Why do we imbue sports figures and other "celebrities" with such unrealistic values? We, as a culture make these men and women into larger than life figures and then, when they show that they are human and not immune to the temptations of our materialistic world, we crucify them in public.
Do we do this because we are looking for modern day "heroes"? Do we do this so that we can make them into the people we wish we were? Do we just want a departure from the actual important stuff going on in the world? I don't know. What I do know is this: the smut that this engenders in the press doesn't qualify as "headline news".
Leave their personal, bedroom issues where they belong - in THEIR bedroom. Watching someone's marriage fall apart in the media simply cheapens us all.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
No Freaking Way!
I cannot believe that Pelosi and crew passed this stinking sludge of a Healthcare Reform Bill.
Do people not get it? Healthcare is 1/6th of our GDP - a full 17% of the economy. The government is now looking at nationalizing that part of our lives. What does that mean?
Do people not get it? Healthcare is 1/6th of our GDP - a full 17% of the economy. The government is now looking at nationalizing that part of our lives. What does that mean?
The health bill that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is bringing to a vote (H.R. 3962) is 1,990 pages. Here are some of the details you need to know.
What the government will require you to do:
• Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a "qualified plan." If you get your insurance at work, your employer will have a "grace period" to switch you to a "qualified plan," meaning a plan designed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you buy your own insurance, there's no grace period. You'll have to enroll in a qualified plan as soon as any term in your contract changes, such as the co-pay, deductible or benefit.
• Sec. 224 (p. 118) provides that 18 months after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will decide what a "qualified plan" covers and how much you'll be legally required to pay for it. That's like a banker telling you to sign the loan agreement now, then filling in the interest rate and repayment terms 18 months later.
On Nov. 2, the Congressional Budget Office estimated what the plans will likely cost. An individual earning $44,000 before taxes who purchases his own insurance will have to pay a $5,300 premium and an estimated $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $7,300 a year, which is 17% of his pre-tax income. A family earning $102,100 a year before taxes will have to pay a $15,000 premium plus an estimated $5,300 out-of-pocket, for a $20,300 total, or 20% of its pre-tax income. Individuals and families earning less than these amounts will be eligible for subsidies paid directly to their insurer.
• Sec. 303 (pp. 167-168) makes it clear that, although the "qualified plan" is not yet designed, it will be of the "one size fits all" variety. The bill claims to offer choice—basic, enhanced and premium levels—but the benefits are the same. Only the co-pays and deductibles differ. You will have to enroll in the same plan, whether the government is paying for it or you and your employer are footing the bill.
• Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement.
• Sec. 412 (p. 272) says that employers must provide a "qualified plan" for their employees and pay 72.5% of the cost, and a smaller share of family coverage, or incur an 8% payroll tax. Small businesses, with payrolls from $500,000 to $750,000, are fined less.
What part of these provisions are you okay with?
For those who foolishly thought this was "free" healthcare - how's it working for you now?
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
We the People are coming......
Got this letter today and I have to say, I could have written it myself (except that I am not a 53 year old grandparent...) Please read this and consider if you feel the same....
______________________________
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 who 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.
______________________________
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 who 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.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Had it!
I am reprinting a letter to Mr. Obama from a concerned citizen below. I wanted to reprint this because I think everyone who is honestly disgusted with the behavior of our "reader-in-chief" should have every opportunity to share his/her views with the public.
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the people of any other country on earth.
I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about, if not the consideration of the people of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?
Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics, at least until you came along, and the principles governing this country come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You didn't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve, yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans, but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you gave the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?
I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.
You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers, yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation; Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises those lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't!
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.
I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
God Bless America
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the people of any other country on earth.
I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about, if not the consideration of the people of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?
Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics, at least until you came along, and the principles governing this country come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You didn't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve, yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans, but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you gave the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?
I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.
You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers, yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation; Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises those lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't!
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.
I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
God Bless America
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Global Warming or Global Farce?
I find it interesting that President Obama is meeting to “tackle” global warming on the same day that leading scientists are also meeting to discuss the impact of reduced sunspot activity and the correlation between reduced sunspots and ice ages.
This winter, Dutch canals froze for the first time in nearly two decades. The last time consistent freezing of those canals was witnessed was during the Little Ice Age of the 1600s. Humans, the only species so arrogant they believe they can change planetary heating and cooling. Global Warming is Absolute nonsense. CO2 is no more a pollutant than O2, which rots food & causes things to burn at an accelerated rate. CO2 is needed for plant life, that's why we can feed the world & according to forestry groups, we have more trees now than a century ago.
Coal produces around ½ of the nations electrical energy requirements. If cap and trade passes, electric energy costs will significantly increase. What effect would that have on people on fixed incomes or the poor? The implementation of the mindless energy strategy of this Administration is likely to be quite cruel to those folk.
By the way, the vast majority of CO2 in the atmosphere is naturally occurring. Humans produce an average of 1 kg/day in the process known as respiration. With around 6 billion of us that is 6 billion kg/day; do you think Obama and the democrats should perhaps tax breathing?
The Earth's been cooling since 1999. There is actually more ice on the West side of the continent than at any time in our history. Global Climate Change is happening. The climate on this planet changes constantly and has for four billion + years. I do not believe some fool who is profiting from it.
Let's go green like Spain! They have spent $500K per green job and now have 17% unemployment.
Is that the goal of this Administration and the foolish Congress? I certainly hope not – Americans are not stupid and we are watching Washington's actions.Saturday, March 21, 2009
Congress has Trashed the Constitution
While I do not here defend AIG’s actions, or the plan to pay out large bonuses, I am most concerned about the suspension of the rule of law that HR. 1578 proposes. By taxing a group of people without benefit of trial and after the fact; Congress is in conflict with the Constitution it has sworn to uphold and protect. The sections of the Constitution that are in question lie in Article 1 and deals with ‘Ex post Facto’ law and ‘Bills of Attainder’.
A bill of attainder is an act of legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial. Bills of attainder are forbidden by Article I, section 9, clause 3 of the United States Constitution. H.R. 1578 does punish a group of people without benefit of trial and it is in conflict with the laws of our nation.
An ex post facto law or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed or the legal status of facts and relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law. H.R. 1578 seeks to punish a group of people after the fact and it is in conflict with the laws of our nation.
Passage of this bill or any other aimed at punishing people for making income is very bad for our country and not in keeping with the legacy of the United States of America. Please stop and think on the repercussions of these actions.
Who will the next group to be targeted for punishment through taxes? Who will decide what amount of income is egregious and worthy of punishment? How low will the next income bracket be that is offensive? It is a slippery slope we stand on. We as a people must watch our step.
A bill of attainder is an act of legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial. Bills of attainder are forbidden by Article I, section 9, clause 3 of the United States Constitution. H.R. 1578 does punish a group of people without benefit of trial and it is in conflict with the laws of our nation.
An ex post facto law or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed or the legal status of facts and relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law. H.R. 1578 seeks to punish a group of people after the fact and it is in conflict with the laws of our nation.
Passage of this bill or any other aimed at punishing people for making income is very bad for our country and not in keeping with the legacy of the United States of America. Please stop and think on the repercussions of these actions.
Who will the next group to be targeted for punishment through taxes? Who will decide what amount of income is egregious and worthy of punishment? How low will the next income bracket be that is offensive? It is a slippery slope we stand on. We as a people must watch our step.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Celebrate Freedom
The Texas Independence Day Celebration
Texas is the only state in the Union that was ever an independent country. We Texans have hung on to that Independence. We've always been loud and we've always been proud of who we are: Texans! Therefore we celebrate!
March 2, 1836 dawned, frigid and gray; cutting winds blew through glassless windows. Texians - as they styled themselves - huddled close, pulled blankets tight, and gave birth to a dream. At the Town of Washington, fifty-nine representatives voted into existence a sovereign nation: the Republic of Texas. Tennessean George C. Childress had drafted the independence document. In word and spirit it borrowed heavily from Thomas Jefferson'' original 1776 declaration. No matter.
Anglo-Celtic Texians proudly embraced the values and traditions of their founding fathers. "The same blood that animated the hearts of our ancestors in '76 still flows in our veins," one frontier preacher affirmed. Still, not all the delegates were of that blood. Four Mexican residents signed the declaration on behalf of their Tejano constituents.
The delegates could not have picked a worse time to declare independence. To many contemporary observers, such confidence appeared reckless.
As delegates brazenly declared Texas independent, the artillery of Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna hammered the walls of the Alamo. Just four days later his troops would assault the crumbling fort and wipe out every rebel defender. At the same time, General José Urrea's division swept northward through the coastal prairies. He would subsequently capture the entire rebel command of Colonel James W. Fannin, Jr. following the Battle of Coleto on March 19. Acting upon Santa Anna's orders, Mexican troops executed Fannin and the majority of his Goliad garrison, some 342 men. The twin defeats at San Antonio and Goliad generated panic among Texian settlers who fled toward the Louisiana border. The "Runaway Scrape" they called it. To declare independence amid all this chaos seemed more than unduly hopeful. Indeed, to most it resembled a fool's errand.
On April 21, General Sam Houston's vengeful army swept the Mexican camp at San Jacinto and the skeptics recanted. On that momentous afternoon, enraged Texians slaughtered 650 Mexican soldados and took another 700 prisoner. Most important, the following day Texians captured President-General Santa Anna. At San Jacinto Texians won a great victory, but only with the capture of the Mexican dictator did the battle become decisive.
The date is not a state holiday; public schools do not let out; newscasters rarely recall the event. Those who love Texas remember. Always.
Now, would you now join me in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Pledge to the Texas Flag.
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.
Honor the Texas Flag. I pledge allegiance to thee: Texas, one and indivisible.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Budget Process
Barak Obama has submitted his first ever US budget today. It is a REAL shocker. $3.6 Trillion dollars of spending. Many of those programs are worthwhile endeavors or sound very nice in theory. Let's break that down in reality. Barak Obama said that this budget will be paid for by raising taxes on ONLY those households that make over $250,000 a year or corporate entities. Well, I am here to burst that bubble with some cold hard numbers.
If the government raised taxes on those households that make over $250,000 a year to tax 100% of their income (and IF Paul Revere did not ride down the road shouting "The tax collector is coming") ; the government would collect $1.3 trillion dollars. That leaves $2.3 trillion in unfunded expenditures. Let's put that in terms we can all understand.
Let's say your family has $100,000 of income per year. Let's then say that you spend $163,000 in the course of the year. Would your bank cover $63,000 in overdrafts? Would they loan you the extra $63,000? What about next year? Could you spend that $63,000 (or more) of "unfunded expenditures" over and over again without any repercussions? THAT is what this budget does. 63% of the spending (and that is ONLY in my 100% taxation example) is NOT funded by tax dollars collected. That is not fiscally responsible.
I have some suggestions for our erstwhile elected leaders in their budget process for FY 2010. Perhaps this is new to some of those elected leaders or perhaps they have simply forgotten how to budget in the real world. Hopefully, this will spark some common sense.
When starting with a new year's budget, you need to identify the amount of money that will be available for expenditures. Take the sum of taxes collected in the last year that you have data for - say 2007. Now, since we all know we are in a "recession", subtract oh, say 10% from that number for contraction of incomes (and thus taxes collected). This should be a good number to start with for estimating purposes. This is the sum total of money that you have to spend. Whatever budget you come up with, you cannot exceed this number because then you will be spending money you don't have.
Now, identify all the items that you have in your expense listing that are necessities. This is not "like to have's" or "wish list" items. This is items that if you don't pay, bad things happen. For instance, the light bill for the Capitol, salaries of the military force, rent or mortgages on federal buildings. So, detail that list of items that were paid in that last year you have data from and determine if there have been any inflationary increases (like energy bills). Subtract those amounts from your available funds.
Now, make a list of all the things you spent money on last year that weren't absolute have to's and determine if there are cuts you want to make to this list or increases that must be made for any reason. This would be items like International Support for instance; are there any cuts you can make in these items. Is there any items that you want to grow? Subtract the amount you decide will be spent on these items from the available funds. What you have left is your "discretionary funds". This is money that you can spend on new programs or raises for salaries or other items that you want to introduce or to pay off debts that have been incurred.
Make a list of all the outstanding debts that are left over from other year's budgets. This is your unfunded liabilities list. Some of the "discretionary funds" need to be applied to these items so that you can start to "balance" your debt load. You cannot simply add new programs without making some inroads into paying these debts. Determine what debts will be paid and subtract those amounts from your available discretionary funds.
Now, identify all those new items you would like to put in place. Things that are the "nice to have's"; "want to have's"; "wish list" etc go on this list. Prioritize these items in order of importance or desire. Add up the totals for these new programs and see if they will fit into the budget. If they do, great. If they do not have the funds to cover the spending, you have to do one of two things - cut some of these new programs from the list or make cuts in other budget items.
Once you decide what will be in your expenses list and what will not, add them to your list of expenditures and subtract the amounts from your available funds. Note - remember you cannot go below zero and you should plan to have a small amount left over (say 5%) for reasonable and unexpected expenses. (This is called SAVINGS)
Folks, this is not hard. All US households do this process in some form or another all the time. (Granted some do this better than others) You cannot just shoot pie-in-the-sky budgets into the air and think that you can spend money you don't have and have no hope of ever paying for.
This is called FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. Let's entreat our elected officials to apply some.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Racism Cuts Both Ways
Yesterday some cowardly anonymous poster commented on a blog post that I wrote almost two years ago about Illegal Aliens and my thoughts and feelings on that topic. The poster asserted that I am racist because of my belief that illegal aliens harm America and need to leave the U.S. to go back where they came from.
Well, I wanted to clear up a couple of points for Mr. Anonymous.
First - my son is Hispanic. His father, who died in service to this great country, was Mexican and Native American. I could not love my son more if I lived twice as long. I am proud of him, his heritage and his father.
Second - I - through my family have a mix of heritages in my background - Gaelic, Italian, Native American and I welcome the history and traditions of all of those ethnic parts. But, at the foundation of it all, I am American and I deeply love my country.
I have heard many arguements about Illegal Aliens. These arguements try to pull the heartstrings and make you empathize with individuals who "just want a better life" or who "work hard at jobs no one else wants". That is baloney.
This is America. The land of opportunity. If you want the opportunity to live here; be proud of the country and come here legally. Learn the language and become American. Love your roots and history but, if you want me to stand with you - love the country you want to build that future in - or leave because we don't need detractors.
Well, I wanted to clear up a couple of points for Mr. Anonymous.
First - my son is Hispanic. His father, who died in service to this great country, was Mexican and Native American. I could not love my son more if I lived twice as long. I am proud of him, his heritage and his father.
Second - I - through my family have a mix of heritages in my background - Gaelic, Italian, Native American and I welcome the history and traditions of all of those ethnic parts. But, at the foundation of it all, I am American and I deeply love my country.
I have heard many arguements about Illegal Aliens. These arguements try to pull the heartstrings and make you empathize with individuals who "just want a better life" or who "work hard at jobs no one else wants". That is baloney.
This is America. The land of opportunity. If you want the opportunity to live here; be proud of the country and come here legally. Learn the language and become American. Love your roots and history but, if you want me to stand with you - love the country you want to build that future in - or leave because we don't need detractors.
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