Can We Put The Same Sex Marriage Issue To Rest Already! Enough Is Enough!

Vice President Joe Biden

May 7, 2012 By: D.DiFrancesco

Blog Site: http://www.newsviewsandtools.com/blog

Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday he was "absolutely comfortable" with the idea of same-gender marriage.

"I just think that the good news is that as more and more Americans come to understand what this is all about, it is a simple proposition: Who do you love? Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person who love?" Biden said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

He then followed up with, "I think 'Will and Grace' did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody has ever done," , referring to the former NBC comedy.

So what is wrong with the Vice President’s comments?  Nothing!  Whether this is his view or the view of the administration is totally irrelevant.   What it shows is that the Vice President at least, holds the same opinion that most contemporary thinking Americans have, that the LGBT community deserves the same rights and respect that the heterosexual community currently enjoys.

Those that oppose these rights are typically our evangelical brothers and sisters as well as  those otherwise predisposed toward religion intermingling with all things.  These very same individuals will cry for the separation of church and state while plotting to inject their religious views into our public lives.  Unfortunately, you can't have it both ways.

The founding fathers worked very hard to keep their religious views out of the public realm.  Did their views ever influence their decisions...probably simply because they were human, but those such as Thomas Jefferson made a committed effort to avoid religious influence in public policy.  We should do the same at any cost.

Same Sex Marriage - Getty Images/Comstock

Those that take the anti-gay marriage viewpoint are ultimately denying not just marital  rights, but the civil rights of this segment of our population.  Doing so is not going to make them go away, no matter how hard they try.  So why then as a nation shouldn't we embrace them, they are our brothers and sisters, and fellow human beings after all.

Long term, what affect with any of this have on the religious right?  Absolutely none!  Heterosexuals will always be heterosexuals, and homosexuals will still be homosexual.  A marital equality law will in no way change that.  All it will do is give legal rights to same sex partners that they don't currently have.  That in my view, is a good thing and does not infringe on my rights at all, but instead enhances another's life.

Why Vice President Biden's comments have been such a focus of media attention is beyond me.  For all of the flack that he takes for his misstatements, this time I think that he is spot on.

Take religion out of the same sex marriage issue and it becomes a non-issue instantly.  Equal rights are equal rights for all under the constitution so lets separate church and state from the issue, as it should be, and put this to rest once and for all.

What side do you take on the issue?

Education, The Political Pawn That Could Lead To The Downfall Of America

Education, The Political Pawn That Could Lead To The Downfall Of America

April 27, 2012  By D. DiFrancesco

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." 

Thomas Jefferson

President Thomas Jefferson

For all of his faults, Thomas Jefferson was a huge proponent of free public education up through and including university education.  He viewed educating the populace as one of, if not the most important safeguards to preserving our democracy.

Why is it then that education is always one of the first things that gets put on the chopping block when budget discussions occur.

1786 August 13. (to George Wythe) "I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness...Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish & improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils [tyranny, oppression, etc.] and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance."

Thomas Jefferson

For the first time in our history, our children are receiving less of an education than previous generations did.  In a country as great as ours, this is an absolute disgrace.

If you want to see examples of this, you need to look no further than this weeks headlines. Contained within you will find examples of our nations educational system being used as a pawn for political gain, and in some cases profit.

The Washington Post reports, House approves student loan plan; White House vows veto over health fund depletion,  Please tell me how bankrupting college students before they even get to truly contribute to society is in this nations best interest!  What we are looking at is the Republican Party tying their student loan plan to an attempt to destroy the President's health care initiative.

READ THE COMPLETE POST.

Has President Obama Overstepped His Constitutional Authority As Republicans Claim?

President Barack Obama

Read the complete article at my new blog site!

April 25, 2012

By: D. DiFrancesco

We Can’t Wait - President Obama's slogan signifying the administrations unwillingness to wait for Congress to decide on domestic policy issues.

President Obama is not letting congressional gridlock slow our economic growth.

"Without a doubt, the most urgent challenge that we face right now is getting our economy to grow faster and to create more jobs…. we can’t wait for an increasingly dysfunctional Congress to do its job. Where they won’t act, I will."

- President Barack Obama, October 24, 2011

Is President Barack Obama's willingness to use all of the tools at his disposal, and in the process bypassing Congress, appropriate in light of the ongoing gridlock caused by the extreme partisanship and inflexibility that exists in the right wing of the Republican Party?

Selfishly, I would say yes, but does history support this?

Read the complete article at my new blog site!

Hatred Has No Place In American Politics Unless You Are A Republican

April 23, 2012

Hatred Has No Place In American Politics Unless You Are A Republican

Like anything else, when you repeat something often enough, there will be an element in society that starts to believe it.  This is the case with the repeated statements that try to portray President Barack Obama as anti-American.

Rocker and Republican Mouthpiece Ted Nugent

Symptomatic of the problem would be comments made recently by rocker Ted Nugent at the NRA convention in St. Louis on April 14, 2012.

Nugent's statement that the Obama administration is a "vile, evil America-hating administration" that is "wiping its ass with the Constitution" and his claim that "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year", were not uncharacteristic seeing that he has spewed similar hate talk in 2007.

What is disturbing, and should be to everyone regardless of party affiliation, is that this type of commentary is tolerated.  Lets look at the words and actions of those who portend to speak for the Republican party.

In a prepared statement, Romney's campaign, in response to Nugent's comments said that, "Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil."

Read the complete story at my new blog site.

Do Higher Income Tax Rates Produce Lower Unemployment? History Says They Do!

April 18, 2012

By: D. DiFrancesco

Out of my own curiosity, I decided to look at the relationship between the top income tax rates by year and the annual unemployment rate.  My conclusions are based on the years 1950 through 2011.  I would also like to state that I am neither an accountant nor an economist so the statements I am making are my personal opinion based on what I see in the numbers.

The figures used for my conclusions were derived from two sources, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Tax Policy Center.

In the process of doing this analysis I learned some things which I found pretty fascinating...

• The top tax rate during the 61  years being reviewed  occurred in 1953 with a rate of 92% and ironically, the annual unemployment rate was the lowest of any of the years sampled at 2.93%.

READ THE COMPLETE STORY.

Mitt Romney, Wayne LaPierre, and the NRA Perfect Together...None Of Them Can Tell The Truth

National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre

Back in November of 2011, then executive vice president of the National Rifle Association Wayne LaPierre said, "It's bad politics to be on the wrong side of the Second Amendment at election time.  They're [Democrats] trying to fog the issue through the 2012 election and deceive gun owners into thinking he's [President Obama]  something he's not, which is pro-Second Amendment."

As expected the portrayal of President Obama as being anti-gun is resurfacing as the 2012 Presidential election nears, with Mitt Romney jumping on the pro-gun bandwagon in an attempt to score brownie points with the NRA and its now president Wayne LaPierre.

Romney speaking at the Annual National Rifle Association Convention in St. Louis on April 13, 2012 said, "We need a president who will enforce current laws, not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners. President Obama has not. I will."

READ THE COMPLETE STORY.

Vermont Passes Landmark Resolution Calling for Constitutional Amendment to End Corporate Personhood

A demonstration calling for the overturn of Citizens United in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on February 23. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In what I hope is the first of many, the Vermont State Senate voted 26-3 to call for a constitutional amendment to make it clear that corporations are not people.

The measure, spearheaded by State Senator Virgina Lyons (D) in conjuction with Move to Amend was supported in a bipartisen fashion.

Aquene Freechild, the senior organizer with Public Citizen’s Democracy Is For People Campaign says, “Support for the resolution cut across party lines. Six towns in Republican districts and 13 cities and towns that have sent both Democrats and Republicans to the state Legislature voted for the resolution by wide margins.  This bipartisan opposition to the Citizens United ruling mirrors several nationwide polls on the issue.”

Read the complete story.

Rep. Allen West's Ignorant Comments Show Why the Republican Party Is Not The Party of the American People

With all of the negative and horribly unhelpful comments made by representatives of both the Republican and Democratic party's this election season, Rep. Allen West's (R-FL) has to be some of the most inflammatory I have heard.

We have had Republican talking head, Rush Limbaugh's insulting remarks to Sandra Fluke, calling her a slut and a prostitute after her testimony before House Democrats.  And just yesterday, Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen's comment about Ann Romney, who as a stay at home mom, "never worked a day in her life." inciting a Republican backlash and causing everyone from the White House to RNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to apologize and distance themselves from her comments.

Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

As if these were not enough, now we have Rep. Allen West, who when asked by a constituent at a town hall meeting in Jensen Beach, FL, how many members of Congress are "card-carrying Marxists?"  stated, "I believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party."  Has the entire Republican Party gone off the deep-end?

West's campaign manager, Tim Edison, in what appears to be an attempt to soften the inflammatory rhetoric spewed by the Representative, says the members in question belong to the Congressional Progressive Caucus.  What does that mean as if it is any less disrespectful.

Read the complete story.

Mitt Romney is Unelectable and I think the Republicans Know It

Rick Santorum - (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

Its fun to hypothesize about where the Republican party goes from here with the sudden departure of Rick Santorum from the race.

Clearly, short of some stunning revelation completely disparaging Mitt Romney, he is certain to be the Republican presidential nominee running against Barack Obama.

That being said, there is a theory floating around more liberal circles, that Rick Santorum left the race to position himself to run in 2016 should Mitt Romney lose the 2012 Presidential election.  In reality this isn’t very far fetched.

Mitt Romney is one of the weaker candidates that either party has put forward in many years.  A case could be made that his frontrunner status was achieved by simply out-fundraising and outspending his competitors.

Read the complete story.

Santorum Out, Mitt Romney...Last Man Standing, Almost

You just have to love the Republicans and the absolute disfunction they operate under and the disdain the candidates have for each other.

Rick Santorum at Exit Speech

Rick Santorum decided to suspend his campaign today culminating with a 14 minute speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Ironically...or maybe not so ironically, Santorum did not endorse Mitt Romney.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus issued this statement on Santorum's decision to suspend his campaign:

"Today, Senator Santorum has made a commendable decision. He has decided to put his country, party, and desire to defeat President Obama ahead of any personal ambition. I applaud his decision and congratulate him on the campaign he has run."

Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney's campaign issued their own statement on Santorum's decision:

"Senator Santorum is an able and worthy competitor, and I congratulate him on the campaign he ran. He has proven himself to be an important voice in our party and in the nation. We both recognize that what is most important is putting the failures of the last three years behind us and setting America back on the path to prosperity."

In a classic narcissistic fashion, Newt Gingrich says, "I think it makes it clearer that there's a conservative, named Newt Gingrich, and there's Mitt Romney, I have a great, great respect for how hard Rick worked, he was the personification of courage."

Read the complete story.

Republicans Hope for Economy to Fail...More Suffering for the Middle Class

It should come as no surprise that the Republican party and its candidates are hoping for the failure of President Barack Obama's economic policies going into November's election.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said criticism from Republicans on Friday’s worse-than-expected jobs report was reflective of their political motives.

“What's really bothersome to me is that it almost seems like my Republican colleagues in Congress and Mitt Romney are rooting for economic failure,” Wasserman Schultz told CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley. “I mean, they've been hyper focused on one job, Barack Obama's, for really the last two years. And we all need to be pulling together to focus on moving the economy forward for the middle class and for working families.”

Read the complete article.

Corporate Personhood and Citizens United Will be the Death of America if Not Reversed

President Thomas Jefferson

The plight of our nation can best be seen in the rise of corporate influence in our electoral process and in its insertion into our legislative process.

Our founding fathers made it abundantly clear that corporations and banking were the greatest threats to the “Grand Experiment”, The United States of America.

With the prominence of the Tea Party movement and the loathing of the American citizenry by the Republican party, we seeing the greatest fears of Jefferson, Madison and Lincoln coming true in our lifetime.

It thought it would serve as a fitting example to provide some of the more memorable quotes regarding the corporatization of our government below.

“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
--Thomas Jefferson, 1816

Read the complete story.

Romney Out of Touch and Spouting Lies in Preparation for the General Election

April, 5, 2012

By: D. DiFrancesco

Mitt Romney

I am now firmly convinced of what I had only suspected for months now, the Republican presidential candidates have run out of things to complain about.

Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee for President is beginning to firm up his talking points  for the general election in November. Items such as the economy, gas prices, the middle class, and the size of government are key on his list.

Lets take a look at these one by one and see how things stand.

The Economy

Mitt Romney stated the following on Tuesday, "There is no question that under this president, this recovery has been the most tepid, the most weak, the most painful since the beginning of our recorded economic history, and I'm including the Great Depression."

Read the full article.

White House Justifies President's Comments Made to the Supreme Court Over Obamacare

April 4, 2012

By D. DiFrancesco, newsviewsandtools.com

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney attempted to defend President Barack Obama’s remarks to the Supreme Court, stating that he did not intend to question the court’s authority to rule on the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

In reviewing the President’s comments below, one could easily construe his statements as implying that the justices could not overturn the law because it would set a legal precedent that overturned the vote of a democratically elected congress..

Read the complete article.

Obama Confronts Republicans for Covertly Promoting Social Darwinism on the Backs of the Poor

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis)

During a speech today at an Associated Press luncheon, President Barack Obama finally called the House budget plan supported by Mitt Romney and a vast majority of Republicans exactly what it is, “social darwinism”.

This budget, proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis) and passed by the house on a primarily partisan 228 -191 vote will be disastrous for the middle class, the poor, and the elderly and the Republicans don’t seem to care in the least.

This budget will lower the tax rates by eliminating the six tax brackets in favor of two, one at 10% and the upper level at 25% down from 35% for the wealthiest Americans.  In addition, this budget aims to slow the growth of the federal deficit at the expense of social programs that help the poor and elderly.

Read the complete story.

Obama Comments on Obamacare Case Currently Before the Supreme Court

President Barack Obama

April 2, 2012

During a press conference at the White House attended by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President Barack Obama issued a bold statement to the Justices of the Supreme Court regarding his healthcare initiative, the Affordable Care Act, also know as "Obamacare".

Obama stated, "I'm confident this (Obamacare) will be upheld because it should be upheld". He went on to say that overturning the law would be "an unprecedented and extraordinary step", comparing a rejection of the law to judicial activism.

Read the full article.

Time is Running Out for Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Speaking in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had made it abundantly clear that the time for diplomacy to work to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program has come. She stated that talks attempting to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons would resume in mid-April.

Talks will resume in Istanbul, Turkey on April 13. Clinton says that "Iran's window of opportunity for a peaceful resolution will not remain open forever". A successful meeting will likely be the only way to prevent a U.S. or Israeli military strike of their nuclear facilities.

Read full article.

Did Santorum Call President Obama the "N" Word?

Republican Preidential Candidate Rick Santorum

In a speech before supporters in Janesville, Wisconson just days before the Republican primary Rick Santorum has seemingly put his foot in his mouth for what may be the final time.

Mr. Santorum appears to have called President Obama a "government nig", and then immediately changing the direction of his speech to stop himself.

A brief video of the section of the speech in question is available below.

See full story and video.

Obama Ok's New Sanctions Against Iran

President Barack Obama

It is being reported that President Barack Obama is going forward with a series of new sanctions aimed at squeezing Iran's oil exports. The President only decided to pursue additional sanctions after it was determined that their is a sufficient supply of oil on the world market to not harm the U.S. and it's allies.

The United States will implement new sanctions that penalize foreign banks that continue to purchase oil from Iran. This action also aims to further isolate Iran's central bank which makes virtually all of the payments made for oil purchased on the open market.

Read the rest of the story.

More Twists in the Trayvon Martin Case, Zimmerman Accuses Martin of Attacking Him

Trayvon Martin

The story of Trayvon Martin's death at the hands of George Zimmerman keeps taking more bizarre twists and turns all in the name of justifying his actions.

Regardless of Zimmerman's claims of self-defense it can't be disputed that he initiated the tragic string of events that lead to the death of Trayvon Martin.

The simple fact that he was following this young man in his car.  The recording of his own call to 911 states that when asked if he was following Trayvon, he said "yes" and was told not to follow him.  Then he exited his vehicle and confronted the boy.  The 911 call from neighbors in the area has the sounds of Trayvon screaming for help, followed by a gunshot and then silence.

George Zimmerman is now trying to turn the incident around and claim that Trayvon Martin attacked him, knocked him to the  ground and began pounding his head on the concrete sidewalk.  Although no evidence is available to corroborate his claim, had Trayvon actually done this it would likely have been out of fear and his instinct to survive in a situation which he perceived to be life threatening.

This police video of Zimmerman shows no signs of any injuries whatsoever.

See the video and read the rest of the story.

Will the Affordable Care Act be Judged by Politics or the Constitution?

Mitch McConnell

As the third and final day of verbal arguments before the Supreme Court commence over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, speaking for his like-minded colleagues says that, "We would want to more modestly approach this with more incremental fixes, not a massive Republican alternative".

This is another way of saying that they are going to let the "free market" solve the issue since the free market knows best.  This my friends, is a load of garbage!

Read the rest of the story.

Supreme Court Considers the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, Bowing to Republican Propaganda

As the battle continues in the halls of the United States Supreme Court over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and more specifically the individual mandate portion of the act, both sides of the issue have come out in force to voice their opinions.

United States Supreme Court

The issue before the highest court in the land is concerned with whether Congress has the authority to require all American citizens to have health insurance, or be penalized for not having it.

Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution states that, "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States".

Read the rest of the story.

Afghanistan Should We Pull Out Now?

This a brief, personal commentary on yesterday's tragedy in Afghanistan.

The deaths of Afghan civilians as reported yesterday at the hands of an as yet unnamed American soldier is deplorable, regrettable, and down right sad.  In defense of him, if there is really any defense at all, is that he probably should never have been put back into a combat situation again.

Scene from Afghanistan

Here is a man who more than performed his duty by serving 3 tours in Iraq and somewhere in the process received a traumatic brain injury, had marital problems, was cleared medically for combat, and then was sent to Afghanistan for another tour.  At what point is enough enough?  This man with all he has gone through probably did not need to do another tour of duty in a battle zone.  Clearly he had psychiatric problems which likely presented themselves long before he was deployed for the fourth time.

How many times, and for how long can one be put into these kinds of unusually stressful situations and be expected to come out of them with no side affects?  It only takes one tour to change a persons life forever.  How much damage is caused by repeated exposure?

I know there has been discussion and recent comments by members of both political parties and the Republican candidates for President as to whether we should get out of Afghanistan even earlier than the end of 2014.  Strategy is something that I think we always need to consider and reconsider, but in the case of Afghanistan, we need to try to leave the country, which we invaded, in better condition than when we got there.

Unfortunately they have a president in Hamid Karzai, who is generally unpopular and viewed as a puppet of the United States.  They have and will continue to have tribal disputes as a normal course of business because culturally this is how it has always been and lastly, and most importantly, the Taliban appear to be waiting for our imminent departure so that they can once again begin their reign of terror on the people of Afghanistan.

These are not the things our brave men and women are fighting for and giving their lives for.  As someone with a son fighting the war in Afghanistan, I find that as much as I want him to come home, I also want his sacrifice for our country to mean something.

Walking away now will not make us any safer and would likely result in Afghanistan's resurgence as a friendly terrorist training ground.  Yes, we may need to change strategy and rethink our definition of what a win is, but 10 years into this battle we can scarcely afford to cut and run leaving the country in turmoil.

I mourn for the Afghan families who died at the hands of our service member and I worry about the comments levied by the Taliban threatening to behead Americans.  As a father of a soldier it is natural to be concerned.  What we have to remember is that the greatest majority of our armed forces members are outstanding, brave, and honorable people and that the actions of this individual are not representative of the good works that are being done.

I would ask that we not let the actions of this soldier soil the honorable service provided by the great majority of our men and women in uniform.  By all means lets have constructive dialogue about the course of this war, but not at the expense of the safety of our soldiers.

Keystone Pipeline Defeated in the Senate, Win for Obama

Clearly many of our politicians either think the American public is stupid or they themselves are plain ignorant.

Today, the Senate narrowly blocked an amendment to speed along approval and construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.  The amendment was defeated with a 56 to 42 vote.  Sixty votes in favor were required for passage.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) suggested the amendment was four votes shy of the 60-vote threshold because of President Obama’s efforts to dissuade senators from voting for it.

“President Obama's personal pleas to wavering senators may have tipped the balance against this legislation," McConnell said. "When it comes to delays over Keystone, anyone looking for a culprit should now look no further than the Oval Office."

Senate Republicans, along with a handful of Democrats, 11 to be exact, are hell-bent on getting this oil pipeline originating in Canada, extended into Texas.  Short term, the pipeline will provide jobs to American workers while it is being built, but after it is built many of those jobs will disappear.

In addition, as shown by Mitch McConnell's comments, Republicans think that this pipeline will help reduce our gasoline prices.  I've got news for you, it will not!  The United States is already producing more domestic oil under President Obama than was produced under his predecessor in the later years of his two terms and yet gas prices continue to rise.

As things stand now, for the first time since 1949, the United States exported more gasoline, heating oil and diesel fuel last year than it imported, the Energy Department reported.  This means that if oil companies wanted to bring the cost of gasoline down, it would very easy to do being that their is neither a shortage of crude oil nor a shortage of gasoline.

What the Keystone XL pipeline will do, is provide an additional revenue stream for big oil, namely BP a British company and Royal Dutch.  Obviously neither of these companies is American.  This oil, like much of the oil that is produced domestically will be processed into gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating oil and shipped overseas to Europe, China, and any number of other countries.  The American public will not see a drop of this oil!

“According to reports the President of the United States is personally lobbying senators to oppose a Keystone XL pipeline amendment in the United State Senate today,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a briefing with reporters. He added, “By personally lobbying against the Keystone pipeline, it means the president of the United States is lobbying for sending North American energy to China and lobbying against American jobs."

How does his comment make any sense?  What House Speaker John Boehner is doing, is what the Republican party always seems to do, and that is to try to  instill fear and misinformation into the conversation.  Unfortunately it has no basis in fact and must be completely discounted.

Senate Republicans will continue to blame President Obama for high gas prices and for his failure to push through the approval and construction of this pipeline. What the U.S. would get from this pipeline is the potential for an environmental disaster, not cheaper oil and certainly not cheaper gasoline which we would have today if big oil chose to take care the people at home first instead of their pocketbooks.  

Those that are staunch proponents of unfettered free markets should love the current trend in gas prices.  Let's place the blame where it belongs...on the oil companies, not President Obama.