Another Christmas Miracle

In a grand display of self-sacrifice, Obama sent his wife and kids off to Hawaii without his glorious presence, so that he might save Christmas for 160 million Americans.  And, by remaining on the job, he's managed another in an unending series of historic accomplishments:  a two month extension of his Payroll Tax Holiday!  Once again, America is saved - praise be to Obama!  Hallelujah!

You see, Democrats are all about fairness and social justice. And they display a bulldog-like tenacity when protecting the Holiest of Holies, Social Security and Medicare.  Woe to unto any evil Republican who might taketh away thine rightful benefits, especially in this season of giving.

Would it be that we mere commoners were intelligent enough to divine the great and powerful Obama's master plan, we would see that the best way to preserve Social Security is to have everyone who still earns a paycheck pay less into it.  This stroke of genius falls right into line with the Democrat's idea that unemployment checks are the fastest way to stimulate our economy.  Who are we to dare argue with the great minds of Washington?

I know, I know...saving Social Security by diverting funds from it does seem rather contradictory, even hypocritical.  Some say this is because Democrats fail to see the difference between FICA, which is arguably not a tax, but collected and tied to benefits such as Social Security and Medicare, and all other taxes meant to fund the out-of-control federal bureaucracy.

We must remember not to lose our faith; we must remember to not question our rulers, for they have the knowledge of things we mortals cannot possibly comprehend.  We must truly believe that diverting funds away from the two signature programs of Democrats is not an obvious attempt to purchase votes from those in this country still ignorant enough to believe in that most ethereal of promises, Hope and Change.

Even though the irony of this promise is becoming more obvious each day, as most have lost hope of ever seeing any change, we must not forget the fact that the true mystery of Obama's holy mantra may be beyond our comprehension as lowly taxpayers.

Yet, even after all of this, you would begrudge Dear Leader his well-earned time of rest?  Blasphemer!  You are not fit to remain in the collective.

Quote of the Day:

Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions.  Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the "new, wonderful, good society" which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean "more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious."

Marcus Tillius Cicero (106 - 40 B.C.)

Take The Quiz!

Damn - I only scored 3 out of 9.  What this shows is that, in spite of the myriad of insane demands by this Flea Bagger "movement," there is common ground between all Americans when it comes to the failure of our government and its migration to corporatism.

There are major divides, however, when it comes to solutions.  The Flea Baggers want more government and more spending, a $20 minimum wage, a waiver of all debt, free health care, free college education, or any of the other bits of equine excreta espoused by the "Occupy Wall Street" cretins that I noticed the "quiz" failed to touch upon.

This "quiz" was a weak attempt to give some shred of credibility to the senseless protests of these spoiled group of societal freeloaders, angry that they may just have to work for a living.  A fine example of the manipulation by the media.  As you should understand by watching Fox News, it is easy to get the answers you're looking for, if you simply ask the right questions.

Quote of the day:  "Just when the protest seemed to turn violent, the police managed to disperse the crowd by firing job applications at them."

As for the true problems we face, we can all agree that for too long, politicians have bowed to corporate interests.   The problem has gotten completely out of hand, so much so that Obama doesn't even try to hide it anymore.  He has made up his mind that his administration will decide which businesses, industries, and institutions will succeed and which will fail.  As we have seen, our government has an extremely poor track record in picking winners and losers.

It comes as no surprise that this administration's choices have favored his biggest campaign contributors, which receive favorable legislation as repayment for their continued support.  But, as both the Tea Party and the Flea Baggers have implied, America has the best form of government that money can buy.

Word of advice:  watch what Obama does over the next few months, and notice the complete abandonment of his 2008 theme of uniting America.  Knowing he has almost no chance of re-election, he is like a wounded animal that has been cornered by his own undeniable record of failure.

Now that numerous scandals of his failed and corrupt administration are coming to light, I wonder how much longer he will continue to blame everyone else for his own shortcomings.  Any person of character would accept responsibility of his office and either change course, as Clinton did, or resign, as Nixon did.  Unfortunately, Obama does not possess such character, as we have seen by his arrogant yet incompetent leadership.

His rhetoric will be become exponentially more divisive as the elections grow near, and his frustration with what he sees as "GOP opposition" to his socialist agenda may yet bring out the radical leftist he has tried to so hard, and spent so much, to conceal from the public.

But, as long as Team Obama keeps driving the wedge deeper, we will continue to fight each other instead of facing our common enemy.  And because of voter ignorance and gullibility, a slick campaign and a billion dollars is apparently all that is required these days to rent a room at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Running a campaign and running a country are not the same thing, and it has become painfully obvious that a two years as a Senator from Illinois did nothing to prepare Obama for the most difficult job on the planet.  And a bunch of entitled college students selfishly whining about the burden of their self-inflicted student loans cannot possibly be compared to a genuine political movement such as the Tea Party.

Harry's Got it Handled

I'm not sure what upsets me the most about all this, Reid's insistence of a new "millionaire tax" or the fact that Washington would even consider passing this "Stimulus, Jr" spending bill.  Considering the failure of it's predecessor, it is fairly easy to understand why Obama is shying away from using the term "Stimulus."

Knowing full well this "jobs" bill will do nothing but bail-out another round of public employees, the goal is to fund this politically-motivated spending bill by adding a half-trillion to our debt.

To claim this latest bail-out will be "paid for" by a decade of yet-unrealized revenue is an insult to the taxpayer's intelligence.  How do these Congressional cretins think they amassed a $14 trillion debt in the first place?

Even if this new "millionaire's tax" actually meets the revenue expectations of what we spend today, don't expect this tax to disappear after 10 years.

Clown Prince Harry may fool some of the idiots out there, but this is not a method to finance Obama's already-doomed "Jobs Act."  It's just the progressive's method of raising taxes on everyone, slowly, surely, and permanently, so that the size of our government and it's out of control spending can grow forever.

You Call That a Plan?

Obama most recent teleprompter recital simply served up another turd sandwich. This whole budget thing is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Obama's goal is to continuously increase the size of the government and the number of people forced to rely on government handouts to survive.

For all the pretense of fiscal responsibility, this year's deficit will be another record year, equal to roughly $1.6 trillion. Obama's master plan deals with a minute fraction of symbolic cuts, then punts on the spending at the heart of the deficit - entitlements. Filtering out all the scare tactics and ever-present campaign rhetoric, Obama simply wants to resort to the century-old Democratic formula of "tax the wealthy".

It is hard to imagine that Obama, or any other sane person for that matter, truly believes that raising the tax rates on incomes above $250,000 will fix our problem. I think he just wants to appease those Democrats on the far left, while pretending to be the leader everyone expected him to be. Especially wonderful was Obama's decision not to implement any real cuts until 2013 - right after his (hopefully unsuccessful) reelection.

According to IRS data, the entire taxable incomes of everyone making $100,000 or above in 2008 amounted to a bit less than $1.58 trillion. Even if every one of these people (of which I am one, and am far from wealthy) were taxed at 100%, it would not even cover Obama's deficit for this year alone.

Don't let this charlatan fool you. He lives in some weird liberal Twilight Zone, where everyone believes that the money you earn actually belongs to the government, and anyone who wants to lie on the sofa, only getting up to cash government checks, has a right to do so.

Our problem exists because each and every government program is important to someone, and all the squabbling and in-fighting between political parties will not allow any substantial cuts to take place. Cutting spending across the board, leaving no program untouched, is the only way to eliminate the partisan deadlock. But this will never happen. Our only hope is that the Republicans will win a 60-seat majority in the Senate in 2012, but only if we can get rid of the old guard GOP RINO's along with it.

Keeping in mind the magnitude of our current deficit, $1.6 trillion in spending cuts is required just to balance this year's budget. Both Obama and Boehner are trying to take credit for the "historic" levels of spending cuts recently agreed upon in order to prevent the government from shutting down. My calculator shows that $38.5 billion in cuts (a figure that is now in question) makes a very tiny dent, barely one cent on the dollar, in the $3.8 trillion our government will spend in fy2011.

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How much is a trillion dollars? Numbers this size are difficult for most people to comprehend. Maybe this will help:  take one thousand dollar bills and put them in a pile. After you make one thousand piles, you would have $1 million.  Do this every day for 1,000 years, you would have piled up $365 billion.  This is a lot of money, roughly equal to what the US spent on oil imports in 2008.

After 2,000 years, you would have stacked up $730 billion, or a bit less than Obama's 2009 "Stimulus Bill" squandered on bailing out state governments and repaying unions for his election.

Finally, after nearly 3,000 years (2,739 you would have made a pile equalling $1 trillion. That is a really, really big pile of dollars. And currently our national debt is over 14 piles of this size...and growing by the second.

Does it Really Matter Who is at Fault?

Imagine that - a liberal rag blaming Republicans for the budget impasse.  Who'd a thunk it?


The left is scratching their head to determine why the GOP is sabotaging America by shutting down the government.  The best they can come up with is political points?  Purposely harming the economy to win elections?  That would be wasted effort - Obama is doing quite a good enough job with that on his own.


Oh, the White House keeps fudging the numbers to boost the unemployment figure, but most understand this is nothing but smoke and mirrors.  Sort of like the accounting gimmick which gave us the Clinton Surplus, but with people instead of projected earnings.

Please keep in mind that, with Obama in the White House, the 111th Congress, comprised of a Democratic super-majority in both House and Senate, decided the best thing for our country was to shirk their responsibility and NOT draft a budget for fy2011.

This was primarily because of the massive deficits and the desire to prevent the upcoming mid-term elections from drawing any more attention to the dismal failure of the Obama presidency.

Well, it didn't work, and the Democrats had their collective asses handed to them.  And now, after licking their wounds, the time has come to do what Democrats do so predictably and so well - blame anyone and everyone but themselves for the evils which have befallen our country.

The Democrats could have passed any and all legislation they saw fit over the last two years, yet because of divisions inside the Democratic party and their inability to decide on how best to abuse the ultimate power, they failed to do anything but ram an extremely unpopular health insurance mandate down our throats.

On the other hand, the 112th House Republicans, drunk in their newly-found power, are acting like schoolyard bullies with their refusal to budge from their "principles" of fiscal conservatism.  A hard story to swallow, seeing that Bush spent money as well, if not better, than any Democrat could dream of.  I cannot blame the freshmen representatives for sticking to their guns, but sooner or later they must realize that no ground is gained without that first step.

Washington is seriously broken, and only the truly naive should expect anything to change anytime soon.  As long as these two groups of childish buffoons continue to point fingers and blame each other, nothing gets done.  What is so sad about the whole thing is that, judging from their lack of accomplishment, they believe it is much more important to correctly place the blame for the problems than to actually solve the problems.

Personally, I'm fed up with the whole bunch of 'em.  I will not listen to anyone who wants to blame one side or the other - they are both at fault, and neither side cares about anything but staying in power.

Obama Announces New Budget Cuts

Obama's plan to cut $1.1 T over the next decade is a completely worthless gesture.  With yearly deficits of $1.5 trillion, we are adding $15 trillion in new debt over the same period.   It is sad that Obama's number coincides with Boehner's $100 B in cuts.  Because, if either party thinks this puny gesture will put the slightest dent in our debt, they are every bit as stupid as we give them credit for.

Using a simpler example, you cannot hope to pay your credit card off if you simply pay the "minimum".  First, you cut up the card, and second, you cut every possible expense in order to pay back what you borrowed as soon as possible, before the interest makes it difficult or impossible to do so.

We simply need to spend less and collect more.  We cannot afford to raise taxes during a recessionary period, so we must cut spending to the bone to reduce our deficit, while stimulating growth in the private sector by lowering government restrictions and encouraging productivity.

Once we've paid off our debt, we can begin to operate under a balanced budget.  But we've accrued such debt that the interest alone will soon eclipse our GDP.  We have, as some say, found ourselves up Schmidt Creek and are quickly losing our grip on the paddle.

As to job creation and the new GOP House, what part of "the government cannot and does not create jobs" don't liberals understand?  The job of Congress is to stay out of business, but we can see what happens every time government interferes.

The ugly truth, that our government refuses to acknowledge, is that government meddling is what put our economy into the tank, and that our problems cannot be solved by more government.  More spending to engorge our already bloated, useless, and inefficient bureaucracy will only add to our misery.

If Obama works with Republicans to reduce the layers of bureaucracy, stop any new spending, and greatly reduce existing entitlement spending, I see no reason to allow him the opportunity to correct our problems.  However, if he keeps harping on his asinine “investment in the future” strategy, then it proves he is as incompetent as he seems to be, and  we will have to hang on and wait until he is removed from power in 2012.

Postal Bailout Looming?

In this age of the Internet and email, who actually relies on the United States Postal Service?   When was the last time anything showed up in your mailbox besides junk and/or bills?


As I gave up my land line years ago, I don't really see the point of having a mailbox anymore.  After checking for mail, I usually stop at the trash can on the way inside and deposit the entire wad.


But an interestingly one-sided article concerning the closure of 2,000 post offices around the country recently caught my eye. The premise, put forth by the CBS correspondent Michelle Miller, was that the post office is a place for folks to gather, the vital hub, the "glue of the community."  As if every city in the country was Mayberry, USA.


Many see the post office, and its $23 million per day losses, as I do:  an antiquated system which only stays in operation because of its connection with the federal government and the loans it takes from the US Treasury.


I recently bought some stamps at the post office.  It wasn't the one in my neighborhood, because it is inconvenient to stop on the way to work, or on the way home from work, and you can buy stamps at the grocery or online (oh, the irony).


I came away from my visit with the distinct feeling that none of the customers were happy to be there.  Not the sort of place one would think of as "community glue", as Ms. Miller would have you believe.  It was easy to see that most all the customers on that day were irritated at the slow moving line, and more interested in getting their business taken care of and getting the hell out of there.


Yes, the post office, or USPS since 1971, has had its ups and downs.  Mostly downs, the lowest perhaps being the decision to unionize, otherwise known as "the Kiss of Death".  This year, the amount of debt owed by the USPS will total $8.5 billion.  But more is on the way.

Final Delivery?
On Thursday, April 15, 2010, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to examine the status of the Postal Service and recent reports on short and long term strategies for the financial viability and stability of the USPS entitled "Continuing to Deliver: An Examination of the Postal Service's Current Financial Crisis and its Future Viability." At which, PMG Potter testified that by the year 2020, the USPS cumulative losses could exceed $238 billion, and that mail volume could drop 15% from 2009. (source:  Wikipedia)

Of course, any business flushing this kind of money is a candidate for a government bailout.  And, as an extension of the executive branch, this surely gets a spot at the front of the line.


With the possible bailout for the USPS looming in the near future, I am wondering how Obama is going to sell this additional spending investment to his adoring public.  My guess is it will go something like this:

(we now join the President's address, already in progress)

Not only should we not allow these American institutions to close, but we should begin to built more!  Hundreds more, all across America, built by American workers, creating jobs for Americans, in America, shining monuments to the spirit and determination that has made this country great.


This is why today, with bipartisan support, I have assembled a team of the best and brightest minds available, from both sides of the aisle, and put in place the Community Recovery Action Program.  My new CRAP is essential in order to determine the best way to combat our crisis, perhaps the worst crisis we've faced as a nation since the last really bad one.


The $300 billion CRAP is designed to search for and eliminate waste from our systems, and to deposit this waste where it can do the most good, or the least harm, for hard working, middle class Americans.


The pipeline of our economic growth has been plugged with years of waste and abuse.  My new CRAP will replace the inefficient and bloated Federal Accounting Recovery Target, a lingering remnant of the previous administration, which has only clogged our system and led to the severe irregularity that threatens the bowels of our economy.


This may not be the best move, and I'll be the first to admit it's not perfect.  But we cannot afford to sit and do nothing.  We can all agree that some movement is essential for the health and well being of our country.  If we have learned anything from the past eight years, FART was only effective as a short-term remedy, and the need for a good CRAP is now evident if we wish to effect long-term relief.


This is not anything new, it's not as if someone suddenly lit a match and cleared the air.  These are simply solid and sound principles that our country was built on.  But the time for waiting is over, the status quo is unacceptable, and so we must let go of FART in order to allow for CRAP to succeed.


Henceforth, CRAP will work in conjunction with a newly combined Senate and House Investigative Taskforce, which will add the pretense of transparency and accountability to the entire process of eliminating all waste accumulated as a result of our government's improper diet and decades of gorging itself on taxpayer dollars.  And you will be happy to know that this SHIT will not add one dime to our deficit.


Under the combined leadership of Rep. Norm Dick and Sen. Dick Durbin, SHIT has been structured such that no one legislative body can abuse its majority, regardless of which Dick is out on the floor.


I wish to thank Rep. Barney Frank for graciously volunteering his services to work hand in hand with the Dicks.  It is my understanding that Rep. Frank has an excellent record of service to either Dick, as well as all others, regardless of their congressional weight.  I think we can all agree that these distinguished gentlemen are, without doubt in most people's minds, two of the biggest Dicks in Washington.


Now, let me be clear on this - I'm not going to lie - this isn't going to be easy.  It will take a lot of hard work and determination from all of us.  And education, too, lots of education, the really expensive kind, in order to compete in the high-tech global postage marketplace of the future.


But if we can put aside our differences and work together, I know we can be successful, because that's who we are as Americans.  Now is not the time to shy away from our goals, but to reach out and seize the moment - and to win the future.


This investment in our future will do more than create jobs, and rebuild our communities.  It will once again place America at the forefront of worldwide postal inefficiency.  Thank you, good night, and God bless the United States of America.


(off camera)


Obama:  "Think they bought it, Joe?
Biden:  " Who cares?  They're all idiots.  I mean, Christ - they voted for us, right?"
Obama:  "Hahahahahaha.  Yes, they did, Joe...they sure did."

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik and Vitriol - Nip it in the Bud

Apparently, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has an axe to grind. But, in his recent interview with Megan Kelly, he showed himself to be so absolutely full of crap that it would no doubt make Keith Olbermann jealous.


I can’t help but think that this fool has some political aspirations in the near future, since it is obvious from his comments that he will soon be too senile to carry a firearm as sheriff of Pima Country.  He seems imminently qualified, however, to make a fine Democratic congressman.

In my view, Kelly did a fantastic job of giving Dupnik all the rope he needed to hang himself (excuse me for the violent imagery - please don't hang anyone).  Her line of questioning steered Dupnik exactly where she wanted as he tripped over himself time and again.  There were a few moments where I believe he realized that he had trapped himself, at which point he regrouped and returned to his attack on "certain" radio and television personalities.

After listening to this interview, the amazingly biased and ignorant comments from Dupnik left a bad taste in my mouth.  Here we have an idiot so quick to inject his opinion, but after first admitting to pure speculation and opinion, he preaches to the viewers how irresponsible it is for “…allegedly credible people to stand in front of cameras and microphones and say things that are just not true…”

Dupnik begins by explaining that “there is no way to rationalize irrational behavior.”  Then, after a brief exchange concerning a letter from the shooter (not even going to play the “alleged” game here, ok?) to Giffords, dated from 2007, he places both feet squarely into his mouth, going into great detail about his opinion of the effects that “certain” radio and television programs may have on the unbalanced mind of Jerad Loughner.

Being such a keen observer of our country for 75 years as he is, he hasn’t a doubt in his of the irresponsibility of using the 24/7 information network to express opinion – because it “enflames the public.”  Excuse me, Sheriff Dupnik, but the “public” didn’t attempt to assassinate anyone.  A single, unhinged lunatic did, and nobody can say what lit his fuse.

And, speaking of enflaming the public, I wonder what effect Dupnik believes that his unfounded accusations have on the public?  I can only imagine that, in his professional opinion as a Democrat and the Sheriff of Pima County, that he only considers opinions other than his to be inflammatory.

I especially enjoyed Dupnik’s remark about witnessing the downfall of America, as evident by seeing “one party trying to block the attempts of another to make this a better country.”  Somehow, his politically impaired reasoning has led Dupnik to conclude that Republicans are the enemy, while his own Democratic party was charged by the Lord to save America from their evil.  No political spin here, eh, Clarence?

We should all learn well the lessons that Sheriff Dupnik offers here:  heated political debate can have serious consequences and, even though “differences of opinion make the world go round and round," everything is fine as long as he agrees to all opinions, in which case you’re just spewing hate.


Sooner or later, the time will come to address this problem.  But, as one of my favorite members of law enforcement once so eloquently stated, "...this calls for action and now. Nip it in the bud. First sign of youngsters going wrong, you've got to nip it in the bud.  Nip it."  Now, Barn....