Is Obama Now Fear Mongering?

Image by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District
Familiar faces vie for table tennis glory

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District and URS Corporation have held ping pong leagues for several years and ultimately hold a championship tournament on the seventh-floor patio of their downtown Los Angeles office building.

This year’s Pingpong Extravaganza men’s championship was held July 26, featuring a chili dog lunch to raise funds for and promote membership in the District-sponsored Toastmasters club.

“Another great year,” said Ed Louie, member of Essayons Toastmasters Club 988 and One-Alarm Chili chef. “We had some scheduling issues, so only the men’s final was held today.”

In the men’s division, it was an all-District final as ACE-IT contractor Bee Cha won three sets to one against David Coltharp of the asset management division.

Corps vs. Corps lined up as the women took the table on July 31. Perennial finalist and 2006 champion Rosa Ramirez, programs and project management division lost a hard fought battle to Roxanne Vidaurre, engineering division.

This fun rivalry got its start when Ed Louie attended a Toastmasters meeting in URS’ conference room and noticed a ping pong table in the patio area. A URS Toastmasters member asked him if he would like a quick game after the meeting. After the match, the two decided it would be fun if the district and URS challenge each other to a friendly ping pong match. From that point in 2006 to present, it’s two wins for URS men and five wins for the Corps men. For the women, its four wins for URS and two wins for the Corps women. The Corps is looking for future men and women players to join.

“If this year is any indication, the men and women of the Los Angeles District and URS Corporation will continue this friendly challenge, and I may have to add another ‘alarm’ to my chili,” added Louie.

Question by Joseph’s Myth: Is Obama Now Fear Mongering?
Today, Obama wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post that if Congress does not pass his “stimulus” package, and do so right away, “Our nation will slip deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.” “Wow,” I thought when I read this, “The stimulus bill must contain some really important stuff if it’s critical to the survival of our country! I better take a closer look. Maybe the guy is really onto something.” So, I did some internet research and here is just some of the massive spending proposed in the bill:

— $ 50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts

– $ 380 million for the Women, Infants & Children welfare program

– $ 300 million in grants to combat violence against women

– $ 1.2 billion to provide “youth” with summer jobs

– $ 2.4 billion for “neighborhood stabilization” activities

– $ 650 million for digital TV coupons

– $ 150 million for the Smithsonian

– $ 34 million to renovate the Dept. of Commerce headquarters

– $ 500 million for improvements to the National Institute of Health facility

– $ 44 million for repairs to the Dept. of Agriculture’s headquarters

– $ 350 million for agriculture department computers

– $ 88 million to move (that’s right, move) the Public Health Service into a new building.

– $ 1 billion for the Census Bureau

– $ 89 billion for Medicaid

– $ 30 billion for COBRA extensions

– $ 36 billion for expanded unemployment

– $ 20 billion for food stamps

– $ 850 million for Amtrak

– $ 87 million for a “polar ice breaking ship” (What about the ice caps melting because of global warming?)

– $ 1.7 million for the National Park Service

– $ 55 million for the Historic Preservation Fund

– $ 7.6 million for the Rural Advancement Program

– $ 150 million for “agricultural commodity purchases”

– $ 150 million for producers of livestock, farm-raised fish and honey bees

– $ 160 million for paid volunteers (what is a “paid volunteer”?) at the Corporation for National and Community Service

Are we really to believe Obama that we may not be able to reverse our country’s slide if he and Congress are prevented from ramming all this pork down our throats? And, by the way, what happened to Obama’s pledge to end pork barrel spending?

Another interesting tidbit: Obama said that one of the reasons Congress must pass the stimulus bill, and must pass it NOW, is to end our dependence on foreign oil. What is astonishing is that he made this proclamation about energy independence less than 24 hours after his new interior secretary canceled the oil and gas leases on 77 parcels of federal land.

We are only two weeks into this guy’s term and already he and his party are out of control by possibly submitting to nothing but maybe fear mongering.

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