And to clarify...I did not insinuate that the new Prez...

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.......hatred of Clinton, anything to do with Clinton. The mere mention of his name causes the bile to rise and the red mist to engulf them. They hate, hate, hate. They blame, blame, blame. It's what they do. There is no having conversations with them. They don't see reason. They don't see fairness. They see nothing but hate. I remember this very same venom directed at Clinton, for about 8 years.

I don't hate Bush. I hate what his administration has done to our country and I always say his administration because I do not believe his personal merits, whatever they are, are presidential. I believe Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove, the unholy trinity, serve as president. I have said and continue to say, Bush is just not good enough to be president. Hundreds of thousands of Americans do not have what it takes to be the President of the United States and George W. Bush he is one of them.

Here is one thing that I must clarify in your post. Obama didn't have his hand over his heart during the singing of the national anthem. He claims that during the pledge he does put his hand over his heart but was never taught to put his hand over his heart during the national anthem.

leans conservative. I don't care for either far left or far right. I think that there are nut jobs in both extremes.

There are many things that run through my head when I think of President Obama. To me, Obama is too far left for my taste.

Some things that we should do right away is get the heck out of the middle east. Use our troops in rotation to guard our border with Mexico. Honestly, if we would keep our nose out of the middle east's business, maybe they would just keep fighting amongst themselves and we would have less to worry about. I know that sounds horrible, but there has been fighting in that region since the beginning of time. No amount of money we spend is going to change that. We need to worry more about our problems at home including illegal immigrants. They are costing us WAY too much money per year.

I do not want big government. I do not feel that government should have to bail us out. I believe that government created this problem allowing bad loans to be given out to people who couldn't afford to pay them. However, I feel that these "programs" that Obama wants to enforce really won't help the middle class he professes to be looking out for. Bigger government and more government programs does nothing more than promote and reward irresponsibility and laziness. Our coutry cannot afford to continually bail banks, companies, and people out. We have no money. China won't even help us out any more....not that I really like the idea of getting money from China...but you get my point.

What I want is for government to stop handing out and stop spending money it doesn't have. Get rid of our tax code and have a flat tax for everyone. You pay more based on the more you earn. That way it closes loopholes for crooks so they don't have to pay their taxes or they "make a mistake" and don't pay their taxes.

I'm tired of packages filled with pork and I'm pointing fingers at both dems and pubs on this one as both parties are guilty. Get rid of the pork and the pet projects.

The idea of Obama wanting to do away with secret ballots in union votes....I totally disagree with. Why shouldn't they continue to be secret? Making that information known just gives unions the chance to bully people and that isn't looking out for employees like the unions claim to do.....even though it is proven that unionized states show less production and less job growth than states without unions.

Bigger government also scares me because obviously politicians are too crooked....how can we trust them to run everything in this country.

We also need to reform welfare. I was truly upset when I heard Obama wanted to get rid of the reform that Clinton had done on welfare. We need some regulations and limitations to our welfare system.

I do not have much hope in change. So far all I see are the same old cronies that were in Washington before. We have too many crooked politicians and too many people giving money to them in order to get them elected so they have a puppet in Washington to do their bidding.

The way I look at it, the Obamas will have more help taking care of the dog (they can be a lot of work!) and also, IMHO, the girls are old enough now to have one and learn responsibility.

Off topic, but if I were in White House, I would follow in Calvin Coolidge's footsteps: He had 6 dogs, a bobcat, a goose, a donkey, a cat, 2 lion cubs, an antelope, a wallaby and a pygmy hippopotamus.

and what we have is a lame duck. I don't know what will happen with Obama but Bush has left him a huge moutain of problems to deal with. I expect Bush will replace Herbert Hoover in history as the worst president in history. Of course the republicans will try to blame his 8 years in office on the previous 8 years and the next 8 years. Sad thing is, some people will believe it, but not many I guess with his approval ratings.

really does need that teleprompter to get it right . . . What's this I hear about him being such a great orator? Sorry, but I think not.

Obama apologizes for gaffe on Special Olympics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) � President Barack Obama has apologized for a gaffe in which he described his bowling skills as akin to participants in the Special Olympics, a sports program for people with intellectual disabilities.

Obama made the mistake during an interview on Thursday night on "The Tonight Show" with host Jay Leno, the first time a sitting U.S. president had been on the show.

Talking about living in the White House, Obama said he had been practicing his bowling in the home's bowling alley and had scored a 129 out of a possible 300.

It was an improvement on the embarrassing 37 he had rolled during a stop on the presidential campaign trail a year ago.

"It's like -- it was like Special Olympics or something," Obama said.

The Special Olympics is a global nonprofit organization serving some 200 million people with intellectual disabilities, with a presence in nearly 200 countries worldwide. They compete in sporting events like the real Olympics.

Soon after the Jay Leno interview, Obama telephoned Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.

Shriver told ABC's "Good Morning America" television show that Obama had apologized "in a way that I think was very moving" and that he said "he did not intend to humiliate the population, didn't want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain or kind of suffering."

Shriver said people should gain a lesson from the incident.

"I think it's important to see that words hurt. Words do matter. And these words in some respect, can be seen as humiliating or a put-down to people with special needs, do cause pain. And they do result in stereotypes," Shriver said.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama "made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics."

"He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world," Burton said.

Shriver said he knows of a Special Olympian in the Detroit area who has bowled three perfect games of 300 and "he said he would be more than welcome to find the time to come to the White House and teach the president."

(Reporting by Caren Bohan and Steve Holland, editing by Vicki Allen)

backwards stance he is taking and all the trips Michele is taking, or are we going to sit here and take it?

Sorry, but at least GW mostly stayed in Washington if not in Texas and ran the government. They did not take "geography" classes on the road. How's the garden doing Michele? Do we hear about that? Nope. Just another publicity stunt.

When O became president, I figured I would give him a chance....but I figured okay, some of those bailouts he did might work Today, he is pushing for the CLNE, clean energy bill, which Pelosi has a big stake in, and now I know he is just a puppet of Pelosi and the others. I will not sit here and take his lies any longer. If i have to I will send an email every day to the WH telling him where to get off.

We get a magazine on country living and they are telling us to brace ourselves for the coming new policies on food. They are telling us to stock up on food for at least 3 years especially if H.R. 875 passes. Now, I don't know when this is coming up for a vote but I read the bill and it doesn't make me happy with the wording. If what the magazine is stating, they can stop us from producing family gardens if they will it. I'm hoping they straighten this out because as I read through it, it directly aims at the larger food production facilities, but the words that bother me are "any farm, .....or facility.... that produces food for resale." That means you will not be able to sell your garden grown extra foodstuffs unless you have a registration number....which also means government intervention. If anyone is interested, I can post the article pertaining to that.

O is finding out that his words aren't penetrating those who hate us a lot, so, as of this week, he has decided to pull back on international "friendship" and just deal with the USA because he knows we are getting disheartened with his policies. This gets our minds off the real issues of the world and we are supposed to believe every word he says, yet some are still idolizing him. Just wait another year. Then it will be too late..

Sorry, not in my book. I think it's time for all Americans to stand up and fight, deluge the goverment with emails, etc., whatever gets through to our President. Heck, I've been emailing every time I hear something new that goes against the laws of the land. Does it fall on deaf ears? Certainly....but I still do it. Guess I wil lbe on he UnAmerican list soon but I don't care. I've been quiet too long and am actively taking a stance in the American way of life....which is almost gone already after the 100 days. So sad.....

My, how classy. That so-called retardate graduated Yale & Harvard. Now who's retarded? Bill Clinton is plenty of things, too, but stupid, retarded, etc. are things that I've never heard a conservative say...ever.

WASHINGTON � President George W. Bush's "after-life," as Laura Bush calls the post-presidency, is shaping up to be pretty comfortable, with a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers' expense.

However, Bush will be the first president not to benefit from one former lifetime benefit: Secret Service protection.

"He'll be the first one to receive it for 10 years," said Malcolm Wiley, Secret Service spokesman. Congress changed the law in the 1990s so that any president elected after Jan. 1, 1997, and his or her spouse will receive the federal protection for only 10 years.

The Bushes will move to their new $2 million, 8,500-square-foot Dallas home � not paid for by taxpayers � on Jan. 20, and there Bush will be close to his future presidential library at Southern Methodist University.

"We're working on a conceptual design for the building," said Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Foundation. The president will help develop the $300 million structure, which will include a library, museum and policy institute.

Fundraising is just beginning, Langdale said. Once the project is finished in 2013, the National Archives and Records Administration will take over the operation of the library and museum, at federal expense. Construction will be paid for with private funds, and Bush is expected to be involved in organizing the fundraising drive.

"He is enthusiastic about spending a lot of his time and effort working on the programs of the institute," Langdale said.

Bush will maintain an office nearby in space acquired by the General Services Administration, which, under the Former Presidents Act, will pay for the office suite and staff to assist him for the rest of his life.

Bush's pension, which is tied to the base pay of the most senior government executives and increases with federal cost-of-living adjustments, will be about half the $400,000 annual presidential salary. He and Vice President Dick Cheney will receive transition expenses as well for seven months � one month before the inauguration and six months afterward � "to facilitate their transition to private life," according to the Congressional Research Service.

The GSA also covers travel expenses for any official activities attended by a former president, as well as two staff members. Former President Bill Clinton was allocated $50,000 for travel in fiscal year 2008 and former President George H.W. Bush, $56,000.

Former presidents and their families are entitled to health care in military hospitals, although they have to pay a reimbursement rate set by the Office of Management and Budget.

Bush will receive a state funeral upon his death, with full military honors for the former commander in chief.