November 1st, 2011 by John Feehery
According to the United Nations, the 7 billionth person came into the world the other day.
I was wondering why it felt kind of crowded around here.
The 1 billionth person arrived when Thomas Jefferson was president. No. 2 billion came when Calvin Coolidge was president, the 3 billionth when Dwight Eisenhower was president, the 4 billionth when Nixon was getting impeached, the 5 billionth when Reagan was in his second term, the 6 billionth when Clinton was in his second term, and now Obama is president with No. 7 billion.
If it seems like the pace is picking up, well, you are right. At this rate, we will hit 10 billion by 2050.
Most of the growth is occurring in Asia, Africa and South America. The United States and Europe are expected to stay fairly flat in their population growth, but that doesn’t mean that Europeans and Americans won’t be profoundly affected by the population explosion in other parts of the globe.
The CIA and the Defense Department planners are already thinking through the implications of this population boom. Politicians need to follow suit. Read more...
Tags: 7 billionth person, Africa, Asia, CIA, Defense Department, Europe, free-market, market capitalism, nited Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, Obama, population growth, Social Security, South America, Thomas Jefferson, Transportation infrastructure, United Nations, United States, Water security
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Food, Foreign Relations, Government, History, Immigration, Politics, bad news, health care, national security, poverty, spending, taxes | No Comments »
October 21st, 2011 by John Feehery
Marco Rubio
Chris Matthews thought he would get me with his question on Marco Rubio. He asked me, breaking news style, what I thought about the revelations that Rubio’s family fled Cuba two whole years before Castro came to power.
I didn’t scratch my head on camera, but I did so in my mind.
What the hell is the big deal, I thought.
Not knowing a thing about this “breaking story”, I didn’t give much of an answer. I mumbled something about Rubio being a rising star in the party and then the segment ended.
But having read the story this morning, I have a better sense of what is going on here.
The Democrats are desperately afraid that Mitt Romney is going to pick Rubio to be his Vice Presidential candidate, and they are getting the Washington Post to do its bidding.
I don’t know if Romney is going to pick Rubio and I don’t know if Rubio would accept such an offer (he says he won’t), but I do know that the R and R ticket would spell the doom of Mr. Obama and his ill-fated administration. Read more...
Tags: Castro, Chris Matthews, Democrats, Hispanic Vote, illegal immigrants, immigration bill, Marco Rubio, Medicaid, Mitt Romney, Republican, Rubio, the American dream, the Obama Administration, Vice Presidential candidate, Washington Post, welfare
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, GOP, Government, Immigration, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Unemployment, bad news, election, medicare, national security, poverty, spending, taxes, welfare | 2 Comments »
September 20th, 2011 by John Feehery
The Electronic Benefits Transfer Card is the identification card for the SNAP/Food stamp program. It works like a credit card with a magnetic strip on the back that slides through a machine at a grocery store and some restaurants (including some fast food places).
Meant as a way to help reform the Food Stamp system in 2004, the EBT card is used in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia. It has not been without some controversy.
In the State of Pennsylvania, for example, Democratic State Auditor Jack Wagner found wide-ranging fraud in the system, including one example where one EBT card holder withdrew close to $150,000 in $1,500 increments in one day. Who knows what he (or she) did with the money.
The EBT has received some unwanted attention. As one website put it: “A new music video by R&B artist Chapter for her song “It’s Free Swipe Yo EBT” mocks black women on public assistance programs. In her satirical video, Chapter plays Keywanda, a young mother of ten who deals with the “stress of her children’s fathers.” And according to the video, Keywanda lives with very few worries because she’s on several public assistance programs. Among other subjects, this song mostly takes aim at the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program and Section 8 vouchers, which make both food and housing available to parents.” Read more...
Tags: African-American, America, Auditor Jack Wagner, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Economy, election, Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, Food stamp program, Obama, Presidential election, R&B artist Chapter, Republicans, Section 8, Tea Party activists, unemployment insurance, Welfare abuse, welfare system
Posted in Bad Decisions, Bailouts, Drugs in America, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Immigration, Politics, Presidential election, Religion, Scandals, Theory, bad news, corruption, medicare, poverty, spending, taxes, welfare | No Comments »
May 24th, 2011 by John Feehery
I wore my green tie in honor of President Obama’s visit to Moneygall yesterday.
The President was warmly received in his visit to the Emerald Isle, and he didn’t disappoint. He drank a pint of stout in four sips, an impressive feat for any person who is not predominantly Irish.
The President was visiting this small Irish village because he has an ancient relative who was born there. That great-great-great grandfather immigrated to Ireland in the middle of the potato famine, around the same time that old Tom Feehery left Roscrae in county Tipperary.
The Irish diaspora went far and wide in the world in that era. My family ended up in Chicago and so did Obama. Small world.
The Irish economy is approaching the level of disaster that befell Ireland in the 1850’s. Nobody is starving, but the people are leaving again like they did then, looking for jobs.
The irony is that Ireland is far different than it was then, and that a motivated and smart workforce, favorable tax laws and a good infrastructure should help propel the Irish back fairly quickly.
The President’s visit is good politics for him. He should have taken some more time, played some golf and established closer ties to the Irish. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Chicago, Economy, election, Emerald Isle, Government, Guinness, Ireland, Irish, Irish Catholics, Moneygall, Obama, President Obama, Presidential election, spending
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, Fun, Government, Immigration, Politics, Presidential election, Religion, Theory, election, national security | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2011 by John Feehery
My good friend Ed Gillespie is a smart guy and an exceptional communications professional. I heard him speak a couple of weeks ago about politics and he made a good point about how Republicans tend to communicate on immigration policy. He said that Republicans often forget to finish the sentence when it comes to talking about how we like legal immigrants, but dislike illegal immigration. People usually just hear the part about how we hate illegal immigrants.
I agree with Ed on immigration policy, and I think his point carries over to the latest debate that has engulfed Congress.
Since they took over the Congress in January, they have had a pretty consistent message. They want to cut spending and create jobs.
Now, this isn’t an easy message to convey. It takes discipline, it takes solid examples, and it takes repetition.
Last week, House Republicans passed a monumental spending cut bill. It didn’t just trim spending. It took a $61 billion dollar whack out of discretionary spending in one year, the single largest spending cut package in the history of the Congress.
I got the message that the Republicans cut spending loud and clear. In fact, that was pretty much all I heard. Read more...
Tags: Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, dollar, Economy, Government, Immigration, job creation, Politics, Republican, Republicans, spending
Posted in Economy, Government, Immigration, Politics, Theory, spending, taxes | 1 Comment »
December 27th, 2010 by John Feehery
The headlines coming from Mexico are almost all uniformly bad.
Notre Dame and Miami, two college football programs who are competing against one another in the Sun Bowl in San Antonio during the New Year’s weekend, have banned their students from visiting Mexico during Bowl week. Too dangerous.
And there is some reason for concern. In fact, a great deal of concern.
A drug war has consumed our friends south of the border, causing mayhem, death, destruction, and grisly murder.
The Washington Post reported earlier today, that according to leaked diplomatic cables, getting the top drug lords in Mexico is no easy task: “ The leader of the Mexican military told U.S. authorities last year that the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel moves among 10 to 15 known locations but that capturing Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was “difficult” because the most wanted man in Mexico surrounds himself with hundreds of armed men and a sophisticated web of snitches, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. Mexico’s defense secretary, Gen. Guillermo Galvan, told Adm. Dennis C. Blair, then the Obama administration’s director of national intelligence, that the Mexican army was implementing plans to capture Guzman, but that “Chapo commands the support of a large network of informers and has security circles of up to 300 men that make launching capture operations difficult,” according to a report sent by U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual on Oct 26, 2009, and released by WikiLeaks to news organizations.” Read more...
Tags: dangerous travel to Mexico, Economy, exports, imports, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexican drug lords, Mexico, Sinaloa drug cartel
Posted in Drugs in America, Economy, Foreign Relations, Government, Immigration, Politics, Theory, corruption, national security, war | No Comments »
December 9th, 2010 by John Feehery
The proponents of the DREAM Act have given a case study on how to blow-up a bipartisan alliance and make certain that their legislative goals are not met.
Originally a bipartisan bill, The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act would give conditional green cards to undocumented immigrants if they graduate from high school and pursue a college education or military service. After a 10-year waiting period, they could obtain permanent residency if they met all the requirements, and they could eventually apply for citizenship.
Sounds reasonable enough, except for the fact that some anti-immigration opponents think this bill veers too close to amnesty.
When Orin Hatch agreed to co-sponsor the bill, it seemed fairly non-controversial.
And then the bill’s supporters decided that they would take a fairly non-partisan bill and then make it as partisan as possible.
They protested. They marched. They did sit-ins in offices. They jammed the cell-phone voice-mails of staffs. They emailed until members and staffs couldn’t read any other emails.
And then Harry Reid took it up as a political weapon. Desperate to mobilize Hispanic voters in his home state, he pledged to stick it on unrelated legislation. He tried to jam it down the throats of his Republican colleagues, knowing that they had no choice but to say thanks but no thanks. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, college education, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, DREAM Act, election, Politics, reform, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, Republicans, The Development
Posted in Government, Immigration, Laws, Media, Politics, Theory, spending | No Comments »
October 25th, 2010 by John Feehery
courtesy: Asia Pacific Arts
This might seem like a simplistic truism, but I think it is worth noting that there are more Asians in the world than any other group of people.
The number of Asians living in Asia is rapidly approaching four billion. There are 1.3 billion Chinese and almost as many Indians.
But the Asians are not staying in Asia. They are immigrating in search of a better life for themselves and their families, and many of them are ending up in America.
There has been much talk about how Hispanics make up the fastest growing part of the American population and how Hispanic voters are becoming increasing more important as a potential swing bloc. That is all true, except for the fact that Asians actually make up the fastest growing racial/ethnic group.
From 1990 to 2000, Asians, as a percentage of the American population, increased 63%. In 2000, they made up 4.3%, but that number is closer to 5% today and is expected to hit 7% by 2030.
According to Wikipedia: “As of 2008, Asian Americans had the highest educational attainment level and median household income of any racial demographic in the country, and the highest median personal income overall.” Read more...
Tags: american dream, American population, Asia, Asians, Chinese, Education, Indians
Posted in Economy, Education, Foreign Relations, Government, Immigration, Politics, Theory, election | No Comments »
June 2nd, 2010 by John Feehery
Tags: Arizona Immigration Law, Blanche Lincoln, Bp Criminal Investigation, ed schultz, Ed Show, Mark Kirk, Msnbc, Politics News, Sam Stein
Posted in Immigration, Media, Scandals | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2010 by John Feehery
It was an interesting weekend in Washington D.C.
As an oil slick approached oyster beds off of New Orleans, a car bomber missed in Times Square, the water shut off in Boston, and as thousands of friends of illegal immigrants protested a law targeting illegal immigrants in Phoenix, Hollywood invaded the nation’s capitol.
Hollywood takes seriously its frivolity, while Washington often treats serious matters like war and peace frivolously. This past weekend, when so many Hollywood stars made their way to Washington for the White House Correspondents dinner, there was a perfect storm of frivolity and seriousness, all intersecting in a furious vortex of brunches, pre-parties, after parties, and after after-party brunches.
I only went to one brunch and one after party, but reading the guest lists from the other parties, I am stunned by the stamina of the folks who not only attended the two parties that I went to but also attended almost every other party.
What is most interesting is the cult of the media personality celebrity. Reporters whose day job is to report the news have now all become celebrities on par with Kim Kardashian and Tim Daly. Now, if you can tell me who Kim Kardashian or Tim Daly is and why a reporter would want to be put on the same pedestal as these B-list celebrities, you win the prize. Read more...
Tags: Arizona, Barack Obama, frivolity, Hollywood, Jonas Brothers, White House Correspondents dinner
Posted in Government, Hollywood, Immigration, Politics | No Comments »
According to the United Nations, the 7 billionth person came into the world the other day.
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