Year Two of Obama, Still No Jobs... Even in the Web Design field

Seems like the Obama stimulus is really working well (sarcasm). There's still not very many jobs even in some of the growing technical fields out there like web design and graphic design. The following article from http://www.ajc.com/jobs/sharper-skills-slow-to-577400.html shows how there really are very few jobs available in the market today.

After losing her graphic design job, she went back to school to get retrained as a Web designer.

Nine months later, she’s still looking for work.

“It’s very hard out there to find a job. There’s nothing there,” said Tolliver, 34, of Austell. “I keep applying and, hopefully, something will come through. Maybe people will start hiring.”

With unemployment still high — metro Atlanta’s rate shot up last week to 10.3 percent — questions abound as to whether worker retraining really works.

While Washington has pumped $10 billion in grants into retraining programs nationwide the last two years, critics say much more is needed to deal with the unprecedented surge in the long-term unemployed. Georgia’s public technical colleges, along with for-profit ones that have proliferated during the recession, report huge increases in enrollment, yet many struggle to prepare students for so-called “jobs of the future.”

Federal retraining dollars helped 19,050 Georgians go back to school in 2009. About 69 percent of those students got jobs within three months of graduation, according to the state Department of Labor.

As a web designer myself, I can assure you that this woman is not alone. Though Craigslist seems to be filled with jobs for web designers, it's not easy to get a job in this field, even though some are very well paid. Of course, the problem for a beginner often is breaking into a field that has stiff competition and in which clients can be extremely picky about what they want in a designer.

Still Like Mike, Been Busy Designing Websites

This year has been a busy year. I've not really had much time to update this blog or think about politics. For one thing changes in family life and everything that goes along with a growing family make it difficult to think about what's happening all the time in the country. Also the rise of the "tea party" has made the future of the GOP very questionable. Will we have a three party system before all this is said and done? To be honest, I don't think a two party system is the best answer to the protection of the constitution since the constitution of the United States of America, as to me I think it would result in the liberal party being constantly in Power. I think it's not unlikely that Mike Huckabee will run for president in 2012. If he runs, the recent polls certainly seem to make it look like he's got some pretty good things going for him. I wish him the best and of course may the best candidate win!

So as for the part of this post on designing websites, I've been working towards getting a lot more clients built up and growing my web design business. I know it's difficult sometimes to grow a business, especially when the economy is such that is has been. However, I've been working hard to grow my business and see what possibilities are out there as far as growth. If your company needs a website or you're wondering how much it would cost to get a web design done, visit Eagles Eye Design and look over some of our work.

Why Huckabee is Best for 2012

Huckabee is the best choice for 2012. Though there are a few others that I'd like to see run and who I might consider voting for (Mitch Daniels would be one of those), Huckabee is the best. Huckabee may not be the most conservative out of the bunch but after the current Administration has pulled to the far left, we don't need an extreme conservative to jerk us back in the opposite direction. We see an ideal being a strong conservative, but for someone who is mostly conservative like Huckabee who would be able to pull us back from the far left brink and get us on track towards a conservative goal.

Why is Obamacare Unconstitutional

Obamacare is unconstitutional because the constitution is, as Obama has said, an arbitrator of negative rights. It tells us what the government CANNOT do to us and recognizes that rights are given by God, not the government. As citizens of the United States of America, we have certain unalianable rights. However, the government that is supposed to be for the people, by the people is working hard to destroy the rights of the people. When Obama took the oath to protect the constitution, he really didn't mean a word of what he said. He took the oath only because it was the only way he could execute the office of president, but his words mean absolutely nothing. When he signed the bill that will could be the end of freedom in the western hemisphere, he was making history but not history as he would like to make us think. He was making a horrible choice that will mark his presidency as the worst presidency ever.

Obamacare is Completely Unconstitutional

More on this will be coming later, but the Obamacare bill that just passed the house is extremely unconstitutional. Courts seriously need to come to the rescue of freedom and the constitution and DEMOLISH this HORRIBLE piece of legislation. This is the worst thing that has ever passed in our country and is morally wrong. It is wrong to require people to buy health insurance (which in itself is a scam). It is an infringement on freedom and the destruction of the republic as we know it.

Huckabee: All bailouts are ridiculous...

Now that's the Mike I like...

This is Why We Like Mike

The following article has a few quotes of Mike Huckabee towards the end of the article that are important in showing why I like Mike Huckabee for president in 2012. He stands strong against more and more bailouts of failing companies and stands for doing the right thing when it comes to government spending.

Will Republicans find rallying point in bailout debate?
By Chuck Raasch, GNS Political Writer

The recent declaration that the economy has been in recession for a year was not news to Americans who have lost jobs, income, health insurance or retirement security.
Democrats are in power partly because they felt people's pain before the Bush administration and the Republican candidates for president did. If Republicans do not figure out why they missed so many economic distress signals for so long, they have little hope of returning to power for at least a generation.

But now a GOP rallying point has presented itself. It is in response to what appears to be an unprecedented, massive rush to government bailouts of private industry. The public has deep reservations about such commitments. A CNN poll taken just before the executives of the Big Three automakers pleaded for tens of billions in government loans said 61 percent of Americans were against any such bailout.

This reality not only invites Republicans to return to the small-government philosophy they have abandoned, but it also could force them to speak to a middle class that GOP candidates had trouble hearing during the 2008 election. Too often, Republican candidates responded to kitchen-table concerns with textbook-dull homilies on free enterprise.

Looking back on the presidential election, there was one especially predictive moment for the Republicans.

Both the Dow Jones and the S&P hit record highs Oct. 9, 2007. Coincidentally, Republican presidential candidates debated that night in Dearborn, Mich., the epicenter of the auto industry. Despite the bulls on Wall Street, MSNBC anchor and moderator Maria Bartiromo pointed out that two thirds of Americans had just told pollsters they believed the country was in recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research says the recession began two months later.

But some of the Republicans on stage in Dearborn that night appeared to have no clue as to what Bartiromo was talking about. Those who did were unable or unwilling to keep driving an economics message home for the next 13 months.

In the debate, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, fairly fresh to the campaign trail, said, "There is no reason to believe that we're headed for a recession." Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Michigan was undergoing a "one-state recession" while "the rest of the country is growing and seeing low levels of unemployment." Ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani primarily paid homage to the free market as a "wonderful thing."

Some Republicans did hit the right note. Ron Paul declared "this country is in the middle of a recession for a lot of people ... Wall Street doesn't know about it. Washington, D.C., doesn't know about it. But it's because of the monetary system and the excessive spending.''

But the GOP hierarchy and the mainstream media treated Paul as a gadfly.

The eventual nominee, John McCain, acknowledged that economic worries were bigger than Michigan and said that at "every town hall meeting that I have," people were worried about keeping health care coverage.

But he spent a lot of the next 13 months defending his decision to back the surge in Iraq, and he did not have a consistent economic message. Democrats - first John Edwards, then Hillary Rodham Clinton and then the eventual winner, Barack Obama - focused like a laser on the economy.

When McCain suspended his campaign in September and eventually sided with the massive bailout of banks and industry - a commitment that could heap trillions in new debt on succeeding generations - he lost an opportunity to connect with average Americans who still wonder if it is the right course.

In the Dearborn debate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who three months later won the Iowa caucuses, turned out to be the most prescient.

"I want to make sure people understand that for many people on this stage the economy is doing terrifically well, but for a lot of Americans it's not doing so well," Huckabee said. "The people who handle the bags and make the beds at our hotels and serve the food, many of them are having to work two jobs. And that's barely paying the rent."

But Huckabee did not have the money to sustain a long campaign, and his economic message often was overwhelmed by a false assumption that he was the candidate of the religious right.

Please say it ain't so Joe...

I really hope this doesn't happen but I'm afraid it will. Of course we've seen what happens when Romney goes up against Huckabee. I think that the same would happen if a Romney ran against a Barack Obama too. However, even though Mitt Romney flip-flops on social issues, if the economy is still a wreck in 2012, I prob wouldn't mind him taking the reigns from Obama. It's just that I'd much rather have Mike Huckabee at the helm.

Republican Mitt Romney is laying the groundwork for a possible White House campaign in 2012, hiring a team of staff members and consultants with money from a fund-raising committee he established with the ostensible purpose of supporting other GOP candidates.

The former Massachusetts governor has raised $2.1 million for his Free and Strong America political action committee. But only 12 percent of the money has been spent distributing checks to Romney's fellow Republicans around the country.

Instead, the largest chunk of the money has gone to support Romney's political ambitions, paying for salaries and consulting fees to over a half-dozen of Romney's longtime political aides, according to a Globe review of expenditures.

Romney founded the Free and Strong America Committee shortly after dropping out of the 2008 presidential primary. He filled its coffers by telling conservative contributors around the country that their money would be used to support Republican candidates and causes.

According to the Globe analysis, he spent $244,000 on contributions to congressional and other candidates between April and the November elections. He has spent more than twice as much on staff salaries and contracts to hire professional fund-raisers, who are compiling contributor lists that will serve Romney well in a future presidential campaign.

In essence, Romney is financing a political enterprise that he can use to remain a national GOP leader and use as a springboard should he decide to launch another presidential bid for 2012.

Romney aides insisted that the primary mission of the Free and Strong America Political Action Committee is to raise money for other Republicans around the country and to promote GOP policies. The committee says that booster work included flying Romney to various districts to help congressional candidates, many of whom happened to support his 2008 presidential primary candidacy.

But the committee's track record of spending most of the money on other expenses, such as Romney's political staff, raises questions about written fund-raising solicitations he has made that were mailed to potential contributors, including this one:

"It is more essential than ever that conservative candidates and organizations have the resources they need to get their message out to voters," Romney said in the fund-raising appeal. "Because of your help, my political action committee . . . is supporting over 70 candidates this election cycle. Your continued support today will ensure that they have the assistance they need to win."

Campaign finance experts say the Free and Strong America committee's use of its funds for Romney's political expenses is well within the legal restrictions set by law. They also note that it is not entirely unusual for high-profile politicians to use such political action committees, despite their appeals to donors like the ones Romney makes, to keep large sums for their own purposes.

The story continues here...

Huckabee: No Bailouts

This is one of the reasons I really like Mike. He's come out very strong against bailouts. Period. Not the auto industry, not the banks. Nobody gets bailed out. NOBODY.

Bailouts are totally not cool. They ultimately fail and they do not produce growth or innovation. They keep companies that need to go bankrupt for the economy to move on, limping along and dragging down the rest of the economy. Are they painful? Of course for all involved they are. However, continuing to finance a failure cannot in the long run produce success.

In order for success to be defined, failure has to be a possibility.

The Race Begins Now

Pretty soon (barring the unlikely event of his birth becoming an issue) we'll be inaugurating the furthest left president ever. The media is in the tank for Obama still and will continue to be for a long time coming. However, their being in the tank for him may backfire on them when things go wrong.

Pride Before a Fall
Michelle Obama has stated that America is a mean country. While that may be so, I think overall that I would say a greater sin that America faces is one of pride. I think we're in the process of being greatly humbled through the economic devastation. A nation that is proud can fall a long way.

Obama even admits that one characteristic he doesn't have much of is humility. He props up his ego in amazing ways in presuming that the presidency was his by creating his own presidential seal and now even with his whole "the office of the president elect."

Conservatives need to adopt an attitude of gratitude and humility. I believe that these where two characteristics that made Reagan a great man. He was honorable and had a distinct sense of humor and didn't stoop for crassness. Yet, even in his confidence, he was not proud.

If conservatives can present their ideas in a way that doesn't come across as condescending, they can advance their cause greatly and have a stark contrast between themselves and a president Obama.

Huckabee 2012

Conservatives are disappointed. Our guy lost.

However, we don't give up but rather begin our efforts to work harder for the next election. 4 years is a short amount of time but the damage that could be done if the leftist president Obama has a full 8 years, could be insurmountable.

Liberals found a Jimmy Carter. Conservatives must find a new Ronald Regan to defeat him in four years. Personally I believe Mike is our best bet. He's much weightier than Sarah Palin and will have a broader appeal. I tried to get excited about Palin and as a strong supporter of Mike in the primaries, Sarah was pretty close to what I wanted. However, she doesn't have the gravitas that Mike has and Mike is much more thoughtful and perceptive.

The Grateful Politician

You wouldn’t usually put politicians high on a list of people who have an “attitude of gratitude.” I mean, when you think about it, when was the last time you heard a politician say “thank you” and you could tell they sincerely meant it (i.e. they aren’t in a position to get more campaign money for their political campaign, etc).

Well, you watched this morning’s interview of Mike Huckabee on Morning Joe, you don’t have to go back far to find such an example. As soon as he came on with Joe and his co-host, Mike said “thanks for having me.” I hadn’t really noticed it before, but I began to really think about that little one line statement tonight as now more than ever before do I sense that when Mike says that, he really means it and is truly grateful for the opportunities that he has to be in the place that he is.

Too often the attitude among politicians is that they deserve the attention they get. This is one area where I feel that Mike stands head and shoulders above his peers in politics. I don’t get a sense from him that he feels that he is someone super special and deserves the recognition that he receives; he’s merely trying to advance the principles that he knows have made America great in the past and will keep her great for years to come if they are allowed to have a continued elevated place in the areas of public policy.

Thanks for being grateful Gov. Huckabee. We could all learn a lesson from you.