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the “stuimulus”), and $209.9 million is coming from other sources within the DOT. Both the $1.55 billion and the $209.9 million are proposed funding plans, and will be contingent upon future appropriations from Congress. The $3.358 billion of the project’s $5.1 billion total cost will derive from Hawaiian sources that include but are not limited to excise taxes paid by Oahu businesses and residents, as well as tourists. “The Honolulu rail transit project, the first of its kind in the state, will bring new transit options to the growing region and create a modern transportation system that is built to last for future generations,” said outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Dec. 19.

Although the most recent funding announcement took place back in December, the Honoulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) announced on Feb. 4 the completion of an archaeological survey, allowing the continuation of construction along the planned route. In total, the rail system is expected to be 20 miles long and will have 21 stops, three of which will be situated in downtown Honolulu. Stops will also provide service to destinations such as Pearl Harbor Naval Base and Honolulu International Airport.

One of the primary reasons for the transit system’s construction is to alleviate traffic congestion in and around Honolulu. A study from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute ranked Honolulu second in U.S. cities with the most traffic congestion as of 2011. The study also showed Honolulu motorists experienced on average 45 extra hours in traffic due to congestion, an 11-hour increase since the year 2000. The island of Oahu has the largest population of the Hawaiian Islands, with a width of 30 miles.

Source

 

[longknife]

SOTU In One Easy Chart

by directorblue @ Doug Ross @ Journal blog

 

[TheSeventhTiger]

We will not hear an actual State Of The Union Speech until at least 2017 assuming we have a actual President in the White House, not some puppet controlled by Reid & Pelosi.