WH on Beer Diplomacy: “We’re not here to mediate apologies”

There was never a discussion about Lucia Whalen, the 911 caller, attending the meeting, Gibbs said.
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I wonder why not, sweetie.

All the problems in the world and country the president is trying to mediate a local incident which became a national incident by the presidents stupid statement…even further the presiednt is complicating and issue which is clear cut and black and white Gates is a racist professor that looks at the world through a prism of race…how typical these democrats are

NO.. Obama only aplologizes for America..not himself

“I doubt a tenth of ABC news readers/viewers know the basic outlines of the competing committee bills currently under consideration.”
I doubt that our “representatives” do either…Seriously, it isn’t important to read that kind of stuff.

What about the “Ethnic Slur” of the president offering a BEER to an IRISHMAN, huh? Whatabout that? :)

I couldn’t care less!

While I feel the President should not have commented on the Gates affair, he understands the fact that most black males are brought up with a fear of the police and possibly he did also. Even Colin Powell said he brought up his son to obey the police and do anything they say. He was, as is most black families, fearful of what could happen. Racial profiling is a fact. Look at the groom who was killed for no reason and the poor lame man who was mistakenly beaten up for no reason. White people cannot relate to these fears as they do not have to worry about their child being beaten. Not all police are like this but many are and that is the truth. I think this hit a nerve and President Obama was reacting as a black man not a president. I think we should give him some slack.

“WOW, what an incredible concept! A parent telling his children to obey a police officer.”
When doing so to avoid potential deadly consequences, certainly.
And that was what Powell was speaking about.

“When given a fairly detailed description of the plan they are pushing, Americans registered strong approval”
How much is fairly detailed? What % is fairly detailed? Sounds like a “fairly” accurate poll. Seriously to everyone here: All those pools are garbage. You’re better off arguing why nobody ever got killed on the A-Team.

“President Obama was reacting as a black man not a president. I think we should give him some slack.”
Does he get to react to everything as a black man?
Does a white President get to react as a white man?
He’s the PRESIDENT. He is supposed to react as the PRESIDENT. The PRESIDENT of all people of the US.
OBAMA was the one who claimed to be POST RACIAL.
If we have to cut him slack, then Obama was a miserable liar.

It’s amusing to see some lefties denigrate the aspirations of Martin Luther King.”
Probably because right wingers are completely insincere in their stated desire for a color blind society that it is insulting to the man’s memory.
Right wingers want a color blind society where race goes unmentioned and white privilege go unchallenged.
Their vision has nothing to do with equality or merit or the content of one’s character.

“When given a fairly detailed description of the plan they are pushing, Americans registered strong approval”
What is a “fairly detailed description” of 1,000 pages of a bill? I’m curious what they chose to share and what they chose not to share.
I notice in the same poll that people favored a surtax on the “rich” to pay for it. What that really says is “i don’t want to pay for it.” And it isn’t possible for the rich TO pay for it, not a 1.2 trillion annual bill. You’d have to tax 200 million Americans an average of $7,500 per year to pay for 150 million people in premiums (roughly).
No way the rich can suck that up. Just look at Europe and see what their tax on middle class is… 47%.

“Right wingers want a color blind society where race goes unmentioned and white privilege go unchallenged.
Their vision has nothing to do with equality or merit or the content of one’s character. ”
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I could be like SO many on the left and just cry “i’m a victim”…
I’ll just leave this as YET another of Ryan’s out right lies. Care to prove that blant fabrication Ryan. What actual evidence do you have, besides your usual banter of lefty talking points which no basis in reality.
AS ALWAYS….Liberals dont lie….They just FORGET the TRUTH!

“Do you just make it up as you go along?”
My mother-in-law and father-in-law both live and work in Germany. They relay to me their tax rate. No, not made up.

My mother-in-law and father-in-law both live and work in Germany. They relay to me their tax rate. No, not made up.”
The income tax rate for a married couple in Germany reaches 35% at about 240K Euros a year.
That’s middle class?

“Could it be it’s because he’s black it’s easy to prejudge the case?
We now know the witness who called in the 911 says the police lied on their police report. What other facts might emerge?
Oh who cares really, it’s just an ‘arrogant’ black man, just go ahead and prejudge the whole thing.”
Prejudging, prejudging…Now someone else prejudged this little case. What was his name again? Began with a B, I think…Fairly important guy in gov’t or something. Something about “stupid” too

“The income tax rate for a married couple in Germany reaches 35% at about 240K Euros a year.
That’s middle class? ”
Ryan, you really need to do some research on this. They make 90k a year combined income. Thats 30% JUST INCOME TAX, THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE 3 OTHER MANDATORY TAXES that bump that percentage up to around 45-47%.
Trust me, this is family who lives there who has always been astonished at how much less our taxes are. This isn’t made up stuff, though your obvious lack of understanding of the German tax system is showing well.

Posted by: JV | Jul 30, 2009 2:01:25 PM
You realize that Barack Obama is president, right?

“A Boston police officer who sent a mass e-mail referring to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. as a “banana-eating jungle monkey” has apologized, saying he’s not a racist.”
How lovely.

“We can do the same here by adding to the tax rate, sales tax payroll tax, state income tax etc…”
Well, that’s a relief! No VAT. Really dodged a bullet there!

“So you are adding things like VAT, payroll tax, etc?”
Oh dear lord. The 3 other taxes, (or insurance), are the health insurance, pension (social security), and unemployment insurance. My folks also get tagged with “old age” tax, whatever that is, plus church tax.
Its not hard to find all of this on google Ryan, showing total payouts to government requirements (tax/insurance) range from at least 38% to 47% for those making under 100k a year. This does NOT include gas tax, VAT, or sales tax. Include those and they are well over 50%

Bud lite for Bush-lite.
Sorry Barry but Bud won’t make you more manly or more proAmerica.

I don’t think encouraging the consumption of alcoholic beverages is the best move for president Barry. this gates fellow may be an alcoholic or that policeman might be. alcoholism is a terrible disease. I thought that the president was trying to stop people from getting fat, happy and drunk. with his Obamacare health care for the homeless and all the boys, this beer party doesn’t sit well with health living. Does the president hate sober people?

“Ryan, or anyone else whos interested, google German tax calculator. It’s right there for all to see.”
Yes and it appears that Germans are taxed the same as Americans except they have better social services.

“28% + 7% (state income) + 14% (payroll).”
Um…no. Are you adding what the employer pays for FICA matching? If your going to take that route, then its going to get worse for your arguement because the payouts that employers in Germany pay are far beyond what employers pay here, especially in unemployment, medical leave, maternity leave, etc.

“My experience is based on reading about their system.”
Either your not reading enough, or you don’t understand our taxes.

“Oh really? Family income of 90k a year, paying 45k in taxes is what it is here?
Soon.”
Unmarried without dependent children was the situation described.
Here they would pay 28% marginal rate + Payroll taxes + state incomes taxes.
That is before you get into the other taxes assessed.
So yeah, taxed about the same.

Seems all the right wingers stopped be acting indignant about the mention of racism and the police after this was posted.
A Boston police officer who sent a mass e-mail referring to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. as a “banana-eating jungle monkey” has apologized, saying he’s not a racist.

“I leave the fake anecdotes to the right wingers.”
What anecdotes are you talking about? I’m asking you.
But if you want some stories, let me tell you about the time I hopped ship in Shanghai and became a caddy for the Lama.

Regarding the “health care update”, ABC news hasn’t picked up on it yet, but Obama’s personal physician today came out with a statement opposing Obama’s approach to health care reform.
David L. Scheiner M.D. argues that single payer is the best approach to health care for the US.
He also noted “I was supposed to be at the recent town hall meeting at the White House where I was to ask a question of the president, but my visit was cancelled at the last minute”
Hmmm, I wonder why?

“So they have better work benefits too?
Oh what a socialist nightmare they live in.”
Oh how glorious it is that their factories are fleeing to those evil flat tax countries in eastern Europe and low corporate tax of Ireland.
Great as long as there is a job. Sucks if your a small business.
You know Ryan, just come out and say it. You are a socialist and you will ignore anything that makes socialism look bad and we’ll all respect you more and know what you want for this nation. Then we can just disagree.
BTW, look at your pay stub and look at your withholdings, including FICA/Medicare, your at 28%, not added on top of it. The employer pays an additional 6.2% matching for social security and 1.5 for medicare, which you are throwing in there in an attempt to inflate our tax rate. So lets just do that. That puts it at 35.7%, well below 50% on the latest German tax bracket. Add 7% state tax and your still below at 42.75.
But that does not take into account deductions, exemptions, and tax credits. When you file your taxes, you’ll see your entire payout in taxes. At 90k a year, our family paid out FAR below 38k in taxes.
And I live in state with no income tax.
And even though its commonly known that Germany is one of the most taxed nations in the world, you can assume, in your mind, that its about the same here, wrongly of course.

Posted by: Flash Override | Jul 30, 2009 3:24:51 PM
And you’re surprised by this? Anyway, don’t waste your time with what used to be The Most Important Piece of Legislation in America’s History. Vacation at the Vineyard awaits!

My experience is based on reading about their system.
I leave the fake anecdotes to the right wingers.
Posted by: Ryan C
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Oh Really, the I know it all even though i know nothing Ryan
This is exactly they way you approach every single discussion here.
Lets see KR’s first post about this was at 1:41
Your first reactions were to acuse him of making it up.
Then you must have run off for a quickie google …you came back and threw some BS numbers at him…
He gives you the real scoop on wher ehe is coming from including where to go on the net to get it right!
After almost an hour, you come back attempting to compare various taxes here & there.
So for the better part of an hour Ryan, YOU were the one tossing out the fake anecdotes in an attempt to discredit someone with real personal insight. Obviously your deep reading experiences were based on BS.
*** KR ***,
Is there something there akin to our property/real estate taxes ?
Also, based on the numbers you put up, your family members are paying approx $1050 per month for health insurance…is this correct? (assuming the 90K you were talking about was in $$$)

Also btw, my Father-in-law has had back surgery, a few actually, one to fix a bad disc in his back, 2 others trying to fix the scar tissue from the first surgery. They found laser surgery in Munich but government insurance won’t pay for it.
So basically, paying 1,000 a month in health insurance and they can’t get laser spine surgery without private insurance.

Posted by: Mike_C | Jul 30, 2009 3:45:54 PM
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Funny stuff. Good post to usher in the kegger for this evening… Toga! Toga! Toga!

58% vs. 42%.
No state income tax?

Politico: “Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) says he plans to introduce a politically-targeted amendment forcing Republicans to vote “yes” or “no” on continuing Medicare, the government-run health care program for seniors, on the 44th anniversary of its enactment.
Weiner [who plans to vote yes, obviously] said he wants to tack the amendment onto the health care bill being marked up today — to call bluff on Republicans who say federal intervention into health care has been a failure.”
ROFLMAO!

“That would be about $600 cheaper than my boss and his wife pay under our HMO who I assume would be closer in age to the inlaws in Germany.”
Then your boss is getting ripped. I just quoted health insurance today and didnt see anything above 900 a month, 2 adults, 1 child, no co-pay, 500 deductable. If your boss is paying 1600 a month, something is going on, signed up with all the health risks or something.
2,000 deductable was 380 a month, 15 dollar copay.

WHAT A BUNCH OF UNNECESSARY BS, AT A TIME WHEN SO MANY MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES MUST BE DEALT WITH. I SEE THAT THE 911 NEIGHBOR HAS CONFIRMED WHAT WAS ON THE TAPE – SHE HELD BACK UNTIL NOW OUT OF FEAR. SHE WAS ASKED TWICE RE RACE OF “INTRUDERS” – FINALLY SHE SAID “I’M NOT SURE.”