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2012 State Of The Union Address

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All too soon, President Lame Duck will take to the airwaves in that annual tradition Americans know as the State of the Union address.  As a service to you, dear readers, we thought we’d give you a sneak preview so you can use that time to do something more productive – like give your cat a bath.

Cue teleprompter.

“Our economy sucks.”

“It’s Bush’s fault.”

“I’ll be on the road campaigning all year.  Except when I’m bypassing Congress to issue an unprecedented number of Executive Orders.”

“It’s Bush’s fault.”

“Rich people (except for me and Da Mooch, of course) are greedy bastards who owe you the fruits of their risks and labor.”

“Anyone who doesn’t agree with me is a racist.”

“It’s the GOP’s fault.”

“I will be on the campaign trail all year.”

“We’re going to continue to encourage the Islamist extremists to play nice in the sandbox by giving them control over more of the Middle East.”

“Illegal immigrants are good and deserve everything we can give them.  That’s why I appointed someone who used to head up La Raza to head up the Domestic Policy Council.”

“Anyone who doesn’t agree with me is a racist.”

“It’s Bush’s fault.”

“Look at all the goodies you’re going to get from the new health care law this year.  Doesn’t matter if we don’t have any money to pay for it.  The Supreme Court is gonna see things my way.”

“I’m going to promise again that I’ll reduce the size of government because it’s a good way to get you to vote for me.”

“It’s the GOP’s fault.”

“I’ll be out campaigning all year while Congress does nothing.”

“It’s still Bush’s fault.”

End to great applause and a standing O.

Trickle-Down Hypocrisy

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Last November Americans voted to flip the House over on its progressive liberal head and put grownups in charge of the nation’s purse strings.  They also put a serious conservative tilt on the Senate.

To anyone with a modicum of common sense the message was clear:  hope and change means the American dream, not working your ass off so someone else doesn’t have to.

But finally, with someone at the helm who has made a living off the taxpayer teat his whole life and spent the first two years of his presidency throwing the Constitution under the bus, America has now finally gotten up the courage to stare straight into the eyes of the monster birthed by progressives some 76 years ago:  we’ve run out of other people’s money.  So the topic of the day has been the debt ceiling and the games have begun.

But like most of what we pay Washington politicians to do, it’s pointless.  There is no need to default on our debt, nor on things like Social Security and Medicare payments.  What we wouldn’t be able to pay for are all the unnecessary services that have accumulated like rats in a dumpster over the last 76-odd years, the vast majority of which are unconstitutional anyway.

Here is a chart put out by the administration’s bailout buddy, AIG, that demonstrates this in black and white:

To us regular folks (who can’t possibly understand or be bothered with something as Big And Important as the national debt) the chart points out the obvious:  decisions have to be made on how to spend the money left over after we pay the mortgage and utilities.  Do we opt out of that daily cuppa joe at Starbucks (grants for “cowboy poetry”) or do we skip a trip to Kohl’s for clothing we don’t really need anyway (Marie Antoinette…errrr…Michelle Obama’s staff)?  The choices are endless and some decisions save us more money than others but like Dave Ramsey is fond of saying, it’s “beans and rice and rice and beans” until you get your debt paid off so the non-essentials have to go.

President Walking Eagle repeatedly scolded we should eat peas we can’t afford on our rice-and-beans budget and threatened to withhold Social Security checks but as the chart shows it’s just an empty threat and the kind he makes solely try to and gain political points.  I don’t think the American people are buying it, though, because the more he tries to blame those who’ve taken the time to put a budget down in black-and-white the more his approval rating continues to plummet and it now sits happily below his disapproval rating, earning him the new monicker of President Lame Duck.  And the American people aren’t missing the fact he’s illegally using federal property to film campaign ads, either.  Nor does it go unnoticed that we’re paying his bloated staff to help run his 2012 re-election campaign.

Another sign of what is either cluelessness or simply willful ignorance from those “best and brightest” in Washington of the people’s intentions in the November election is Tax-Cheat Timmy’s statement that he “never thought they would take it [raising the debt ceiling] this close to the edge”.  Is it because when a Democrat-majority Congress fails to pass a budget for well over 800 days you get used to seeing the limit raised on the credit card without any questions?

I don’t expect Tax-Cheat Timmy expected the nation’s credit rating would be downgraded when the debt ceiling was raised without addressing the underlying issue of continued overspending, either.  So remind me again:  exactly why is this clueless man in charge of the Treasury?

Oh yeah, for the same reason President Lame Duck threw off his Jimmy Carter cardigan and danced at a reelection campaign fundraiser he called his 50th birthday party.  Said party paid for in part, of course, by our hard-earned tax dollars.

Demonstrating yet again that the only thing first class about progressive liberals is their hypocrisy.

Shameless

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When you are trying to get yourself out of credit debt, the first thing every advisor tells you is to sit down and write out a list of your expenses and your income, and from that create a budget that allows you to pay off your debt and live within your means.  For many of us, it’s a bit of a shock to see we exactly how much more we spend than we make but being unable to raise our personal debt ceilings we then gird our proverbial loins and scrimp along on beans and rice for however long it takes us to get out of debt.

And once the credit habit has been broken, most people don’t pick it up again.

The fact that the United States has not had a budget in place since April 29, 20o9 tells us one thing:  Congress critters are not normal people.  They don’t live in the real world but instead think Washington, D.C. is the place where some kind of magic fairy dust turns the sweat of the laboring worker paying their taxes into “federal money” and that federal money can be pulled from thin air.

Even though it is one of Congress’ primary responsibilities to budget America’s money, Senate Majority Leader Harry (the Grinch) Reid told the Los Angeles Times recently, “It would be foolish for us to do a budget at this stage.”  And Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, told reporters that he planned to “defer” work on a 2012 budget indefinitely.

‘Scuse me?  You are going on the record saying you flat-out REFUSE to do your job?

Oh, no.  That’s not what they meant.  So what we got were games and more games.  A forced up-or-down Senate vote on the House-passed budget (why debate to a legitimate compromise when you can later use the vote to – wrongly – claim the GOP wants to kill Grandma).  A retaliatory forced up-or-down vote on President Walking Eagle’s budget vision to encourage entitlement mentality (one so badly conceived that even the left-wing progressives voted against it and it went down in flames, 97-0).

They are acting like college students who won’t give Mommy and Daddy back their credit card or pay the bill they’ve run up on it.  Not only is this childish, it is dangerous.  If you and I must live within our means while providing our country with the money required to fulfill its Constitutional responsibilities, then those in Congress must live within the means we are able to provide them and apply them first and foremost to those things that fulfill those Constitutional responsibilities.  Like to our military and protecting our borders.  Not using the sweat of our brows to allow more and more of the progressive left’s little pet “victims” to do nothing and allow those directing the flow of money to become rich doing so. 

You cannot deserve what you have not earned.  Congress, and this administration in particular, deserves nothing except a good knock upside its collective head.

Harry Reid Intends To Make Your Vote Irrelevant

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I hope the GOP has some armored cajones and a few hidden IEDs to take down this one.

Harry (the Grinch) Reid, circa 2008, on the thought of Republicans changing the rules of the Senate to create a simple majority requirement to break a filibuster:

“What the Republicans came up with was a way to change our country forever,” Reid stated. “We would in fact have a unicameral legislature where a simple majority would determine everything that happens … the Senate was set up to be different. That was the genius, the vision, of our Founding Fathers.”

Harry (the Grinch) Reid, on the eve of the arrival of that shellacking 112th Congress:

“…Reid held a closed-door meeting last week in which he said he may by a simple majority change the rules, including Rule 22, on the first day of the 112th Congress.”

Who’s Greedy?

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Senator Alan Simpson called America’s seniors the “greediest generation” for upholding their end of a bargain and paying into Social Security all their working lives and then expecting the federal government to uphold its end by returning that money when they retire.

Therefore this, from a man in Montana … who has just about had enough.  (We’ve no idea of the source since it arrived via an email forward, but we like the sentiment.)

Hey Alan,

Let’s get a few things straight….

1.  As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS.

2.  I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3.  My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud.

4.  Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67.  NOW, you and your shill commission is proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5.  I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.

6.  I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spendingeven after you ran out of money.  Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.

To add insult to injury, you label us “greedy” for calling “bullshit” on your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.

1.  How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?

2.  At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?

3.  How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?

4.  What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators who are “greedy”.  It is you and they who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers.  And for what? Votes.  That’s right, sir.  You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers.  You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.

And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.

November’s Big Surprise

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According to Forbes, the #1 worst area for jobs is Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Michigan (out of 389 areas). The Detroit News reported this past weekend that Michigan’s unemployment rate remains second-highest in the nation and the Detroit-Warren-Livonia region had the highest unemployment rate at 13.9 percent among the six metropolitan areas the Bureau of Labor Statistics cited.  Now make note that the city of Warren, Michigan, is smack in the middle of Michigan’s 12th Congressional district.

According to common sense, one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results each time.

Insanity must be the explanation for why Sander Levin, the latest Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, has been the representative of Michigan’s 12th district for the last 28 years.  For only insanity can explain why someone who has put his district to the top of the loser’s charts by voting  in lockstep with the Democratic party has remained in office.  He’s been Pelosi’s loyal lapdog for the current administration; a guaranteed and delivered vote for bailouts that sent our hard-earned tax money to overseas banks via AIG and gave our auto companies to corrupt union leadership who are getting rich pocketing the spoils.

Sander Levin voted to destroy the health care system in favor of a progressive, government-knows-best ideology that includes making you buy something whether you want to buy it or not.

Sander Levin voted to destroy American manufacturing, sounding the death knell for Michigan, the heart of the Rust Belt, through so-called “cap & trade” that will raise the price of everything from fuel to food.

Then he scuttled out of D.C. with all his Democrat buddies without doing anything to stop the tax hikes scheduled to take effect on January 1st for everyone; do you realize that the lowest income taxpayers will see a 50% increase in their federal income tax rate on their first $8,000 of income? A 50% INCREASE on their first $8,000 of income. And let’s not forget the impact to middle-class business owners who won’t be expanding their businesses (creating jobs) because they’ll have to instead send that money to Washington in the form of higher taxes once they reach the arbitrary and magic number that the Democrats now define as being “rich”.  And “greedy”.  And “racist”.  (Unless, of course, you’re a Democrat politician or one of their lobbying buddies.)

And of course there’s the upcoming estate tax, where money already taxed when earned will be taxed again (sometimes a third time) before it can be given to one’s heirs.

Oh, let’s not forget the looming taxes on unearned income; another mean bite into the fixed income of responsible seniors who worked and saved for a lifetime in order to remain independent by living off the income from their investments. And there’s another sneaky bite from their income (and the income of everyone else) coming if the Democrats have their way:  increased costs to even pay the bills because of fees that will be levied on every single financial transaction; fees that will, of course, be passed onto you, the consumer.

I could go on but I’m sure you get the point.  Every bit of badness cooked up by Congress, every blow to freedom, has been wholeheartedly endorsed by progressive liberal Sander Levin.

Now, despite all of this, Sander Levin apparently feels entitled to his seat in the House of Representatives since he’s unwilling to come face-to-face with his constituents to campaign for their vote or to take the time to debate his challenger during this election, though the polls show this has now become a real race (strangely gone entirely ignored by both the media and the GOP; which means one helluva headline come November 3rd). Instead he’s spending his time campaigning for his colleagues in New York, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania and gives only lip service and the standard Democrat’s response to questions about today’s problems.  Seems he’s hoping no one will remember that he was part of those horrible Congresses who created all the problems in the first place.

What has Sander Levin done by being a guaranteed vote for progressive liberalism? Ask your neighbor who has a house in foreclosure while Sander Levin sells his house in Maryland for almost a million dollars. Ask your friend whose company is going out of business. Ask the Michigan children who are moving out of state because that’s the only place they can find a job. Then ask yourself:  Can you afford any more of this kind of representation in Washington?

I can’t.

It’s time to shake up Michigan the way Massachusetts was shaken up last January.  It’s time to help support the efforts of conservative candidate, small business owner and family man, Don Volaric, to represent Michigan’s 12th district in the House of Representatives. 

It’s time to drive one important nail in the coffin of progressive liberalism.

Protect The Government Worker By Starving The Poor

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From an analysis of what’s taken Congress so long to extend unemployment benefits comes this mind-boggling gem:

Democrats also maintain hopes of passing a $16 billion aid package for governors aimed at preserving the jobs of tens of thousands of state workers through the election. They intend to pay for it in part by cutting food stamp benefits.

Only in the minds of progressive liberals can blossom the precious idea that protecting the jobs of government employees, many of whom are unionized and the ever-increasing numbers of which are a goodly part of America’s deficit problem,is more important than making sure the poor can eat by giving them food stamps.

Why Character & Integrity Matter

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The news about South Carolina Governor Sanford’s extramarital affair is sad on many levels.  Certainly it is a heartbreaking matter for his wife and his sons; their family unit has been breached by an outsider and the source of the breach is the man whose responsibility it was to protect them.

The liberal press, as is their way, used it as a feeding frenzy; not in small part because it allows them to sling arrows instead of dodging them for the few moments that anyone is going to really pay attention to this.  And now that Governor’s admitted his infidelity, every shred of documentation that a grubby hand can snatch is being thrust into public view with snarky, knowing, holier-than-thou eagerness to gain ratings.  Kudos to his wife for having no part of it.

Pseudo-conservatives are wringing their hands over what is also a breach to the GOP’s perceived integrity and lamenting what is most assuredly the loss of one of their golden boys for the 2012 presidential election. 

You could almost feel the collective sigh of relief when the sudden death of pop star Michael Jackson diverted the media’s ever-fickle attention to even more juicier pickings.

While Governor Sanford’s actions deserve no more than a minute of our time in which to make note of them, there are elements here that are important.  I have always believed that what people do in the privacy of their homes and how they manage their relationships is their own business.  I do not believe in legislating morality but instead in choosing one’s friends and associates carefully, with an eye to their integrity and character.  You can, indeed, tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps.  The old adage that birds of a feather flock together is A Truth; we are drawn to like minds and through our interactions we continually influence one another.   Whether we like it, admit it, or even realize it we draw lines and we choose to support – on many, varied levels ranging from emotional to material – those who hold and, most importantly, demonstrate similar beliefs and values.

So the question here is that of character and integrity.  Sure, we’re all human and we all make mistakes, but if you’re going to deliberately put yourself in a position of influence and take on the perceived authority of leadership, there is a price you must pay.  And that price does not include any baggage allowance for hypocrisy.  You may bring your vices, but your character must be sound and your integrity unquestionable. 

It is really none of anyone’s business that, like so many, many politicians, Governor Sanford chose to break his marriage vows, but I DO care – as should you – that by doing so he reveals himself to be just another garden-variety hypocrite.  He is on record voicing condemnations of Bill Clinton for his relationship with Monica Lewinsky yet now tearfully admits to equal lies without demanding equal consequences for himself.

When considering any issue, from health care to taxes, what is good for the goose must be good for the gander.  The most stellar feature of America is her systemic application of blind justice and I believe, as I dare say do most people, that consequences must apply equally in moral matters as in legal.  Moral matters may sometimes be more murky to bring to justice without the weight of someone being able to point to some last word,  “buck stops here” set down in wet cement, however, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.  For if we hold no firm line on what we consider to be moral and ethical, there can be no trust.  And in the end, it is the ability to trust that is paramount in both our personal relationships and in our business dealings.  The latter being the area in which people like Governor Sanford enter into the picture.

I believe it is valid to ask the question:  if Governor Sanford’s family – those closest to him – cannot trust him to uphold his responsibility to them, how can we, who are literally virtual strangers, trust him to uphold his responsibility to us? 

To me the answer is that we can’t.  Perhaps he has at last learned the lesson that there but for the grace of God go I, but I didn’t hear him apologize to Bill Clinton or anyone else during his public confession, did you?  Anyone who is willing to lie about something as important as their marital fidelity cannot be trusted to not lie about anything else important when it becomes necessarily convenient for them.  One big lie calls into question everything ever said and taints everything ever done with the poison of suspicion.  And once broken, trust is very, very hard to repair and it takes a very long time to do it.

Millions of Americans live their lives with character and integrity.  We may not agree with their opinions or with their choices but it can be said they are consistent, even as they evolve (as we all do).  There is no reason to not expect the same from those we elect to represent us. 

None.

Tax cheats, adulterers, and liars are not representative of me or my life.  Are they representative of you or yours?  If the answer is honestly no, then it is time to take a good, hard look at those in government and decide if what their character and integrity – especially the lack thereof – reflects upon us is worth keeping. 

I don’t know how the answer can be yes.