Is the US Postal Service Near an End … Another Casualty of Unions

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” … but federal bureaucracy and Unions could certainly put an end to the US Postal Service.

The US Postal Service is near default and bankruptcy and because of decades of contractual promises made to unionized workers, including no-layoff clauses that  are increasing the post office’s costs. Who runs a business like this? The Postal Service has been a colossal disaster for years.  Add to this the fact that Postal workers receive better benefits than other federal workers. Why? The US Postal Service should not be bailed out by Congress unless they are made to do many cost containing measures like reducing services, laying off unnecessary workers, and closing locations.

The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

In recent weeks, Mr. Donahoe has been pushing a series of painful cost-cutting measures to erase the agency’s deficit, which will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions’ contracts.

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Has Mareen Dowd Abandoned Barack Obama and Concluded He’s One and Done?

The rats are fleeing the ship … Obama is a One term “One”der in 2012.

Even the New York Times liberal Barack Obama cheerleader Maureen Dowd is abandoning the SS Obama. Her OPED piece references continued miscalculations and mistakes by Barack Obama along with many excuses. Dowd realizes that Obama is a mere shell of what he was in 2008 and Americans are tired of talk and speeches … they want action. How bad is it for Obama when Dowd dumps you?

The leader who was once a luminescent, inspirational force is now just a guy in a really bad spot.

His Republican rivals for 2012 have gone to town on the Labor Day weekend news of zero job growth, using the same line of attack Hillary used in 2008: Enough with the big speeches! What about some action?

Polls show that most Americans still like and trust the president; but they may no longer have faith that he’s a smarty-pants who can fix the economy.

Dowd provides more examples of a clueless Obama shooting himself in the foot. Even for liberals Obama’s actions have to have them embarrassed and pondering what the future has in store. Many on the LEFT whether they will admit it or not are frustrated with Obama and Newsbusters states, “Maybe Obama was not even the person he was waiting for”.

Obama’s re-election chances depend on painting the Republicans as disrespectful. So why would the White House act disrespectful by scheduling a speech to a joint session of Congress at the exact time when the Republicans already had a debate planned?

And why is the White House so cocky about Obama as a TV draw against quick-draw Rick Perry? As James Carville acerbically noted, given a choice between watching an Obama speech and a G.O.P. debate, “I’d watch the debate, and I’m not even a Republican.”

What will it take for all Democrats to abandoned Obama? Could it be a failed jobs speech in almost prime time?  I have long thought that when Democrats mentioned that Obama needed to be primary challenged there was only one person with the liberalism,  progressivism and clout to do so, the scream machine, Howard Dean. The Astute Blogger asks the appropriate question, can a Dean candidacy be far away?

Only 33% of Americans Took Summer Vacations … What Say You Barack Obama?

Is this the image people want of a President when Americans can’t take vacations … One Term is right around the corner Mr. President.

Why the optics of Barack Obama on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard were so damning to the “Vacationer” in Chief. As Americans struggle financially, find themselves out of work, no jobs in sight, on food stamps and believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction, their fearless leader can be seen vacationing, golfing and riding bicycles. But instead of feeling your pain, he promises Americans another jobs speech. Hasn’t he had 2+ years to make speeches and fix the economy? The natives are growing restless … needless to say.

Only 33% of Americans took vacation this year, down significantly from 41% last year in 2010 and 37% in 2009. It is too bad that President Barack Obama and the first family could not also be apart of the 33% “nocationers” as a result of the Presidents policies. As 8 in 10 Americans believe we are in a recession, individuals remain jobless, spending is out of control,  there is ZERO job recovery and unemployment remains over 9%, Barack Obama hasn’t a care in the word as he thinks nothing of it to be seen vacationing while 2/3′s of America does not. Talk about a man of the people.

Fewer adults took a summer vacation this year, and half of those that did had to cut back for economic reasons.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that just 33% took a summer vacation this year. That’s down from 41% last year and 37% in 2009. Sixty-five percent (65%) of adults say they did not take go on summer vacation. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

In a poll taken prior to the summer season, 38% of American Adults planned to take a summer vacation this year, while 54% did not.

It is not that Obama cannot take a vacation, the questions is should he? What incumbent President with a job approval barely in the low 40′s, an economy spirally out of control and a reelection in 2012 would take a vacation when a majority of Americans cannot? Who would promise an important jobs speech, but not before he takes the perks of a Presidential vacation? Not taking one plane to Martha’s Vineyard, but two.

Obama disapproval rating is at a record high and it is well deserved. Most American people are asking, what has he done to deserve a vacation? Wasn’t it Obama Democrats and their minions that questioned Big Business and the Auto industry as to why they deserve private jets and bonuses? Can’t and shouldn’t the same question be asked of President Obama? What has he done to deserve a vacation on the tax payers dime? Is ist the continual +9% unemployment, the revised GDP of the 2nd qtr down to 1%, or because of the out of control US debt? Obama has shown no sign of leadership or setting an example for Americans, instead has acted like a frat boy winning the class presidency and instead of taking the job seriously, takes advantage of the perks instead.

It is as if Obama just doesn’t understand his job as President, or he is unwilling to do it. Blaming others is not a policy. A note to Barack Obama, America wants a leader not a President who’s image in golfing, riding a bike and licking an ice cream cone.

Barack Obama – President Zero: Charles Krauthammer Say on FOX News that “Obama Is President Zero – zero economic expansion, zero jobs, zero ideas on how to cure the economy.”

“He doesn’t understand that his administration has stopped the recovery in its tracks.”

We at Scared Monkeys have called Obama President Zero for quite some time, its nice to see those in the media, even at FOX News saying the same. Charles Krauthammer said on FOX News that Obama is the reason for the poor economy, not the GOP, the Tea Party. It has been Obama’s partisan  ideology, policies and politics.

Obama, not a Super Hero, but a Super Zero

Obama’s economic policies have been nothing more than an Epic Failure. Last summer Obama promised a “Summer of Recovery”. Hell, Americans are still waiting for the job recovery this summer. Americans are fed up with Obama’s promises, speeches and excuses. There is a reason why 8 in 10 Americans think we are in a recession, the Obama recession, economic growth is diminishing, job growth is nonexistent and that only 19% of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction.

Watch the VIDEO at the Gateway Pundit.

VIDEO transcript from Newsbusters.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: That assumes the speech he thinks will turn the economy around. This is not that speech. This is to frame the debate for his reelection. This is not a serious jobs proposal. It will include things he knows Republicans will reject. And thus he sets up the premise, because his own White House has now said we are going to be nine percent up employment next year as well. The premise will be we are at nine percent on election date because the obstinate Republicans who care only about reelection and not about the country have rejected the great ideas he is proposing.

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A Tale of Two Murders: Joran Van der Sloot Charged with Murder of Stephany Flores … Beth Holloway Says, “God bless the Peru authorities for handling this thoroughly and professionally”

Call it a tale of two crimes and the tale of how two countries handled the same crime in complete contrast manners. One country lets a sociopath loose on the rest if society to kill again, the other one rightfully charges him with murder and cages the criminal protecting society.

“It was the best of times (Peru), it was the worst of times (Aruba), it was the age of wisdom (Peru), it was the age of foolishness (Aruba), it was the epoch of belief (Peru), it was the epoch of incredulity (Aruba), it was the season of Light (Peru), it was the season of Darkness (Aruba), it was the spring of hope (Peru), it was the winter of despair (Aruba), we had everything before us (Peru), we had nothing before us (Aruba), we were all going direct to Heaven (Peru), we were all going direct the other way (Aruba) –in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good (Peru) or for evil (Aruba), in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

What Aruba could not, would not and never intended to do, Peru saw fit to accomplish at all cost. In Aruba they death with the death and disappearance of an American tourist Natalee Holloway where one of the suspects was a “little Dutch boy” of privilege. In Peru they dealt with the death of a 21 year old local from a prominent family. The common denominator … Joran Van der Sloot. Aruba has never charged Joran Van der Sloot with murder. Conversely, Peru has properly pursued Van der Sloot and charged the “Sporter” with murder. Sadly, had Aruba done their job, charged and convicted Joran Van der Sloot instead of enabling him,  Joran would never have been able to travel to Peru and kill again.

In a People magazine interview, Beth Holloway, the mother of Natalee Holloway, who has dealt with endless frustration, cronyism and corruption in Aruba said about the murder charges against Van der  Sloot by Peru authorities, “God bless the Peru authorities for handling this thoroughly and professionally.”

With no justice yet for her own daughter, Beth Holloway cautiously cheered yesterday’s decision by authorities in Peru to bring murder charges against Joran van der Sloot – long suspected in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance – for the murder last year of a young woman in Peru.

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