Maybe it’s just me, but I think there’s usually a step between brainstorming and announcing a decision.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case with President Obama.

On Feb. 8, Katie Couric asked Barack Obama straight out: “Have you ruled out trying confessed 9/11 mastermind  Kalid Sheik Mohammad in New York City?” To which Obama replied:

I have not ruled it out,  but I think it’s important for us to take into account the practical, logistical issues involved. I mean, if you’ve got a city that’s saying no, and a police department that’s saying no, and a mayor that’s saying no, that makes it difficult.

Gee, you think?  I would have thought that consulting with the New York City officials, police department, and mayor would have been done before making the decision to plant a terrorist magnet in their midst, just a short distance from the former World Trade Center, not to mention giving him all the rights and comforts that he denied almost 3,000 innocent people on that terrible day in 2001.

This is what happens when somebody’s first ever executive experience is the Presidency of the United States. As pointed out during the primaries, the White House is no place for on-the-job training.

This reminds me of the mousy guy who tells his friend “I’m the boss at home,” and then turns to his wife: “If that’s OK with you, dear.”  The LA Times reports:

As President Obama’s approval ratings sag and the mood of voters sours, some Democratic congressional candidates are distancing themselves from the White House, with the back-channel blessing of party officials.

The candidates are positioning themselves as independent voices no less frustrated with the Obama administration than people back home.

Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat who represents a California Central Valley district burdened by high unemployment and home foreclosures, said in an interview: “The Obama administration has failed miserably in trying to solve the problem.”

Rep. Jim Costa, a Democrat who also represents California’s Central Valley, blames Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for not doing enough to alleviate a drought that has hobbled farmers. Costa said his phone calls to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have gone unreturned.

“They’re not listening carefully enough to the people I represent,” Costa said.

Asked whether he wants the president to campaign for him, Costa said: “I’m more popular in my district than the president.”

Far from discouraging an independent stance, the White House political operation and the Democratic congressional leadership are tacitly putting out word that the strategy may be a useful one, according to party campaign operatives.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an interview: “Our candidates need to reflect the values and priorities of their districts. And that means on some issues they’ll support the Obama administration’s position, and on some issues they’ll oppose it.”

Er, um, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the fact that some of these Democrats feel that they need to get blessings from Democratic party officials and the White House on the issue of showing “independence” a strong indicator that they are not, in fact, “independent”????

Just asking…

Given her requisitioning private military jets for herself, her children and grandchildren, I don’t want to hear any more crap from her about my carbon footprint, that’s for sure . . . .

Since Nancy Pelosi took over as Speaker in 2006, she’s rung up millions in military travel expenses to commute between San Francisco and Washington.

Worse still, she also appears to have requisitioned entire flights for the personal use of her children and grandchildren. That is, unaccompanied by any member of Congress, her kids, in-laws and grandchildren are utilizing entire military passenger jets for their routine travel needs.

The answer is simple: she should have to reimburse the actual cost of all these flights — which is millions of dollars. I love the idea that they only had to reimburse the government $199 for the private use of a military jet flying from DC to San Francisco. If only we mere taxpayers could do the same.   And an investigation into possible ethical and criminal violations would be nice too.  Not that I’m holding my breath.  Nancy Botox is a member of Congress and apparently rules and laws don’t apply to them.

So the President has proposed a $15 billion cut, in the name of being “fiscally responsible.” Color me unimpressed.

The CBO says that the deficit next year will be $1.35 trillion, or about 1000 times more than these cuts. That’s not the budget, that’s the deficit. So “fiscally responsible” means cutting the deficit by 0.1%. This summer, the family’s having a get together in Long Beach, about 200 miles away. To put the cuts in perspective, 0.1% of the trip barely gets me to the end of the block.

Let me just say that the President is an idiot. I come to this conclusion because he clearly thinks that I’m dumb enough to think that this is fiscal responsibility.

Ms. Napolitano needs a reality check.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up an Amsterdam-Detroit airline flight Christmas Day demonstrated that “the system worked.”Asked by CNN’s Candy Crowley on “State of the Union” how that could be possible when the young Nigerian who has been charged with trying to set off the bomb was able to smuggle explosive liquid onto the jet, Napolitano responded: “We’re asking the same questions.”

If the system worked, why are there new changes to airline screening and in-flight procedures? If the system worked, there’d be no need for that.  If the system worked, the guy would never have gotten a bomb onboard.  Look, it was a lot of luck, and some brave passengers and crew, that kept the passengers of Northwest Flight 253 alive on Christmas.  “The system” apparently relies on stupid terrorists and heroic passengers.  Welcome to our National Security plan!

So pack some rabbit’s feet and four leaf clovers for your next flight.  They’ll keep you safer than the current administration.

Democrat leaders have no shame and no reluctance to buy votes for Obamacare/Reidcare/Pelosicare and hand out taxpayer dollars ($1.2 billion of them, so far)  to help those Democrats corrupt enough to sell their vote.  For an excellent list, check out HotAir:

With the bill hanging in the balance, [Nebraska Dem. Sen. Ben] Nelson won a provision exempting his state from paying the usual share of costs for new Medicaid patients. The deal critics have dubbed the Cornhusker Kickback is expected to cost the federal government $100 million over 10 years.

Before a close vote last month, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) won an even larger break for her state — an estimated $300 million in extra federal spending, in a move opponents derided as the Louisiana Purchase.

But wait, they aren’t the only ones - senators from Vermont, Massachusetts, Michigan  Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah, Hawaii, Connecticut and Wyoming all got special considerations (millions of dollars worth of exemptions and payoffs) for their states too.  Read the list, it’s disgusting.

What does this say about Harry Reid’s credibility when he has to put the payola actually IN the very bill we’re all going to be paying for?  And what does it say about our congresscritters who are willing to sell their votes?  The self-proclaimed most ethical Congress ever is anything but.

The New York Times reports on Saturday’s 53-41 vote, where Senate Democrats cut $43 billion from home health-care services (which Democrats insisted were cutting waste and abuse):

By a vote of 53 to 41, the Senate on Saturday rejected a Republican effort to block cutbacks in payments to home health agencies that provide nursing care and therapy to homebound Medicare beneficiaries.

Republicans voted against the cuts, saying they would hurt some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Most Democrats supported the cutbacks, saying they would eliminate waste and inefficiency in home care. …

Mr. Baucus, a principal author of the health care bill, noted that his mother was receiving home health care and said he would not do anything to hurt beneficiaries.

“We are reducing overpayments,” Mr. Baucus said. “We are rooting out fraud. We are getting the waste out. The savings go back in Medicare and extend the solvency of the trust fund.”

So that’s how you eliminate waste! Simply reduce the budget for an item by the amount that you feel is “waste” and presto! No more waste! Who knew that it was so easy?

Do these liars in Congress (but I repeat myself) even understand how home health works?  My father was discharged from a skilled nursing facility (after the 90 days that Medicare covers were up) and my mother has been doing a herculean job in caring for him at home.   With some home health help (visiting nurses to check his blood levels, dress his skin ulcers, etc.) and once weekly assistance with showering and physical therapy, Mom is able to keep him home at a cost of about $1,100 a month.  Saving the government about $7,000 a month in nursing home fees.  And the Democrat senators want to limit the amount of assistance available?  Just exactly how is that going to save money?  It boggles the mind that the Democrat senators would try to make things even harder for people.

Oh wait, it’s not.  It’s because the CONGRESS CRITTERS know THEY are not going to be part of any national health care plan.

GOP Introduces Geithner Penalty Waiver Act. Yes, I know it’s all done for political theater and won’t actually get even close to being enacted, but it’s pretty funny.

“Congressmen John Carter (R-TX) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) yesterday introduced the Geithner Penalty Waiver Act, requiring that the IRS assess the same penalty against U.S. taxpayers that came forward in the UBS tax fraud investigation as paid by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for failing to pay taxes on his IMF income — zero.”

You know what else I’d like to see — The Chris Dodd Mortgage Equity Act, and the Charles Rangle Tax Privileges Act, and the Your Mortgage Personally Guaranteed by the Privately Held Funds of Barney Frank Act, and the Send Your Doctor Bills to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid Act.

On the other hand, maybe not.  If the penalty would be the same — zero owed but forced to work for Obama and/or Congress.  I’m sure I remember reading something about “cruel and unusual punishment” somewhere…

Jeffrey S. Flier – the dean of Harvard Med – has thrown doozie at ObamaCare/PelosiCare/Whatever You Want to Call It To Hide the Fact That It’s Not Really Care, in today’s WSJ – Health ‘Debate’ Deserves a Failing Grade:

In discussions with dozens of health-care leaders and economists, I find near unanimity of opinion that, whatever its shape, the final legislation that will emerge from Congress will markedly accelerate national health-care spending rather than restrain it. Likewise, nearly all agree that the legislation would do little or nothing to improve quality or change health-care’s dysfunctional delivery system.

But, hey, it’s only the Dean of Harvard Med. What would he know compared to such great clinicians as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi?  The rush to enact this self-serving legislation is pretty much the most disgraceful US governmental act of my lifetime – and I’m just about at the half-century mark.

Want more?  Here’s another memorable sentence from Dr. Flier: “Ultimately, our capacity to innovate and develop new therapies would suffer most of all.”

How’s that, Mr. Obama, Senators, Congresscritters? Mean anything? Probably not. It’s all politics all the time to you and your crew. Shame on you.

Did you know that the White House has a blog dedicated to attacking Fox News stories? What a freaking waste of taxpayer money. In nine months, Obama turned a great governmental resource like whitehouse.gov into a junior high school hate book.

Seems like Obama is really struggling with the job of the presidency and is now trying to emulate Nixon on his spiral downwards.