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WOW REPORTS (7/6-7/10) | 07/06/2009 7:00 am

wOw Reports: What News Matters to You -- And Why?

We are inviting you to share with us – and everyone else – the compelling news events that are impacting your life.
By YOU!
Image © Shutterstock

wOw Reports is a place for YOU, the wowOwow.com community, to tell us — and everyone else — the stories that you find most compelling, interesting and important. Whether it’s urgent circumstances happening in your neck of the woods or happenings in another country, tell us the news that is most important to you — and why.

wOw Reports hopes to become a new kind of news site — one based solely on a community of shared interests and positive, open discussions. So let’s get the storytelling started below.

wOw Reports Archives:

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Read more about: News, wOw Reports

82 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Libra Lady
Tax-maniacs backing off health benefits? By Michelle Malkin  •  July 7, 2009 05:19 PM

Looks like there’s trouble in Beltway taxaholics’ paradise. There are multiple reports that Democrats are backing off a key proposal to tax health benefits to pay for the trillion-dollar government takeover of health care.

WSJ: “A Senate Democrat involved in negotiations on legislation to overhaul the health-care system said senators may be souring on a plan to tax some employer-provided health benefits. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said that public polls conducted over the July 4 congressional recess and reviewed by senators are causing lawmakers to have second thoughts about limiting the tax exclusion for employer health plans.”

Bloomberg: Senators May Drop Tax Plan for Worker Health Benefits

AP: “Tax on health benefits fading?”

But hey, don’t worry. They’ll find something else to tax. Just give ‘em time.

By Libra Lady on 07/07/2009 10:28 pm
S G
What  bothers me? The hatred I see on this site. Obama hasn’t been in office that long and some of you will never give him a chance. It is as if some of you have republican blindness. Anything your representatives do is fine,anything anyone in your parties realm speaks is fine. Obama has caused no rift. The rift comes from this the need to control. For 8 years it became a bully controlled country. You guys obviously thought it would never end. Sadly that’s the way it felt for me. Folks until we all come together this country is in trouble. I never voted for George but I gave him a chance. Is control so necessary for you folks ? Step out of your box and lets all work together. I don’t see any discussion here any more. The thing you guys don’t see is we do not agree with our leaders all the time. Can we all try to talk or am I wasting my time?
By S G on 07/08/2009 8:07 am
Kagan K
Amen to that, S.G
By Kagan K on 07/08/2009 12:23 pm
deber B

S G   Did you hate George Bush?    Did you hate Dick Cheney?   If you did, why?   There is no hatred for Obama on this site.   What you are reading are extremely concerned Americans who questioned, from day one, putting an inexperienced person in the White House.   All you have to do today is look at the mess Obama has created for our country.    It would’ve been very simple if, in the beginning, Obama and his administration had just given every American $5,000.00 to "stimulate" the economy and retard the loss of jobs.   However, he didn’t do that.    Instead, he played the democratic political agenda creating a now failed stimulus at a cost to the taxpayers of $787 billion.   Now they want another stimulus to dig an even deeper hole.   Looks like Obama’s Stimulus is like George Bush’s Katrina perhaps much worse.

Republicans have been outraged by the lack of leadership and ideas from Obama’s White House.   The democrats have been arrogant, less than transparent and have demonstrated that they have no idea what they are doing.    And you ask the question:  "What bothers me?   The hatred I see on this site."    My answer to that, S G , is that Americans will not sit back and watch Obama destroy our country.  Watch the weekly polls and in particular look at the number of Americans who are dissatisfied with what he has done so far.   It’s very revealing.    His inability to make a difference in foreign policy is breathtaking.   His blatant disregard for our economy with his pork laden special interest programs showed his true far left leaning vision instead of what was in the best interest of every American not just the special interest groups.     He has lied to his voters and to the country by not keeping his campaign promises.   If he had told Americans on his campaign that he was going to raise our debt to $11 million, tax the middle class and look to the rich to fund his health care program would you have voted for him?   Probably not.      His cap and trade bill which will raise taxes on the middle class is outrageous.   His health care bill geared to raise the taxes on the rich and still have millions of Americans uninsured is mind boggling.  

And you state…."The hatred I see on this site."    Somebody has to speak up because it is for darn sure his voters will support him knowing he has fallen incredibly short of knowing what he is doing.   And, yet, you continue to support a sinking ship.    When George Bush was in office, the American people were quick to bring him down at the knees for a war they thought was a "personal" grudge the Bush’s had against Saddam Hussein.   President Obama goes to Russia and states that Iraq is a better place today because of our intervention.   GITMO remains open despite his pledge to close it in his first week in office.   It just goes on and on.

Your question:  "Can we all try to talk or am I wasting my time?"   In order for reasonable discussions to take place we have to first agree that Obama’s biggest mistake was "constantly blaming" a previous administration instead of taking the enormous task at hand to stimulate the economy with tax cuts and money in the pockets of Americans who were going to spend, spend, spend.   Instead he did something else.   It didn’t work and a second stimulus will not work.    Big government doesn’t work in America.

Control is necessary in such a way that Americans should be in control over what happens to their country.   You elected this President for all the wrong reasons and he has failed all of us.   The longer he is in office the more mistakes he makes.   When will you start to take your country back?   When will you decide that you have had enough?

What I would like discussed on this site is "how" a man can be nothing more than a community organizer, write a book to "invent" himself to the public  and become the President of the United States?   Why were intelligent people caught up in the aura of this man?

By deber B on 07/09/2009 7:47 am
C Hardy
Loved this post!  You put into words what I have been asking and have yet to get an answer to…Deber thanks for laying it all out there on the line…
By C Hardy on 07/09/2009 8:03 am
deber B
C Hardy, thank you, and you know me….I call a spade a spade.   When will the democrats admit they made a very costly mistake in the guise of "Hope and Change?"
By deber B on 07/09/2009 8:12 am
C Hardy
I dont think they see it that way…they feel we, those that dont see it their way 100% of the time, just isnt giving Obama enough time b/c he has only been President going on 7 months now…well all I can say is IF McCain would have won - I am sure the Dems would be riding his back just as hard if not harder. 
By C Hardy on 07/09/2009 8:19 am
deber B

As republicans, this is what we know about McCain….he would’ve immediately cut taxes…..Ronald Reagan did it after being handed one of the worse recessions and inflationary numbers this country has ever seen….The democrats have a different mindset….and that is to spend the country into the ground and then tax the rich.    President Obama, being far left leaning, something he did not reveal during his campaign, has an altogether different vision and it is not working.   In fact, it is paralyzing our country and other countries.   The Europeans and Asia are looking at Obama and showing their deep concerns.  

The democrats are between a rock and hard place right now.   They elected this President and many are not happy with the outcome.    And, personally, I believe seven months in office and the debt he has created without providing the jobs he promised is plenty of time to know that he doesn’t know what he is doing.   What is also amazing to me is that there is not a person Obama selected for his administration who has ever run a big company.   These ivy league attornies don’t seem to have a clue on how to turn a country around.

It is going to be very hard for democrats to come to terms with what is happening and the blame is now at Obama’s feet.

By deber B on 07/09/2009 8:28 am
C Hardy
Deber, I had hoped that Obama would change our Country for the best but now I am starting to doubt it b/c of what he is saying and doing about the US to other Countries.  You have to back the Country you are the President of, you can’t go around and apologize for past Presidents…you move on and make things better.  I am someone who always looks for the good and I am still searching with Obama right now…Maybe, just maybe one day, I’ll find it.
By C Hardy on 07/09/2009 8:56 am
deber B
I’m afraid he has dug himself into an irreversible hole of debt.   Having a majority of democrats to call the shots is proving to be a nighmare both for re-election in 2010 for them and their names being on all of these failed programs.   I predict a record number of democrats jumping off the "Good Ship Obama" before long.
By deber B on 07/09/2009 9:15 am
S G
Did I hate Bush / Chenney. Yes , because they did things I felt were wrong. When will Obama stop blaming the prior administration personally I don’t think he should. It was their fault. Obama hasn’t failed us. The republicans in Washington say no if Obama breathes. Deber I gave Bush and Chenney a chance. You guys haven’t given Obama a chance from day one. Also I feel he is qualified to be and is a leader. It isn’t his aura deber. It is that the bomb every country,drill and suck out more fossil fuel ( which by the way will run out one day ) doesn’t work. I had enough when Bush used 9-11 to invade Iraq and broke America that is why I voted for Obama. Is he perfect ,no, but he is a million times better than W. could dream of being. I would say we are at an impasse. However I enjoy bantering back and forth with you:) Hope you have a good day:)
By S G on 07/09/2009 12:19 pm
Kagan K

At least President Obama can speak proper English.  He doesn’t embarrass us the way Bush did with sloppy speech and insincere delivery, engrossed in lies he tryed to make us believe. You have to give him that. Obama, in fact, is the only president I could stand listening to for more than five minutes.    Remember, he hasn’t even been in office for a year  and he has inherited an enourmous debt around lies and manipulation and poisoned relationships with other countries.  People around the world LIKE him.  They even like us now.   I can travel to other countries without a bag over my American head.   I don’t like some appointments he made with people in bed with Monsanto, that’s for sure.   But, I don’t know what goes on in the White House, and either do you, it’s a different planet in so many ways.  So,  Let’s give him a chance, OK?   There is alot that is happening that is beyond his control.    He is definitely a fine leader.

By Kagan K on 07/09/2009 10:00 pm
F Fox
Why were intelligent people caught up in the aura of this man?
 
I will take a stab at answering this question. Because many Americans, even intelligent ones, are simply childish.  Take California as an example. At one point Californian selected Gray Davis to be governor, a man who had impeccably serious credentials and had devoted perhaps 30 years of his life to public service. This was a man who knew the intricate workings of California government in and out. And yet…he was overcome by certain problems and emergencies that he had no control over. Suddenly a movement emerged to dump him and replace him with Arnold Shwarzenegger, a former muscle man and movie actor. Schwarzenegger is not dumb by any means but by logic he is not a good choice for governance. And yet he is hanging in there, in a state that is almost the largest in the nation, with a population of 30 mil and business revenues in excess of most countries in the world. So, America is California writ larger. Enough people want the glitz of toothy possibly not even legally eligible smoke and mirrors Obama, who has a sexy slogan that appeals to everyone tired of where they are stuck—"change"—talk about a Nazi-type slogan—over a man who spent five years in a POW camp and worked his way up in the political arena. The triumph of style over substance, brought in by Americans, a serious American flaw. I write this as a lover of the US.
 
By F Fox on 07/09/2009 2:51 pm
deber B
F Fox you are rocking my little world : )
By deber B on 07/09/2009 3:31 pm
F Fox
Thanks Deber. I have followed your posts with admiration and agreement.
By F Fox on 07/10/2009 4:33 am