Bless Our Hearts

cheeseburger anyone?

2010-11-05T09:36:00.005-05:00

I'm sure you all thought I was long gone. In fact, at a time, I thought I was. I just didn't have the heart to blog anymore. The country has been spiraling out of control--and I just had to close myself from it--to maintain my own sanity.

Well, I'm back. Hopefully for good.

So, I am considered a pretty healthy eater. I rarely eat out, I try to cook my own healthy meals...but I also work full time, go to school full time, volunteer in my community, and sometimes, well, I just don't have TIME. So yes, I drive through the dreaded drive thru--get me a greasy burger and greasy fries--and I feel NO REMORSE.

Southerngirl--where on earth are you going with this, you ask?

To San Fran.

They have lost their minds.

And so have my friends.

My good ol' trusty FB account always provides for some very interesting topics of discussion. Wednesday was no exception....enjoy, I most certainly did. (Some people are just beyond insane).

LIBERAL: I love San Francisco for banning happy meals!

SouthernGirl: Glad they think parents can think for themselves. :)

LIBERAL: If parents could think for themselves we wouldn't have an obesity epidemic among children.... I think parents have had their chance, it's time for kids to.

THIRD PARTY: Totalitarianism "for the good of the people" is still totalitarianism.

SouthernGirl: Sure, SOME parents do a terrible job...My concern is--when do we stop telling people what to do/how to do it and just let them suffer their own consequences, ya know? I mean--why just outlaw happy meals? Why not add televisi...on, video games, etc.? I don't know, I just feel like it might be crossing a line into something that is bigger and scarier than what we can imagine. PLUS...happy meals are smaller portions. NOW, those parents will just buy a regular sized meal and give it to the children. FINALLY...there are days when I just really want a greasy burger, and not from the regular meal. I guess all I should really hope for is I never get a craving while in San Fran. :)

LIBERAL: Slippery slope arguments are weak guys. If we can keep kids from smoking and drinking, we can keep them from eating poo on a bun (aka fast food beef). Doesn't mean we will suddenly be in a dictatorship.

COMEDIAN: But I....I....I like happy meals.

SouthernGirl: I don't believe it is a slippery slope argument. I believe that there has to be a point when enough is enough. If you don't like fast food, ok, don't eat it. If Jim Bob likes it, well, then he will have to face the consequences and it is not your job to tell him whether he can have it or not. As for children, no government better tell me if my child can have a happy meal or not. That is my choice as a parent.

SouthernGirl: I suppose, I just fear the nanny state is getting to be too much. We need to teach proper nutrition, respect, so on and so forth, but we can not take away people's choice, even if that choice will clog their arteries.

THIRD PARTY: "Slippery slope arguments" aren't weak when the subject of the argument is our government, who have proven time and time again that they will take away every right we will let them. B: Just because you and 51% or more of San Franciscans p...refer and can afford Whole Foods gluten free organic farm raised grass fed all natural carcinogen free carbon neutral humane green tea ginko boloba beef doesn't give you or them the right to meddle in my "shut the hell up and eat this so I can make it through this shopping trip without freaking killing you" situation. C: And don't even get me started on the hypocrisy in banning ONLY happy meals, that's just retarded. If I can't buy a happy meal, I can buy a McDouble, small fry and a small drink for $3.18 and give my kid a dollar instead of the piece of shit toy and they're still getting the shaft nutritionally. If they actually gave a shit and weren't just pandering to their granola-head constituency, they'd shut McDonalds down entirely. 3. I ate happy meals growing up AND smoked and drank and I turned out JUST F-F-F-F-FINE. Granted, I'm three inches shorter than average, have an enlarged heart and severe psychological and emotional issues, but compared to a lot of... er... some.... ok, a few people, I'm the picture of health. You can have my kids' Happy Meals when you pry them from their cold, dead hands.

COAST GUARD: Im loving it! Sorry just had to do it.

COMEDIAN:This argument is silly. Who the fuck really eats McDonalds anymore. The real issue is what they are fed at school, period. Anyways, its not the governments fault, or the parents, or even McDonalds....Its that Godforsaken Marilyn Mansons fault. You guys are all stupid!

THIRD PARTY: I bet San Francisco schools have some pretty kickass lunches.

LIBERAL: Ok you're right. On that same token, we need to remove penalties for smoking crack while preggers, beating ones own child and child sexual abuse if it's done by parents. It's a parent's right to choose!!!!!!!! In all seriousness, I never tho...ught I'd say this but COMEDIAN you are so right!See More

LIBERAL: Just sat down at the gate at the airport across from an obese woman eating .... Wait for it ..... A Happy Meal!

COMEDIAN: Im right all the time. BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!

THIRD PARTY: In LIBERAL'S world, Happy Meals are like incestuous child rape. Someone should outlaw them so that fat woman will be incapable of making stupid decisions about her diet and activity level and become fit and healthy as a result.

LIBERAL: Oh so the slippery slope can only go one way? I'm learning here....

THIRD PARTY: Yeah, you have to keep the leaps of logic within one or two light years of each other. Goverment taking away one right --> government taking away others. Feeding a kid a happy meal-------------------------------------------------------------...--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> kidrape.

Bayh Resigns

2010-02-16T14:56:00.002-06:00

FROM The Washington Post: "After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned," Bayh said at a press conference in Indianapolis. Bayh cited the lack of bipartisan comity as one of the main reasons for the decision. "There is too much partisanship and not enough progress -- too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving," he said. "Even at a time of enormous challenge, the peoples' business is not being done." He specifically cited the recent vote that killed the creation of a debt commission as evidence of the partisan gridlock."

How to Fix Congress

2010-02-05T13:41:00.002-06:00

I just got this email forward and I must say, I think it is PERFECT. I am 1000% in support of this. Send this on to your friends and family as well! It's time to do something. Being in D.C. SHOULD NOT be a lifetime career. They forget what it's like to actually be an American citizen once they're there too long!

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six year Senate terms

B. Six Two year House terms

C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

2. No Tenure/No Pension:

A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay he or she are out of office.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work...

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security:

All funds in the Congressional retire-ment fund moves to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates with the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, server your term(s), then go home and back to work.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

5. Congress will no longer vote them-selves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make this contract with congressmen; congress-men made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

Another Tax Threat

2010-02-04T09:13:00.002-06:00

From our friends at the US Chamber of Commerce:
Some politicians in Congress are proposing a new "tax on financial transactions" ... the last thing our recovering economy needs and another obstacle for America's job creators.
The stock transaction tax would assess a fee on the sale or purchase of any stock, raising transactions costs, forcing businesses overseas, and creating a loophole that only lawyers and lobbyists would benefit from.
Bottom line: this tax would increase the cost of doing business in America, limit opportunities for investors and sacrifice more American jobs.
Not surprisingly, this new tax is backed by Big Labor, and would impose a .25% tax on all stock trades in the misguided hope of raising $150 billion for another stimulus bill.
But this bill won't stimulate the economy -- it will do the exact opposite.
In fact, a similar transaction tax was repealed by Congress in 1966 for the depressing effect it had on the American economy.

Once repealed, costs fell and the number of Americans investing in the stock market dramatically increased -- helping markets grow and prosper.

If you ask me, I'm getting REALLY tired of these "know it alls" that are in O's administration that have NO idea how to successfully run a business (let alone a country) telling us what is and isn't good for us. Stay away from my money!!!

riddle me this

2010-02-01T08:48:00.003-06:00

How can ANYONE use the "Bush spent too much money excuse" now?

2010 budget released--sending our country into a $1.56 trillion deficit. Now that is the way to start a Monday morning!!

Graph pulled from March 24, 2009 post on The Foundry

The State of Obama Address

2010-01-28T13:24:00.002-06:00

I haven’t written on this blog in some time, but last night’s “State of Obama” speech led me to respond in the manner I would have hoped the conservative opposition might have responded.

First, he is an effective speaker – his delivery is fine, even though he was noticeably more subdued than in past speeches or on the campaign trail. It is the content, however, that gives me pause. We were hoping for a move to the right, not a mere head fake. Such a move would have been understandable and appropriate for a politician who was not so narcissistic that he cannot see the obvious. Instead, we got a less-than-impassioned defense of failed policy.

Defiant He tried to offer a defiant tone, but his defiance was only of the Constitution, separation of powers, and the will of the people. The Supreme Court’s recent decision was a strong defense of the First Amendment, which no fair-minded constitutional scholar could fault. Every election of substance since his inauguration has been a clear statement of opposition to his big government, big spending, leftist policies. Does he not see that the people overwhelmingly disapprove of his primary goals of healthcare “reform” and cap-and-trade initiatives? Is it not clear to everyone that these major moves toward a socialized command economy are anathema to all but those who would trade liberty for security?

Resolute His “we don’t quit – I don’t quit” line was more recalcitrant, truculent, and naïve than it was resolute. This kind of willful ignorance in the face of the obvious would be laughable if he weren’t holding the job he holds. It is strangely incongruent to use America’s history of resolution in the face of great threats as a basis for policy initiatives designed to destroy that fiber, and leave us all dependent social democrats hoping for favors from the government.

Mea Culpa Even here, where he has obviously screwed up, losing key elections and watching key initiatives die a slow death while he fails to show real leadership, he can’t bring himself to admit that he failed. He offers instead that “he failed to explain it well enough.” That is no admission, and it doesn’t fly anyway. Does he think voters don’t know what his cobbled-together policy will do to this country? His alibi is much like the guy who robbed the grocery store saying, upon his conviction, that he did nothing wrong – he simply didn’t explain to the jury well enough why he needed that money more than the store owner.

Populist Whenever a politician is losing ground, there is always the populist approach. This elitist Ivy Leaguer vainly attempted a Trumanesque approach, against Wall Street and in defense of the middle class. As to the former, he has surrounded himself with former Goldman Sachs and Wall Street executives who have protected these greed-mongers from the effects of their own failures, at the expense of taxpayers. By giving huge bailouts to political cronies on Wall Street, he has saddled future generations with the cost of their gambles and patent disregard of risk. And his keystone agenda items promise to saddle the middle class with more taxes, more costs, fewer jobs, and a failed healthcare system – hardly a defense of middle class security or prosperity.

Patriotic It is this affront, when Presidents throw out their obligatory statements about the strength, decency and courage of this country and its people, that most offends me. As a soldier, I was prepared to fight and even die to defend those great principles upon which this country was founded and thrived. But there is no copyright on the use of patriotic phrases, so politicians who would intentionally destroy all we have built not only trot them out, but are actually “offended” if their patriotism is questioned. Does he not know that we did not succeed by punishing the producers, nor by failing to protect our vital national security interests both here and overseas? Does he not understand that we rose to world prominence by renouncing the repeated attempts of elitists to socialize every aspect of our economy and social policy? He says he wants to “carry the dream forward”, but I would ask – just what dream is he talking about? That America will take its place as yet another weak or failed social democracy? He says he will “never accept second place for America”, so I ask – is third place better? Fourth? We have lost freedoms sufficiently in this country under his watch that we now rank below the top ten countries in liberty and freedom – what is it that he thinks we should accept – a failed state, soaked with debt and defaulting, in order to pay for his dreams of wealth distribution and government largesse? Having defended the principles of individual liberty, a market economy, and small government most of my life, I am both afraid of and offended by “patriots” who would give all that away for their own grandiose visions of statism. His is not the America I defended, and it is not the America I want.

Side note: Southern Girl apologizes for neglecting Bless Our Hearts. It is not intentional. Life has snuck up on the both of us--and we had to choose our priorities. Unfortunately, Bless Our Hearts fell to the bottom of the list. We both hope to improve our presence in 2010.

Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8

2009-11-16T08:49:00.000-06:00

Psalm 109:8 May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

2nd Amendment Wisdom

2009-10-23T08:56:00.002-05:00

Below is an email I received earlier this morning. Most are stated in jest--but have a lot of truth behind the comical words. I understand the want to keep our citizen's safe. What I can't understand is the thought that TAKING AWAY guns from honest citizens will do the job. I'm not sure how many of you have had the privilege of being a part of an urban community, whether by being a neighbor, working there or attending a school. I'm not sure it really matters. If you have been a part of an urban community you KNOW that the "bad apples" don't care what the law says. They don't care if the 2nd Amendment is revoked. They will find guns and they will use them. So, you have your law abiding citizens that have done away with their guns, because they are illegal, suddenly faced with a law breaker who has a gun. Where is the protection in that?

Also, I once again feel that there is an ulterior motive behind making gun laws so strict or doing away with them altogether. Like I stated yesterday, this is a sneaky, sneaky administration that adores Chicago-style politics. Take away the guns from EVERYBODY except...those in power. Frightening. Frightening. Frightening.

Have a great weekend. Enjoy football and cool fall weather. These days we have to fight or dig our heads in the sand. On the weekends, I choose the latter of the two. Who Dat?!?

Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch, is part Drill Instructor, And part standup comic. Here are a few of his observations on Tactics, firearms, self defense and life as we know it in the Civilized world.

"The handgun would not be my choice of weapon if I knew I was going to a fight....I'd choose a rifle, a shotgun, an RPG or an atomic Bomb instead."

"The two most important rules in a gunfight are: Always cheat and Always win."

"Every time I teach a class, I discover I don't know something."

"Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way."

"Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to beat me to death with it, cause it's going to be empty."

"If you're not shootin', you should be loadin'. If you're not loadin, you should be movin', if you're not movin', someone's gonna Cut your head off and put it on a stick."

"When you reload in low light encounters, don't put your flashlight in your back pocket... If you light yourself up, you'll look like an angel or the tooth fairy...Then you're gonna be one of 'em pretty soon."

"Do something. It may be wrong, but do something.."

"Nothing adds a little class to a sniper course like a babe in a Ghilliesuit."

"Shoot what's available, as long as it's available, until something else becomes available."

"If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That's ridiculous... If I have a gun, what in the hell do I have to be paranoid for."

"Don't shoot fast, shoot good."

"You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or use any other word you think will work but I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much the universal language."

"You have the rest of your life to solve your problems. How long you live depends on how well you do it."

"You cannot save the planet. You may be able to save yourself and your family."

"Thunder Ranch will be here as long as you'll have us or until someone makes us go away and either way it will be exciting."

More Excellent Gun Wisdom.......The purpose of fighting is to Win!

There is no possible victory in defense.. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either.

The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

1. Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, He'll just kill you.

2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

3. I carry a gun cause a cop is too heavy.

4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.

5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'

6. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.

7. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?' 'No ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.'

8. Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it!

'The true Soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because He loves what is behind him.'

A people that values its privileges above its principles will soon lose both.

'Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not..' ~ Thomas Jefferson

"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy." --Samuel Adams

If you believe in the 2nd Amendment, please forward. I just did.

The Axis of Idiots

2009-10-22T10:20:00.002-05:00

This is an email I received yesterday. I didn't write this--but in my disclaimer from yesterday, at least I'm VISITING my blog, right? I mean, it's really sad when you get your weekly reports and there are ZERO hits. I hope some of you come back to visit. Sorry for the absence. Anyway, I thought there were some pretty good points made here. Send to your friends, repost on your blog!!

"The Axis of Idiots" J.D. Pendry, Retired Sergeant Major, USMC

Jimmy Carter, you are the father of the Islamic Nazi movement. You threw the Shah under the bus, welcomed the Ayatollah home, and then lacked the spine to confront the terrorists when they took our embassy and our people hostage. You're the "runner-in-chief."

Bill Clinton, you played ring around the Lewinsky while the terrorists were at war with us. You got us into a fight with them in Somalia and then you ran from it. Your weak-willed responses to the USS Cole and the First Trade Center Bombing and Our Embassy Bombings emboldened the killers. Each time you failed to respond adequately, they grew bolder, until 9/11/2001.

John Kerry, dishonesty is your most prominent attribute. You lied about American Soldiers in Vietnam .. Your military service, like your life, is more fiction than fact. You've accused our military of terrorizing women and children in Iraq .. You called Iraq the wrong war, wrong place, wrong time, and the same words you used to describe Vietnam . You're a fake! You want to run from Iraq and abandon the Iraqis to murderers just as you did to the Vietnamese. Iraq , like Vietnam , is another war that you were for, before you were against it.

John Murtha, you said our military was broken. You said we can't win militarily in Iraq . You accused United States Marines of cold-blooded murder without proof and said we should redeploy to Okinawa . Okinawa, John? And the Democrats call you their military expert! Are you sure you didn't suffer a traumatic brain injury while you were off building your war hero resume? You're a sad, pitiable, corrupt, and washed up old fool. You're not a Marine, sir. You wouldn't amount to a good pimple on a real Marine's ass. You're a phony and a disgrace. Run away, John..

Dick Durbin, you accused our Soldiers at Guantanamo of being Nazis, tenders of Soviet style gulags and as bad as the regime of Pol Pot, who murdered two million of his own people after your party abandoned Southeast Asia to the Communists. Now you want to abandon the Iraqis to the same fate. History was not a good teacher for you, was it? Lord help us! See Dick run.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Carl Levine, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Russ Feingold, Pat Leahy, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, the Hollywood Leftist morons, et al, ad nauseam: Every time you stand in front of television cameras and broadcast to the Islamic Nazis that we went to war because our President lied, that the war is wrong and our Soldiers are torturers, that we should leave Iraq, you give the Islamic butchers - the same ones that tortured and mutilated American Soldiers - cause to think that we'll run away again, and all they have to do is hang on a little longer. It is inevitable that we, the infidels, will have to defeat the Islamic jihadists. Better to do it now on their turf, than later on ours after they have gained both strength and momentum.

American news media, the New York Times particularly: Each time you publish stories about national defense secrets and our intelligence gathering methods, you become one united with the sub-human pieces of camel dung that torture and mutilate the bodies of American Soldiers. You can't strike up the courage to publish cartoons, but you can help Al Qaeda destroy my country. Actually, you are more dangerous to us than Al Qaeda is. Think about that each time you face Mecca to admire your Pulitzer.

You are America 's 'AXIS OF IDIOTS.' Your Collective Stupidity will destroy us.. Self-serving politics and terrorist-abetting news scoops are more important to you than our national security or the lives of innocent civilians and Soldiers It bothers you that defending ourselves gets in the way of your elitist sport of politics and your ignorant editorializing. There is as much blood on your hands as is on the hands of murdering terrorists. Don't ever doubt that. Your frolics will only serve to extend this war as they extended Vietnam . If you want our Soldiers home as you claim, knock off the crap and try supporting your country ahead of supporting your silly political aims and aiding our enemies.

Yes, I'm questioning your patriotism. Your loyalty ends with self. I'm also questioning why you're stealing air that decent Americans could be breathing. You don't deserve the protection of our men and women in uniform. You need to run away from this war, this country. Leave the war to the people who have the will to see it through and the country to people who are willing to defend it.

Our country has two enemies: Those who want to destroy us from the outside and those who attempt it from within.

Semper Fi, J. D. Pendry - Sergeant Major, USMC, Retired

Justice Department Knows Best

2009-10-21T08:01:00.004-05:00

In November 2008, the town of Kinston, North Carolina voted overwhelmingly to remove partisan elections for city officials, thus having non-partisan races (like 98.4% of other municipalities in North Carolina currently practice).

Apparently, according the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE--this vote was (are you ready for it?) RACIST. Nevermind that the city has a black majority. (Those silly black folk just don't know what's good for themselves I suppose, and for you folks that read black and white, that statement was what we call SARCASM).

And just in case you want to accuse me of making this up... you can read all about it in the Washington Post, here.

"The Justice Department's ruling, which affects races for City Council and mayor, went so far as to say partisan elections are needed so that black voters can elect their "candidates of choice" - identified by the department as those who are Democrats and almost exclusively black...

...The department ruled that white voters in Kinston will vote for blacks only if they are Democrats and that therefore the city cannot get rid of party affiliations for local elections because that would violate black voters' right to elect the candidates they want."

I'm not sure what infuriates me more on this issue. The fact that the Justice Department (ummm...FEDERAL) is telling a local government (ummm...STATE) what it can and cannot do --or the fact that someone in our federal government actually BELIEVES that black voters NEED the "democrat" title next to a name in order to know who to vote for.

When is this going to stop? The Federal goverment are overstepping their boundaries in so many forms and fashions these days that it is becoming almost comical. I would think I was watching a bad movie if I wasn't witnessing each and every day.

On another note: I deeply apologize for my lack of posting here at Bless Our Hearts. I have A LOT on my plate at the moment and I had to make some decisions/cuts. One of the "cuts" had to be this blog for several reasons. First, I keep having panic attacks when I think and/or talk about today's current events. Second, some of the things going on in my life are a once in a lifetime deal and I have to give them priority (I know...so ellusive, huh?). Thirdly, I will simply repeat my first excuse. I seriously keep having panic attacks when I think too much about all this business. The General assures me he has some work to contribute so that we don't completely lose our readership during my hiatus. Let's see if he means business shall we?

A Short Rune on Dissent

2009-09-23T12:23:00.006-05:00

A Short Rune on Dissent

Ah, the cool winds of spring bring a calm precision As the pieces, masterminded by the shameless, fall into place. But summer brings a dissonance As novice, eclectic dissidents descend, Bearing stakes bangled with fluttering hues, muttering apprehension Yet, screaming comprehension. Alas, it is but a dissent of harmless tea, petty reply to the pantheon of the left, Searching for a leveling of excesses, a return to principle.

Abused and Ignored, the beating keystones of our Great Thought Are reduced, demeaned, desocialized by the dissembling mob of nine. We lay in wait, but have awakened. Mark this, Foolish One – it bodes ill for thee. Liberty embraced shall break your hold! Sycophant plans exalted, amended, then dashed. Skulk to that great Pale Abode and wait, concupiscent of change. Your taking-time has passed, and We shall be abused no more!

Hollywood and Mainstream Media

2009-09-23T10:22:00.003-05:00

Do you ever get SO frustrated with today's celebrities that you literally turn off the television--or bypass seeing a movie, just because someone plays a leading role? I do. Far too often. In fact, I sometimes battle with not going to see a blockbuster simply because I do not agree with the actors' personal beliefs.

Some (ok, most) of my friends tell me I'm ridiculous, but am I? These people tell us what we should do with our lives, how we should treat people, what we should give away, who we should vote for--though they don't follow their own advice (well except who to vote for). They lecture us from their million dollar homes. What makes them an expert in today's world? The fact that they made millions of dollars by pretending to be somebody else?!? I'm tired of listening to someone who has no idea what it is like to be an "average Joe" tell me what I should do in my home or how I should live my life.

I came across a speech that Pat Sajak gave in 2002. He took the thoughts and points I make on a daily basis and said them so eloquently that I felt I must share with blog land. Here's the full speech.

"...Former CBS News-man Bernard Goldberg has written a best- selling book called Bias, in which he maintains that the real problem with the media is not a bias based on liberal vs. conservative or Republican vs. Democrat. It is a bias based on the sameness of worldview caused by social, intellectual, educational and professional inbreeding. These are folks who travel in the same circles, go to the same parties, talk to the same people, compare their ideas to people with the same ideas, and develop a standard view on issues that makes any deviation from them seem somehow marginal, or even weird...

...At a dinner party in Los Angeles recently, our hostess was about to say some grudgingly kind words about President Bush and the way he was handling the War on Terror. She prefaced her remarks by saying, "Now I know everyone at this table voted for Al Gore, but ..." Well, she knew no such thing. She just presumed it. It's what "right-thinking" people did. This "false reality" is a phenomenon that permeates media circles.

It's the phenomenon that caused Pauline Kael, former film critic for The New Yorker, to remark after Richard Nixon's election sweep in 1972, "I can't believe it! I don't know a single person who voted for him." This was a man who won in 49 out of 50 states, and she didn't know one person who voted for him. And I don't think she was dealing in hyperbole. She simply had never met those people. She couldn't believe they really existed...

... It's the phenomenon that explains Hollywood's disdain for Big Business. You read about it in the newsmagazines and see it in the movies. Big Business is bad. The people who run these businesses are heartless, often criminal, brutes. There is no regard for the little guy. Thousands are laid off while the greedy business executives reap windfall profits. Never mind that some of the biggest and least-competitive businesses are in entertainment. They merge, they lay off thousands, while stock options accrue to the top executives. Top talent at networks and in movies get tens — even hundreds — of millions while so many of their co-workers, the little people they care so much about, lose their jobs. They simply don't see the contradiction. They are above it..."

I especially like the Big Business "evil" monster. I keep intending to do a piece on Michael Moore's new movie: "Capitalism: A Love Story." I think Jay Leno summed it up best last week when he said in more or less words--yes Michael. Capitalism is sooooo evil. It's so evil that all that profit you're making from the movie tickets and all the profits you are making off the items being sold along side the release of your movie is only ok, what, if it lines YOUR pockets???

I pledge allegiance

2009-09-23T08:33:00.003-05:00

Aired in 1969. Lest we forget the true meaning of our Pledge. Isn't it amazing that something spoken back in 1969 by a comedian could be so true today?

more on that pesky subject: Healthcare

2009-09-21T14:10:00.003-05:00

The following is a letter sent out to the New Orleans Tea Party participants. The author of the letter is an orthdontist in the Greater New Orleans area. His words hit several points I've tried to make time and again right on the head. The government makes things WORSE on a national level.:

Dear Tea Party Patriots, This one is a little long, so grab a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage as you read along.

As we approach the end of September, we know that, insofar as health care legislation is concerned, we are getting close to "put up or shut up" time for those we have elected to serve in Washington DC. I think we now all appreciate why it has been said that "laws are like sausages; it is better not to see either one of them being made."

What is it that people on all sides of the debate basically agree upon? Each of us would like to spend the least amount of our income on health care expenses. At the same time, we concede that having high quality care comes at an expense. That said, there are four things I hold with conviction:

(1) I believe health care and health insurance DOES NOT not have to be as expensive at it has become. (2) I belive that, with certain changes, health care expenses CAN be an affordable part of nearly every American's budget. (3) I believe that, when you break it all down, the biggest explanation for the rapidly escalating price of health insurance has been and continues to be.............government involvement. (4) I believe, with government out of the way, we can and will find a way to take care of everyone WITHOUT busting the bank. Allow me to elaborate. As far back as 1950, research shows that health care spending accounted for less than 5% of America's gross domestic product (GDP). By the early 1990's, it had reached approximately 13% of GDP and today it is close to 18% of the GDP. If left unchecked, it is projected to reach 20% of GDP by 2018 and will negatively impact the country's ability to fund other more pressing goals, not the least of which is national security and national defense. http://www.kff.org/insurance/upload/7692_02.pdf How did it get this way? Many people point to the great technological advances and improvements in prescription drugs over the last two decades. And while there is no doubt that newer technology and improved drugs contribute to escalating costs, they are just not enough to provide the entire explanation. The better explanation is how we now pay for medical care. In the "good old days," patients paid their doctors for services rendered. There was free competition amongst doctors, which helped control costs, and patients themselves behaved responsibly. They did not run to the doctor for every little sniffle or cough because (1) they figured they already knew what the doctor was going to recommend and (2) they knew there was a price to pay for an office visit. They used common sense to influence their decision of when to seek out a doctor and only went when they thought something might be serious.

Today, few people hesitate to run to the doctor because they know their own out-of-pocket expense is mostly (if not entirely) going to be covered by their insurance. Common sense plays no role in their decision. They figure "I've already paid for the insurance. I might as well use it." That kind of mentality, along with the way we pay for health care today, is at the very root of the problem.

I will get back to that issue in a moment, but there is another factor that compunds the problem. Several years ago in a faraway distant land, doctors used their diagnostic skills, training and experience to determine which limited tests he/she needed to establish a proper diagnosis. Again, this was paid for by the patient out of pocket, but NOT at an exorbitant cost. If it had been too expensive, doctors would have gone out of business because most people could not have afforded to pay their bills.

Today, that same doctor no longer relies on his/her training, but instead on a battery of unnecessary tests, scans, etc. to arrive at that same diagnosis. This, all at major expense not to the patient, but to the patient's insurance company. Why? On the off chance that the patient has a condition that is found in less than 1 - 5% of all patients, the doctors must literally rule out practically every known medical condition that might possibly be producing the patient's symptoms. And we all know why? The public used to understand and appreciate that (1) doctors are human and (2) treatment of the human body comes with no guarantees. A poor treatment outcome is NOT, in and of itself, a situation of medical malpractice. Yet today, patients with unfavorable outcomes often assume the doctor did something wrong. Or, even if they don't believe this to be true, they see it as a potential lottery ticket. They know that medical malpractice insurance companies will often settle out of court to avoid the time and expense associated with a trial. Yes, doctors make mistakes and doctors SHOULD be held accountable for poor treatment (as determined by their medical peers who set the standards for medical care). But malpractice lawsuits are OUT OF CONTROL and this most certainly drives up the total cost of medical care. In many instances, hospitals pay for their doctors' malpractice insurance and those costs are passed on to ALL of us via increased insurance premiums.

Now, back to the discussion of cost and how we got here. In 1965, the federal government stuck its inefficient and frequently corrupt nose into health care. It established Medicare for people aged 65 and older as a means of providing health insurance coverage to senior citizens. It simultaneously established Medicaid for low-income families and people with certain disabilities. I sincerely believe that the inflationary spiral in health care costs that we are experiencing today is directly correlated to these entitlement programs. Why?

The primary explanation is that Medicare and Medicaid essentially removed the doctor and the patient from cost-consciousness. If you and I win a gift card that allows us to spend as much as we want for a night out at Commander's Palace (for those of you NOT from New Orleans, it's one of our more fine --- and expensive -- dining establishments), we will probably order a great bottle of wine, appetizers, entree's, desserts, and perhaps an after-dinner liquor. If, however, the evening is on our own nickel, our wine selection might be a little less ambitious, we might skip the appetizers, and after-dinner drinks are probably out as well. In fact, we might not even go to Commander's Palace in the first place. Do you follow where I am going? Thanks to government's intrusion into health care WITH SEEMINGLY GOOD INTENTIONS, the unintended consequences have placed us in this untenable situation TODAY. The government, doctors and patients view it as "FREE MONEY" and the uninhibited spending habits learned from within the Medicare/Medicaid system gradually filtered into the private health insurance industry as consumers (patients) came to expect to have no additional out-of-pocket expenses for their health care.

And how ANYONE within earshot of this e-mail can place ANY confidence in government's ability to restrain spending and bend the cost curve downward over time is absolutely incomprehensible to me. You may twist the interpretation, but HISTORY DOESN'T LIE.

Medicare currently has just over $89 trillion in unfunded liabilities. An unfunded liability is the difference between the benefits that have been promised to current and future recipients versus what will be collected in dedicated taxes and Medicare premiums. If no other reform is enacted, this funding gap can only be closed in future years by substantial tax increases, large benefit cuts or both. In 1965, the government projected that Medicare expenses through 1990 would be $9 billion. Guess what?? Actual costs ended up being $67 billion !!! In 2003, the 10-year estimate for Medicare's drug benefit was $409 billion. Guess what?? Within just 3 years, it was re-calculcated at $1.2 trillion. The current estimate is that the President's health care reform plan will cost $800 billion to $1 trillion over 10 years. What do you think it will actually cost? And who do you think will end up paying for it?

Before Medicare was enacted, people understood that it was THEIR responsibility to plan and budget for basic health care and catastrophic health insurance, especially as they got older. But because government had not yet stuck its nose into the health care industry, basic health care costs and catastrophic insurance WERE ACTUALLY AFFORDABLE and would not break the budgets of people without active income.

Prior to government intrusion, the health care system worked fine. Patients had many choices amongst different types of doctors and they could find doctors they liked no matter what their budgets. Care was affordable. In the years following government intrusion, costs have gotten out of control, patients have less confidence in their doctors, lawsuits are out of control and medical costs are becoming unaffordable for the average person.

As a consequence, the government and, for that matter, the entire country is engaged in a bitter debate on how to "fix" the system the government screwed up in the first place. Our "leaders" believe that solutions include "cost-effective comparisons", government mandates, a government-run (public) option and various and sundry other GOVERNMENT solutions. Are we out of our minds?

And, for just a moment, let's ignore the cost aspect. When has ANY GOVERNMENT entity successfully run an entitlement program? Again, HISTORY DOESN'T LIE. In the United Kingdom, which has universal health care, there are an estimated 750,000 people on hospital waiting lists. And we've all heard about the horror stories of waiting to see a specialist in Canada.

Our government "leaders" try to use all the key words and phrases to make this all sound so reasonable, ethical and logical, i.e. "quality, affordable health care for all Americans." Who amongst you believes this will be the true end result? How can you possibly have such confidence when nothing in our country's history (or any country for that matter) demonstrates this will be the case in the future?

We MUST gradually phase government OUT of the health care industry and, yes, that means ending Medicare at some point in the future. The immediate gut-check response from some of you will be terror at the thought of losing your Medicare. But please remember that I said a gradual phase-out. Future generations must know, in advance, that the government will not be the primary provider of their health care funding.

But here's what you might be missing from my discussion. The reason surgeries and hospitalizations cost so much now is BECAUSE of government intrusion. With government out of the way, medical care would be as affordable as it was BEFORE. There wouldn't be many $20,000 surgeries because few people could afford them. Basic health services would be affordable and catastrophic private insurance would also be affordable. This notion that ONLY GOVERNMENT is able to take care of the elderly, the poor and the needy is PREPOSTEROUS. Get OUT of that mindset. That's what they want you to believe. Don't be a puppet.

And finally, this debate is about health care, but it is really more than just that. At its core is the debate of how much government is too much government. I, for one, have every bit of confidence in government's ability to bankrupt this system. If we do not put a stop to President Obama's plan, we are certain to face a future of increasing costs, an unparalleled appetite for "free" medical care due to the absence of cost-consciousness, an absolutely essential cost-controlling effort by government to ration care, government beauracrats telling our doctors how to practice medicine, an immense burn-out rate amongst those in the health care fields and a gradual deterioration in our overall satisfaction with the quality of medical care in America.

I believe the majority of Americans who are bothering to pay attention realize this. Hence, the current polls and the outpouring of emotion at town hall meeetings throughout the country over the summer. Now is NOT the time to get complacent. Continue to call your representatives until your fingers are exhausted and/or your voice is cracking. Tell your representatives to START OVER and make sensible decisions that REMOVE government intrusion and reward a free market system. And when the playing field is, once and for all, fair, America will figure a way (as it always does) to take care of those who are genuinely unable to take care of themselves. The outcome of this debate will shape the future of this country for generations to come. Make no mistake about it.

Best regards to all, Glenn Dubroc, Jr.

At http://www.ardocscare.com/ health care providers are asked to complete a survey that questions their thoughts on the current bills presented for healthcare reform. The results, I think say enough.

Happy Birthday to You our Dear dear Constitution

2009-09-17T11:24:00.005-05:00

On this day 222 years ago, our Constitution was brought to life. You can't help but wonder how Washington, Langdon, Gilman, Gorham, King, Johnson, Sherman, Hamilton, Livingston, Brearley, Paterson, Dayton, Franklin, Mifflin, Morris, Clymer, Fitzsimons, Ingersol, Wilson, Morris, Read, Bedford, Dickinson, Basset, Broom, McHenry, Jenifer, Carroll, Blair, Madison, Blount, Spaight, Williamson, Rutledge, Pinckney, Butler, Few and Baldwin would feel about our current leaders' lack of Constitutional knowledge, can you?

On another note, it's only BAD to be racist if you're "against" Obama. No need to worry about it when it is reversed, right? (I made mention of this in yesterday's post--though I said I heard about it from Hannity's show). Coworker was kind enough to send me this link to Rush's commentary.

Moonbattery posted a bit about the "racism" that is running rampant in this nation. "The conceit of this is that all of us who are protesting now would be perfectly content with radical socialism and trillion dollar deficits if a white president were ramming them down our throats."

INSIGHTFUL Coworker: "I had an epiphany this morning as I was driving in… Obama is trying to get all of his extreme agendas passed now, prior to 2010 elections, while he has control. Because it’s likely that Dems will lose the majority they have after those elections and he’s willing to be frustrated and “work together” and have a non-controversial 2010-2012 in preparation for reelection. I don’t know it took so long for me to figure this out."

My response? "Well, duh." (I am still a child of the 80s)

Oh--I WAS informed yesterday out on ALa's comments that I was too poor to be a republican. I quote: "SouthernGirl -OMG! You are still talking about my kitchen!If you were that impressed w/my kitchen then I know you can definitely not AFFORD TO BE A REPUBLICAN. I have two sisters that are both nurses that support the bill. My friend, a nurse,also supports it. My neighbor, a GI Dr., supports it as does my brother-in-law, a pediatrician. Maybe you just don't actually know anyone in the healthcare field." 100 points to the first person that can guess who is the author of that quote (and NO cheating).

It's rainy here. And I have to write a paper. Sorry I don't feel insightful or creative today--toodles all you racist, mobsters. Til next time.

For a good laugh...

2009-09-16T11:20:00.005-05:00

You MUST read the line noted below:

From the AP: "President Barack Obama's candid thoughts about Kanye West are provoking a debate over standards of journalism in the Twitter age."

Anyone else find this HILARIOUS?!? Standards? In Journalism? Today? Ha. If that is not the most ludicrous thing I've read all day.

But for the record, I DO think Kanye's behavior at the VMAs warrants the jackass description. As does his previous behavior. I'm beginning to believe that "Kanye West does not like white people."

(For those of you that want to try and play the race card with me--I will put it in black and white. The above statement is what we like to call a play on words--taking Kanye's original GWB statement and changing it up a little bit).

The Race Card

2009-09-16T10:23:00.010-05:00

In a Rassmussen Report released on Wednesday, 9/16/09 it was reported that 12% Say Most Opponents of Obama Health Care Plan Are Racist. 67% of voters disagree and 21% are not sure. The fact that 12% are so ignorant that they will follow/listen/believe the liberal party so blindly to believe that this is actually about race makes me sick to my stomach.

In an interview with Brian Williams on Tuesday, 9/15/09 (see Realclearpolitics.com), former President Jimmy Carter stated that an "overwhelming portion" of similar demonstrations [opposing Obamacare] are rooted in bigotry. I'm not sure how to respond to this accusation. A former president (lower case on purpose) calling a LARGE, LARGE group of Americans racist because they happen to oppose the current President's policies? Maybe he's just angry because everybody has been comparing the current administration to his failing four years. Where oh where is our Reagan?!??!

On Facebook, every single day, there is some claim of racism in the opposition to President Obama. To keep the peace, I bite my tongue--but I'm not sure how much longer I can do it. Definitely not for another 3.5 years (give or take).

And of course-if Hillary Clinton was our prez instead of Barack Obama, (still trying to ram through ridiculous bills) we'd simply have to replace all the claims of racism with claims of sexism. We'd still get a card chunked at us every time anyone opposed any liberal ideas. The media makes me sick. My liberal friends that love the race card make me sick.

I don't know about you but I am getting very, very tired of the race card. I pray every day that it is used so much it becomes like the story of the Little Boy that cried wolf.

I can see it now--"Sit down little Johnny and let me tell you about the story of the Liberal that cried Racism."

Ridiculous Right Wing Propaganda

2009-09-15T16:57:00.005-05:00

The following is an actual status on Facebook with accompanying comments:

Original Poster's Status: but I don't WANNA pay for the tooth fairy's abortion! Somebody stop the mean black man. :(

Comment Poster#1: I'm confused.....

Comment Poster #2: ^what she said

Original Poster: LOL- just poking fun at the ridiculousness of right-wing propaganda. :)

Comment Poster #1: Well in that case I like your status even though I have no idea what your referring to =)

Comment Poster #3: Ha!

Ok-here's my deal with this whole scenario. First-the original poster is calling right wing propaganda ridiculous, yet (though tongue in cheek) she shows how little she listens to ANYTHING that is not to her liking. Poster #1 goes along with original posters' thoughts (though she still doesn't get it) just because it is "calling out" those ridiculous right wingers.

And they say WE are Rush, Hannity and Glenn zombies? The idiot (comment poster #1) doesn't even know what she's agreeing to!!

I got riled up because there has been some mention of allowing abortion to be covered in this bill--and to tell a Catholic or any pro-lifer that they have to contribute to this atrocity is just, well, an atrocity.

ACORN's Woes...

2009-09-15T07:57:00.005-05:00

On Friday ACORN is pulled from any connection to the Census Bureau. Click here to review Newsbusters.com's take on it.

If that wasn't hard enough (I mean--how are we going to find another thug organization that can cushion the census to the Democrats' liking in such short time notice?)...

Monday, the Federal government overwhelmingly voted 83-7 (9 no votes) to prohibit use of funds to fund the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). (h/t to Hot Air for breaking the story).

While I was trying to research the rough couple of days that ACORN has been experiencing, I used every phrase imaginable to get ACORN stories to pop up. Do you want to know how many Mainstream News stories pulled up under a Google Search? None. None. None.

First--Van Jones went down. (BTW--is it really considered a smear campaign when people are simply restating words that came out of his mouth?!?!)

Second--ACORN has finally been brought down. (Now, if the FBI could only speed up that voter fraud investigation...)

Shall we go after the Mainstream Media next?

Bit by bit--day by day.

(Though I'd like to see Pelosi and Reid on the out list before the media)

Million American March

2009-09-14T11:08:00.008-05:00

Hmmm...no arrests. No litter left behind. Laughter and good conversations galore.

Sounds like a mob protest to me.

Too bad the mainstream media doesn't think the fact that hundreds of thousands (most likely millions) of Americans joined together on Saturday, September 12th to protest the big government spending was newsworthy. Republicans, Democrats and Independents joined together to show that "We're not going to take it anymore."

Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to D.C. this weekend and can only rely on bloggers that were there for accounts of the events. (Because WHO would rely on the media?!?!?)

Here are some good posts I have come across about Saturday's events: Infowars.com, Massive Corporate Media Coverup of Real Numbers at D.C. Rally Powerlineblog.com, CNN, "Making it up" as usual Lookingattheleft.com, Conservative Woodstock Rocks the Capital Moderateinthe middle.com, Media credibility plunges to new low

Nevermind that there were events throughout the country (see below for report on protest in Los Angeles) for those that couldn't make it to D.C. Check out Fort Worth in the rain, courtesy of Durangotexas.blogspot.

Hmmm...Off to scour through more blogs and other non-traditional media to find coverage of what actually happened on September 12, 2009 in America. When the sleeping giant officially woke up.

I would be SHOCKED if this doesn't become a historical moment in our nation's politics. The mainstream media can keep this as quiet as it wants, but because the people in D.C. and cities throughout the nation that were there in the streets that day are ordinary citizens and friends and colleagues with the fence teeters--we may just see a swing. A huge swing. I know I'd be curious. Spread the word. It's getting louder and more clear every day.

UPDATE:

Click here to check out the protest in Los Angeles from Americanpower.blogspot.com.

I got this link (great pictures from stblogustine) from one of my favorite visiting spots, ALa. (h/t ALa for the pictures below!)

Obama's Inauguration vs.

The unruly mobs of America:

The Power and Danger of Iconography

2009-09-10T11:45:00.001-05:00

As a former student of advertising, I must admit this is pretty spot on.

Teabagger Movement

2009-09-04T16:22:00.003-05:00

So--I stumbled across one of my VERY liberal friend's comment on the good ol' Facebook this morning. It read:

"Teabagger?! Hahahahahahahaha...he said he was a teabagger!:))Hahahahahahaha...he is a lone, lost teabagger, at the capitol...He asked me where he should go...Oh, the restraint that I showed:))."

Later in the conversation (after people made comments): "that is probably the most unfortunate name for a movement...EVER!"

Ok sweet, sweet friend of mine. First of all--the movement is NOT the teabagger movement. It is the Tea Party movement. Second, I have never heard a Tea Party participant refer to him or herself as a teabagger. Nope. That would be YOUR team's pet name for the movement.

When are they going to realize that they are shredding this nation at the seams and it just may not recover? This is beyond childish games.

So--my Friday vent is over. Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

I Pledge

2009-09-04T08:57:00.003-05:00

While watching the below video, excerpts from 1984 kept popping up in my mind.

What do you think about the President addressing the schools on Tuesday?

Huckabee brought up a really good point on a morning radio show this morning--the White House is saying the President is addressing students to tell them to stay in school, don't drop out, etc. BUT--it is highly likely that the "students" he is wanting to address won't be in school. AND...lots of major cities (LA, NY, etc.) are not having class on Tuesdays. He's going after middle America. Nice. I must admit--I would have had a field day with the lesson plan that the White House distributed.

I pledge to stick to my conservative values and do everything in my power to keep this nation the democracy that its founders invisioned. I pledge to be a loyal and devoted citizen of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

P.S. Have you heard the one where the PRO-healthcare reform dude bit of the CON-healthcare reform dudes finger? I can't decide if I find it humorous or disgusting that the initial reports were that the biter was an opponent to reform. Man, they're doing everything they can to destroy the anti-Obamacare movement, aren't they? Too bad--the guy that LOST his finger was actually in the opposition.

Excuse me Feds, Stay OUT of my neighborhood!!

2009-09-03T11:53:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I'm actually going to post a link out to American Thinker Blog rather than provide all the research on this blog. Rick Moran breaks it down quite well, and to be honest, I just don't have much time to be blogging, as I'm supposed to be calling on customers at this moment (that would be what we call PROCRASTINATION. Yes, I'm really, really good at it!!).

A couple of problems here:

1. This opens up a nice little loophole for the Feds to find something else of ours to tax. "You made too much money at that yard sale...you owe US 10%"

2. This should be a state job. The feds are getting WAY TOO BIG and WAY TOO GREEDY.

I understand the need to prevent faulty or recalled toys from continuing to circulate--but come on. This just seems underhanded and sneaky. They want their hands in everything. Down to our yards.

What's next?

Two Can Play At That Game

2009-09-02T09:32:00.004-05:00

There is a video of Jason Mattera going undercover at Rep. Jim Moran's town hall meeting in Virginia posted out at Moonbattery.com. My, my. It seems two can play at this game, huh? My thoughts are that this video needs to be spread throughout the nation for multiple reasons.

It demonstrates the lack of knowledge that these people have about how this government is *supposed* to work.
It demonstrates the feeling of entitlement these people have--I wonder how much of their own property they freely give up (minus the crazy commune guy).
It PROVES that there are people in this nation trying to sabotage the conservative movement (which is expected). It is up to us to counter these acts of sabotage and get the word out that these people play DIRTY and want your freedoms taken away.

Enjoy.

Words of Wisdom

2009-09-02T09:26:00.003-05:00

A friend sent me this statement in an email. Short and sweet. But how true it is. Read this, then stop and think about what it says. Profound, indeed. (emphasis mine)

You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." * Adrian Rogers, 1931*

Freedom of Speech Only Applies...

2009-09-01T10:23:00.004-05:00

Well, posting once a month is unacceptable and I deeply apologize. I will try to be more proactive with this blog--but I simply can't help but let the smell of fall and football just around the corner distract me from my obligations. Because, in case you haven't noticed...I love football. But enough about that. I do my daily reading of news stories (if you can call it that--"news"), and I check on my favorite blogs for updates and I find myself AMAZED at what some people will let this current administration and its goonies get away with.

Flag@whitehouse.gov? Seriously? Hey little ones, if you hear your mommy and daddy talking bad about our President or his policies, please let your good White House know. Remind you of anything else? Please note when that link was published. Yes--I saw (like many of you) the potential of similarities long before we elected this man into office. I say "we" in the most general sense of the word.

It's only proper to dissent when you disagree with W? But don't you dare oppose Obama and his goons. Never mind that they're trying to ram through legislation that our representatives have admitted to not reading (I don't think a link is necessary--as we've all seen the reports). I think one of my favorite quotes thus far comes from Dan Jeror (h/t John Hawkins at Townhall.com), "Why would you guys try to stuff a health care bill down our throats in three to four weeks when the President took six months to pick out a dog for his kids?" Ummm. Good question.

As I sit hear and ponder today's politics, I honestly get sick to my stomach that there are actually people that are accepting this type of behavior. Organizing for America is grassroots? Please. I pray daily that more and more Americans wake up to what is happening and let these fools know in D.C. that we are ON TO THEM. We are not a monarchy--and just because you're a Washington bureaucrat does NOT mean that you are better than me--so get over this Marie Antoinette attitude. My friends--I can only pray that we show up at the polls with fury and rage come November 2010 and let these bureaucrats know just who IS the boss in this good ol' USA.

I wish more than anything I could head to Washington on September 12th...but with stuff going on in my personal life and you know, my JOB (that apparently I am simply working to pay for Joe Blow the LOSER), I am unable to get away. I hope that some of you are able to make it. We need a STRONG showing to let D.C. know. We're not messing around anymore.

So--my hiatus has resulted in a long rant. I will try my very best to do some research and post more than once a month from here on out. Maybe The General will contribute, too? (hint, hint)

Hypocrisy at its Finest--Part 2

2009-08-14T15:42:00.004-05:00

A comment on some "very" popular website:

"whoever just sent their 10 year old son up to the microphone at Ross's townhall with a written statement he obviously didn't write and couldn't even read well ought to be ASHAMED of themselves!!!!! Using your children as a sympathy card to fight your battles is DISGUSTING."

I suppose its only DISGUSTING when the 10 year old is opposing the healthcare plan, eh? (click here for another source of the little gal)

When are they going to take a step back and realize that the "conservative" movement is simply taking a page out of their own book. I can understand why this person (I know said person personally) believes that healthcare for all is a good idea--I can't understand why said person is so eager to give up freedoms for it.

*sigh* I lied. I apparently can't let this go, eh?

Hypocrisy at its Finest.

2009-08-14T13:44:00.004-05:00

"The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." --Norman Thomas

Liberalism--we love you. We'll do everything we can for you, including giving you FREE health care. What could be better than free health care? Well, nothing, of course. (side step--except your FREEDOM)

From someone in AR with Patriotic Resistance:

I write you this evening to ask for your help! Senator Blanche Lincoln has decided to deny the citizens of Arkansas a chance to be heard, we have called her office repeatedly and requested an audience to no avail. As recently as today I personally called and ask if there were ANY opportunities to meet with the Senator in a public forum, I was told 'NO'. Tonight just after 6pm I learned of a meeting Sen. Lincoln will be holding in Rogers, AR this Saturday.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpfcwv

She is speaking at a "Health Care Public Event". She has seen fit to evade her constituents, deny us our right to be properly represented and now slaps the voters in the face by appearing in our own back yard without the courtesy of an invitation or even a notice. Notice of this meeting as of tonight is NOT posted on any of her sites and appears to have only been sent to members of the OFA.

Please join hopefully HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of Arkansans to say ENOUGH! WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED! This may be our one and ONLY chance to express in MASS our dissatisfaction and concerns about the current issues facing our families!

This Saturday AUGUST 15th

3:30

Samaritan Community Center (Rogers, AR)

1211 W Hudson Rd., Rogers, AR 72756

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

Not saying that I'm an Arkansas resident or anything...but if I were I sure know who I would NOT be voting for come 2010. I can't believe this woman has the gall to do this as she's up for re-election and has quite a few people running after her job!!

Furthermore, how is this entire country (libs, conservatives, republicans, democrats, libertarians) not ALL in an up roar of the way our current Congressman and Women and Senators are treating their constituents (see here and here) and refer to above (Lincoln).

I could continue to go on and on...but I choose not to right now. A) because its Friday and B)because I hate my job and can only be angry at one thing at a time.

Football...

2009-08-10T21:05:00.002-05:00

So, rather than think about the double standards our government is now demonstrating on a daily basis... I choose to think about football. Thank goodness its almost here!! By the way, Congressman X moved his "town hall" meeting to the middle of the day--without much notice, maybe to prevent those astroturf mobs from showing up? Ha. They found him anyway.

Health Care

2009-08-05T10:21:00.003-05:00

You can start by reading the bill here.

Out on WSJ's site, a reader has been kind enough to break down what little quirks lie in that 1000+ page bill. We CANNOT let these people that were hired to represent US pass this particular bill.

For your reading pleasure:

9:13 am August 5, 2009 QP wrote: Page 22 - MANDATES the Government will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure.

Page 30 Section 123 - There will be a Government COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.

Page 29 lines 4-16 - Your Health Care is RATIONED.

Page 42 - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your Health Care Benefits for you. You have no choice.

Page 50 Section 152 - Health Care will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise.

Page 170 Lines 1-3 - Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (American Citizens will pay).

Page 58 - Government will have real-time access to individual’s finances and a National ID Health Card will be issued.

Page 59 lines 21-24 - Government will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfers.

Page 65 Section 164 - A payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community organizations (ACORN).

Page 84 Section 203 - Government mandates ALL benefit packages for private Health Care plans in the Exchange.

Page 85 Line 7 - Specifications for Benefit Levels for Plans = The Government will ration your Health Care.

Page 126 Lines 22-25 - Employers MUST pay for Health Care for part time employees AND their families.

Page 195 - Officers & employees of Health Care Administration (Government) will have access to ALL American’s finance/personal records.

Page 203 Line 14-15 Health Care - “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax”. Yes, it says that.that get’s us to page 203 of 1100.want more? Page 239 Line 14-24 - Government will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, and poor will be affected.

Page 241 Line 6-8 - All doctors will be paid the same regardless of their specialty.

Page 253 Line 10-18 - Government sets value of doctors time, professional judgment, etc; literally the value of humans.

Page 265 Section 1131 - Government mandates and controls productivity for private Health Care industries.

Page 272 Section. 1145 – Treatment at certain CANCER HOSPITALS; rationing for cancer patients.

Page 317 Lines 13-20 - PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Government tells Doctors what/how much they can own.

Page 317-318 Lines 21-25,1-3 - PROHIBITION on hospital expansions.

Page 321 2-13 - Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input is required. Approval by ACORN?

Page 335 Lines 16-25; Page 336-339 - Government mandates establishment of outcome based measures. Health Care the way they want it. Rationing.

Page 354 Section 1177 - Government will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people.

Page 425 Lines 4-12 - Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consults. Think Senior Citizens end of life.

Page 425 Lines 17-19 - Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney. Mandatory!

Page 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 - Government provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death.

Page 427 Lines 15-24 - Government mandates program for orders for end of life. The Government has a say in how your life ends.

Page 429 Lines 10-12 - “advanced care consultation” may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from Government!

Page 469 - Community Based Home Medical Services = Non profit organizations. ACORN Medical Services?

Page 472 Lines 14-17 – Payment to community-based organizations; 1 monthly payment to a community-based organization like ACORN.

Page 489 Section 1308 - The Government will cover Marriage & Family therapy, which means they will insert Government into your marriage.

Up to page 489 of 1100...got further to go...

You May Be a Conservative Yet

2009-07-31T11:00:00.003-05:00

Those are the words I stated to my friend last night. She rolled her eyes and said, "no."

"Think about it."

Earlier in the evening my friend had been complaining about John Doe. John Doe had told my friend's husband that he would sell a concert ticket for him since the said husband couldn't go to the show. John Doe sold the ticket--then proceeded to spend the money at the show. John Doe is now telling my friend's husband that he is poor and can't pay him back. With the money that he shouldn't have spent in the first place. Needless to say, my friend is not pleased.

Then I launch into the explanation:

I told her to think about it in a politcal manner. John Doe is the one taking my money and your money and not doing ANYTHING to deserve it. John Doe is full of entitlement when he shouldn't be. John Doe is irresponsible and has no desire to make anything of himself because John Doe's mother and family and friends have allowed him to slump through life. Hmm. Sound familiar? Just replace John Doe with the freeloaders--replace the family and friends with taxpayers and our government. It's the John Doe's in the world that make me fiscally conservative and should you, too. If you work hard to earn your money--why should you have to give it to someone else who doesn't work hard for anything?

Furthermore--here's a story for you to consider. This very successful gentleman was raised in a dirt poor family. When I say dirt poor I mean, small town, rural, deep South dirt poor. This gentleman got his first job at the age of 10. His mother instilled work ethic in him. He joined the Army as soon as he could--went to college then on to graduate school. This guy --who could've said, "let the government take care of me" chose not to. He chose to make something amazing of himself. Now--this government wants to tax the living daylights out of him because he's too successful. He's what this country is all about.

My friend considered all this and shrugged. "Maybe you're right--maybe you're not."

I winked and said, "maybe you're more conservative than you thought."

The one thing we both can agree on these days? We don't like politicians. Period.

Constituents AGAINST Universal/National Healthcare

2009-07-22T15:59:00.004-05:00

If our representatives actually did their job they would see that the MAJORITY are adamently opposed to a nationalized or universal healthcare system.

On Facebook, someone has created a poll that asks, "Are you in favor of a government run healthcare system?" The answers say quite I bit.

Yes 28,529 (19.9%)

No 110,237 (77.0%)

Maybe 4,489 (3.1%)

I belive that some form of reform is necessary. But reform needs to START in areas that we already have major issues: Regulate lawsuits, fix Medicare/Medicaid and the VAs. Social Security anyone?

Don't mess with people's private insurance (which--on page 16 of the House proposal BANS private insurance). Don't take away American's freedom to choose. Don't penalize small business owners...*sigh* I could go on and on.

Here's one for you: how about our representatives READ the bill before forcing us (We the People) to use the insurance or pay a fine. How about these politicians that are just swearing to us that this in the best thing next to sliced bread actually enroll in this system and not get exempt?

And the only replies I'm seeing from "pro-healthcare" are pretty nasty. "Republicans are stupid." "You just don't know." "Social security worked." Egad.

Not to mention this (h/t Moogie):

Growing Worries About Our Pied Piper

2009-07-15T08:51:00.004-05:00

So, again, I know I'm neglecting this blog in a terrible way, but there is just too much going on and not enough hours in the day. So once again, I am posting someone else's work.

I must say, though, that this piece is very well written and hits about any and every point I'd try to make myself.

On a lighter note, did anyone notice that the Prez got booed at the All Star game? Um...I haven't been through too many presidents, but I cannot recall a single one getting BOOED in his first 6 months.

Now, I don't agree with any president being booed--as we should respect that office--but I do think it is quite entertaining that he got booed so early in the game. I'm praying that America is finally starting to WAKE UP.

This is quite a long read but well worth the time!

Growing Worries about Our Pied Piper Americans are catching on to Obama’s fiscal sins and rhetorical devices.

By Victor Davis Hanson

Recent news that President Obama’s approval ratings are beginning to slip is understandable. Even popular leaders lose appeal once they have to govern, and therefore offend, rather than merely promise and please.

And so far, these fairly modest declines in popularity are not resulting in much Republican traction. Few opposition leaders have presented systematic, clear alternatives to the Obama agenda, and even fewer have been knowledgeable and charismatic in voicing them.

All that being said, I think the Obama presidency is going to encounter far more public skepticism than one would expect in the usual post-honeymoon political adjustments. Why? Because our president often acts and talks as if he were at war with what we might loosely call “human nature.”

There is a growing collective recognition that things simply do not work the way Obama thinks they do. They may in the hothouse at Harvard Law School or in the charade of Chicago politics, or among young, hip bloggers right out of Yale, but not necessarily in the larger American landscape or the real world abroad.

First, Obama’s budgetary agenda defies common sense. If it were true that the United States with impunity could borrow $2 trillion this year — and, in the aggregate, run up another $10 trillion in collective debt over the next eight years — then the rules of finance as we know them would be rendered null and void.

In truth, all that borrowed money not only will have to be paid back, but paid back with compounded interest through higher taxes and cuts to government services. And the more we borrow from ourselves and the Chinese, Japanese, and Europeans, the more likely it is that the interest rates will climb — both because we will strain capital markets and because the current deflationary downturn cannot last forever.

The American people sense this. They assume that what goes up must come down. At times they themselves have splurged on their credit cards — and enjoyed the thrill of consumption that comes with borrowed money, or even the notion of magnanimity of helping others with someone else’s cash. But they likewise remember that mounting debt at some point overwhelms the borrower, who must either default or radically curb his standard of living. When voters hear that a broke government is talking of “a second stimulus,” they conclude that there is a collective madness in Washington.

Second, there is likewise a spreading feeling of doubt about our foreign policy. All Americans like to be liked — and like to think they are confident enough to admit mistakes. But Obama is beginning to be predictable, boring even, in his once sincere, but now serial apologies about America’s past and present — to almost everyone from Latin Americans and Europeans to Turks and Muslims in general. And why are we more worried about the feelings of a hostile Ahmadinejad than of a friendly Maliki or Netanyahu?

We already have come to expect a certain boilerplate theme, in which the president seeks to placate his hosts by confessing the errors of previous Americans. But the lawyer does not regularly apologize to his rival firm over courtroom disputes; the contractor does not routinely call up his competitor to confess to his own past unfair business practices that unduly won him the disputed contract; the principal, as a matter of habit, does not call in the teacher to show regret over his own theatrical exercise of influence and power.

In the perfect world of the university lounge, perhaps such noble things transpire. But most Americans suspect that gratuitous magnanimity can earn contempt as often as appreciation. Like serial borrowing, a tab comes due. And in the case of foreign affairs, we all sense that sometime soon, a rather dangerous thug or two is going to gamble that his aggression either will not or cannot be deterred by a remorseful and unsure United States.

Also, in emphasizing America’s alleged sins, Obama shows himself to be somehow oblivious to the simple fact that he enjoys such power and prestige as a U.S. president because someone, at some time, must have done something quite extraordinary. Surely there is more to America than slavery and Hiroshima. So many Americans are vaguely beginning to sense that Obama is simply ignorant of Valley Forge, the Oregon Trail, and Iwo Jima. What happened at these places seems absent from his knowledge of the past, and so fails to inform his present narrative of and future plans for the nation.

Third, the same sense of something not quite right is beginning to characterize Obama’s obsessive evocation of George W. Bush, the prior administration, the need to hit the reset button, the “mess” we inherited, and all the other blame-gaming themes that have been daily fare the last six months.

Most of us inherit jobs from someone else. Many of us think that we do a better job than our predecessors. And some of us also like to think we are cleaning up messes that others left. But such self-serving referencing has a brief shelf life. It becomes soon monotonous, then irksome, and finally repugnant. Obama is nearing that third stage of whining, when many Americans are beginning to bristle, and think privately, “Okay already. We’ve heard enough of your ‘he did it’ routine. Now snap out it, get a life, and take responsibility for the consequences of your own actions.”

Fourth, people often fail, not just because of the bogeymen “they” who “raised the bar,” but also due to their own actions. But too often in the world of Obama, max out on your credit card and it’s the fault of predatory banks. Default on your mortgage and you were tricked into buying more house than you needed. Choose to buy a cell phone or TV rather than make a monthly payment on a private catastrophic-health-insurance plan, and it is because you were neglected by government. Do not pay taxes, get a tax credit — but then still blame those “who do not pay their fair share.” In contrast, Americans sense that the world of debt and trust will not work without responsibility and personable culpability — and that often our problem is not just to be found in “them” — the duly chastised and arrogant Lords of the Universe on Wall Street — but sadly in “us” as well.

Fifth, novelty wears off. Bush’s tough right/wrong talk sounded welcome after the Clinton era’s indecision and moral relativism. But soon critics got bothered by the excess of “smoke ’em out,” “dead or alive,” and “bring it on” lingo, which emphasized rather than mitigated a certain unease with Texan braggadocio.

With Obama, the charm of last year is slowly wearing off. What once sounded fresh, even cool, is now suddenly predictable and sometimes trite. When we hear “Let me be perfectly clear” and “Make no mistake about it,” Americans suspect that some sort of dissimulation may follow: Obama is not going to be perfectly clear, and we will understandably make plenty of mistakes about it.

Disavowals of government intervention presage a takeover of the auto industry. Promises to be fiscally sober indicate reckless deficit spending to follow. “Not raising taxes on anyone but the very wealthy” suggests everyone will have to pay more. “The most ethical administration in history” guarantees plenty of lobbyists and tax dodgers.

We now expect to hear in these speeches that gargantuan, costly new federal programs will in fact magically save us money. We anticipate listening to a string of evil “some,” “they,” “others,” and all the other bad straw men cited to create false enemies and, in turn, fake heroes.

Presidential talks are to be peppered with a dozen first-person pronouns, as in “I have directed” or “my team is at work on.”

Obama’s personal “story” inevitably follows, as if Americans, after six months of daily reminders, did not yet know that their president is half African-American, grew up without a father, has a non-traditional background, comes from a family with Muslim connections on his father’s side, has an unusual name, possesses unusual insight into race and religion, or is himself a metaphor for a new, diverse America. In the fashion of the obligatory 19th-century log-cabin birthplace and bloody-shirt gallantry at Gettysburg, we get the message “I am not your white-male president.” Ten times I think would have been enough, and after a hundred occasions such self-referencing wears thin.

When the president’s tone, and indeed accent, almost magically change, and he abruptly goes into his southern-Baptist rhetorical cadences, we have a vague sense that his oration must end with the usual ruffles and flourishes of last summer — “hope and change” and “this is our moment” tropes, but delivered without the passion and sincerity of a year ago. The tunes of last year’s Pied Piper are no longer mesmerizing, but becoming sort of creepy and even ominous.

Finally, Obama seems to believe that the exalted ends justify the often questionable means. Having a Latina on the Supreme Court trumps Justice Sotomayor’s past racialist talk and writing. Landing a supposed genius like Timothy Geithner at Treasury excuses Geithner’s inability or unwillingness to pay his fair share of taxes. Becoming popular in the Muslim world invites fabrication about Islamic discoveries and inventions, or the conflation of Middle Eastern religious and gender felonies with American misdemeanors.

So the problem is not just that Obama, like Bill Clinton, is proving insincere, or like Richard Nixon, at times duplicitous. And the rub is not even that he, like Ronald Reagan on occasion, is showing a limited repertoire or, in the manner of the Bushes, is becoming predictable in speech and custom. Obama, like Jimmy Carter, earns the added injury that all wannabe prophets incur when they promise more than mortal purity while proving to be an ordinary human in character.

Americans are waking up to the fact that their president says, promises, and does things that simply do not make sense, at odds with what they know of human physics — with the predictable nature of the way humans have conducted themselves for centuries: Borrowing is debt, not “stimulus”; serial apologies soon sound insincere or become counterproductive; blaming someone else becomes tiresome; scapegoating leads nowhere; taking responsibility for failure is as necessary as being praised for success; people can be fooled only so many times by sonorous, ego-laced rhetoric.

Because Obama is a revolutionary who seeks to overturn 50 years of doing business in America both at home and abroad, his shortcomings have the potential not only to diminish his own stature through unmet impossible expectations, but to take all those who signed on to his megalomania down with him.

Dinner With the President: A Parable

2009-07-09T10:51:00.004-05:00

I received this email this morning (author unknown). Thought provoking to say the least.

Once upon a time, I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with the President. I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces memory chips for computers and portable electronics. There was some talk that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a free country. There's nothing that the government can do to me if I've broken no laws. My wealth was earned honestly, and an invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor.

I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the President in a yellow dining room. We sat across from each other at a table draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the china. Uniformed staff served our dinner.

The meal was served, and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out, plucked a dinner roll off my plate, and began nibbling it as he walked back to the kitchen.

"Sorry about that," said the President. "Andrew is very hungry."

"I don't appreciate..." I began, but as I looked into the calm brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty. It was just a dinner roll. "Of course," I concluded, and reached for my glass. Before I could, however, another waiter reached forward, took the glass away and swallowed the wine in a single gulp.

"And his brother Eric is very thirsty." said the President.

I didn't say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought. I will play along. I don't want to seem unkind.

My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite.

"Eric's children are also quite hungry."

With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from under me. I stood, brushing myself off angrily, and watched as it was carried from the room.

"And their grandmother can't stand for long.."

I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool. Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I reached for m y coat, to find that it had been taken. I turned back to the President.

"Their grandfather doesn't like the cold."

I wanted to shout- that was my coat! But again, I looked at the placid smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled. Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table. I learned shortly that my credit cards had been maxed out, my bank accounts emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had vanished, and my wife had been thrown out of our home. Apparently, the waiters and their families were moving in. The President hadn't moved or spoken as I learned all this, but finally I lowered the phone into its cradle and turned to face him.

"Andrew's whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven't planned for retirement, and they need a house. They recently defaulted on a sub-prime mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more than you do."

My hands were shaking. I felt faint. I stumbled back to the table and knelt on the floor. The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his steak and drank his wine. I lowered my eyes and stared at the small grey circles on the tablecloth that were water drops.

"By the way," He added,=2 0"I have just signed an Executive Order nationalizing your factories. I'm firing you as head of your business. I'll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind. There's a whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out there and they can't come to you for jobs groveling like beggars."

I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which had been his crème brulee. He drained the last drops of his wine. As the table was cleared, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. He stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table as if were a ledge and I were a man hanging over an abyss. I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had lived. The life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle. Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be taken? What game had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some surprise that there was no game board between us.

What had I done wrong?

As if answering the unspoken thought, the President suddenly cocked his head, locked his empty eyes to mine, and bared a million teeth, chuckling wryly as he folded his hands.

"You should have stopped me at the dinner roll," he said.

Stillbirth Gets the Silent Treatment

2009-07-07T12:09:00.004-05:00

...and it should not.

I know I've been quiet. It's been a hectic couple of weeks.

Please read this article and forward it on to all that you know...this is a bill (gasp--proposed by then Sen. Obama--) that I actually could support!

Even Doctors Avoid Talking About Stillbirth

Still birth and SUID is traumatic and if there is ANYTHING we can do to prevent it--I'm in support. Though a lot of people don't recognize stillbirths as actual deaths--the parents of those babes do. They feel the pain and the loss of a child just the same as any other parent would.

The PROPER Role of Government

2009-06-17T13:40:00.003-05:00

Glenn Beck read the following letter the other day on his show. It is kind of lengthy but hits the nail on its head. I think we're all kind of feeling this way these days. Spread the letter. WE THE PEOPLE will regain control. Enough IS enough.

I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three, Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when he will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

Introduction to the Laws of Economics

2009-06-11T16:56:00.001-05:00

To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction; or, the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.- Newton's Third Law of Motion, translated from the Principia's Latin

In the politico-economic context, there is similar law at work: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The trick – and the true art of economics or politics – is the ability to predict what reaction (or collateral damage) your action will cause. So, for example, if the government decides to borrow money to pay for its programs, it causes predictable effects on the general economy. First, the credit supply (and money supply) is reduced, as the available credit is taken up by the government, and less is therefore available to businesses and consumers. Second, because supply is affected, price is affected as well, so interest rates begin to rise. Third, to pay down that debt and the interest, the government (which produces nothing and has no ability to generate income) increases taxes to generate revenues. This in turn has the effect of further reducing the money available for investment by businesses and consumers.

All of this, of course, is quite simplistic, and many econometricians would express disdain and call it so, preferring to create complex formulae to describe and then predict these causes and effects. But it is important to remember that as Einstein once said, “the whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.”

A politician, then, might retain an economist to assist in predicting the effects of a particular piece of legislation. If I raise the standards for fuel economy and emissions, what may I predict will be the result on the car industry? The economist would advise that this will require research and development, retooling, and a large expenditure of capital, and this will in turn increase the price of automobiles. He will also point out that this capital will likely be borrowed, which will have effects on money and credit supply, and the interest on that capital will also ultimately increase the cost of the car. The consumer, if he has no alternatives, will either choose not to buy, or will, if he buys, have less money available for other purchases, or for investment. If the particular automaker is already at or near the edge of being able to compete, because he has managed badly or has irresponsibly agreed to non-competitive wage and benefits levels for his workforce, then the economist would predict that this automaker will probably not recover his investment, will suffer from a non-attractive price and a corresponding lack of sales, and these factors will in turn create difficulty in repaying the capital borrowed. If, at some point, the automaker defaults or is slow in paying, there are other negative effects, all combining to make it all the more difficult for the automaker to compete efficiently. It the politician decides to insist that wages and benefits be protected at these non-competitive levels, he must know, and take into account, that this action will predictably and adversely affect the automaker’s ability to compete. If the politician also passes a law requiring the automaker not to sell at a loss, then the automaker will lose even more sales, and will lose cash flow which might have allowed the debt to be serviced in the short term, until efficiencies could be implemented to achieve a better cost structure. If he passes a law making it easy for unions to organize and grow, he has to understand that historically, increases in union membership (facilitated by their government-sponsored monopoly power) have caused a corresponding decrease in the number of jobs in the economy, by a startling 2:1 ratio. If he taxes the small business to the point of cutting its available capital, that money won’t be invested, those jobs won’t be created, that new equipment won’t be purchased, hence it won’t be produced, with corresponding effects on production inventories and, ultimately, jobs. The law always works – the art is accurately predicting what the effects will be, and balancing effects, aiming for those that are more tolerable.

Some collateral effects are more predictable than others. Whether one is a “supply-side” economist or not, it is generally predictable that tax increases have the potential to have negative effects on revenues, because the taxed parties take steps to avoid the taxes. Further, during economic contraction, there is both less profit to tax, and fewer people who are earning taxable incomes. So it was at least possible (some would say predictable) that federal tax revenue plunged, as it measurably did, in April 09 versus a year ago – by $138 billion, or 34%, according to a study by the American Institute for Economic Research. This is the biggest drop since 1981. When the economy is in recession, tax revenues go down. Six million people have lost jobs in the year ending in April, so income tax revenues are predictably down even more than the overall revenues above – by 44%. Hotair.com lists the annual US deficits dating from 2000 (which, along with 2001, reported surpluses), and only one since then (2008) is greater than 400 billion. Yet, the Obama government by its own estimates offers deficits of $1.75 trillion in 09, over $800 billion in ’10 and ’11, and additional $500 billion-plus deficits in each of the remaining years to 2019. And these estimates are based on questionable assumptions about growth, expecting a -1.2%, when the first quarter shows an annualized growth for ’09 of -6%! It is highly unlikely, with these revenues and the unemployment numbers, that we can expect a turnaround in 2009 that will produce the assumed growth levels. Using proper growth projections, the deficits in each year are 10% higher or more, and all those from 2014 and beyond are greater than 800 billion per year. Further, the $138 billion revenue shortfall has to be added directly to the bottom line deficit, meaning even with an economic turnaround of fantastic proportions, the deficit in ’09 will be at least $1.85 trillion.

These deficits have already hurt our ability to sell bonds, and if the recent credit downgrades of Japan and the UK are any indicator, we are facing downgrades within 5-8 years, meaning the cost of the debt will go up dramatically. Again, this is collateral damage, resulting from government monetary and fiscal policy and irresponsible legislative ambitions. Worse, it was all probable, if not predictable, yet the three key advisors for this administration – Summers, Bernanke and Geithner – all appear to believe they are smarter than the markets and can manipulate policy as necessary to correct or offset these known effects. So far it hasn’t worked. Despite spending $700 billion in TARP funds, the Treasury was showing no progress in loosening up credit markets. Most forms of credit were still unavailable, and the economy was reacting negatively world wide. So in March, rather than reassess the advisability of attempting a command economy following Keynesian principles, the Fed took another step to jump-start credit, by dropping short term rates to zero, committing to buy $300 billion in long term treasuries and $100 billion in GSE securities, and promising to buy another $750 billion of mortgage-backed securities of at least dubious value. Acting this aggressively and swiftly was an unprecedented play which meant that results were less predictable, but as our “Newton’s Third Law” makes clear, there were effects. He hoped credit would loosen as he made purchases monetizing treasuries that now total over $130 billion, for the first time in half a century. Instead, T-bond prices have continued to plunge, while interest rates are sharply higher. Treasury yields (10-year) are now climbing above 3.7%, the highest since November. That rate hurts other areas, because it helps determine mortgage lending rates. Desperate to reflate the housing market, the Fed, plunging ever farther into efforts to shore up mortgages, is now facing the wrath of bond investors. Despite half-a-trillion in mortgage security purchases, mortgages bonds have followed the same path as treasuries, with prices up and mortgage rates down.

In fact, debt buyers and bond investors are expressing concerns – the Chinese Premier in March said he was concerned about the safety of assets in US instruments. No wonder. Over $1.5 trillion of China’s $1.95 trillion in foreign currency reserves is held in US debt instruments. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, China holds $768 billion in US treasuries, $489 billion in GSE-agency bonds, $121 billion in US corporate bonds, and $41 billion in deposits. The head of China’s central bank has publicly advocated replacing the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency with the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, beginning to shy further away from US debt. Yet, if China doesn’t buy our debt, then we must monetize it, meaning we buy it from ourselves by printing money, which results in inflation, in turn lowering the value of Chinese holdings. And if it buys the debt, it faces increasing risk, as noted above, of losses from a downgrade or default. With no apparent consideration of the collateral effects on the value of the dollar, Obama committed, apparently on the advice of Geithner, to a $100+ billion line of credit expansion at IMF (which supports, and in fact accelerates, moving to the SDR as a world currency reserve, rather than the dollar). Yet, in order to finance the deficit expected this year by the Obama administration, Treasury will have to issue at least $1.84 trillion in new debt, which doesn’t count the additional amount required if the economy rebounds slower than hoped, or worsens. And that doesn’t consider the costs of defaults in the trillions on credit that the government guarantees, or the new money to GM, or the money being requested by state and local governments. Printing money and inflating our currency won’t fix the problem either, because we still have over $14.5 trillion in outstanding Treasury, GSE and mortgage securities issued world-wide. Trying to deal with this new debt merely aggravates the problems with our existing debt. If five or ten percent of those trillions in instruments are put up for discounted sale by nervous investors, the sales that triggers would overwhelm the Fed’s proposed and continuing purchases. The US just doesn’t have enough money to “save” us. Yet, are such sales of treasuries possible? The reason these investors are nervous is fear of inflation and downgrading of credit – and our main debt-holders are already making public statements about this concern. So what do you think?

History instructs, without question, that following this economic path ultimately leads to stagnant markets, costly credit, and more failure. The USSR, with arguably the richest aggregation of natural resources in the world, did not fail because it lacked resources. It failed because it pursued a command economy, which blunted innovation, increased costs, and made markets wholly unresponsive to demand. Europe has stagnated in the last two decades not because its citizens are lazy or stupid, but because its social democratic policies squelched ambition, entrepreneurship, and productivity, while government competition for credit increased its cost, and government tax levels made the commodities necessary for growth far more expensive. These mistakes are invariably made by earnest folk who believe they have figured out the system, and are smarter than their forebears. We can only hope that Obama and his economic triumvirate are smarter than the markets, and can overcome all these pesky economic laws.

P.S. One (uncharacteristically) humble caveat: Despite my disdain for the excessively complex analyses of too many econometricians that lead them to miss the forest for the trees, the economy really IS complex, especially when it comes to timing. So while I have a high degree of confidence in the “laws” of econo-physics, I have much less confidence about the timetable when the predictable consequences of economic actions will come about. So if it takes the Obama Administration 12 years to wreck the dollar and the economy, I will admit error on the timetable but I’ll still say “I told you so.”

September 2001 vs. Today

2009-06-10T13:44:00.005-05:00

Written September 11, 2008: From all the horror our country experienced on September 11, 2001, we did gain one positive: Our Nation gained pride. Pride some of us had never witnessed.

On September 10th, 2001, neighborhoods throughout the nation sported football team flags and yard decorations. By nightfall on September 11th, these neighborhoods had transformed into Old Glory sporting, candle burning memorials.

Throughout the nation, men and women said, "what can we do?"

Throughout the nation, Americans forgot about the small things, whether their neighbor was Republican or Democrat, who was black or white.

Those trivial things were gone...and for the first time in many's memory, we were all simply American.

Fast forward....seven years later. Where are we?

People yelling and screaming that we're war mongers and oil fanatics.

People yelling and screaming that we ignore international affairs too much.

People yelling and screaming that we're too harsh on illegal immigrants.

People FORGETTING what it felt like seven years ago today.

People already forgetting what it felt like to be an American.

People forgetting when men and women walked out of their desk jobs and joined the military.

Where each and everyone of us stared at the tv in shock.

We have forgotten as a nation what that day felt like. Now we're more concerned with the little things (just as we were before).

Half of this nation now wants to elect a man into office that has only held a Senate position for 140 days--and has NEVER considered leaving his desk job to join the military. Half of this nation wants to elect a man into office that doesn't place his hand over his heart when reciting the Pledge. Half of this nations wants to elect a man into office who's wife stated PUBLICLY that she was not proud to be an American. What have we come to? How can this even be acceptable?

I'll never forget. I'll never falter in my pride.

And now--we have elected this man into office. This man who parades throughout the world apologizing (no reference, just goodsearch or bing it) for what America has done. Condemning this beautiful nation for it's "horrible" actions.

A week ago Monday, America experienced its first terrorist attack on soil since that tragic day in September 2001. Just as Juval Aviv has predicted--it's the first, but certainly not the last.

Shooting of Soldiers 'Warranted' By U.S. Military Treatment of Muslims

2009-06-10T09:11:00.004-05:00

Shooter speaks to AP even after a gag order is issued...for his OWN PROTECTION.

The Associated Press reported that the man accused in his attack had said in a phone interview from the Pulaski County jail that firing the shots that wounded Ezeagwula and killed Pvt. William Long could not be considered murder because the act was warranted by the U.S. military’s treatment of Muslims.

Abdul-Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, was born into a nominally Baptist family as Carlos Leon Bledsoe in Tennessee. But in Tuesday’s interview, Muhammad, who converted to Islam in college,said he attacked the soldiers “for the sake of God, for the sake of Allah, the Lord of all the world, and also a retaliation on U.S. military,” the AP reported...

Attorney Jim Hensley said he was with Muhammad almost all day. “He didn’t give the AP anything,” Hensley said, adding, “If my client has spoken with anyone, it’s without my knowledge.”

Later in the day, however, Hensley softened his stance, saying he did not think Muhammad spoke with a reporter but could not be sure.

“I don’t know what happened,” Hensley said.

In later updates, the AP reported that Hensley asked the news organization in an e-mail not to publish his client’s comments.

Jail records show that Hensley signed in to meet Muhammad at 11:41 a.m. Muhammad is in protective custody in an administrative segregation unit in an upstairs cell. He gets one hour a day out of his cell for exercise, though he can also be out to meet with his attorney.

Trying to go for an insanity plea? I'm sure our DHS will get him off of these charges somehow. We wouldn't want to offend any jihadists, now would we?

On a more positive note:

Ezeagwula said he volunteered for the recruiting program for his friends to see that there was more than one path in life.

“I wanted to show some of my peers that there’s more things out in the United States other than Arkansas,” he said.

He said he still plans to head to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii when he heals - his destination before the shooting - to become a “21 Echo,” a heavy construction equipment operator.

Sonja Ezeagwula called her son a hero.

“He was a hero before he got shot,” she said. “He was our family hero.”

An 18 year old shot and wounded, yet still willing to go back to the job that landed him the injuries. I'd say I have to agree with Sonja Ezeagwula. That *boy* is a hero.

Sad World We Live In

2009-06-09T08:30:00.003-05:00

A true American hero. "Honored" after his death. People that do things such as below should have a one way ticket straight to hell--or an eternity of purgatory none the less.

Home of iconic New Orleans police officer burglarized after his death by Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune Monday June 08, 2009, 4:58 PM

New Orleans Police Sgt. Manuel Curry's death last week of heart failure brought a wave of despair and an outpouring of support from the ranks of the city police department and the neighborhoods where Curry worked and lived.

Sgt. Manuel Curry, popular figure in Central City and Irish Channel neighborhoods and one of America's longest-serving police officers, in 2004 photograph as he was about to leave for D-Day ceremony in France. Curry participated in the famous World War II invasion. It also apparently prompted three people to pounce on a criminal opportunity.

Within hours his death Thursday morning, police say two local men and a young woman broke into Curry's home in the Irish Channel.

They rifled through his belongings, stole several guns, took money and jewelry and pills, according to a police report and his wife. Then they split.

Curry's wife of 51 years, Genevieve "Jackie" Curry, said she received news of the burglary while at a funeral home discussing arrangements for her husband's burial.

Her response: "Oh my goodness. Who would do this?"

Curry, believed to be the country's longest-serving, active-duty police officer still working full time, had never been a victim of crime before, his wife said.

In his 62-year New Orleans Police Department career, Curry had wrestled bank robbers, responded to shootings, nabbed pick-pockets and all types of sordid characters in the 6th District, a tough triangular swath that encompasses Central City, the Irish Channel and the Lower Garden District.

He was the epitome of a community policeman, spending his whole career, save for a few months, in the same district.

Yet in death he became another crime victim.

"He would have been shocked to see this," his wife said Monday. "The place looked like a hurricane came through."

Curry's colleagues from the 6th District hit the streets alongside officers from other specialized units. They worked well into the night.

Eventually, they found a witness who provided names and details of the break-in.

Robin West, 24, allegedly had served as the lookout, pacing the 2800 block of St. Thomas Street while two men pilfered the home, according to an arrest report filed in court.

Meanwhile, Eddie "E-Fat" Scott, and Kevin "K" Carr, 19, ransacked the home, the report states. Eventually the pair allegedly came out carrying Curry's belongings.

West was picked up by police at 11 p.m. Friday in the 2700 block of Fourth Street, according to court records. Carr was arrested around that time near the intersection of Aline and Annunciation streets. Both were booked with burglary.

An NOPD spokesman said Monday afternoon that Scott was still at large and that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Still reeling from her husband's death, Jackie Curry said the men and women of the NOPD have given her tremendous comfort.

"Let me tell you, the police worked overtime and were great," she said. "I am so thankful for them."

The burglary took place at the same shotgun house in which Curry had lived nearly his whole life. His family moved there when he was 15 years-old, his wife said. He never left.

He stayed at the house during the workweek and retired to a country home in Lacombe with his wife on the weekends.

Heartwarming

2009-06-08T09:11:00.005-05:00

...on a another note during my morning newspaper routines I stumbled across this story:

On the first day of hurricane season, Jessie Pullins crouched next to a dog carrier in the baggage claim area at Louis Armstrong International Airport, holding a package of beef jerky in his hand.

"Hi there, JJ," he crooned. "Welcome home, boy. Welcome home. It's been a long road, but we did it."

It had been a very long road, one that stretched from Spain Street to California, included a lawsuit and a disappearing-dog trick, and spanned nearly four years.

And then, just like that, the big black dog walked out of the crate into Pullins' arms, and the wait was finally over. "When I think of the time I missed with JJ, I feel like crying, but I'm too happy to cry," Pullins said. "Because I got him. I finally got my dog back."

It was a combination of luck, compassion and the determination of several people that got JJ (short for Jessie Jr.) back where he belonged. "Most of the people who helped me, I never even met," Pullins said.

Among the smiling faces gathered around him and his beloved Lab-Akita mix were Janet Taylor of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., and Mindy Bryan of Covington, two women who had worked together since July 2006 to get JJ home to New Orleans, but had never seen each other before the reunion.

"I looked at this lady and Janet's voice came out," Bryan said. The women are part of the Katrina Animal Reunion Team, or KART, a handful of dedicated volunteers from around the country who are still trying to reunite Katrina pets with their owners.

For almost a year after the hurricane, Pullins had no idea where his dog was. When he evacuated to Baton Rouge with nine adults and 11 children in two vehicles, he left JJ with plenty of food and water in an elevated part of the house he rented . "It didn't flood in my house, but when I went back to get him, I wasn't allowed back in the city," he said.

When he did get back, JJ was gone. There was a flier on the door, but the writing had faded away. "I always knew in my heart he was still alive, but I had no idea how to find him," Pullins said.

What he learned much later was that JJ had been taken from the house by a rescue group and flown to California three weeks after the hurricane.

In August 2006, Pullins went by the house where he had lived before the storm and saw another flier on the door. This time he could read the words, and his heart filled with joy: JJ had been found in California.

"But then it was just one hurdle after another," he said. "I am just so thankful that so many people never gave up."

After Taylor, the KART member from California, spotted JJ on the TV show "The Dog Whisperer," she asked Bryan, her Louisiana contact, to leave a note on the house where Pullins had lived before the storm.

"As soon as Jessie called me, that's when we started trying to get the dog back," Taylor said. "I just wouldn't give up. I always believed the animals should go back to their original owners."

When Taylor contacted Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, she was told JJ had been returned to the shelter he'd come from, and when she contacted the shelter, she was told he'd been adopted.

"I thought, 'So, now what do I do?'¤" she said. Even though there was no doubt the black dog with the big head and the white blaze on his chest was JJ, the sisters who had adopted him refused to give him back.

"The whole thing was so sad," Taylor said.

She contacted Stephen Dye, a California lawyer, and he called Pullins and asked to represent him pro bono in trying to get his dog back. "When I asked him why he wanted to do this for me, he told me, 'Because it's the right thing to do,'¤" Pullins said.

In a verbal agreement, the new owners agreed to return JJ on Sept. 10, 2008. Instead, one of the sisters moved and took the dog with her. "At that point I was devastated all over again," Pullins said.

But Dye persisted, and finally, nine months later, JJ is home and Pullins, a supervisor at the Marriott Hotel on Canal Street, is one happy man.

"I've got my best friend back," he said. "Here's the thing about JJ. When I have a bad day, he's right there to give me love and let me know everything's all right." And he has no resentment toward the women who adopted JJ and wanted to keep him. "I'm not mad at anyone," he said. "Everybody falls in love with JJ. He's a very lovable dog."

He even tries to understand the motivation of rescuers who didn't want Katrina pets to be returned to their owners.

"People were misinformed. They were told we abandoned our pets, and that's a very strong word," he said. "But what happened was something we never expected. I thought I'd be back the next day."

Now, JJ sleeps beside him in his Carrollton home, and Pullins has decided they need a new plan when they go somewhere in the car. "I had him in the back, but JJ's got to move up front because he thinks he's got a chauffeur," he said, laughing.

He feels blessed to have JJ home and grateful to the many people who helped him. And he urges everyone in south Louisiana to microchip their pets so they will never have to feel as sad and helpless as he felt.

And, no matter what coming hurricane seasons may bring, he'll be prepared. "When they say 'storm,' he's going," Pullins said. "I'll never leave JJ again."

As another hurricane season comes to us--I can only pray that we've all learned our lessons. And that NO loved ones get left behind. I pray that He will protect our coasts and that we don't ever have to experience another Katrina/Rita again.

Thank You Congressman.

2009-06-08T09:07:00.002-05:00

...I submitted a letter to Congressman X URGING him to vote against The Stimulus Bill in February, 2009.

On June 8, 2009 I received an automated email response telling me just how awesome this bill really is.

I immediately went to X's site and sent him a new letter (very similar to the one I wrote in April) under four different subject headers. Punk.

Prayer--The Truth

2009-06-04T13:26:00.002-05:00

Now, I'm not normally one to agree with this man--he's a little too evangelical for my tastes but he certainly does outline what our true problems are in this nation and world today.

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation (emphasis mine)

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics.. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'

propaganda at its best

2009-06-04T12:06:00.003-05:00

I was flipping through the channels on Tuesday night (because I refused to even risk me being counted as a viewer on NBC's "Obama is God" special) and came across this:

In my morning blog checks, I came across this tv ad on ALa's blog:

Before we know it--there will be commercials on our tv's that remind us "Big Brother is Watching You."

Obama's Reaction to AR Shootings

2009-06-04T09:26:00.003-05:00

Well--it took him a couple of days but he finally issued a statement (while he's off making buddies with the Middle East) about the shooting of two American soldiers in Little Rock, Arkansas.

“I am deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence against two brave young soldiers who were doing their part to strengthen our armed forces and keep our country safe. I would like to wish Quinton Ezeagwula a speedy recovery, and to offer my condolences and prayers to William Long’s family as they mourn the loss of their son.”

To follow Michelle Malkin's example, let us remind you of what was stated when Dr. Tiller was shot and killed on Sunday:

"I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."

Shocked. Outraged. Abortion Doctor. One Victim.

Deeply Saddened. Two soldiers. Purposely shot. For being soldiers. Shooter was willing to shoot more.

When is Enough Enough?

Wanted to Kill More...

2009-06-03T09:25:00.012-05:00

**UPDATE: While visiting the DailyKos I decided to count how many posts were written about Tiller's murder since Monday morning. TWELVE times. How many times was the shooting in Little Rock mentioned? None. NONE. (Pictured: Private William Long)

While the headlining story of the murder of Dr. Tiller still occupies all major news channels, only in Arkansas does the shooting death of Pvt. Long remain on the front page.

Let's think about this. The shooter of Dr. Tiller, Scott Roeder, targeted ONE man. ONE. He walked into a packed church and aimed at one man (though he had the opportunity to injure many more). Though it is terrifying and disgusting--there was only one target.

Abdul-Hakim Mujahid Muhammad told Little Rock police that the one private killed and the other wounded should have been a far greater number..."if only more had been present."

Let us examine this real quick. One man targeted for what Roeder believed to be criminal actions (killing unborn children). Multiple humans targeted for what Muhammad believed to be criminal (enlisting in the United States Army).

Hmmm...

How did Obama react?

Well, for the death of Dr. Tiller, he issued a statement condemning "heinous acts of violence" within hours of the incident. U.S. Marshalls were assigned to protect abortion clinics and the fingers were immediately pointed to talk radio, blogs and Fox News.

For the death of an American soldier on American soil? Silence. Even, as Michelle Malkin points out in her article, "Climate of Hate, World of Double Standards," on Tuesday afternoon--more than 24 hours after the attack--when he held a press conference to announce his pick for Army secretary. SILENCE.

This is not something to take lightly. Muhammad wanted to kill multiple people based on political and religious beliefs. Roeder wanted to kill one person based on political and religious beliefs. The two people Muhammad shot were two *boys* he had never met--never heard of--never seen prior to Monday morning. The two people Muhammad shot were shot simply because of what they were WEARING. The one person that Roeder shot may have never met Roeder personally--but Roeder sure had heard of him in the past. Yet--Roeder's actions were "heinous" and Muhammad's inspired no comment.

From KATV (in Little Rock)

This man lost his son--and our President has released NO COMMENT. God Bless America, right Mr. Prez?

Mr. Utopia

2009-06-02T13:46:00.002-05:00

Wow. A huge thanks to Bob A. for sharing this video on his blog. The video says enough...please, please share with your friends and family!!

Character Flaws Are Destroying Our Country

2009-06-02T09:10:00.004-05:00

John Hawkins outlines five character flaws that are single handedly destroying our nation and I can't agree with him more (emphasis mine).

1. Lack of Personal Responsibility. Well, our President is showing us how to do that each and every day. "It's not me, I didn't do it." ...or...I tried, but couldn't do it--I should be rewarded anyway. We're starting this at early early ages now--you don't "lose" soccer games anymore. Everyone wins! Seriously--that makes me sick.

2. Short Attention Spans. The internet and immediate gratification of this world has ruined us. Our own Congress doesn't read legislation before passing it because they just "don't have time." Thank you for that Stimulus bill.

3. Excessive Self-Esteem. Well, this goes back to lack of personal responsibility, in my opinion. We tell our kids they're right and they're good and even if they do something wrong, that it is ok, rather than teaching them the value of a hard day's work. The value of losing. The value of taking responsibility. Because we've convinced our kiddos that they're perfect in every way--they have these esteems that are impossible to crush, even when they're wrong.

4. Short Term Thinking/Instant Gratification. Well, again, in my opinion, this goes hand in hand with our short attention spans. We want it now. Never mind what the consequences will be tomorrow.

5. Immorality. God is gone. The virtues and values of the Great Generation are gone. Children don't know or care what it means to respect senority. There is no chivalry. Being a southern lady, it is heartbreaking to witness this each and every day. We allow corruption in politics to occur and occur without blinking an eye. Our SECRETARY OF TREASURY failed to pay TAXES at one point in his lifetime and now gets to punish others that do the exact same.

When Will Enough Be Enough?

2009-06-02T08:39:00.006-05:00

I know we all have radical groups--Atheist, Christian, Jews, Muslims--we all have those people that have just gone too far.

Why, just this past weekend--someone that stood for Pro-Life walked into a CHURCH and shot and killed a human being. To me--it seems to defeat the argument of Pro-Life when you kill another human being. Whether he is a good man or not--he is still a man, that our Lord placed on this earth for some purpose. I know the stories about Mr. Tiller, I know. But I also truly believe with all my heart that it is not up to us to be his final judge. That he will have to deal with our Maker for the wretched work he has done. And now--the Pro Life movement has taken yet another step back. I can feel the desperation in the air, our fellow countrymen are beginning to feel like they have no voice and our government representatives surely don't care, unless of course, the concern is the same as their own. I understand the frustration...but when is enough enough? You can't kill another human being to justify anti-abortion. Doesn't that make you no less of a hypocrite than the rotten politicians now running this country?

On Monday morning, in Little Rock, Arkansas, a tragic shooting occurred at a local Army/Navy recruitment center. The accused is Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, formerly Carlos Bledsoe. It is stated he intentionally targeted military personnel. Private William Long, 23, of Conway, Arkansas died. Private Second Class Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, Arkansas was also shot, but is expected to recover.

Police say Muhammad opened fire because of his religious beliefs. He is a recent convert to Islam.

When is enough enough? Young men--whose only crime was to want to protect their nation, were shot for being at work? Remind anyone of another day, some eight years ago? We cannot sit idly by and watch our nation be run by people that don't understand what it means to be a businessman or a healthcare professional. We cannot sit idly by and let hypocrites actions represent entire social groups. We cannot sit idly by and let ONE religion dominate this world--out of fear. Enough is enough.

Heed the warnings. In an unconfirmed email circulating they are there in black and white (though Juval Aviv stated a lot of this in an interview earlier this year). Regardless of whether or not this is true--it states a lot of common sense. And if Army recruiters have been targeted in fly-over/nowhere land Arkansas--what else is to come?

The Next Terrorist Attack in the USA

AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ FOR EVERY AMERICAN!

Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie ' Munich ' was based. He was Golda Meir's bodyguard for some time but she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games.

In a lecture in New York City a few weeks ago, he shared information that EVERY American needs to know but that our government has not yet shared with us. He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O'Reilly laughed and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show. But, unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack had occurred. Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East) to the Bush Administration about 9/11 a month before it occurred. His report specifically said they would use planes as bombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. Congress has since hired him as a security consultant.

Now for his future predictions. He predicts the next terrorist attack on the U.S. will occur within the next few months. Forget hijacking airplanes, because he says terrorists will NEVER try to hijack a plane again as they know the people onboard will never go down quietly again.

Aviv believes our airport security is a joke -- that we have been reactionary rather than proactive in developing strategies that are truly effective.

For example:

1) Our airport technology is outdated. We look for metal, and the new explosives are made of plastic.

2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire. Because of that, now everyone has to take off their shoes. A group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives. Now we can't bring liquids on board. He says he's waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on his underwear; at which point, security will have us all traveling naked! Every strategy we have is reactionary.

3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates. Aviv says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times on the front end of the airport when/where people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink, and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved.

In Israel , security checks bags BEFORE people can even ENTER the airport. Aviv says the next terrorist attack here in America is imminent and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places where large groups of people congregate. (I. E., Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos, big cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, etc..) and that it will also include shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, etc., as well as rural America this time (Wyoming, Montana, etc.).

The attacks will be characterized by simultaneous detonations around the country (terrorists like big impact), involving at least 5-8 cities, including rural areas.

Aviv says terrorists won't need to use suicide bombers in many of the larger cities, because at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they can simply valet park a car loaded with explosives and walk away.

Aviv says all of the above is well known in intelligence circles, but that our U. S. Government does not want to "alarm American citizens" with the facts. The world is quickly going to become 'a different place', and issues like 'global warming' and political correctness will become totally irrelevant.

On an encouraging note, he says that Americans don't have to be concerned about being nuked. Aviv says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons. They like to use suicide as a front-line approach. It's cheap, it's easy, it's effective; and they have an infinite abundance of young militants more than willing to meet their destiny.

He also says the next level of terrorists, over which America should be most concerned, will not be coming from abroad. But will be, instead, homegrown, having attended and been educated in our own schools and universities right here in the U.. S. (i.e. the arrests last week of three Americans for terrorism). He says to look for students' who frequently travel back and forth to the Middle East . These young terrorists will be most dangerous because they will know our language and will fully understand the habits of Americans; but that we Americans won't know/understand a thing about them.

Aviv says that, as a people, Americans are unaware and uneducated about the terrorist threats we will, inevitably, face. America still has only a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence networks, and Aviv says it is critical that we change that fact SOON.

So, what can America do to protect itself? From an intelligence perspective, Aviv says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence. We need to, instead, follow Israel 's, Ireland 's and England 's hands-on examples of human intelligence, both from an infiltration perspective as well as to trust> aware citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens; however, our government continues to treat us, its citizens, like babies. Our government thinks we can't handle the truth and are concerned that we'll panic if we understand the realities of terrorism. Aviv says this is a deadly mistake.

Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress, by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago , someone tried to steal the briefcase!

In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well trained that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, 'Unattended Bag!' The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves. But, unfortunately, America hasn't been yet hurt enough by terrorism attacks for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it's their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.

This is the part where you, as individuals, need to read and prepare yourselves for what might come: Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were 'lost' without parents being able to pick them up, and about our schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there. In New York City , this was days, in some cases!

He stresses the importance of having a plan, that's agreed upon within your family, to respond to in the event of a terrorist emergency. He urges parents to contact their children's schools and demand that the schools also develop plans of action, as they do in Israel .

Does your family know what to do if you can't contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow.

To make this point about a need for a plan: Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan that, in the event of another terrorist attack, will immediately cut-off EVERYONE's ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., because this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated.

If this Cut-Off Plan goes into effect, how will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak? You need to have a plan. The government will not make a plan for you!

you could hear a pin drop...

2009-06-01T15:48:00.002-05:00

I received this email today--and it made me smile and tear up at the same time. While our president parades around the world "apologizing" for Americans' selfish ways--I read this email and pray to our Lord that we are not punished for his narcisstic ways--at least too terribly.

When in England, at a fairly large conference, Dr. Condi Rice was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. She answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond> our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."

You could have heard a pin drop.

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?" A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?"

You could have heard a pin drop.

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?" Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the> Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German."

You could have heard a pin drop.

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your passport ready." The American said, ''The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." "Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !" The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, "Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."

You could have heard a pin drop.

The World Has Gone Mad

2009-05-28T10:06:00.005-05:00

And let me just tell you...go ahead and try to take my gyros. My guns are one thing...my booze is another, I mean don't get me started about a beer or glass of wine after a tough day. But taking my gyros or a good cooked rack of lamb--that IS the last straw.

If taxing cow's flatulence isn't enough...

England has gone mad. Just mad.

What do they plan to do with these burping cows and sheep? Kill them off? I'm sorry--I might sound like an "animal extremist" here, but those cows and sheep and have just as much right to be on this earth as we do. It's a hierarchy--hence humans and carnivores eat cows and sheep. But my Lord put them on this planet just as he put me and you.

I will not have any government--especially one that can't keep their teeth clean and pretty--tell me that I can't have a gyro.

When is enough enough???

Unity

2009-05-27T20:36:00.003-05:00

I'm sure feeling "unified" these days.

Rusty Humphries, a top U.S. radio talk show host, whose show is broadcast on over 250 stations through Talk Radio Network, was the target of the tirade, posted on a blog powered by Google entitled, "The Jew Report." Humphries is an outspoken critic of Islamic terrorism and a strong supporter of the U.S.-led war on terror.

North Korea doesn't seem to take the U.N. or the United States very seriously.

The latest Supreme Court nominee believes that because she is a woman and a Latina, she is in fact, better than a white man.

Well, and if you're Republican, you might as well kiss your hard earned business goodbye.

I don't know about you--but I'm feeling the love.

By The Way...

2009-05-21T10:44:00.003-05:00

...even if you don't like American Idol (the Guy likes to claim he doesn't), last night's finale ROCKED. Keith Urban, KISS, Black Eyed Peas, Santana, Steve Martin playing the bango, Kara punking the B*tch that thought she was soooo hot (ugh), surviving members of Queen, Jason Mraz (sigh)...

It sure helped that my favorite contestant won the title.

WOOO KRIS!!!

Drink Too Much?

2009-05-21T10:36:00.004-05:00

So--I heard about a service that is being offered in Arkansas on the news last night. Not such a bad idea--in my opinion.

The friends I remember that we always had the most trouble prying keys out of hands never wanted to leave their car anywhere--whether they were capable of driving or not.

With this new service--no need to worry!!

How We Work

This is How We Work:

1. Go out with friends and have a good time.

2. If you feel you’ve had too much to drink to safely drive, give us a call.

3. Our driver comes to you on a small motorcycle. The motorcycle disassembles into 4 pieces in about 5 minutes. These fit into 4 leak-proof bags and are placed in your trunk. Once we make sure you have valid insurance, off we go, with you as the passenger!

4. Upon arrival at your the destination (in metro Little Rock or the Argenta district of North Little Rock), our driver drops you off and leaves your car where you want.

5. The driver then unpacks the motorcycle and travels to the next customer.

Important American Pastime

2009-05-20T12:12:00.002-05:00

...would of course, be American Idol.

GO KRIS!!!

Road to Recovery--Who's It Gonna Be?

2009-05-20T12:02:00.005-05:00

(h/t Politico)

Fred Malek released his Top 10 list of whom we should be looking to to lead our party down the Road to Recovery and who just might be up in 2012.

1. Mitt Romney

2. Mark Sanford

3. Haley Barbour

4. Dick Cheney

5. Emerging GOP Senate candidates in blue states

6. Sarah Palin

7. Bob McDonnell

8. John Huntsman

9. Paul Ryan

10. Eric Cantor

I'm kind of interested to see that Jindall didn't make the list....and to see that not only did Cheney make the list, he made the top 5.

All politics set aside, and being a total girl for a second-you've got to admit that Romney isn't so hard on the eyes, either. I'm just sayin'.

Shall Priests Marry?

2009-05-19T11:02:00.003-05:00

In the morning Rasmussen Report, one of the headliners was "40% of Catholics Say Priests Should Be Allowed to Marry, 39% Disagree."

I have to say...maybe it is that I am a converted Catholic--or maybe it is because I'm considered a *gasp* cafeteria Catholic...but I am definitely a part of the 40% that believe priests should be able to marry.

I'm pretty sure--and don't really feel like looking it up at the time to back me up--that the whole priests can't marry thing started back in the Middle Ages with a particular group of monks. Prior to that--priests could marry.

I'm also pretty sure--that if priests could marry we wouldn't have such a shortage. My church has plenty of deacons...who followed God's call, but still wanted to partake in the beautiful sacrament of marriage and creating a family in God's eye.

I've just always been baffled as to why priests can council us on marriage--yet not partake in the sacrament themselves? I do not believe that marriage takes away from your relationship with God. In fact, I believe quite the opposite. Me and the Guy's faith has grown as our relationship has--and we have no doubt that when "baby Guys" come in to the world that our faith will grow even more with witnessing such miracles.

Nancy--Part Two

2009-05-19T10:53:00.004-05:00

I really don't like this woman. Should we believe HER or the CIA?

Hmmmm....

From Townhall.com's Washington Beat with Jillian Bandes: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the CIA a bunch of liars when questioned about whether or not they fully informed her as to the use of controversial interrogation tactics such as water boarding. CIA Director Leon Panetta immediately disputed Pelosi's claim, saying that it was against the agency's core values to mislead members of Congress.

House Minority Leader John Boehner called on Pelosi to either produce evidence that the CIA had lied to her or immediately apologize."

Out of curiosity--who has more to lose? The CIA or Pelosi? My guess is the latter of the two.

I bet she would've stated the Pope lied, too...if he had like excommunicated her or something.

Thoughts?

2009-05-19T10:51:00.003-05:00

$100 Million.

2009-05-12T09:44:00.002-05:00

(h/t ALa) This video pretty much sums it up, don't ya think?

Nancy Pelosi

2009-05-08T10:16:00.003-05:00

...is such a liar. All I've got to say about this character is she's going to have a long, long meeting with our Maker. If He even wants to give her the chance to explain herself.

She needs to be investigated--extensively. If not for anything but her ETHICS. I'm tired of people LYING and feeling that they can get away with it.

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002--"In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk."

Regular Ol' Guys

2009-05-05T14:50:00.003-05:00

Thank GOODNESS that our POTUS and VPOTUS are just some regular ol' guys. I don't know what I would've done if they were --*gasp* politicians!

ARLINGTON, Va., Source -- It's like this: When you want a burger, you have to have a burger. Oh, and some tater puffs on the side, please.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden took a short -- but wholly noticeable -- motorcade ride from the White House to Virginia and pulled into a small, independent burger joint called Ray's Hell Burger.

The two leaders waited in line and then went right up to the counter where the meat was being grilled and ordered.

What did they order?

"I'll have a swiss cheese burger with jalapeno peppers and ketchup," Biden said to the cashier. "Do you put the ketchup on it or do we do that ourselves?"

For the president?

"I'm going to have a basic cheddar cheese burger, medium well, with mustard," Obama said. "Do you have spicy mustard? I'll take that."

The president then asked about some fries.

"Are your fries pretty good? Can you vouch for your fries?" he asked.

Unfortunately, Ray's doesn't serve fries. But they had some cheesy tater puffs, so the duo got an order of those.

To drink, Biden got a root beer and Obama a bottle of water.

The president then ordered some extra food for his staff. Each fetched cash from his pocket and paid, Biden paid for their meals and Obama paid for the staffs, and then the pair stood like the rest and waited for their number to be called before going to a table.

The restaurant, which prides itself on premium aged 10-ounce burgers, sits in a small strip plaza. The burgers sell for $6.95.

If you were at Ray's while the prez and veep lunched, send your pictures and video to isee@nbcwashington.com.

Anyone reminded of Clinton and Mickey D's? I mean really--was this NEWSWORTHY? Apparently MSNBC broke in to announce the Prez was eating lunch at a burger joint. What a sad, pathetic excuse for NEWS.

The Maturity of Unions

2009-05-05T14:41:00.004-05:00

I don't know about you--but I can't for the life of me understand why everyone doesn't run out and join a union? Could it be that they are too proud and ...mature?

"The union has engaged a war to the hilt strategy against the grocer even to the extent of surreptitiously placing expired products on store shelves and then calling authorities as if it was the store chain itself allowing those expired items to stay on sale. The union has also filed dozens of harassing and false lawsuits as well as opening uncounted EEOC investigations attempting to force the business to acquiesce to union demands."

To see the full posting, click here. (h/t Redstate.com)

I mean--I can almost picture the children crossing their arms across the chest, stamping their feet with their cheeks all puffed out. Temper Tantrum!

Old Glory

2009-04-29T09:28:00.005-05:00

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." My name is SouthernGirl (ha. Had to throw that in there...habit from my grade school days).

Oh our flag and what she represents. I love her. I treat her with the upmost respect at all times. I am broken hearted that there are so few of us out there anymore with that upbringing.

The red stripes and white stripes together represent the original 13 colonies that gained us our LIBERTY that we so much take for granted these days.

The red stripes remind us of the lifeblood of brave men and women who were ready to die for our country.

The white stripes remind us of the purity and cleanliness of purpose, thought word and deed.

The blue is for truth and justice, like the eternal blue of the star-filled heavens.

The stars represent the fifty sovereign states of our union.

The American Creed states, "it is my duty to my country to love it, to respect its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies."

Does anyone learn these values anywhere beside Boy Scouts these days?

Influence On Our Youth

2009-04-29T09:09:00.005-05:00

I have a confession to make. I LOVE crap tv. Live for it. Especially on Tuesday nights when I have the house to myself. I curl up on the couch and break out the DVR recorded shows.

One of my weaknesses is a show called Gossip Girl. It's a show about the shallow high school elite in NYC--and all the juicy drama they drag each other through. Just can't get enough of it!

Anyhow, last night one of the characters (the "poor" fella) just found out that his father couldn't afford to put him through Yale (gee, welcome to the REAL world, sweetheart). Ok, I understand the hardships of that and all...but this HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR doesn't blame himself, or his father, or really even Yale's lack of financial aide for that matter. Nope. He blatantly states "a former imbecile President of ours..." and continues about the current state of our market and the Recession. And that, my friends, is why poor chap can't go to Yale.

A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR.

Now, I vaugely remember thinking I knew all the answers to our world's problems when I was in H.S. but I'll also admit--just as others--that as much as I liked to front that I knew it all, politics was one of the last things I truly knew. Trust me, I tried...I was a member of Political Animals and We The People. But I just couldn't truly grasp it all, as I was still dependent on my parents and only worked so I could have the fun things my parents wouldn't buy, etc. I do remember I didn't care too much for our former Prez in my h.s. days...especially all the lovely military cuts, etc...but I sure didn't call him an imbecile and blame him for my lack of funding for schooling. If I had known then what I do now, I'd be cussing him, Fannie and Freddie and all that fun stuff on a daily basis.

But one of the most popular tv shows for America's youth--sneaking in "former imbecile President" and that administration that led us straight into a recession. It really got to me. MSM, hit tv shows, it's every where. I keep waiting for "You are happy. You love life. You love Your President," to appear on my tv screen at all times. Obammy zombies.

I am weak though. Next week's drama looks way too good to miss. And, let's be realistic. Our little teeny boppers aren't going to stop watching this show and its fabulous high school drama--and most probably didn't catch the political jab snuck in there. So the ratings won't drop--even if we tried.

Now. If I had a daughter that watched the show, I wouldn't let her watch it any longer. Me on the other hand? Well, since I don't have a daughter and won't be influencing anyone, I just want the juicy drama. I'll ignore the political slams. I can't get enough. Unless it happens again.

Jusy Say NO!...to water...?

2009-04-28T08:36:00.003-05:00

While doing my morning blog rounds I came across a great LAUGH (h/t ALa). Apparently, Penn and Teller have decided to test just how "loyal" our environmentally conscious really are.

Apparently, they are so "environmentally conscious"--that WATER should be banned. Hmmm.

It also makes you wonder, how many petitions are signed without the signer truly knowing what they're supporting/against? When is enough enough? When will it be time for our fellow countrymen to begin thinking for themselves? Hopefully NOT before it is too late.

Are You Distracted?

2009-04-27T18:30:00.002-05:00

I have noticed that folks seem to be tiring of economics, and seem now to be quietly hoping the couple of weeks of stock market rallies (now apparently running their course) were a signal of the return of a bull market. Banks were making big (although false) profits; banks passed their "stress" tests (although the test did not even test against current problems, and assumes away anything even close to the "worst-case scenario" that they were supposed to meet.

So, just to make your day, I thought I would review a few factors that should help you judge just how well the stimulus package, bank bailouts, and Keynesian monetary policy has worked, and let you judge for yourself whether this is a bull or a bear:

Unemployment and part-time employment rates are increasing steeply, indicating that the "stress test" levels of 8.9% will be passed, and will continue on an upward course well into 2010.

Retail sales, while somewhat ameliorated, are still negative, after a record negative 4th Q 2008, suggesting that we haven't solved consumer confidence yet.

A new wave of home foreclosures is beginning - predictable, as all those option ARMs that didn't increase to "real" interest rates from the initial tickler rates are about to do so.

Small business sentiment on the economy, measured by financial surveys from respected indendent organizations, is plummeting.

As one might expect from the above, small business capital expenditures are collapsing as well, with only 15% expecting to invest more, compared to 40% last year.

Commercial real estate delinquency rates are the highest since 1934, and retail vacancies are at 9.5%, the highest in decades. Rents have dropped 1.8%, and apartment vacancies are at 7.2%, while 25 million square feet of office space was vacated in the 1st Q, and has not re-rented.

World trade is contracting rapidly, and will continue, as the IMF is projecting financial losses to reach 4 Trillion (up from an estimate of 1T less than a year ago). 39% of that will occur in Europe, and more than 30% in the US. Only 1/3 of that debt has been written off thus far. Most bear markets historically have bottomed at about 10X PE, yet stocks are still overvalued at more than 50X - not a bull signal.

I don't give advice on investments, but if I were to make a choice between playing an ETF betting on the bull market or buying a good book on how to protect your assets in a depression - well, let's just say I bought my son and daughters a book. And it is not a book on how BHO and Timmy have saved the economy from disaster!

Funny Friday

2009-04-24T11:20:00.001-05:00

Ann Coulter

2009-04-23T08:53:00.004-05:00

Last Tuesday, Ann Coulter lost her mother. This morning, she posted an article about about the amazing woman she called mommy. The article is touching and brought tears to my eyes. You can read it here.

I offer my deepest consolences to Ann and her family as they grieve the loss of their mother.

I bring this article up on my blog today not to be sympathetic--but rather to be enraged. The comments section of her article is not, I believe, the place to express this outrage, so I'm bringing it here to Bless Our Hearts.

Ann is a bigger person than I am for posting such a touching, personal moment on such a public forum. She posted the article knowing that the unkind souls would come and speak such heinous words to her while she is mourning. I wouldn't have had that kind of bravery--and probably would be trying to hunt down the thugs that trash talked me or my mother if I were in Ann's situation.

I don't care what your political beliefs are--or whether you agree with Ann Coulter's views or not. How someone can be so heartless, so soul-less and post nasty comments directed to Ann on this day is beyond me. The leftists/liberals/dems, whatever you want to call them, call themselves the party of "tolerance" yet come and post comments to a grieving daughter as if they have no soul. That is not the kind of Utopia I'm looking for...

If I were to ever have had a chance to reason with those people, that chance is gone. Even when people I oppose politically pass away, I stop and send a prayer the way of their family and for their soul. For someone to outright insult Ann is beyond disgusting. It's vulgar and repulsive and I have no doubt has disappointed our Father. Whether they believe or not--their day will come.

Housewives Evil? I think not.

2009-04-22T09:53:00.005-05:00

I am currently reading a book called "Women Who Make the World Worse: and How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports" by Kate O'Brien.

I'll admit it is taking me longer than usual to read because it's difficult for me to read at times. I find myself getting slightly angry with some of the quotes/comments made by some of these women...

For example, I stumbled across this statement last night: Betty Friedan states, "But even if a woman does not have to work to eat, she can identify only in work that is of real value to society--work for which, usually, our society pays." (italics--my emphasis)

I read this phrase and re-read it and read it yet again with the same thought powering through my mind: How exactly is raising a child NOT contributing to society? This could be my personal opinion, or some may share--but aren't children that have parents that CARE about their life and want to share the moments with them typically more positive adults than those that were passed from daycare to daycare/nanny/neglected?

Please don't get me wrong. I am NOT knocking mothers that have to work to eat, or keep a roof over your babies heads. I am just simply dumbfounded at the statements Ms. Friedan makes --apparently on a consistent basis.

I once told my father that although I was attending the University, I was simply doing so to obtain my M.R.S.

Although it was stated tongue in cheek, it was not received well by either of my parents. My mother fought her way through a male dominated industry in the late 70s and early 80s--and my father wants nothing but the best for his children--and he wants his children to reach "their best" on their own. NOT with the assistance of a M.R.S. (or M.R).

Years later from that statement (you know, the M.R.S statement), I now possess a degree and no M.R.S. I am working and supporting myself and I couldn't be happier. BUT...I will not sacrifice time with my unborn children just to show some man I am just as competent as him. I take it as a great honor that I can one day be a mother and teach my children to be pillars of society. Just as my own mother did.

I strongly disagree with the statement that it takes a village to raise a child. I don't mind the village contributing every now and again--but when I'm blessed with children of my own, I want to be the one that influences my child (well, along with my husband, I suppose).

It starts at home. Period.

If you can't separate work from personal life--don't bring children in to this world. Furthermore, don't you dare knock women that choose to forgo the professional lifestyle to raise their children and maintain their households. That is a full time job--that I'd say contributes to society much more than that 30 second ad spot running on NBC at 5pm.

Budget Spending vs. Budget Cuts

2009-04-21T16:11:00.003-05:00

For those of you that are visual learners...

Seriously?

"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money." -Senator Everett Dirksen

Community Service--Voluntary?

2009-04-21T08:20:00.006-05:00

While I have stated before that I don't oppose encouraging community service--I do have a problem with signing a bill that bribes one to do good.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act sounds ideal--encourage youth and young adults throughout our nation to participate in community service.

However, after the revelation of the "extremeist conservative" report from DHS and the 1000+ page "stimulus" bill that was rushed through crammed with pork and pet projects and our President flying all over the world to listen to our country being bashed, I have my reservations. I don't trust it.

First, politicians that do nothing to contribute to society--except redistribute OTHER PEOPLE'S wealth--are creating, supporting or signing a bill that will all but force community service onto our children. Heck, those politicians will even PAY you to VOLUNTEER your time...I mean, what's a few million more when we're already running the deficit up to $4trillion plus?

Next, in mere weeks after the DHS report was released mentioning Veterans and their easily coerced ways:

(h/t Michelle Malkin:) And echoing the anti-military bigotry last seen in that disgusting Penn State University training video, there’s this on p. 7:

(U) Disgruntled Military Veterans

(U//FOUO) DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.

...a Veterans service corps group will be developed, monitored by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

While there is not much description as to what this program will do for Veterans, I can't help but draw up crazy theories that we may be witnessing the most power hungry humans in this country trying to make their power permanent... Could this be the counter attack of our current government on these extreme conservatives that brainwash our poor Veterans? In other words, a means to get in the heads of these "easily coerced" Vets before those crazy conservatives do? Get in the heads of the kiddos while they're at it?

After the release of the DHS report that vaguely describes any and ALL opposition to the current administration as a potential terrorist threat and now with the release of the Serve America bill--I can't help but think--are we seeing a repeat in history?

Well, I can ponder no longer...I actually have to go write a lesson plan for the class I work with every week through Junior Achievement. It's an amazing VOLUNTEER group that reaches out to America's youth each and every day. And we don't even get paid to do it!

And Now a Moment for CNN

2009-04-20T11:08:00.005-05:00

...courtesy of Founding Bloggers (h/t Michelle Malkin).

"You know, you don't really need to be so antagonistic."

Someone should of told her to wipe that "I'm better/smarter than you smirk" of that face of hers...as well as the condescending tone. Fox News did not tell us about these parties. And that eats CNN up.

Is anyone else getting frustrated with the blatant hypocrisy we are witnessing? While it is offensive to call our current President "fascist" it is perfectly ok to compare our former President to Hitler...? Missing the reasoning behind that one...

Political Elite Oppose Tea Parties

2009-04-20T10:55:00.003-05:00

According to a Rasmussen Report released this morning, 81% of America's politcal elite had an unfavorable opinion on last week's Tea Parties.

Now, I wonder why that is?

I don't suppose it has anything to do with the fact that the purpose of the Tea Parties is to demonstrate America's disdain over the ever-growing Federal government?

Well, and of course, President Obama's office deemed the parties as "unhealthy."

...I'll leave that commentary to you.

2009-04-20T10:50:00.000-05:00

We're All Just RWE's!

2009-04-17T13:12:00.003-05:00

I assume most of you have now heard about or read the "leaked" memo from Department of Homeland Security which, without data, evidence or support, labels as "extreme" pretty much half the population of the United States, in particular Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians. The memo targets "groups, movements, and adherents that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority." That would include, if they were alive today, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, or Madison (well, not all were Federalists, although all of them ultimately agreed to those governing principles).

Just to be sure we are all on the same page here, and drinking tea instead of koolaid, here is the language of the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the People.

That means, for those not sufficiently schooled in 18th Century prose, that anything not expressly granted to the federal government is reserved to the states or the people. Therefore any constitutionalist who believes in the republic, and in the federal form of government, is, according to Napolitano, a "right wing extremist".

The memo also targeted groups and individuals who are dedicated to a single issue - you know, like folks who believe in Right to Life or are opposed to illegal immigration - and especially frightening, targeted returning veterans who could be targeted by extremists and "radicalized" to "exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat." I guess those skills include the ability to shoot - yet the 2d Amendment protects the right to gun ownership.

You know, this antiquated document just gets in the way of the statist/fascist bureaucrats running Washington these days - how much simpler if we could all just be re-educated to trust them, drink the Koolaid, and do as we are told? Well, perhaps because of another little-known right those RWEs stuck in the Constitution, known as the 9th Amendment. It says:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

While I am aware of the Slaughterhouse cases and other poorly reasoned dribble by past courts that marginalize this language, perhaps we need to revisit and reinvigorate these express rights before they are undermined further by even more poorly reasoned dribble, in the form of government scapegoating of those who refuse to drink the Koolaid.

My question? Was this "leak" unintentional, coming as it did on the eve of a national protest of government excess at the federal level, or was it intended to chill protest? And if the latter, how big would those crowds have been without the chilling effect? Somebody needs to remind Napolitano and her ilk to read the base, founding document from which her limited powers derive, before she inserts any more of her foot, gout and all, in her mouth.

Dear Congressman X

2009-04-16T11:11:00.007-05:00

Dear Congressman X:

I have sat idly by for far too long. Your statement released yesterday is the final straw on the camel's back. I have voted for you for the very last time--as you seem to have little to no regard for your constituents and what they need/want/believe. For that, I am disgusted and ashamed that I have EVER cast a ballot for your name.

Yesterday you released a statement which included this: "...it's very clear that these events are being set up to attack President Obama..."

First, these events are not set up to attack Obama. These events are set up to demonstrate against YOU and your fellow Congressmen and Senators that have been signing bills left and right without even reading them. This is beyond taxes. This is to show you that we are on to the power hungry and greediness that has ruled Washington for FAR TOO LONG.

These events are set up to let YOU know that we are tired of YOUR actions. We, your constituents, are tired of your automated responses to emails, letters or phone calls. We voted you in to office to represent US, not your pet projects and special interests.

Furthermore, using the word, "attack" was probably not your best choice. There is no attack on anyone. This is not about Bush. This is not about Obama. THIS is about our Federal government that has become power hungry and greedy, i.e. YOU.

Please do not forget that you do hail from a RED STATE and that we WILL find a better candidate to vote you out.

I KNOW you did not read the Stimulus bill, yet voted for it anyway. How disappointing. How do YOU justify spending and spending and spending? Did you not take ECON 101? Do not spend what you do not have.

From this day forward you will receive a letter from me once a month. I will send these letters to REMIND you that you are in Washington, D.C. to represent me and my fellow citizens...NOT your special interests and pet projects. Take the politics out of your game and you may save face. Continue on the path you're on and I will ensure that everyone I know and speak to understands that you are just another politician and you WILL NEVER receive my vote again.

Sincerely,

Southern Girl

DHS vs. Conservative America

2009-04-14T18:59:00.004-05:00

While I intend to have a more thorough post on this topic later, I need to take a moment to let it sink in...and digest. With the help of the release of the NFL schedule and a brewski, I should be good to go tomorrow.

I'll start with my first initial thought when reading about this: "This man is trying to 'weed out' his competition by vaguely listing 'terroristic threats' and 'potential terroristic cells' in a conservative extremeist report, which could (through its vagueness) actually include ME...a conservative Christian, pro-Veteran, pro-2nd Amendment...that blogs. All 100 pounds of me.

With that said, check out Michelle Malkin's blog, which has a thorough description of our POTUS's latest political "move"...as well as many, many, many links and trackbacks (looks like it's at 142 right now) and This Ain't Hell--that has a response from the American Legion to this ludicrous report released by our very own DHS.

I'd sure like to know how the leaders/commanders of the "state and local partners" would like to truthfully respond to such a report? Aren't a large majority of them veterans? I'm sure the General isn't pleased...maybe he'll contribute soon. (exum...General???)

Calling All Eagles Fans...

2009-04-14T18:42:00.003-05:00

Looking forward to September 20th. Which is at least better than say...a December game! Us Southerners can't take that cold white stuff! Why do I choose the Philly fans? Well...through work and one of my favorite blogspots...I find myself surrounded by them these days! :)

Generous Tea Parties

2009-04-14T13:26:00.004-05:00

While the original intent of the National Tea Parties has not faltered, I have stumbled across a FABULOUS idea.

The Little Rock, Arkansas Tea Party is collecting cannned goods and other non-perishable items to donate to the local food banks that have been struggling in recent times.

This demonstrates not only that Tea Party participants are concerned about the state of this Nation...but also are a large majority of the most giving, kind hearted Americans that you'll ever meet.

I know this is short notice, but maybe we can all suggest something of this nature for our own Tea Parties?

TOP TEN ITEMS NEEDED:

• Canned meats/fish/poultry

• Canned/Packaged Meals

• Peanut Butter

• Cereal

• Soups

• Canned Vegetables

• Canned Fruits

• 100% Juices

• Pasta and Pasta Sauces

• Diapers

Texas is in...America Out?

2009-04-14T09:30:00.003-05:00

Back in February I posted about the New Hampshire legislation calling for HR0006, a Resolution affirming States' rights based on Jeffersonian principles. By the end of February, more states had joined. Some states already had resolutions in place dating back to the 90s when a certain other President was in office...

We've all said it would get interesting if and when Texas joined the list...well. That day has come.

What do you suppose THIS means?

The Coworker seems to think this will either make Barry throw another one of his tantrums...

Capitalism vs. Socialism-Part Deux

2009-04-13T11:41:00.008-05:00

Last Thursday, I posted about how we actually have Americans that would prefer Socialism over Capitalism. Well now, that seems like a GREAT idea. Let's socialize millions and millions of people...FORCE them to live/act the way a small number of people think/believe you should. Right. I'm right on that.

Our leading example of why this would work "so well?" France. Last Wednesday, 500 workers went on strike at the Eiffel Tower, causing the Tower to close. The cause? The want for increased wages. Never mind how much it costs to run the tower (electricity, etc.). It's just not fair that the ticket costs went up but no one's hourly rate did. The workers are, of course, unionized.

Because I'm SURE with the Global Warming and all they don't charge an arm and a leg to run this thing: Hmpf. I don't suppose they could just fire the punks and ask the 7.9% of frenchmen that DON'T HAVE A JOB if they wouldn't mind running the elevator at the Tower?

Can we just imagine what life will be like once Unions get their hands on every facet of the work force? We will be waiting in line to see the Grand Canyon...or maybe waiting how long for an ambulance? Grant it, they have lost the card check battle for now, but I believe these Union bosses are still in the War--they won't give up anytime soon. And, if we allow our "representatives" (and POTUS) to continue the way they're going...we will see Unions running our country in no time at all.

SG RANT: I'm so tired of all these entitlements both in and outside of the workforce. I'm ready for these people to get bitch slapped and realize that you DO HAVE TO WORK (and sometimes for *gasp* minimum wage) for most things and you do have to learn to LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS.

Needs: Shelter, Food, Clothing. Wants: EVERYTHING ELSE. If you only make $20,000/year, well, don't go buy those $200 jeans. Ummm-kay? I just have a problem with the fact that when I started (with a college degree mind you) in the work force I was WELL BELOW the "poverty" line. Yet, never even applied for food stamps (though my mother highly suggested it). I lived within my means--wanted for EVERYTHING...received everything I needed.

*editors note: Don't have actual reference for the $200 jeans statement, as this was verbally said and not recorded by any media...because what poor soul would buy jeans that they can't afford? NEVER an American that has been taught to be dependent on our Welfare system, which by the way, is NOT an entitlement, either.

I know...a little all over the place this morning...but what can you expect after such a peaceful weekend with family and friends...only concerning myself with the thought of what my Saviour, Jesus Christ, did for me and you all those years ago.

Happy Belated Easter to Ya'll!!

National Tea Party

2009-04-09T10:26:00.002-05:00

I truly do not believe this is a partisan issue--but rather an American issue that needs to be addressed. Now.

What has been happening the past 8 months is a travesty and should not be allowed to continue. Speak Up AMERICA on April 15, 2009, and don’t stop until we get results.The spending is getting beyond absurd and the corporations that keep asking for bail outs need to be told "NO!" If you or I failed at our job we would be fired...not handed a bonus. Which is what bailing these companies out...with OUR tax dollar, is essentially doing, giving them another chance to waste more money.

Toby Marie Walker is a Tea Party organizer from Waco, Texas. She says, “Our representatives have forgotten who they represent, what the Constitution says, and that WE are THEIR boss. We surround them, we put them in office and together we can send them home.”

It is time to remind our Representatives (REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRATS AND INDEPENDENT REPRESENTATIVES of all shapes, sizes and colors) what their job is...to REPRESENT us--the average Amerian Tax Paying citizen.

April 15th marks the day. It is time to no longer remain silent. Join me my fellow Americans...

Find your local tea party here or here.

Michelle Malkin does a great job at covering the ins and outs of the National Tea Party on her blog.

Capitalism vs. Socialism

2009-04-09T10:02:00.006-05:00

In my daily Rasmussen update, I noticed that the results of Capitalism vs. Socialism came in.

Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.

Ugh.

But...when Rasmussen breaks down the results a bit more, here is what we find:

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not invest, 40% say capitalism is better while 25% prefer socialism.

What I would love to find out is WHERE DO THEY FIND THESE PEOPLE? Obviously, the ones in support of Socialism don't really care about money anyway (I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they're currently BENEFITTING from investors)...

I'm willing to be that the 33% of under 30s are on liberal college campuses for one. Because even MY liberal under 30 friends don't support SOCIALISM.

I just wish people would take the time to study history and how socialism has been "so" successful in other countries.

The Catholic Spirit

2009-04-08T11:01:00.003-05:00

I received an email yesterday...it was pretty good.

Nancy Pelosi is now a Saint....CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS ?

On a Saturday afternoon, in Washington, D. C., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aide visited the Cardinal of the Catholic cathedral.

He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day's sermon, and he asked if the Cardinal would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words that would include calling Pelosi a saint.

The Cardinal replied, "No. I don't really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over certain of Pelosi's views." Pelosi's aide then said, "Look. I'll write a check here and now for a donation of $100,000 to your church if you'll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a saint."

The Cardinal thought about it and said, "Well, the church can use the money, so I'll work your request into tomorrow's sermon." As Pelosi's aide promised, House Speaker Pelosi appeared for the Sunday sermon and seated herself prominently at the edge of the main aisle.

And, during the sermon, as promised, the Cardinal pointed out that House Speaker Pelosi was present.

Then the Cardinal went on to explain to the congregation -- "While Speaker Pelosi's presence is probably an honor to some, she is not my favorite person. Some of her views are contrary to those of the church, and she tends to flip-flop on many other views. Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker, and a nit-wit. Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat, and a thief.

Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed.

She married for money and is using it to lie to the American people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington, and in California. She simply is not to be trusted."

The Cardinal completed his view of Pelosi with, "But, when compared to Senators Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, and John Kerry, House Speaker Pelosi is a saint."

I think my FAVORITE part about this email is The Coworker's response...

The Coworker: Wow. Is this for real?

Made me laugh out loud--which was much needed!

Happy Easter!

Depression Lurks Among Us

2009-04-07T13:19:00.005-05:00

SG: Well folks, the time has come...lessons learned from past mistakes have been long forgotten and we are repeating cycles. We got too cocky, too confident and way too selfish, and now we are finding ourselves in a horrible situation. All you bleeding hearts will bleed no more. We won't have the money to give to other nations or to our own charities and foundations.

The Gen: We are close to entering a depression, so folks ought to be in cash, treasuries, debt-free, and if their house is overpriced or close, think about selling unless they can't do better elsewhere.

Click here or post's title for article and hold on...this is gonna be a bumpy ride.

**SG: My financial advisor believes the WORST thing you can do is go all cash or treasuries...that will for sure put the market in a nose dive...and my FA compares it to hiding money in a mattress. Sure--you get that cash but there is no interest. And cash is worthless these days because of inflation. Finally, my FA strongly--HIGHLY--recommends taking your money out of the big Banks and moving to small, local banks. The Feds don't have their hands on that...yet.

The Washington Beat

2009-04-07T10:34:00.002-05:00

Well, thank goodness the General had something to say yesterday. I sat here for a good hour staring at the computer screen with plenty to say yet unable to find the exact written words for my thoughts. I'd type and delete, type and delete, finally just deleting the entire post in frustration. I have lately found myself at such a loss for words (and ya'll that doesn't happen often) that I am almost to the point of bewilderment. Hence, the posting of other people's work--or the very short posts.

Today will be no different, unfortunately. But this alone surely demonstrates why I am so baffled at the world today? Today, I will add my own thoughts after each bit...so I don't feel like I'm completely relying on other's thoughts and words.

The Townhall.com Washington Beat with Jillian Bandes:

HELLO, DEBT The House and Senate passed Obama's budget bills this week, ushering in an era of increased spending to the tune of 3.6 trillion dollars. The plan is expected to create a $500 to 600 billion budget shortfall in five years. The vote was largely along party lines in the Senate, with only two Democratic Senators voting against the plan, but 20 Democrats broke ranks in the House. Healthcare and education were the top priority items, as was bankrupting future generations. When is this going to stop?!?! SPENDING MONEY DOES NOT GET YOU OUT OF DEBT. Why, why, why do these idiots in Washington think otherwise? I think they ALL need to sit through a Dave Ramsey lesson or 12 then reconvene and throw their votes around. This makes me so sick. When will America realize what these people are doing to us in such a short time? When will America get mad?

NORTH KOREAN FIREWORKS PROVE DISAPPOINTING North Korea tried to launch a nuclear missile into space this past weekend, but it likely ended up on the ocean floor. That didn't stop the Dear Leader from praising his scientists and his country, and claiming 100 percent success for the operation: "It is a striking demonstration of the might of our juche-oriented science and technology that our scientists and technicians developed both the multistage carrier rocket and the satellite with their own wisdom and technology," Kim Jong Il told the Korea Central News Agency. Some experts point to Japan as the nation most likely to deter a successful missile strike, although the likelihood of Kim actually seeing success seems slim. So, this is no big deal? Crazy Kim Jong Il is shooting off missiles and we're going to CUT national defense and weapons funding?!? I suppose we need that additional funding to send to the ghetto thugs that are raised by welfare queens that like to shoot into crowds with no regard for human life. And I can guarantee you these punks did not register those weapons MR. PRESIDENT, you jack ass.

THE RUNNING MATE WEARS PRADA Todd Palin defended his wife?s wardrobe, saying that her handlers were responsible for the $150,000 spending spree on clothes and accessories for Sarah and the family. The Republican National Committee provided the dough, he said, and his wife was just trying to get the job done. "I couldn't give a rat's (expletive) about clothes. Please," said Todd, in an interview with Men?s Journal. It hits the newsstands at the end of this week. Seriously? Why are we still on Palin dropping private funds (provided by the RNC) when apparently it's ok for Mrs. President to drop the same amount with TAX PAYER dollars. Nice. And rather than be a villian, she is revered. I love the double standards in this country.

SENATE CAN'T KEEP UP WITH ITSELF The annual Senate vote-fest known as vote-o-rama took place on Thursday, in which lawmakers voted almost every 10 minutes on a variety of issues ranging from healthcare, energy, education loans, to tax increases. One vote every day or every few days day is normal when the Senate is in session. Some lawmakers weren't pleased with the tempo of this year's event. "I've been doing this for 22 years and I don't know that I've ever seen a year where colleagues just seem to be absolutely insistent on having roll call votes on things that are going to keep us here a very long time," said Sen. Kent Conrad, (D-N.D.). Well, who needs to take the time to read and understand something before voting on it? Apparently NO ONE in Washington, D.C. Let us just rush, rush, rush...hit the ground running straight to Socialism. Again. I feel sick to my stomach.

Well, I'm slightly down today. I'm witnessing friends and family lose their jobs left and right and ideas and values that have made this country so great go right down the drain. I wonder when people will get angry enough to make this stop? When women have to cover their heads, never leave the house and lose all rights they have worked to gain?

Lessons From the Great Depression - Horwitz' Ideological Residue

2009-04-06T16:15:00.004-05:00

This morning I was listening to a conference call held by a US Representative, generally taking credit, as they tend to do, for anything good and any new dollars that have come to our State, while generally dodging credit or blame for any failures or transgressions of the Congress. (Hence the 90%+ return rate for incumbents? – But, I digress)

Then a fellow named “Smith” asked a very well-phrased question about the concerns we should have about King Obama firing GM’s CEO and the government discussion of imposing even more onerous restrictions on the salaries of those who have the bad fortune to work for a company that took bailout money from the government. In response, this brilliant leader of the free world and peer of the “Clueless 435”, otherwise known as the House of Representatives, stated, and I will paraphrase, that “while he understands the concerns about government intrusion into the bailiwick of shareholders and corporate boards, he was more concerned about the ‘average citizen’s concern that the people who caused this mess and caused us to lose so much money in our savings plans’ should profit from these bailouts.” In other words, to hell with principle, we can forget the Constitution and limited powers doctrine if we are mad as hell and we want to punish the greedy. Of course, while these average citizens have been told repeatedly by Congress and the liberal media that it was those greedy so-and-so’s on Wall Street who caused this financial mess, many, if not most, have never been told who or what was the real culprit in the recent economic debacle.

So let us set the record straight – if you want to limit the salaries of those who were the principle cause of the recession, then Congressman, you should pass laws to limit the salaries and benefits of Congress and the Administration, in general, and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, in particular. And yet, it is the inimitable Mr. Frank who is sponsoring this new legislation! The false assumption that it was Wall Street greed (which there is no lack of, to be sure) that caused this mess is not just wrong, it is illogical.

Economist Larry White noted recently that, if we saw a bunch of airplanes crash all on the same day, we wouldn’t blame gravity. Why, then, does it make sense to blame greed, which is always there and, like gravity, always has been, for this economic calamity? Logic would tell you that something else was at work. It is more likely that processes, policy and institutions, which can channel greed for good or evil, are more likely the cause.

It is just as illogical to believe the crisis was caused by the unrestrained free market strategy of Bush and his deregulation of the financial industry. Why? Well, the last deregulation in that industry was during the Clinton administration, so anyone arguing that point should point out just what deregulation they are talking about. There was a decision by the SEC to rely upon the modeling and servers developed by the huge financial players, rather than trying to regulate through an IT process that would merely slow the models and thwart the intent of protecting and hedging investments, but in truth the SEC was merely admitting that they did not have the capability of doing that level of regulation with their own servers and models. Anyone arguing that was “deregulation” should also point out what central planners could have done, other than grind the markets to a halt, that would have regulated this process so as to avoid the rather certain cyclic adjustment, and what the ameliorative impacts would have been. Besides, the Bush administration added hundreds of thousands of pages to the Federal Registry, and trillions to the deficit – not something a limited government, free market advocate is likely to do, so he doesn’t get a pass, either.

As I have stated in earlier posts (and perhaps hundreds of blog threads in the last several months), there are two primary causes to this crisis: the irresponsible and expansionist monetary policy of the Federal Reserve Board (the “Fed”), and a well-documented collection of regulatory and institutional interventions that created excess credit and expanded access to credit in the housing market, creating a housing boom that was destined to fail because it was built on sand, bad credit principles, and a flawed idea that real estate values would always go up. As stated by Steven Horwitz, Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence University: “In other words, the boom (and inevitable bust) are the product of misguided government policy, not unbridled capitalism. … The Fed drove up the money supply and drove down interest rates very consistently since 9/11 [,] mak[ing] long term investments relatively cheaper than short term ones, thus the excess funds flow[ed] toward such goods. …[I]n this particular case, a set of other government interventions and policies pushed those funds toward housing.”

The wrong-headed government interventions Horwitz is referring to include: -The Fed expanding money supply and driving down interest rates consistently over a number of years; -A strong governmental push for “affordable” housing in several administrations; -The involvement of the GSE’s, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in the development of low down-payment mortgages and the packaging of those mortgages for sale as securities in the secondary mortgage market, with an implicit promise of government support; -Government pressure on the GSE’s to make housing more affordable, and more accessible to certain favored groups of borrowers (the historically underserved); -The Community Reinvestment Act; -The impact of zoning laws, which crowded housing into limited areas in many cities; -At least two presidents pressing for even more “affordable housing.”

With these steps and many more, government intervention provided all the ingredients of a credit-fueled and regulatory-directed housing boom and bust. Of course, none of it would have happened without inspired assistance from those in the private sector who profited from the boom, but was it their greed or the finagling of the government that started the boom?

Professor Horwitz discusses this in detail in a speech, comparing this “Great Recession” to the Great Depression, to be found at – http://myslu.stlawu.edu/%7Eshorwitz/gsutalk.htm To summarize his points: -The stimulus won’t stimulate much, and the bailouts so far have not, and may not, be effective. -The original TARP plan has not done much good – and the prices of these inflated assets need to fall before the economy will correct. -The stimulus legislation was premised on government spending bolstering demand for labor and reducing unemployment, but how government spending can add to growth, when government can only get resources through a reduction of private spending, remains unanswered. -Focus on macroeconomics (money supply, interest rates, etc.) ignores the microeconomic adjustments that are necessary, so the focus is not just as retrenchment from inflation, but a sectoral reallocation of resources away from the artificially large longer-term asset sectors, to where real consumer demands lie. -Obama’s proposed budget is based, apparently, on the presumption that we spent too much on housing, the financial sector, and debt in general, and not enough on the core issues of the environment, health care, and education. “For the life of me,” says Horwitz, “I cannot see how such a theory can explain anything of what’s happened the last six months, but it does serve to create a rationale for a budget that contains a whole bunch of new initiatives … [and] taken on a whole bunch of new debt.” -Institutions created in the Great Depression are operating in and relevant to our current mess: the Banking Act of 1935 gave the Fed the power to adjust the money supply more directly, and to buy and sell government securities to adjust the money supply and interest rates; the Fed also has the power, and used it, to create the credit expansion of the post 9/11 period that caused the boom that has ended in the current bust; Fannie Mae was chartered in 1938, to address a rise in foreclosures and a problem of unaffordable homes – and its use, through the application of systematic policy to artificially support the housing market, was central to the current mess, and is an unintended consequence of the Great Depression’s institutional legacy; the SEC was created in 1933-34, and its role in the current crisis, though limited, was in creating a cartel of bond rating agencies that serve issuers rather than investors, hence the fox was guarding the hen house. -If the period preceding the Great Depression (or this recession) was all about greed and laissez-faire economics/banking as urged by the media and the President, both then and now, why is it that Canada, which had far fewer limits on banks in the 20s than the US, had only one bank failure in the 20s, and none after 1929? -The kind of meddling we now see from this Administration is very similar to that of FDR’s “brain trust”, which had many of its efforts declared unconstitutional, and by consensus, most were judged to have actually exacerbated the distortions of the 1920s and prevented necessary corrections, thus prolonging the debacle.

To put all this in perspective, economist Bryan Caplan asks: “do you suppose that if Bush and Obama had simply relied upon free market, laissez-faire principles to respond to this crisis, and the market had dropped by 4000 points and unemployment increased by 2 or 3% (now 5% or more?), the media would not have savaged them for their stupidity?” Well, why aren’t they questioning these effects from central planners who now have their fingers in everything, and if the G20 reports are accurate, are now going to mess with things on a global scale, inventing new currencies that devalue the current ones and reflating asset values. Their track record doesn’t give me much confidence. TARP has done basically nothing except prolong the agony of certain market failures -- yet the market would say that we need to let inflated housing prices fall to proper levels. These interventions are attempting to prevent that from happening, again, prolonging and exacerbating the misery.

In short, as Horwitz urges, we need to learn the lessons of the Great Depression, not mimic their failures. Short term bear market rallies may buoy spirits, but they will not last, and the inflation that must result from all these government trillions being thrown about in a panic will certainly end up hurting, rather than helping, any recovery. The programs that Obama is instituting in the name of recovery have nothing to do with recovery, and everything to do with his, and the left-leaning members of his party’s, long term programmatic and policy goals. Social democracy is a political movement advocating a gradual and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism – a democratic welfare state that still incorporates some capitalist practices with its primarily socialist practices. But the goal is clear – a transition to socialism. If Obama is indeed a social democrat, and his statements and policy decisions all suggest strongly that he is, then his goal is clear as well – an economic and political system which includes collective or governmental ownership and administration (like hiring and firing?) of the means of production and distribution of goods (like car companies?). There are pundits who say we are wrong, and silly, to call Obama a socialist. I wonder. At least he is a statist, as were many Progressives in history, including FDR and Wilson. Because they all lead to the same place, it matters little what we call him, as long as we limit his powers as much as we can, beginning in the 2010 elections.

I Do Not Choose to be a Common Man

2009-04-03T08:52:00.004-05:00

By Dean Alfange

It is my right to be uncommon--if I can.

I seek opportunity--not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, "This I have done."

Keeping Score

2009-04-02T11:50:00.005-05:00

As if Pelosi keeping a list isn't bad enough...

Now, we have the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES quoted saying, ""Don't think we're not keeping score, brother."

"'Don't think we're not keeping score, brother.' That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press." Read the rest of the article here.

So, to add on the list of ridiculous actions this man has set into place in the 2 months he has been in office, we can now officially add, "act like a HIGH SCHOOL student" to the list.

Seriously? I am sure this was said "tongue in cheek" but probably came across more as a threat, if his demeanor that he has demonstrated stayed steady. However, I am just reminded of high school students "keeping a list" of who is in and who is out. Who made the leader of the pack mad this week?

I'd say this is something we need to keep our eyes on, though. Five of the Deomcrat Senators listed come from red states, the heart of fly-over land (North Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas and Louisiana)...and tend to be more moderate as their constituents tend to be more conservative. If these guys start changing their tune and voting FOR what their constituents are adamently against, it WILL be time to exploit them and let the residents of their states know they are not there for the good of the people they were voted to represent...but simply in Washington as puppets for the Obama administration.

We CAN NOT let this man bully our representatives around. If they can't stand up to him, well, we need to bring people into office that will.

The Fix Is In

2009-04-01T10:39:00.008-05:00

The other contributor to this blog has been lax, while I have been merely absent. This will attempt to correct that, and to address a question that has been bothering me for a few months: Why are the Big Banks and Wall Street on board with the Marxists? Does it smack at all of conspiracy that Paulson came from Goldman Sachs, as did Rubin, the mentor of Geithner, as did Summers, and that all of the major moves we have seen recently seem to benefit only Wall Street, and do nothing for the rest of us? Could it be because, while Paulson told us that "credit markets were frozen" and that there was an "electronic run on banks", all that was really happening was that he and Bush were looking around the room, so to speak, and seeing that a few big investment houses were having trouble borrowing, and that had to be fixed? But was there a credit crisis? How many unsolicited mailings did you receive during the last quarter of 08, or for that matter this quarter of 09, offering you yet another credit card, refinancing of your mortgage, etc.? Consumer credit and other forms of producer credit were, it seems, doing just fine.

Why is power being consolidated in the Oval Office while these Wall Street firms and banks take in billions of our taxpayer dollars to accomplish ... what? Goldman claims it was "forced" to take 25 Billion from the government, but otherwise doesn't need the bailout. But Goldman got at least 13 of the 170 Billion paid to AIG, which, in addition to Goldman, paid Bank of America, Merrill Lynch (and who got that little company?), UBS, JP Morgan, Chase, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Barclays additional Billions. AIG, the company that Sean Brodrick reports lost $7700 a second in the last quarter of 08 (total over 61 Billion), was nothing more than a conduit to pay the friends of Paulson, Geithner and Summers. How did the people who cheered when the laws changed to allow banks to play in the derivatives market get to run the government's programs to "fix" the problems created in part by that travesty?

My next entry will provide some historical perspective to these "fixes", but does anyone smell a rat? Is this change we can hope for? Or nascent corruption? Desmond Lachman, an official at IMF, wrote in the Washington Post that the recent "dalliance" (see my post below) shows that we should compare the US not to Japan (and its ten-year hiatus caused by poor government regulation in attempting to solve its "crisis"), but rather it should be compared to Argentina, Russia, and Thailand, which collapsed under their own corruption.

Once government assumes the "Commanding Heights" of a command economy, liberty and free markets can and will be held hostage to the "friends of the state", and capitalism is only a twisted, ugly shell of the magical system that made this country great. If you think I am overreacting, ask yourself - how is Obama's insistence on the firing of the CEO of one of the largest companies in the US any different than Putin's arrest of the CEO of Russia's largest oil company, when they disagreed? A despot is a despot is a tyrant is a king is a dictator, and they are all corrupt.

Our Rendezvous With Destiny-Heeding Reagan's Words

2009-04-01T10:24:00.011-05:00

I stumbled across this video of a speech Ronald Reagan gave in 1964 that literally brought chill bumps to my arms (h/t Axis of Right). As I've said before and I'll say again...do we learn NOTHING from history? It is always a cycle it seems, rather than a "learn from your mistakes."

As Sal stated on his blog (AOR), "Conservative principles don't change."

All my conservative friends, watch this video. I played it in the background while I was working--as it is kind of long. Didn't want to waste 30 minutes...so I multi-tasked.

This is without a doubt a message we ALL need to hear. Over and over again.

SG: ...On another note, The Guy went out with a few of his buddies last night. Two of them voted for B.O and last night confided that they DEEPLY regret their decision. (one is a …drumroll…small business owner). Jack Asses. But…if each of us has one or two friends that REGRETS their decision, maybe we CAN be hopeful for 2012? …maybe even 2010. Where do we find great conservatives that are willing to RUN for Senate/Congress?

The Coworker:That is a great idea. Each one, reach one kinda thing.

One day at a time.

Two Peas in a Pod...

2009-04-01T08:58:00.003-05:00

The Guy's Take on B.O's teleprompter "issues": "B.O speaking intelligently without a teleprompter is like Barry Bonds hitting a homerun without steroids. It just doesn't happen."

Public Divided on Tax Hike for Those Who Earn Over $100K

2009-03-31T10:30:00.003-05:00

Monday, March 30, 2009
Americans are closely divided over the economic impact of raising taxes on those who make more than $100,000 per year.
Thirty-five percent (35%) say it would be good for the economy, 37% say it would be bad, and 17% say it would have no impact, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

A plurality of Democrats (48%) say raising taxes on those who make over $100,000 each year would be good for the economy, while 59% of Republicans take the opposite view. Adults not affiliated with either party are evenly divided.

DOES NO ONE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS?!?!? Why is 35% of these pollers OK with the salary cap being lowered on raised taxes? That would be yet ANOTHER lie that our President has told us. What planet are these people living on? Or...are these the people that reap the benefits and do nothing to deserve them?

So, the message you are essentially sending your young Americans (that are naive enough to BELIEVE the MSM) is...don't work to make something of yourself. Maintain a small salary (otherwise, we'll tax the hell out of you)...let those "rich" folks pay in the most and you'll be off scot-free for your lifetime.

Why has no one asked...what happens when we run out of people that make $100K? Will it then go down to $75K? $65K? When is it going to stop? It will NOT be good for the economy to raise taxes on those that make $100K. Because those people (that SPEND money, that HELP the economy)...if you keep taking money away from them through taxes, well, they'll have to cut costs somewhere. That somewhere is going to be on the items that they don't really need...but that help this economy going.

Where has the common sense gone?

Tax Day Tea Party Site Blocked

2009-03-30T14:51:00.003-05:00

Posted: 29 Mar 2009 06:44 PM PDT An international effort to shut down the TaxDayTeaParty.com website has been detected by our technical staff. Internet experts commonly call this type of attack a Denial of Service (DOS) attack. Corrective measures are being implemented, and the site should be fully accessible again within 48 hours.

Unfortunately, these DOS attacks are very difficult to trace. In this case, the attacks have come from both domestic and international sources. All we know for certain at this point is that a group of people want to stop this movement. We will not allow this to happen. This citizens’ movement will not be stopped.

We will be issuing an official press release on this issue on Monday, March 30th.

Sunday, March 29th - TaxDayTeaParty.com Leadership Team

hmmm...any one else have a problem with the fact that this site has been blocked?

Take a stand. We MUST maintain our liberty AND justice for all. We CAN NOT let these nay sayers destroy our country.div>

Europe Vs. America

2009-03-30T13:43:00.003-05:00

Well, I've been neglecting the blog and I apologize. Now, I'm suffering battle wounds from a 10 month old large pup. He won. My left arm hurts...so typing hurts! For that reason, I'm simply going to post an article written in 2004 in the WSJ comparing America to Europe. Maybe all the socialists should go over there and live and see how "cozy" it is... Europe vs. America Germany edges out Arkansas in per capita GDP.
Sunday, June 20, 2004 12:01 a.m.
The growing split between the U.S. and Europe has been much in the news, mostly on foreign policy. But less well understood is the gap in economic growth and standards of living. Now comes a European report that puts the American advantage in surprisingly stark relief.
The study, "The EU vs. USA," was done by a pair of economists--Fredrik Bergstrom and Robert Gidehag--for the Swedish think tank Timbro. It found that if Europe were part of the U.S., only tiny Luxembourg could rival the richest of the 50 American states in gross domestic product per capita. Most European countries would rank below the U.S. average, as the chart below shows.
The authors admit that man doesn't live by GDP alone, and that this measure misses output in the "black" economy, which is significant in Europe's high-tax states. GDP also overlooks "the value of leisure or a good environment" or the way prosperity is spread across a society.
But a rising tide still lifts all boats, and U.S. GDP per capita was a whopping 32% higher than the EU average in 2000, and the gap hasn't closed since. It is so wide that if the U.S. economy had frozen in place at 2000 levels while Europe grew, the Continent would still require years to catch up. Ireland, which has lower tax burdens and fewer regulations than the rest of the EU, would be the first but only by 2005. Switzerland, not a member of the EU, and Britain would get there by 2010. But Germany and Spain would need until 2015, while Italy, Sweden and Portugal would have to wait until 2022.
Higher GDP per capita allows the average American to spend about $9,700 more on consumption every year than the average European. So Yanks have by far more cars, TVs, computers and other modern goods. "Most Americans have a standard of living which the majority of Europeans will never come anywhere near," the Swedish study says.
But what about equality? Well, the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line has dropped to 12% from 22% since 1959. In 1999, 25% of American households were considered "low income," meaning they had an annual income of less than $25,000. If Sweden--the very model of a modern welfare state--were judged by the same standard, about 40% of its households would be considered low-income. In other words poverty is relative, and in the U.S. a large 45.9% of the "poor" own their homes, 72.8% have a car and almost 77% have air conditioning, which remains a luxury in most of Western Europe. The average living space for poor American households is 1,200 square feet. In Europe, the average space for all households, not just the poor, is 1,000 square feet.
So what is Europe's problem? "The expansion of the public sector into overripe welfare states in large parts of Europe is and remains the best guess as to why our continent cannot measure up to our neighbor in the west," the authors write. In 1999, average EU tax revenues were more than 40% of GDP, and in some countries above 50%, compared with less than 30% for most of the U.S.
We don't report this with any nationalist glee. The world needs a prosperous, growing Europe, and its relative economic decline is one reason for growing EU-American tension. A poorer Europe lacks the wealth to invest in defense, a fact that in turn affects the willingness of Europeans to join America in confronting global security threats. But at least all of this is a warning to U.S. politicians who want this country to go down the same welfare-state road to decline.

PA Beer Laws

2009-03-17T20:17:00.003-05:00

Ok, I always thought the alcohol laws in the South were pretty odd, but learned yesterday (the hard way) that you can not buy anything less than a case in Fraser, PA unless you go to a bar. Now I have five nights to drink 24 beers by myself. Ha! All my temps have gotten a big kick out of that one! Figured all you PA peeps that check in would, too! As I have had NO time to do anything but work, I've neglected the blog. Sorry! If it makes you feel any better I miss y'all! AIG. Wow. And the PA state senator who is shocked to be found guilty of 100+ charges?!? Well, I came into that one last night. Shocker. A politician is a crook. Happy St. Patty's day!!!

Hall of Shame

2009-03-12T08:38:00.005-05:00

Obama signed the $410 billion (for, essentially, two fiscal quarters), making him the highest spending President, presiding over the largest deficit, of all time. He claims he inherited it - a phrase that is now beyond tiresome - but he has more than doubled it, and has added trillions to that now insurmountable debt. But enough about him. I got an email this morning from a good friend, as follows:

The eight "Republican" Senators who voted for the omnibus spending bill are:

Richard Shelby, Alabama

Thad Cochran, Mississippi

Roger Wicker, Mississippi

Lamar Alexander, Tennessee

Olympia Snowe, Maine

Kit Bond, Missouri

Lisa Murkowski, Alaska

Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania

When the RNC calls for a contribution to help the GOP fight waste, pork and government growth in Washington, you might want to give a contingent contribution, carefully stating that not one penny goes to the Hall of Shame! And tell all your friends before the next time these cowards face reelection. Bye, bye Miss American Pie - the day our freedom died.

Obama's Deceptive Dalliance

2009-03-11T15:53:00.008-05:00

I have already pointed out that I was disappointed and confused when, at his address to the Congress, Obama told us we were facing an economic catastrophe, a credit and financial tsunami of epic proportions, if we did not act boldly. He then laid out a plan that failed to address the riskiest aspects of the economy at all, in any real terms. Since then, he has proposed a budget that does not address the economy except as an afterthought, and his economic gurus are still pondering, not von Hayek or even Keynes, but the shotgun approach. What I am pretty sure of is, whatever caused the catastrophe-in-waiting, it was not our healthcare system, or our carbon footprint, or our lack of education. Yet his budgets propose to spend trillions on these issues, without waiting even a minute to see if any of his economic machinations have any chance of working.

Obama paints a target on the face of anyone upper-middle class or above, or anyone who might otherwise have been an investor, with his tax proposals to pay for these programs. He undercuts charitable giving, signalling likely mass layoffs in non-profits; kills mortgage interest deductions, thus weakening already weak support for home valuations; seeks higher marginal and capital gains rates, thus removing investment capital and incentives from the markets, which were in desperate need of capital; reduces the incentive to explore and drill for oil, thus making us even less energy independent than we were; imposes carbon taxes that will increase the energy and manufacturing costs of all of us, just when we need it least; he proposes deficit spending of magnificent (and irresponsible) proportions, but employs revenue-negative means to pay for it; and all without any coherent plan to deal with all those toxic assets and bankrupt institutions that, if allowed to fail, will create the very tsunami he predicted.

And what of those toxic assets, now packaged and sold world-wide as derivatives? Well, if either player in a derivative arrangement is a major player, and goes belly-up, that default could create a landslide of other defaults, and as the World Bank continues to warn us, could bring down the entire world financial system. The US can't borrow or print enough money to stop it, because our combined GDP and money supply is only about $30 trillion, while the risk associated with derivatives is more like (to avoid numbers no one understands) $1000 trillion.

My point is that, in his haste to build a European social state by pushing through massive new programs that do not address the real cause of our catastrophe, he is risking his entire Presidency on a single bet - that his legacy will be judged by his three new programs - rather than turning his attention, and that of his entire cabinet and staff, to developing and executing a plan to shore up the incalculable risk hanging over the world's head from the derivative market. How is he different from Nero, fiddling while Rome burned? This inexplicable lack of attention, for now almost six months since his election, makes one wonder if he even understands the problem. Perhaps his vaunted intelligence is not what we thought, or he didn't rub elbows with enough of the world's top economists while strolling around campus at the University of Chicago. Unlike Rush, though, I kind of hope this guy is lucky, even if he ain't good. The alternative is a nightmare I can't contemplate.