My Rules

We all have ideas on what kind of country we would like America to be. I wanted to collect some of mine here (I have a tendency to think, comment, and then forget what I said). Also, to have some fun.


Words and deeds...just some words and deeds of a powerful and famous person.

“From the bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor….”

“There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and B****k O***a Jr. was born.” (O***a was born in 1961 and the Selma march was in 1965)

“I've now been in 57 states, I think, one left to go.”

“….when you spread the wealth around, I think it’s good for everybody.”

“If they [his daughters] make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

“My father served in World War II, and when he came home, he got the services that he needed.” (At the end of WWII, O***a’s father was 10 years old.)

O***a suggested that we need Arabic translators in Afghanistan, where they don’t speak Arabic.

“Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?...I mean, they're charging a lot of money for this stuff,” in comments to a crowd in Iowa, where there are no Whole Foods.

“Well let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's.”

“Israel is an ally of ours. It is the most important ally we have in the region, and there is no doubt that we would act forcefully and appropriately on any attack against Iran, nuclear or otherwise.”

"If I talked to Iran, I'm going to tell them, 'You should develop a nuclear weapon...'"

"It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot of -- I don't know what the term is in Austrian..." (There is no Austrian language).

“There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM. You don’t go to a bank teller."

"We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad”

"The Qaddafi regime is over. Gbagbo, Ben Ali, Mubarak are no longer in power. Osama bin Laden is gone, and the idea that change could only come through violence has been buried with him."

"You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change.”

"Asking a Billionaire to Pay the Same Tax Rate as a Jew - as a Janitor."

April 22, 2009: O***a flies to and from Iowa, making two trips on Air Force One and four trips on Marine One, burning at least 9,000 gallons of fuel on the 800-mile-plus cross-country excursion. He makes the trip so he can plant a single tree and deliver a speech on the importance of using alternative energy.

March 19, 2009: During a taping of a popular TV talk show, HE comments on his poor bowling skills, "It's like -- it was like Special Olympics or something," O***a says.

March 6, 2009: During a visit to Washington, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown presents O***a with a pen holder crafted from the timbers of the 19th century British warship HMS President, a thoughtful gift, considering the desk in the Oval Office was crafted from wood from the warship's sister ship, HMS Resolute. O***a's gift to Brown is Twenty-five incorrectly formatted DVDs of American movies.

April 1, 2009: During a visit to Buckingham Palace, QE2 presents O***a with a silver framed photo of her and Prince Andrew. O***a gives the queen -- an iPod featuring 40 Broadway show tunes. The queen already own an iPod.

June 4, 2009: Speaking at Cairo University, O***a delivers a speech that threatens to destabilize US relations with Israel. The president apologizes for American transgressions around the world, yet fails to ask Muslim states to hold their "extremists" accountable for their global terrorist actions. O***a mentions 9/11, but only to explain the American responses it provoked. Finally, the president emphasizes how America has acted "contrary to our ideals" in the past, refusing to acknowledge the steep level of American generosity and its long history of fighting for freedom around the world.

May 30, 2009: O***a arranges "a date night" in New York City, which includes dinner at a fancy Manhattan restaurant and a Broadway show. Travel is paid for by U.S. taxpayers, us. The cost of the date is estimated to be anywhere from $23,000 to $40,000. It last a total of six hours.

May 8, 2007 O***a: "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed." 12 people died, not 10,000.

May 17, 2008. O***a: “When Kennedy met with (Soviet leader Nikita) Khrushchev, we were on the brink of nuclear war."
John Kennedy met Khrushchev in Vienna on June 4, 1961. The Cuban Missile Crisis, to which O***a refers, took place in October, 1962, sixteen months after the two leaders met.

June 22, 2007. O***a: "The public will have 5 days to look at every bill that lands on my desk"
A frequently broken promise.

August 7, 2007 O***a: "I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada, to try to amend NAFTA…. Canada has a Prime Minister, not a President.

November 15, 2007. O***a: Lobbyists “will not work in my White House.”
Numerous lobbyists have and do work in the White House.

December 20, 2007 O***a: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. As Commander-in-Chief, the President does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent."
On March 19, 2011, President Obama unilaterally ordered military attacks on Libya, a nation that had not recently attacked or threatened the United States, without any approval by the US Congress.

2008: In his debates with them, Senator O***a attacked Senator H. Clinton and J. Edwards for forcing people to buy health insurance in their health plans, saying his plan didn’t do so.
March, 2010: O***aCare requires people to buy health insurance or be fined.

2008. Obama’s Tax Plan: “Eliminating Capital Gains Taxes for Entrepreneurs and Investors in Small Business.”
HA. This and many other promises in the plan haven’t been attempted. And won’t be.

January 21, 2008: O***a said here and many times the healthcare reform debate would not be held behind closed doors. O****Care almost all meetings were closed to reporters and the public.

April 11, 2008 O***a: “We should close Guantanamo and restore Habeas Corpus.”
January 22, 2009 “O***a Signs Order to Close Guantanamo in a Year”
As of now, he has restored military trials at Guantanamo.

May 18, 2008 O***a: "Iran, Cuba, Venezuela? These countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose any serious threat to us,"
May 19, 2008 O***a: "I’ve made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave.”
One day, years, why quibble.

May 26, 2008 O***a: "I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps,". The Red Army liberated Auschwitz.

July 9, 2008. O***a: “Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they’ll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.”
O***a, who speaks only English, was running for President. Interestingly, the sitting President at the time, speaks English and Spanish.

October 7, 2008. O***a: “I am cutting more than I’m spending. So it will be a net spending cut.”
O***a has produced the highest budgets and deficits in history.

January 6, 2009. O***a: “We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review." His first spending bill contained 9,000 earmarks.

February 24, 2009. O***a: “And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.” The first functioning automobile is credited to Karl Benz of Germany in 1885.

April 14, 2009: O***a says he is “resolved to halt the rise of privacy”. He meant “piracy”.

May 26, 2009. O***a: "They (Supreme Court Justices) are charged with the vital task of applying principles put to paper more than twenty centuries ago."
The Constitution the judges interpret was written just over two centuries ago. He was also law school lecturer.

July 23, 2009: "I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur," O***a told ABC News. Emperor Hirohito did not surrender to MacArthur. Other representatives of the Japanese military and government signed the surrender.

February 4, 2010. O***a Reads Word "Corpsman" as "Corpse Man" twice.

There are more...

Good times.