Yes. Obama made quite a stink about Bush's use of the Executive Order....at least until he became president and now of course, he uses it just like Bush did and it is yet to be determined if he will use it more.  The all time winner for most usage is none other than FDR, one of Obama's heroes.

Lantec, I'm awfully sorry to hear these news from you!

I'm sorry I haven't been around much, but I'm over here in Israel awaiting the birth of my grandson (my eldest boy's first).

I'm embarrassed by the joy I'm feeling while you're hurting...keep going fella. In my heart, I truly believe things will get better for you and the family.

I'm holding very good thoughts for you, at any rate.

Together is always better, and I continue to keep you in my thoughts and prayers, Zu. Gonna stick a note in The Western Wall for the two of you and your families.

Hey Doc!  Have a great visit and enjoy the arrival of the grandson!  Just awesome!

Any time the scales get tilted too far left or right it's not good for the country. The beauty of Clinton was that he was actually a conservative and knew how to work with the repubs after a fashion. It was a little rocky at first but if you really look at it his administration it was very much in the middle.

Perhaps in the fall the scales will go back to the middle somewhat. Just hope that doesn't cause complete gridlock.

Barack said it would take at least 5 years to get things in order. He said it when he first got in.

He was left with a complete mess. The economy, 2 wars.

Personally my pay has gone down but then again I work for a newspaper. I'm getting by if I can hold onto my job.

Good luck Doc and Lantec.

Thanks, Ken . Much appreciated, Chasbo . Spent 7 hrs. in the delivery, and unfortunately (for my daughter-in-law...a truly wonderful young woman) no change.

Yet. It'll happen tomorrow.

On another level, folks... there's plenty of blame to go around: On the Governmental/Credit Market/Banking/Investment Market and the public: One common factor among them? Greed.

One man cannot fix that. It is ridiculous to expect it to happen that way, also.

I think making political grist of so much misery isn't the way to go either, since no political ideology nor party can fix any of this.

Unfortunately, the parties are at each others' throats, instead of working together. That is not, and cannot be the way out of all this. Hard work and a return to the "live within your means" along with job creation, and credit for small business while keeping huge financial institutions solvent is, along with less churning in other peoples' countries by keeping our noses in our own limping business.

Bless you all...from the heart,

doc

Um, Obama has used many of them so far to UNDO Bush's Constitution and the Rule of Law breaking fiats...

"uses it just like Bush did" is therefore grossly inaccurate.  

Even an amateur can read the summary list of Executive Orders issued by each president and see the difference in scope and intent.

Talk about how that change is working for you....

I'm pretty pissed off about the current administration funding terrorism with our tax dollars...way to go Obama.

Uh, AIG was bailed out under the Bush Admin.  Not that it really would've mattered who happened to be in office at the time.  As far as I'm concerned AIG is to blame for AIG.

I flew into Tehran on my way to England, September, 1973...[refuel stop for a 707]....and saw more M60s and F4 Phantoms lined up alongside the runway than most people will have ever seen in their lives.

Obama was probably still a rug-rat back then.

"Funding terrorism"?....Heck, even Australia's last Formula One world champion was sponsored by Bin Laden's old man  [that was the Williams team].

"unfortunate" links to Terrorism have been with us ever since the advent of terrorism/terrorists.  It is definitely NOT a case of "way to go, Obama".....more like "way to go, Capitalism/the West/you and me"...

Jafo pretty much hit it on the head.  There is a very long of history here, unfortunatley most folks only want to blame 'the other guy or the current guy'.

When I listen to the news, which isn't often, I am always reminded about the comic stripe Pogo I believe (hope I am right with this) where he looks into the mirror and states, I have met the enemy and it is us. 

Someone will correct if I am wrong.

Close enough, Philly. LINK 

Cars... Our enemies will find ways to cause us to question and try to weaken us through our most basic tenets and beliefs such as some of the Patriot Act and the current non-issue distraction in New York. Once again, distraction serves division.

Just because our enemies are clever, doesn't mean we should regret actions which saved us all from total economic destruction which would take a century (if ever) to recover from.

You probably have investments that are mutually dependent (as all essentially are in an economy). There is no way possible to protect us all while not protecting some undesirables. Would you have preferred what would have happened to us all had AIG gone under? I think not. The fact that we fuel our cars doesn't mean we actively support terrorism, but the money flows (much like the spilled oil) to places we'd rather see excluded.

What bothers me most is that the money that went to the banks didn't open the credit crunch for small businesses. That should have been part of the package...in fact, the central piece of the package.

Hit the nail right on the head there, Karen, without a healthy manufacturing sector, any economy is going to struggle.  Past governments may be partly to blame, for allowing it, but the large manufacturing corporations should shoulder 99% of the blame for the stagnant economy... without a healthy proportion of manufactured goods to trade, the balance of payments is never going to add up because too much then has to be imported.

Shoot, I only ever did high school economics, and even I know that.  Makes you wonder what political and industry leaders are thinking, doesn't it.  And without a good proportion of manufacturing jobs, unemployment rises significantly, meaning there are fewer customers with the propensity to pay, meaning those remaining manufacturers end up with surpluses they either have to mark down significantly or melt down a write off.

Maybe one day somebody with the power to effect change will get it right.

I shan't be holding my breath, though.

Then stop reading a neocon tabloid/propaganda rag like the National Review.

A REALLY big part of becoming an enlightened educated reader capable of cogent critical thought is learning how to filter sources of information for bias and agenda.

The National Review is NOT an unbiased source of information.  It has a known and well-documented editorial agenda.