Friday, February 26, 2010

HEALTH CARE HUSTLE

The health care intervention summit can be summed up thusly:

The Democrats spoke for a total of 5 hours 46 minutes and the Republicans were allowed to speak for 1 hour 50 minutes...and the Republicans still won.

Pelosi told a whopper, but Harry Reid was determined to outdo her

Obama got testy but still managed to avoid the subject he was being grilled on.  "We can have a debate about process or we can have a debate about what the American people need right now."  Translation:  "How dare you call me out on that - stay on topic!"  (Saul Alinsky translation - the ends justify the means - it doesn't matter how we got here; what matters is that we're here.)

All in all, it was sort of fun - in a really excruciatingly boring way.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

LAKE CITY BILLBOARD

This is a billboard that was put up this month on I-75 near Lake City, FL:



According to the email accompanying the picture (hat tip Jean M.):

The attached photo is of a billboard recently established on I-75 just south of Lake City . A group gathered there to celebrate its unveiling. The cost of 10 months rental of the billboard and doing the artwork was $6500. We feel that is a reasonable cost to reach out to 1,000,000 vehicles per month and perhaps motivate their participation in the electoral process to get our country on a sound footing.

How long do you think it will take for some liberal to cry that this is an implied threat by extremist right-wing fringe militia groups and they were traumatized by it?  Do you think Olby would make it the Worst Person in the World, even if it's not a person?  That's like winning liberal-hate gold!  Dare to dream....

I hope this is one of the first in a rising tide that will wash over the country.



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WORDS OF WISDOM

In honor of today's health care summit, I would like to share an audio recording with you.

In this speech, President Ronald Reagan tackles socialized medicine.  This recording was made nearly 50 years ago, but it is still effective and on topic today.  In fact, it is a bit eerie, how close it is to what is happening today.  The man was amazing.

Listen to Ronnie's words of wisdom, and enjoy.

Hopefully, at some point in the very near future, Obama, Pelosi and Reid will listen to the people and drop this whole mess.  I'm not holding my breath, though.

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

BEWARE THE CIRCUS

Am I the only one having a hard time buying the concept of Barack Obama inviting Republicans for a "bipartisan" "summit", when the run-up to it has been nothing by threats of 'nuclear options', intimidation and name calling? (BTW - am I the only one who gets a faint whiff of a beery aftertaste whenever I hear the term 'summit' anymore?)


This whole media circus is rather reminiscent of, well, a circus. In the Roman tradition of Bread and Circus, of course - and boy, is there a lot of bread at stake over this circus.

Thursday's show is shaping up to be a real crowd favorite - Christians vs. Lions. The Lions are starving so they will grab at anything, and they have been poked at for weeks by the public, so they are really out for blood. The Christians are wary, but have managed to smuggle in a few weapons due to the Emperor's remarkably unobservant watchdogs.

The crowd has been whipped up into a frenzy by the aggressive posturing and antics of the Lions. The Lions have already managed to scored a few victories over the Christians with their conquests of Omnibus Maximum and Stimulus Minimum. These 'victories', however, have only caused the Christians to become more set in their resolve against the gluttonous Lions.

The Lions constant roaring about the Christians being unarmed but for their cries of 'No!" has distracted them and allowed the Christians to arm themselves with a few weapons of their own. The Lions are aware of these weapons, but feel that their constant loud roaring is enough to combat that particular threat.

Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow, the Lions and the Christians face off, and it is ostensibly up to the crowd to decide - thumbs up, or thumbs down.

Not that it really matters what the crowd wants. The Lions have the keys to the dungeon and, regardless of tomorrow's outcome, have repeatedly threatened to lock the Christians out so they can continue to run amok. Perhaps they assume that their new $15 billion infusion of bread will calm any ruffled feathers in the crowd and pave their way to a new season of Circuses next year.

A word to the wise on this tactic of Bread and Circuses - even they could not keep the mighty Roman empire from crumbling under the weight of it's own excesses. Appeasing the crowds with a glut of meaningless showmanship will only go so far. As they distract themselves with spectacle, the Barbarians are at the gate, and they will not be distracted. The Lions, in their arrogance, fear not these Barbarians, for they do not carry torches and pitchforks - they merely carry tea and voter registration cards.

The Lions would be wise to sheathe their claws, stifle their roars and focus on the Barbarians as the Christians seem to be doing. That is the pathway to redemption and success, and it cannot be reached through the Circus Maximus, no matter how 'media savvy' it may be.

cross posted at The Ripley Report

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Monday, February 22, 2010

OBAMACARE 3.0 Updated

Our illustrious President has come out with his version of a health care compromise bill.  I'm not really sure where the compromises are, since the republicans weren't involved in it's creation, but whatever.  I guess the compromise will come on Thursday, when the republicans are expected to accept his offering without question.

Someone needs to get the democrats a dictionary, because they just don't understand what 'compromise' means (Among other things, like 'consensus', 'transparency', and 'fiscal restraint').

The President assures us that this new behemoth, which includes all of the unsavory little tidbits of the Senate bill - including abortion funding, plus a few from the House version - including a public option, will come in under $1 trillion.  Better yet, it will 'save' $100 billion over 10 years. 

The word 'tax' is used 35 times.  I'm sure in a good way, though.

 And what does the Congressional Budget Office say?

Nothing.  They can't score this mess because, as usual, it is light on facts and concrete numbers.  So where did the numbers the White House is touting come from?  My guess would be where all the other fuzzy numbers this administration has attempted to foist on us came from  - Obama's nether regions.

Yet again the Chicago Mafia are threatening reconciliation.  I have to say that this is really getting boring.  If you're going to do it, just do it already.  Otherwise, shut up about that silly, empty, career-ending threat.

BTW - What ever happened to the 'hard pivot' to jobs and the economy?  Did I miss it?  Or are they sticking to that lame meme that fixing the health care system will fix the economy?  If so, um, how, exactly?  Just wondering....

Now they are floating the possibility that the Meddler-in-Chief will use an Executive Order to regulate and control insurance rates.  Goody.  Nothing like a bunch of career politicians deciding fair market prices for an entire industry - that always works out great, right?

This new ObamaCare proposal is a joke, but at least it is a joke that we can finally pin directly on Obama.  Thursday's summit is a joke, too, and an exercise in futility to boot.  Reconciliation is a joke - if they could have done it, believe you me, they would have by now.   And Obama attempting to regulate the insurance industry through executive order is a joke.

Hmmm.  That's an awful lot of jokes - so why am I not laughing?  Are you?


UPDATE:  So, once Obama turns our health care system into Canada's, where will the Canadians go?

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Friday, February 19, 2010

CRAZY TALK

Today a very disturbed man flew his small plane into an Austin, TX building housing IRS personnel.  The pilot, Joe Stack, and an unnamed victim died at the scene and 13 people were injured.  Prior to this act, the Stack set fire to his home.

Stack  posted a long anti-government rant before he flew his plane into that building.  Because of these lunatic ravings, there are many on the left who are calling this a terrorist act that they are linking to the Tea Party movement.  Now, one would expect something like this from lefty blogs, but the Washington Post has picked up the meme, as have other mainstream media outlets (I'm sure Olby and Maddow will be all over it tonight).  As of this writing, if you google 'Joe Stack', 'Joe Stack Tea Party' is number 8 on the suggested search list.

There is much about Stack's post that they aren't talking about, though - things that would change the post from an anti-government Tea Party slanted rant into what it really was - the rabid ramblings of a man teetering on the brink.

HotAir's Allahpundit has a great rundown of the liberal slant:

5. He was mad at the IRS, and left what CNN reports was a suicide note on a local website, detailing his trials with the agency. In fact, a lot of his rhetoric could have been taken directly from a handwritten sign at a tea party rally.
Yeah, it could, although I confess to not having noticed a strong “capitalism is for suckers” vibe at rallies that are, let’s face it, driven mainly by laissez faire libertarian impulses. Meanwhile, Time magazine, while mentioning the anti-Bush passage, slipped the following hyperlink into its story on Stack:

According to news reports, 199 IRS employees work in the building, and all are accounted for. Toward the end of what appears to be his final note, Stack wrote, “Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.” (See the making of the Tea Party movement.)

What is really interesting is the media response to the University of Alabama murderer as opposed to the fervor of the coverage of Stack's actions.  This woman was obviously sick, but, by the same standard the media is using for Stack, Amy Bishop should be making headlines for her rabid obsession with Barack Obama (a clearly disturbed woman obsessed with the President?  not good) and obvious feelings of entitlement towards tenure - very liberal positions.

But we're not hearing too much about Ms. Bishop, are we?  We're not hearing about her liberal congressional protector.  We're not hearing that this Obama worshipping, Harvard-trained university faculty member was a Socialist (but only after class!).  If a Tea Partier had perpetrated this crime, do you think it would have made the news cycles that the three victims were minorities

I'm not trying to say that Bishop killed Adriel Johnson, Maria Ragland Davis and Gopi Podila out of some sort of ideology (although there actually was an attempt to lump her in with the Tea Partiers, if you can believe it).  She is a seriously ill woman who had a history of violence who had gotten away with murder and attempted murder before.  Violence became an acceptable solution.

As for Joe Stack, he was a frustrated man who was pushed to the brink by a system that, in his unbalanced mind, became predatory.

These events are not politically motivated, they are the product of unstable minds.  On the surface, John Hinkley, Jr.'s assasination attempt on Ronald Reagan could have been politically motivated.  But just scratch the surface a little, and it's obvious the attempt was based on the movie Taxi Driver and was designed to impress Jodi Foster, not make a political statement.

For those who say he was a terrorist, I can see that point.  But, then, so would Amy Bishop - murder, attempted bombing, random violent attacks.  For me, though, a terrorist is someone who is participating in a campaign of terrorist attacks, be it based on religious or political ideologies.  The Ft. Hood shooter was a terrorist.  IRA bombers were terrorists.  Stack and Bishop were just plain crazy. 

In this post 9/11 world, it is easy to see dire subtexts in everything, but sometimes the acts of a crazy person are just that - the acts of a crazy person.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PORKULUS

Our Spendtrift-in-Chief is hitting the campaign trail again.  This time he's trying to sell us on his non-stimulating stimulus bill.  Today is the first anniversary of the signing of the bill. 

yay.

The President and VP are out talking up how great the stimulus has been working, how incredibly successful it has been so far.  There is a full media blitz going on this week (yes, a whole week) to tout the thousands, no, millions, no...wait...gazillions of jobs created by the Porkulus from Hell.

Um, I would think that if it was so successful you wouldn't have to sell it so hard.  Or do you really think I'm so stupid that I couldn't figure out whether or not it was successful?

Well, let's see....9.7% unemployment.  17.5% "real" unemployment.  More than 8 million Americans out of work.  Debt ceiling raised to 14.3 trillion.  Hmmm...smells like failure to me. 

But at least Obama assured us that there wasn't any pork at all, just job creating, targeted spending..

Oh, good.  whew.  It's not like $4.7 million is being spent on research into supersonic corporate jets or anything.  Even though poverty-ridden Lockheed Martin needs all the help they can get, poor babies.

They certainly wouldn't waste $2.2 million of our money on something like piping water to a golf course in California.  Especially if if was probably going to be closed down soon over concerns for the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog.  I mean, it's not like the pipeline would be better used in the Central Valley or anything.

And believe you me, they would never, and I mean never blow $117 million on 'green' renovations to an IRS building that was slated to be closed.

It seems to me the only people really being stimuled in this mess are the Buffalo residents who are being paid to keep diaries of their malt liquor/marijuana intake and the female college students who are having their dunken sexcapades chronicled in the name of science.

I went to my first Tea Party right around this time last year - specifically to protest this bloated, corrupt, waste of taxpayer money.  All of the reasons I protested then still hold true today.  It is not targeted, it is not timely (a year later and still only $200 billion of the original $787 billion has been spent), and it is NOT successful, no matter how The One tries to spin it.

They have to sell it, though, because they want  to hit us up for round two. 

Oh goody.  As Chris Dodd says, the stimulus isn't


"as targeted as it should've been" and "we need to go back to this and do this again. We need to do more of that."

Way to sell it, Chris - the last one was a mess, so let's make sure to do it again!

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

AN UTTER DISGRACE

President Obama has said numerous times over the past few years that education is a main focus for him and his presidency.  Unfotunately, his actions since obtaining office have put the lie to that claim. 

Last year he when he signed the omnibus spending bill, he also signed on to cut off funding for the Opportunity Scholarship Program in Washington, DC, forcing approximately 1,700 DC students back to the horrible public school system. 

Under OSP, hundreds of children were given vouchers to escape the public schools to go to the private school of their choice. The democrat's attempt to end the program was met with a backlash from parents and Republicans (who passed the program in 2004 under Bush) and they were forced to compromise - all current recipients would be allowed to finish high school, but no more new scholarshiips would be awarded.   Unfortunately, even that promise had an expiration date.   Obama has done what this administration seems to always do - snuck it through the back door.  He has included the demolition of the program in his 2011 budget by slashing funding yet again and refusing any funding at all after 2011.

The program, started under Bush in 2004, was wildly successful.  Mostly minority children were given the opportunity to thrive and learn, and they took it and made the most of it.  Dropout rates for OSP recipients were minimal, as opposed to their public school peers.  The number of OSP children who went on to college was also impressive in comparison to their peers.  Best of all, where it costs around $18,000 per year to send a child to the horrific DC public schools, the vouchers only cost the district $7,500.  Parents liked the program, children thrived, reading scores improved, and it was cost effective,  but still the democrats cut the program.

Why?

For me, the main theory is that unions opposed the program because it was taking children (and thus tax dollars) from the union controlled public schools and putting them in non-union controlled private schools.  It's all about the money, like most things in the liberal agenda.

What kills me is that liberals are always talking about conservatives holding down the black community, but when it comes to actions, they are really the ones who are relegating them to lives spent in subpar schools, dangerous communities and wasted potential.  They are relegating those children to lives of poverty, living off the largesse of the government's entitlement programs.

(On a quick sidebar, I saw Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) talking about the success of the stimulus bill and how the new jobs bill will serve the same purpose. He was touting the additional food stamps, increases in Medicaid spending and extended unemployment handed out by the two bills. Hey Ed, if the 'jobs' bills actually created jobs, people wouldn't need food stamps, unemployment and Medicaid.  You know, because they'd have ...jobs?)

Obama vowed that his Education Secretary Arnie Duncan would work for the best interests of all children in his speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in March 2009:

“Secretary Duncan will use only one test when deciding what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars: It's not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works.”

This program works, Mr. President, so why are you pulling the rug out from under all of those kids?

For all their talk of a 'hand up, not a handout', democrats sure don't put their money where their mouths are.

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Monday, February 15, 2010

LOVE, FAMILY AND SNOW

I hope that everyone had a great Valentine's/President's Day weekend.  I took a few days off to spend some quality time with the family.   Today's post has nothing whatsoever to do with politics, for a change.  No offense to our Presidents, but today I want to focus on something even more important.  Love and family.

My husband and I were raised in the Northeast, but our children have been born and raised in Florida.  We have been wanting to take them to see snow for a few years now.  This year, however, our oldest turned 13 and soon snow won't be such a fun thing for her, so time was of the essence.  We tried to get some time over the holidays to make a trip, but things kept popping up (namely, I was called for jury duty).  So when we heard that there would be snow as far south as southern Georgia this past weekend, my husband and I decided to go for it. 

We took the kids out of school early Friday, packed up the car and hit the road. 

We drove north until we hit snow, then drove a little further until there was decent accumulation.  By this time it was about 9:00 at night.  We pulled off the highway and parked at a rural gas station and bundled the kids up and set them loose on the snow.

They had no idea what to do, aside from pelt each other with 'snowballs' (loose handfuls of snow), so my husband, a Syracuse native who knows his way around snow, helped them make a snowman and snow angels.  We even bought some plastic lawn and leaf bags and showed them how to use them as sleds to go down the hills. 

Needless to say, the kids were absolutely thrilled and had a great time.  Once their feet were good and frozen, we got some hot cocoa and changed into dry clothes and headed home. 

My youngest documented the trip with her camera, even down to video of the storm front as we headed into it.  It was a great day and a really wonderful memory for all of us.  Sure, it was about 9 hours of driving for just one short hour in the snow, but it was worth every minute.  It is a priceless memory and I will carry the image of their happy faces with me always.

The weekend ended on a truly joyous note.  We joined my sister at her boyfriend's restaurant for a family Valentine's Day dinner and ended up witnessing her engagement!   I am just thrilled for Kathy, and am so happy that Kevin, intrepid individual that he is, is willing to join our crazy family.  He is a wonderful man who makes her so happy that she glows with it, and I thank God that they found each other, and I wish them many, many happy years together.

It was a weekend filled with laughter, love and family.  I shut off the news and ignored the lure of the internet.  I have a lot of catching up to do, but it was worth it.  I find myself so caught up in the machinations of the political world sometimes, and it is nice to take a break and recharge.  The broad view of the world right now is so depressing and uncertain that forgetting about it for a little while and spending time in my own little world with the people that I love so very much has become even more special and important. 

To my beloved husband, my darling Joe, I say thank you.  Thank you for a great weekend, thank you for fulfilling my crazy whim to chase the snow, thank you for our children, and thank you for loving me through thick and thin.  Thank you for supporting me and my out-of-the-blue, sometimes boring, sometimes manic political obsession of the past two years.  Thank you for being such a wonderful, loving father and supportive, patient spouse.  As a wise man once said, "The world is in your eyes, the sun, the stars, the skies go tumbling, whenever you are near".

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

AN IDIOT'S GUIDE TO CRIB NOTES

Sarah Palin has the left in a tizzy again.  She wrote bullet points on her hand to remind herself of the important points she wanted to hit for her speech to the Tea Party Nation.  The left, from the White House on down, are in absolute freak-out mode.  Apparently her crib notes are yet more proof of what a complete idiot she is. 

If she's an idiot for having to write down her bullet points so she doesn't forget to hit them all, what does that make Barack Obama?  The man can't string two sentences together without a teleprompter!  What's worse is that he uses them not just for major speeches, but also for basic press conferences.  It is such an issue that the White House has considered installing computer screens in the podiums he uses so that it would make it easier for his puppet masters communications specialists to pass information to him in a less obvious fashion.  And God forbid the teleprompter go out - he's completely lost without it.  But Sarah's five little points are a major scandal.  Riiiight.

In their usual snarky way, the White House illustrated their idea of bipartisanship and the new era of civility they want to usher in to Washington.  At his daily press briefing, WH spokesman Robert Gibbs sank to a new low.  He wrote a 'grocery list' on his hand to poke fun at Palin.    Too bad she had already beaten him to it with her 'Hi Mom' joke over the weekend. 

What Gibbs did was petty and small - par for the course for this administration.  But beyond that, it was actually a really stupid move on his part  (also par for the course).  His list included milk, eggs and bread. Now, there are those who say it was sexist of him, insinuating Palin should stay in the kitchen and leave politics to the big boys - I think that's reading too much into it.

No, the real gaffe was when he added 'hope' and 'change' to the list.  Big oopsie there, Gibbsy.  See, adding hope and change to the list is actually an insult to the people who voted for you guys.  First, you have now clearly illustrated that it was just a gimmick, and second, those words of inspiration mean so little to you that you find it funny to joke about them.  I'm sure all of those disillusioned Obama voters are just thrilled with your flippant disregard for them.  Nice job.

Let's not forget, too, that this was not a spur of the moment thing; it was most definitely premeditated.  Gibbs thought it out prior to the presser and was gleefully ready to make his little jab when the right moment presented itself.  Should have thought about it a little longer there, Gibbsy.  Especially since just a few days earlier your boss was pushing for civility and tolerance.

Yet again, in their desperation to show what an idiot Palin is, they manage to show their own asses.

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Monday, February 8, 2010

THE SILVER LINING OF ANGER

There are some interesting polls out today from Rasmussen.  I have mentioned before that I like Rasmussen because they poll likely voters, instead of just adults.  It gives a more accurate snapshot of electorate leanings.

According to Rasmussen,75% of Americans are somewhat angry with the current government policies.    Out of that 75%, 45% are very angry.  Just 19% are not very (11%) or not at all angry (8%).  I have to admit I'm a little surprised that there are even 8% not at all angry.   Considering those people are likely to vote, it makes requiring current events tests before voting seem more imperative than ever....

Broken down by party, 89% of Republicans, 61% of Democrats and a jaw-dropping 78% of independents are ticked off.   That's right, sisters, you are definitely not alone!

These numbers represent an overall anger at Washington in general; it is not party specific at all.  There is great discontent will any incumbent.  Agendas and voting records will be sharply scrutinized this election cycle.  If you have been fiscally irresponsible with taxpayer money, your days are most likely numbered, whether there is a D or an R after your name.

The question is how it will happen - primary challenges, D's turning to R's and vice versa, or Independent (TEA) party surprise wins. 

And therein lies the silver lining.  The American people, after decades of allowing our politicians to ride roughshod over us and our Constitution, are going to be set straight.  Americans are rediscovering their country, their roots, their heritage and their pride.  We are throwing off the Progressive yoke we have been harnessed to and returning to the core beliefs that have helped make this country the greatest superpower in history.

The more polls I see with results like this, the more I realize we are in for an exciting, surprising, potentially revolutionary election cycle.  The American people have woken up and are getting ready to flex their long dormant muscles and remind the elitist career politicians entrenched in Washington who is really boss.

I can't wait!

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Thursday, February 4, 2010

TOO LATE TO APOLOGIZE

This is a really great video (via HotAir).  I hope Glenn Beck sees this and lets us know his thoughts on it!  I think it's great and I hope there are many more to come.  Enjoy!!:


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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

TIME TO WALK THE WALK, HOLLYWOOD

The Drudge Report's headline for this morning is "Couric Faces Pay Cut; Deep Layoffs Hit CBS News".  In the story, an unnamed sources is quoted as saying,

"She makes enough to pay 200 news reporters $75,000 a year!" demands a veteran producer. "It's complete insanity."
The angry source continues: "We report with great enthusiasm how much bankers are making, how it is out of step with reality during a recession. We'll look at Katie!"

Amen!  I'm getting really tired of the hypocritical demonization of parts of our society by other sectors that really should just shut the heck up.  What really gets my goat is that people like Katie Couric, Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey and Michael Moore (and most of Hollywood, for that matter) attack capitalism and promote their euro-socialist/neo-marxist views - often in really insulting, patronizing ways that make me want to smack them, quite frankly. 

Don't get me wrong - I love the fact that people can make ridiculous money in this country.  This is capitalism at it's best, and I define myself as a capitalist far more than a republican, democrat or libertarian.  I myself wouldn't mind commanding a multi-million dollar salary, and don't begrudge anyone else making it, provided it is earned.  It's the hypocrisy of the celebrity set that really chaps my hide.

The Hollywood elites love to talk about how stupid Americans are for not seeing their point of view.  This from morons who attack capitalism as fatally flawed - the very same evil capitalism that has made them multi-millionaires.  I have a rather long list now of actors and musicians that I refuse to support financially because of their obnoxious, elitist dismissal of the 'unwashed masses' and the capitalist system that took many of them from poverty and obscurity to the golden, decadent heights of prosperity and world fame.

What really kills me are people like Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey, whose movies barely make enough to cover their multi-million dollar salaries and threaten the entire studio with financial implosion, and yet they sit on their high horses and attack CEO's and bankers for their multi-million dollar salaries.   Even better, they feel they have the right to preach to us about policies they know nothing about.

Well, those companies have been bailed out or subsidized with taxpayer money, they argue, so they should be demonized - they wasted our money!  Oh, that's right, I forgot - movies don't get any subsidies or tax breaks whatsoever.

Yes, I'm tired of bank bailouts.  Yes, I think CEO's and bankers making enormous profits on failed businesses is criminal.  But I also think that the same thing is happening in Hollywood and in sports. 

A great example is the obscene amount of money Conan O'Brien just made to effectively do nothing for three years.  And how did his working class staff fare, after uprooting themselves from NY to LA?  They sure didn't end up with $30 million and a three year hiatus.  Granted, they ended up splitting $12 million in severance, but, considering he had about 200 staff members, that equals about $60,000 per person - not a lot of money for LA.  Conan is getting lots of kudos for his role in demanding severance pay for his people, and I agree with that - if he hadn't, those people would have gotten nothing.

But think about it this way - if he were a Wall Street banker who had to shut down his business and paid his staff $60,000 while he walked away with $30 million, people would be calling for his head - with a huge portion of those calls originating in Hollywood.  But because he is a celebrity, they instead celebrate his generosity and consideration for his staff and make him into some sort of comedic Mother Teresa.

I took my kids to see Avatar at the Imax over the holidays, and for the four of us, it cost $60+ dollars, just for the tickets.  Add in popcorn and drinks and maybe a box of Sno-Caps and some Twizzlers, and you are easily looking at a $100 layout.  Did I mention it was a matinee?  Thankfully, it was a fantastic movie and we had a great time, but how often can you say that anymore with all of the cheesy remakes and really blatantly bad movies Hollywood has been pumping out over the past few years?  I know we won't be setting foot in a theater again until Iron Man 2 comes out - only real blockbusters are worth the outlay anymore, and even then we have been sorely disappointed.

I love professional football and hockey, and love seeing the games live, but have not done so in about a decade because a day at the stadium now costs an average of about $400 for a family of four.  If you are a Dallas fan, you can expect to pay about $700+.  My point is that the cost of those millionaire salaries and big, expensive stadiums is passed directly to us, the consumer, just as the cost of those Wall Street salaries is ultimately picked up by the American taxpayer. 

So if all of those Hollywood socialists are so hot to 'spread the wealth around', they should start with their own wealth, and leave what little I have alone.  It's nice to know that there are some, like those at CBS, who are starting to see that.

Hollywood has been talking the Progressive talk for decades - now it's time to walk the walk.  Put your money where your mouth is, Mr. Ferrell.  Stop living off the same teat you demonize, Mr. Moore.  You want a fair and free society, Mr. Penn?  How about you accept $150,000 for your next role, with no points on the back end, just a flat $150, like your cameramen make? 

If you want to foist the socialist utopia on us, you damn well better be prepared to join the ranks.  If not, shut the hell up.  I could care less what your views are on the world.  I don't make it a habit to take life advice from people who pretend for a living.  Many of them can't even string two sentences together without a writer putting the words in their mouths - a trait they seem to have in common with the Teleprompter Kid, now I think about it (btw, you'll thank me if you click the teleprompter kid link - too funny!).

As for Couric, well, she was a waste of money from the get-go.  I can't wait to see her response to the possibility of having her wealth 'redistributed'....

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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

SIC 'EM, SENATOR!

Senator Judd Gregg totally tore into Obama's Budget Director Peter Orszag today.  It was great.  I watched it three times and give it two enthusiastic thumbs up!  I wish that more of our representatives would start calling the administration out on this garbage.  Kudos to you, Sen. Gregg!

Orszag was trying to argue that it was perfectly fine to take the TARP money the banks have repaid and 'redirect' it to pay for the small business incentives Obama touted today.  Sounds great, right?  Small business really needs the help, for sure.  But what the administration is doing is against the law.  Yes, help is desperately needed in the small business sector, but there are other ways to do it.

The law, according to Sen. Gregg, who read it out loud to Mr. Orszag, clearly states that all monies recouped from TARP banks should be used to pay off the public debt and for no other purpose. 

Unfortunately, the Obama administration sees this money as their own personal slush fund.

This Presidential Piggy Bank has become their go-to fund for all of their little schemes - most of them involving reelection smoke and mirrors, such as this latest small business salve. 

This administration has an odd habit of giving with one hand and slapping us silly with the other.  The hijinx going on with the TARP funds is a perfect example of that.  With one hand, they are giving small businesses TARP funded incentives, and with the other they are slapping them down with threats of excessive taxation for health care, cap and trade, and the revocation of the Bush tax cuts, among other things.  The increased taxation and regulation will do far more harm than the offered incentives could possibly make up for. 

The level of ham-fisted deceit is just mind blowing.  They are attempting to cloak themselves in populism, of all things -giving the impression of helping out the little guy (with a dash of fat cat banker hating to illustrate the victimhood, of course), when all the while they really have the little guy by the throat, slowly squeezing the life out of him.  It's like a 1930's B movie film noir shakedown.

Which means this newest show of elitist largesse will have the same result as all the rest of their strong-arm, tax and spend tactics - businesses will hunker down even further, refuse to risk hiring and wait for the wave of redistributive taxation recede.

God willing, that wave will break in November.



BTW - Am I the only one who thinks the term "Obama budget" is an oxymoron?

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Monday, February 1, 2010

BUDGETING REALITY

Our government is spending us into the poor house.  Not just you and me, but our children and grandchildren.  Once again we are being fed the Keynesian line that we have to spend our way out of this recession.  Well, the democrats have been in power and spending like it's Monopoly money since 2007, with the amounts really racheting up once Obama took office and they truly had free rein. 

Last year VP Joe Biden tried to sell us on spending money to keep us from going bankrupt.  My nine year old, upon hearing Biden's theory said, "That's silly!  Everyone knows you can't spend more money if you run out of money!  He's crazy!"  That's my little sunshiny ray of hope for the future!  Too bad our government can't grasp something a nine year old sees as basic common sense.

This is now the longest recession since the Great Depression, which I find rather telling.  It is widely accepted now that FDR's New Deal - massive government spending and intrusion into the free markets - crippled the recovery in the 1930's.  Unfortunately, our current administration is using the New Deal as their road map through our present crisis (and oh so cleverly called it the 'New New Deal'), which is most likely why this recession is dragging on into it's third year, when most recessions last 8-12 months. 

That is the problem with Progressive revisionist history.  Their habit of changing history to suit their political ends sets us all up for disaster.  If you don't learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it.  Unfortunately, we are in for a harsh lesson if our government continues on this path - something they seem determined to the point of obsession with continuing.

President Obama offered his budget for 2011 today.  Apparently his talk about discretionary spending freezes next year was just more hot air, because his 2010 budget was for $3.6 trillion, and his 2011 budget is for $3.8 trillion.  How did he manage to put in a spending freeze and yet still increase the budget by $200 billion (while simultaniously bragging about cutting $20 billion, to boot)?   What's even more mind-boggling is that people are actually going to buy that line he's selling.  Another amazing thing is the short turnaround on this broken promise.  Usually a few months pass between the lie being sold and the reality coming to light.  This one only took a week.  The only thing transparent about this administration these days is it's dishonesty and spin.

Apparently, there is $100 billion in jobs stimulus in there somewhere - a nice little trick.  They wanted to create a whole new stimulus package, but, when the idea went over like a lead balloon with the public, they just snuck it in, as is becoming standard operating procedure with this administration.  Unfortunately, we need job growth now, not some time in 2011. Interesting timing on that one, too.  Congressional dems need to have something to bring to voters by this summer or they risk losing reelection - this plan wouldn't help them.  Which means that the 2011 job plan is solely to assure that The One can get reelected.  Every rat dem for themselves, eh?  I guess Congressional dems are betting it all on the stimulus bill creating jobs over the summer.  Good luck with that!

This budget, like most everything else this tax and spend administration has passed so far, is bloated and ridiculously expensive, with the added bonus that it will add $1.6 trillion to our already out of control deficit.  Oh, goody.  What are we up to now?  About $600,000 per household?

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty wrote an op-ed today in Politico.  I encourage you to read it.  It certainly starts out with a bang:

The U.S. attorney general recently announced that the Justice Department is beefing up its efforts to fight financial fraud such as Ponzi schemes. Good. The agency should start by reviewing the spending habits of the federal government, which is running the largest Ponzi scheme our country has ever seen.

He's absolutely right - this is a gigantic Ponzi scheme.  Except instead of taking the money of investors who volunteered their money in hopes of getting rich quick, our money is being taken from us against our will, and it isn't just our money - it is generational theft.  As yet unborn children and grandchildren will be paying for this for decades, if not longer.  If Bernie Madoff deserved to go to jail for stealing $50 billion, what should be the sentence for $1.3 trillion?   This budget will cause us to have a deficit that exceeds our GDP by October 2011. 

That is sheer insanity.

At this point, I am at a loss as to how to get them to rethink their ways.  We protest, they ignore.  We call in, they shut off the phones.  We send letters and emails and get form letters in return, reassuring us that our "representatives" will do what they feel is best, no matter what the majority of Americans want.  All we can do is continue to protest, call and write, and, of course, VOTE. 

But just voting in 2010 is not enough.  We need a Six Year Plan.  The House is up for reelection every two years, but the Senate only reelects one third of their body every two years.  It would take three election cycles to clean house, and that is exactly what we need to do - clean house.  We need to keep our eyes on the prize - we need to keep our memories sharp and vote out any incumbents who have voted to rob us and our posterity of our hard earned money.  Not just this year, but until every last one of those lying, corrupt thieves are gone. 

A revolution was fought in this country because of taxation without representation.  If our elected officials in Washington refuse to listen to the will of the majority of the people and insist on implimenting an unpopular agenda, they are no longer representatives. 

We went to war in 1776 over a penny tax imposed upon us by a tone deaf monarch and his arrogant, overreaching government who refused to hear the concerns of those being taxed.  Adding insult to injury, the tax money was to be spent back in England, so the taxpayers saw no direct benefit from the increase.  We are now being subjected to trillions in taxes, passed in bills that we are not allowed to read by "representatives" who are only interested in their own political gain and are doling out the money from their giant slush fund to donors and cronies.  Our tone deaf, arrogant government, when faced with the fears of the people, belittle, demonize and dismiss.

Thomas Jefferson had it right - When the people fear their government, there is tyranny.  When the government fears the people, there is liberty.

Our public servants have lost their fear.  It's time to remind them who is the boss.  We fired the warning shot with Scott Brown's election.  They have decided to double down and try to fool us again on the campaign trail with more false promises and spin. 

They will not reform, so they must be removed. 

It's time to remind them that this is a government of the People, by the People and FOR the People.

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