On November 18 of last year, under a post entitled, "High Speed Rail: Pros & Cons", I wrote the following:
- Security is impossible. First of all, nobody has brought up the ominous prospect of installing and operating TSA-like security at every train depot. Imagine airport TSA issues times a hundred in terms of cost and manpower and logistics and delays. And don’t forget unions!
- It will be a simple matter for terrorists to walk up to any length of track in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin and put a bomb on the track and detonate it from the comfort of a sunny hillside and watch the speeding train pile into the surrounding fields and kill hundreds or more. If I have thought of this, trust me, terrorists already have stretches of track in mind. They’re just waiting for Obama to supply them with human targets.
Obviously, security is a huge con, just like the con liberals are trying to pull with their rail initiatives.
Well, it didn't take long for all the libs to start calling for more security at train stations. Here's Chuck Schumer from New York: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/05/08/schumer-calls-for-do-not-ride-list-for-amtrak/
If you read that piece it references notes found at Bin Laden's compound detailing ways to attack trains. Sometimes I hate it when I'm right, but someone has to explain it to the thick-headed left.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Battle For America's Future Is Being Fought Right Here In Wisconsin, Right Now
If you haven’t noticed, lately there has been a dramatic shift in strategy from the far left. They have been backed into a corner as Americans in overwhelming majority have decried out of control government spending. This is an affront to the thing progressives hold most dear – their communist agenda. If you think that’s ridiculous rhetoric just ask yourself what happened to all that “stimulus” money, or look in the local paper and see what’s going on here in Wisconsin. The left sees 50 years of effort building the foundation of a worker’s paradise crumbling under its own unsustainable weight, and they’ve invested far too much energy to allow a simple thing like the will of the awakened American people to F--- it up now.
The chosen tactic is nothing new – it may be the oldest play they have: Class Warfare.
The rhetoric is in crescendo, with Michael Moore and other far-left whacko pundits trumpeting the call. If there are only two options to solving the country’s impending insolvency – cut spending or raise taxes – the left has clearly and proudly chosen their path. But of course they can’t raise everyone’s taxes – that wouldn’t be fair, so go after the rich. In a sense the left is smart about these things – they never miss an opportunity to highlight the spectacular oversights of wealthy people, especially when those people happen to be heads of large corporations, and since Obama took power there has been plenty of fodder. Can anyone say “conspiracy?” Obama has never had to answer the questions regarding his bailouts of the banks and the egregious bonuses paid out in the wake. Maybe he was just giving out rope, but his hands are as dirty as anyone else’s. I've heard several interviews on NPR with authors of new anti-capitalism books - you can't tell me this isn't a highly coordinated effort. The DNC is game-planning the whole charade, I guarantee it.
We’re fortunate in Wisconsin to be at ground zero for this battle. I’m optimistic that as a constituency we will eventually get tired of the drama and emotion play and come to our rational senses, which are clearly inclined toward reduced spending. But the far-left is nothing if not patient and tireless, and they are also not at all ashamed of lying or making up stories to invoke a desired response. My guess is this will be a long struggle, and I pray that we have the fortitude to see it through. Having Walker leading the charge is extremely helpful, but it’s the same reason the left is demonizing him so hard right now – they know he has both hands on the curtain and how dangerous that makes him to their grand design.
The chosen tactic is nothing new – it may be the oldest play they have: Class Warfare.
The rhetoric is in crescendo, with Michael Moore and other far-left whacko pundits trumpeting the call. If there are only two options to solving the country’s impending insolvency – cut spending or raise taxes – the left has clearly and proudly chosen their path. But of course they can’t raise everyone’s taxes – that wouldn’t be fair, so go after the rich. In a sense the left is smart about these things – they never miss an opportunity to highlight the spectacular oversights of wealthy people, especially when those people happen to be heads of large corporations, and since Obama took power there has been plenty of fodder. Can anyone say “conspiracy?” Obama has never had to answer the questions regarding his bailouts of the banks and the egregious bonuses paid out in the wake. Maybe he was just giving out rope, but his hands are as dirty as anyone else’s. I've heard several interviews on NPR with authors of new anti-capitalism books - you can't tell me this isn't a highly coordinated effort. The DNC is game-planning the whole charade, I guarantee it.
We’re fortunate in Wisconsin to be at ground zero for this battle. I’m optimistic that as a constituency we will eventually get tired of the drama and emotion play and come to our rational senses, which are clearly inclined toward reduced spending. But the far-left is nothing if not patient and tireless, and they are also not at all ashamed of lying or making up stories to invoke a desired response. My guess is this will be a long struggle, and I pray that we have the fortitude to see it through. Having Walker leading the charge is extremely helpful, but it’s the same reason the left is demonizing him so hard right now – they know he has both hands on the curtain and how dangerous that makes him to their grand design.
Fire Drills In Summer
Today there were “organized” walk outs by students in the La Crosse county public schools in support of teachers. Does anyone buy that? Students standing up for teacher’s rights. I just can’t imagine this being a significant motivator, at least not beyond the typical emotional level that only serves to confuse the issue.
Anyone who was ever a student knows that at least 90% of these kids are just taking any excuse to get out of classes for an hour or a day, and could care less what the reason is. I would have been the same way. The fact that teachers are encouraging this behavior is truly troubling, and speaks to the high degree of institutional indoctrination to liberalism going on in public schools. More than ever Wisconsin schools are little more than converted sausage factories for grinding out liberals. Of course they are in desperation mode now that the writing is on the wall. It’s like when a dictator is about to be deposed and he fires every missile he has because he knows he can’t take them with him – the unions are going apeshit trying to collect as many dues as possible before the tide really does turn on them.
That can’t be far off. According to a new Rasmussen poll, two-thirds of Wisco voters side with the unions on the CBA issue but also want teachers to take benefit or pay cuts. Read through the spin and it’s crystal clear that the overwhelming majority are actually on Walker’s side of the argument, they are just confused by the emotional subterfuge on performance. Susan Sarandon – are you f---ing kidding me?? Enough with the dog and pony show, people, figure it out already.
Everybody likes fire drills in summer – that’s all these kids are doing.
Anyone who was ever a student knows that at least 90% of these kids are just taking any excuse to get out of classes for an hour or a day, and could care less what the reason is. I would have been the same way. The fact that teachers are encouraging this behavior is truly troubling, and speaks to the high degree of institutional indoctrination to liberalism going on in public schools. More than ever Wisconsin schools are little more than converted sausage factories for grinding out liberals. Of course they are in desperation mode now that the writing is on the wall. It’s like when a dictator is about to be deposed and he fires every missile he has because he knows he can’t take them with him – the unions are going apeshit trying to collect as many dues as possible before the tide really does turn on them.
That can’t be far off. According to a new Rasmussen poll, two-thirds of Wisco voters side with the unions on the CBA issue but also want teachers to take benefit or pay cuts. Read through the spin and it’s crystal clear that the overwhelming majority are actually on Walker’s side of the argument, they are just confused by the emotional subterfuge on performance. Susan Sarandon – are you f---ing kidding me?? Enough with the dog and pony show, people, figure it out already.
Everybody likes fire drills in summer – that’s all these kids are doing.
Obama's Whatever-It-Is
Tuned in to NPR this morning to catch some progressive complaining about Obama’s decision to hit Libya with missiles over the weekend. He said the action was against the law, unconstitutional, and hypocritical, and reminiscent of the Bush “Neo-Con” approach to foreign policy.
I disagree – Bush would not have waited two weeks to see which European nation was willing to take the blame if things went wrong, almost guaranteeing that things will go wrong. The world is going to blame the US regardless. During those two weeks Qaddafi has basically destroyed the rebels ability to wage an effective resistance, reducing them to a handful of strongholds with limited influence. Had US strikes been initiated 2 weeks ago the rebels might have had a chance, but the Vacillator-In-Chief would not commit.
If anything this should remind us of Clinton-era actions: a lathering of Tomahawk cruise missiles with very little substantive effect except to deflect the media’s probing eyes away from his personal affairs at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In this case Obama is relatively scandal free – not for lack of material but rather that the media simply does not want to expose him for the outright awful leader he is. He pulled the same nonsense with Afghanistan – waiting 6 weeks to make a time-sensitive decision to put more boots on the ground in Afghanistan and then shorting McCrystal by 25% of his requested troops. The general did not just pull a number out of thin air – history is already proving he needed every man, but no, Obama knew better, and clearly this tactic of waiting for the rebels to be nearly wiped out before putting in a pittance of support is all part of Obama’s strategy for success, whatever that means, and we don’t know because Obama hasn’t told us. Bush at least had goals and we understood them. Obama, like Clinton, is just firing missiles at soft targets. Maybe he’s hoping – Yes We Can and all that.
If Qaddafi is deposed and the rebels topple the dictatorship it will be a lucky break for Obama and the US at this point. He’ll deserve some small praise for having made the decision at all. Don’t get me wrong – unlike many “progressives” I want our actions to have effect and a positive outcome. It will be very interesting to see how liberals respond to this whether it goes favorably or not. If the guest on NPR is an indicator they are at least starting out consistent.
*Edit - My wife has MSNBC on right now - that annoying Ed show, and he's all for this war. Figures.
I disagree – Bush would not have waited two weeks to see which European nation was willing to take the blame if things went wrong, almost guaranteeing that things will go wrong. The world is going to blame the US regardless. During those two weeks Qaddafi has basically destroyed the rebels ability to wage an effective resistance, reducing them to a handful of strongholds with limited influence. Had US strikes been initiated 2 weeks ago the rebels might have had a chance, but the Vacillator-In-Chief would not commit.
If anything this should remind us of Clinton-era actions: a lathering of Tomahawk cruise missiles with very little substantive effect except to deflect the media’s probing eyes away from his personal affairs at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In this case Obama is relatively scandal free – not for lack of material but rather that the media simply does not want to expose him for the outright awful leader he is. He pulled the same nonsense with Afghanistan – waiting 6 weeks to make a time-sensitive decision to put more boots on the ground in Afghanistan and then shorting McCrystal by 25% of his requested troops. The general did not just pull a number out of thin air – history is already proving he needed every man, but no, Obama knew better, and clearly this tactic of waiting for the rebels to be nearly wiped out before putting in a pittance of support is all part of Obama’s strategy for success, whatever that means, and we don’t know because Obama hasn’t told us. Bush at least had goals and we understood them. Obama, like Clinton, is just firing missiles at soft targets. Maybe he’s hoping – Yes We Can and all that.
If Qaddafi is deposed and the rebels topple the dictatorship it will be a lucky break for Obama and the US at this point. He’ll deserve some small praise for having made the decision at all. Don’t get me wrong – unlike many “progressives” I want our actions to have effect and a positive outcome. It will be very interesting to see how liberals respond to this whether it goes favorably or not. If the guest on NPR is an indicator they are at least starting out consistent.
*Edit - My wife has MSNBC on right now - that annoying Ed show, and he's all for this war. Figures.
Friday, March 4, 2011
What Wisconsin Liberals Are Really Rejecting
Their own Rights!
It isn't about the benefits because the unions know they've lost that battle; now they fight for their very survival. At the heart of the issue is an honest question: Are unions relevant in today's economy? We're talking primarily about teachers now, because although other union workers are impacted the term "teacher" still strikes an emotional chord for a majority of Americans, even as quality of education in Wisconsin continues to decline. What's amazing about that is that while our state's student test scores sink from a once-lofty perch, a huge percentage of people side with teachers against their own self-interests, and an even split sides with unions.
Clearly this is another case where the Media-arm of the regressive Left in this country has once again successfully managed a campaign of malicious misinformation and character assassination. You don't have to look too far to see many of the notable liars, including CNN and Madison's own Capitol Times. They brazenly spout the most preposterous nonsense, and when called out they have the gall to claim they were misrepresented when they misrepresented on TV or print, as if they thought nobody bothered to fact check. Just go to politifact.com to read the list.
The most prominent example is the flagrant use of the word "right." As in, collective bargaining rights. Nowhere in the state or federal constitutions is collective bargaining granted as a right, and I doubt any good "progressive" would dare say she inherited the right to collectively bargain from God. What is a right? "Being in accordance with what is just, good, or proper." That could apply to just about anything, but in this case we must consider what the CBA actually accomplishes.
The CBA creates a legally-binding framework for union workforce benefit increases. In this case we're talking about employees of the State of Wisconsin whose benefits are paid for by the taxpayers of Wisconsin. If these people are my "friends and neighbors," as the flaming pundits like to say, then they are effectively taking money out my pocket every week and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.
Furthermore, terrible teachers - and every one of us could name half a dozen off the tops of our heads - are rewarded the same as excellent teachers. How is that fair? What say do those represented by the CBA actually have? None. Union bosses dictate terms and take a heavy slice off the top. I don't understand how any educator could think that was a good thing, but that's probably why the public schools in this state are in decline.
When people are actually confronted by this reality, and Governor Walker has tried, they fail to see the reason anyway because they are worked into this emotional frenzy by the whips whose job it is to make sure the will of the people as dictated last November is circumvented.
Make no mistake, this is all about Democrat power, as their greatest cash provider is public and private unions.
The ridiculous thing is Walker isn't decertifying unions with this bill, all he's doing is empowering those affected by unions with the right to vote to continue under the union! So the protesters are actually protesting against their own voice in favor of the union! How does that make any sense to anyone?? Union bosses are terrified their own people won't want them, and so it goes in Madison.
This is truly a sad state of affairs. I just pray that Walker sticks to his principles and lets the Democrats continue to not have any.
It isn't about the benefits because the unions know they've lost that battle; now they fight for their very survival. At the heart of the issue is an honest question: Are unions relevant in today's economy? We're talking primarily about teachers now, because although other union workers are impacted the term "teacher" still strikes an emotional chord for a majority of Americans, even as quality of education in Wisconsin continues to decline. What's amazing about that is that while our state's student test scores sink from a once-lofty perch, a huge percentage of people side with teachers against their own self-interests, and an even split sides with unions.
Clearly this is another case where the Media-arm of the regressive Left in this country has once again successfully managed a campaign of malicious misinformation and character assassination. You don't have to look too far to see many of the notable liars, including CNN and Madison's own Capitol Times. They brazenly spout the most preposterous nonsense, and when called out they have the gall to claim they were misrepresented when they misrepresented on TV or print, as if they thought nobody bothered to fact check. Just go to politifact.com to read the list.
The most prominent example is the flagrant use of the word "right." As in, collective bargaining rights. Nowhere in the state or federal constitutions is collective bargaining granted as a right, and I doubt any good "progressive" would dare say she inherited the right to collectively bargain from God. What is a right? "Being in accordance with what is just, good, or proper." That could apply to just about anything, but in this case we must consider what the CBA actually accomplishes.
The CBA creates a legally-binding framework for union workforce benefit increases. In this case we're talking about employees of the State of Wisconsin whose benefits are paid for by the taxpayers of Wisconsin. If these people are my "friends and neighbors," as the flaming pundits like to say, then they are effectively taking money out my pocket every week and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.
Furthermore, terrible teachers - and every one of us could name half a dozen off the tops of our heads - are rewarded the same as excellent teachers. How is that fair? What say do those represented by the CBA actually have? None. Union bosses dictate terms and take a heavy slice off the top. I don't understand how any educator could think that was a good thing, but that's probably why the public schools in this state are in decline.
When people are actually confronted by this reality, and Governor Walker has tried, they fail to see the reason anyway because they are worked into this emotional frenzy by the whips whose job it is to make sure the will of the people as dictated last November is circumvented.
Make no mistake, this is all about Democrat power, as their greatest cash provider is public and private unions.
The ridiculous thing is Walker isn't decertifying unions with this bill, all he's doing is empowering those affected by unions with the right to vote to continue under the union! So the protesters are actually protesting against their own voice in favor of the union! How does that make any sense to anyone?? Union bosses are terrified their own people won't want them, and so it goes in Madison.
This is truly a sad state of affairs. I just pray that Walker sticks to his principles and lets the Democrats continue to not have any.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Scott Walker: Legend In The Making
What Governor Scott Walker is doing in Madison is nothing short of a stroke of genius. By eliminating the collective bargaining agreement, Walker endows all public employees with the right to determine their own success. Collective bargaining agreements shield employees from responsibility and make it impossible for a good teacher, for example, to be rewarded based on merit and instead treats good teachers the same as awful teachers; all are given benefits and pay increases based on the outdated system of seniority. They are paid based on a quantity of years and not on quality of performance.
It should be obvious to anyone who thinks objectively about it that CBAs are a horrible idea. Once the CBA is gone, teachers and other public employees can be evaluated the same way as employees in the private sector. That is, by the value they add to their organization. These employees can also now decide whether or not they want to contribute to their union and be represented, something they had no choice about under the CBA. If a union cannot convince enough people that it provides them with a useful service it will cease to exist and all those employees will be able to be judged on their merits. How great is that! Employees who perform poorly will be thusly rewarded/punished and can even be terminated, creating a position for someone else who is more likely to want to succeed.
There is nothing bad about any of this, of course, except that it will deprive Democrats of the power of unions to push votes for Democrat candidates at elections.
The other thing Scott Walker intends to accomplish is to force public employees to contribute up to 50% toward their retirements. God forbid! This will result in a net decrease in their pay, which is what all the fuss is about. Obama has stuck his skinny head into the matter, saying things like, “These are our friends and neighbors,” blah, blah, blah. He fails to complete his own argument, which is that these are our friends and neighbors and we pay their salary and benefits, and so far they have rarely had to foot the bill for their own lucrative retirement and health care benefits. Imagine if your neighbor went around the neighborhood every week and you had to cut him a check. Then years down the road he’s retired 10 years before you get to on money you gave him. That is exactly how it works only you don’t think that way because the money you pay your neighbor is first filtered though the State and local bureaucratic process.
The protests are a farce. Any teacher who uses a sick day to protest should be fired, but of course they are protected by the union, which has its own trivial survival at stake.
God bless Scott Walker and the Republicans who are showing great and necessary courage in the face of contrived opposition who protect an antiquated and self-destructive system.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Train Gang
Through the first two years of his term in office, Campaigner-In-Chief Obama has totally failed to spur job growth in this country. Nothing he’s tried has worked, and everything he’s tried has increased the national debt. The unemployment rate, which he promised would not go higher than 8%, in fact went to 10.1%, with real unemployment hovering around 17%.
Obama has no idea what to do. He continues to think that 5 million “green jobs” can still be created by 2013, but everyone know that’s a fantasy. Billionaire T. Boone Pickens, who drafted the obnoxious “Pickens Plan” for green energy, which was his idea to erect thousands of giant wind turbines in the Texas wastes, failed miserably when he discovered the infrastructure did not exist to do anything with such a resource, and no plan to build such infrastructure was being seriously considered. Last June he abruptly scrapped the windmill idea in favor of natural gas pump stations. Do those qualify as “green” jobs? Even now he’s getting little support for his plan that would cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars during Bama’s depressed economy. Meanwhile, closer to home, lefties are worried about Governor Scott Walker’s proposal to increase the distance a gigantic wind turbine can be built from private property by a mere 600 feet. The environmental crowd operate as if money were no object. Get a clue! If we could invest a quarter of the money necessary into clean coal and shale oil, of which we have among the world’s largest supplies, we could accomplish many of the spoken objectives of the Left – reduce dependency on foreign oil while creating a cleaner burning fuel, and without the need for a complete do-over on the nation’s power grid!
So he still thinks 5 million green jobs will materialize out of zero demand. He has the same expectation for high speed rail. Unbelievably, the First Goon is going back to that old well, probably because the Vice Moron Joe Biden thinks it’s such a great idea. Obama just proposed a $53 Billion plan to enhance rail along major corridors. Talk about “R is for Reverse”, more like “D is for deaf and dumb.” And whenever a Lefty wants to challenge their many, many critics over higher speed rail the argument that always comes up is that Europe has it. And now China is getting it. Big F---ing Deal! Maybe they wish they were part of the socialist utopias in Europe or the Communist wonderland that is China, but neither of those places have infrastructure requirements that are in any way similar to America.
For one, we have cars and roads. Almost nobody in China drives – most of it is still a third world country. And it’s existing train system is horrid by all accounts. Once you get out of the major cities in China you might as well be on the Moon. The tourism shows work hard to meet Western expectations, but the people of China live very differently. We are not the same. We are not even similar. Our societies almost could not be more different, so any comparison of transportation systems is absurd. Likewise, Europe is in a very different boat. The places where people live there are so old that cars are impractical. People walk. They walk the short distances to neighborhood shops and places of work or take the train to the next city and then walk from there. While this may solve our obesity problem, the amount of public transportation needed to cover the relatively vast expanses of North America and operate the way other countries do it, is obviously prohibitively expense. The only way it could work, and Republicans have been quick to say it, is by private enterprise. The big problem there is that no private company is interested in operating at a loss in perpetuity, ala Amtrak.
So when Obama says jobs he can only mean more government jobs. Are there any doubters left that this guy is a Communist?
Monday, February 7, 2011
More Weak-Kneed Foreign Policy From Bama
It's hard to look at the situation in Egypt right now and not see the stunning failure of the Obama International Apology Tour. Wasn't that supposed to make the rest of the world not hate us? And yet Egyptians - mostly young, radicalized Muslim men - are gathering by the tens of thousands in the streets of Cairo shouting down their own dictator while at the same time decrying the United States. Even American "journalists" working for CNN and other outlets are being mugged in the streets; evidence that Egyptians are not at all in tune with the "Free Press" in this country, which would otherwise have been sympathetic to the cause of the revolutionaries.
So that's what Bama gets for telling the people who hate us how awful we are - a few bloodied talking heads and a likely return of Egypt to a decidedly less West-friendly nation. Egypt in the last 50 years has teetered on the brink of fundamentalism more severely than most people realize, with only the strong leadership of military-backed despots to keep the Arabs in line. An argument could be made that Sadat was the last rational leader Egypt had, and Islamic fundamentalists assassinated him. At best Sadat was to Israel what Nixon was to China, and at worst he was a similarly corrupt leader who created a quasi-capitalist economy to enrich himself.
It is a sad state of affairs that led the U.S. to support Mubarak for the last three decades. Mubarak was like a dam, holding back the growing sea of fundamentalism and siphoning billions of dollars from the economy for his own gain at the people's expense. He is in the worst category of dictators - no better than Saddam except that he has been more than willing to rule while on the U.S. payroll. He has played it both ways and gotten away with it, for the most part, his $100 Billion in personal wealth stashed among the banks of Europe. I don't blame Egyptians for finally getting fed up with this guy and at the same time cursing the U.S for our meddling.
But we already know how this is going to turn out. For some reason Obama actually seems unwilling to intervene in any meaningful fashion. Once again he is putting more faith in people that openly hate us than he does American citizens. Israel has the most to lose. If fundamentalists seize power from the chaos of the collapse of the Mubarak regime then if we'll end up with another Iran or Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
And it will happen on Obama's watch, not because of what he did but because of what he will not do. Don't think influence cannot still be bought - that is exactly what is already at work, and if the United States is not in that game we lose by default. Mubarak is corrupt and is hurting his country, but what will replace is not likely to be much better. Egypt is a resource-poor country relative to its population, much like Afghanistan. In such a place, with the world as globally invested as it is, money equals power. The question is how much are we willing to spend to have things break our way?
As a fiscal conservative, I same F--- 'em. Let's pull out of the whole region for a decade and see what happens. It's time to ask our allies, "What have you done for me lately?" and pull foreign aid accordingly. Will the region destabilize? Absolutely. But they are more than likely to to form pocket regimes and kill their own for a while. It's been happening in the rest of Africa for a century. It's Egypt's time now. I hope when it all plays out these revolutionaries realize they reaped what they sowed, but they'll probably just blame us.
My point is that Obama has the ability to change the outcome for the better. For everyone. Only he's not that kind of leader. He's not Reagan, not even in the same universe. But Reagan is exactly what we need right now.
2012 can't come fast enough.
So that's what Bama gets for telling the people who hate us how awful we are - a few bloodied talking heads and a likely return of Egypt to a decidedly less West-friendly nation. Egypt in the last 50 years has teetered on the brink of fundamentalism more severely than most people realize, with only the strong leadership of military-backed despots to keep the Arabs in line. An argument could be made that Sadat was the last rational leader Egypt had, and Islamic fundamentalists assassinated him. At best Sadat was to Israel what Nixon was to China, and at worst he was a similarly corrupt leader who created a quasi-capitalist economy to enrich himself.
It is a sad state of affairs that led the U.S. to support Mubarak for the last three decades. Mubarak was like a dam, holding back the growing sea of fundamentalism and siphoning billions of dollars from the economy for his own gain at the people's expense. He is in the worst category of dictators - no better than Saddam except that he has been more than willing to rule while on the U.S. payroll. He has played it both ways and gotten away with it, for the most part, his $100 Billion in personal wealth stashed among the banks of Europe. I don't blame Egyptians for finally getting fed up with this guy and at the same time cursing the U.S for our meddling.
But we already know how this is going to turn out. For some reason Obama actually seems unwilling to intervene in any meaningful fashion. Once again he is putting more faith in people that openly hate us than he does American citizens. Israel has the most to lose. If fundamentalists seize power from the chaos of the collapse of the Mubarak regime then if we'll end up with another Iran or Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
And it will happen on Obama's watch, not because of what he did but because of what he will not do. Don't think influence cannot still be bought - that is exactly what is already at work, and if the United States is not in that game we lose by default. Mubarak is corrupt and is hurting his country, but what will replace is not likely to be much better. Egypt is a resource-poor country relative to its population, much like Afghanistan. In such a place, with the world as globally invested as it is, money equals power. The question is how much are we willing to spend to have things break our way?
As a fiscal conservative, I same F--- 'em. Let's pull out of the whole region for a decade and see what happens. It's time to ask our allies, "What have you done for me lately?" and pull foreign aid accordingly. Will the region destabilize? Absolutely. But they are more than likely to to form pocket regimes and kill their own for a while. It's been happening in the rest of Africa for a century. It's Egypt's time now. I hope when it all plays out these revolutionaries realize they reaped what they sowed, but they'll probably just blame us.
My point is that Obama has the ability to change the outcome for the better. For everyone. Only he's not that kind of leader. He's not Reagan, not even in the same universe. But Reagan is exactly what we need right now.
2012 can't come fast enough.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Obama Campaign Stop: Tucson
The event in Tucson was absolutely terrible. The killer is obviously a disturbed psychopath, but was he also a Republican? There's the real story, or so the "Free Press" would want us to believe. It's all Sarah Palin's fault, and don't forget it.
Right now, on national television, the Tucson Memorial is the singular event of the new year. But why? How many other multiple homicides have garnered so much national attention? Not many. This brings to mind the Wellstone Memorial of eight years ago, a political event if there ever was one. This is much the same flavor, without as much of the hate, but seriously, the President of the United States is there. This has obviously been carefully magnified for the express purpose of trying to make Democrats look like the everyman, on our side, the party that cares. While Republicans are the cause of this horrific tragedy.
I'm positive that if a Democrat congresswoman wasn't a target this would have been a tragedy but not a national call to political action. Oh, and the congresswoman's not dead. But yes, we're all "deeply affected."
Not that any of this justifies the criminal act. Just don't get caught up in the Democrat campaign ad Obama's handlers hope it can be.
You don't think the political movers don't actually think that way? I bet any money that they're happily counting an influx of campaign contributions right now. And how much would you bet that Bama brings this up again in his SOTU address? Democrats are desperate - they will milk this for all its worth.
What's with all these Democrats reading from the Bible? That seems a bit off. Scripture just doesn't have the same effect coming from politicians. Oh, and what is Nancy Pelosi doing there? That should tell us everything.
Hmm, Obama gets a standing ovation and uncomfortably long applause. He loves it. No redirection to the tragedy, just soaking up that adoration. Come on - the crowd is there for him, not for any of the victims. His hair is gray again. That's funny, it was just straight black when he was on vacation a week ago...
I don't believe Obama can remember ever meeting the congresswoman, but he's a Democrat, so he tells a story like they were best friends.
And there it is, the quintessential moment: When Obama entered Gabby Gifford's hospital room she opened her eyes for the first time. For the first time - he said it himself! The Messiah is returned!
You know what's really striking is how Obama sounds like he's working an angle; he's just so obviously trying too hard to sound like he cares. Compare that to President Bush's many moments of genuine compassion immediately following tragedies.
Oh, and all the heroes who stopped the killer when he was reloading got really bad seats in the middles of rows way back on the floor. Figures - all the "important" people like Pelosi and several other Democrat congressmen are sitting in the front rows. Assholes.
The point is, shouldn't these people be remembered by people who cared about them, instead of splashed on the television as evidence of the current tenor of discourse we're led to believe is all a result of the influence of those hateful Tea Party-ers and Sarah Palin? I can't watch Obama pretend he knows or cares anymore. This charade has gone too far.
Right now, on national television, the Tucson Memorial is the singular event of the new year. But why? How many other multiple homicides have garnered so much national attention? Not many. This brings to mind the Wellstone Memorial of eight years ago, a political event if there ever was one. This is much the same flavor, without as much of the hate, but seriously, the President of the United States is there. This has obviously been carefully magnified for the express purpose of trying to make Democrats look like the everyman, on our side, the party that cares. While Republicans are the cause of this horrific tragedy.
I'm positive that if a Democrat congresswoman wasn't a target this would have been a tragedy but not a national call to political action. Oh, and the congresswoman's not dead. But yes, we're all "deeply affected."
Not that any of this justifies the criminal act. Just don't get caught up in the Democrat campaign ad Obama's handlers hope it can be.
You don't think the political movers don't actually think that way? I bet any money that they're happily counting an influx of campaign contributions right now. And how much would you bet that Bama brings this up again in his SOTU address? Democrats are desperate - they will milk this for all its worth.
What's with all these Democrats reading from the Bible? That seems a bit off. Scripture just doesn't have the same effect coming from politicians. Oh, and what is Nancy Pelosi doing there? That should tell us everything.
Hmm, Obama gets a standing ovation and uncomfortably long applause. He loves it. No redirection to the tragedy, just soaking up that adoration. Come on - the crowd is there for him, not for any of the victims. His hair is gray again. That's funny, it was just straight black when he was on vacation a week ago...
I don't believe Obama can remember ever meeting the congresswoman, but he's a Democrat, so he tells a story like they were best friends.
And there it is, the quintessential moment: When Obama entered Gabby Gifford's hospital room she opened her eyes for the first time. For the first time - he said it himself! The Messiah is returned!
You know what's really striking is how Obama sounds like he's working an angle; he's just so obviously trying too hard to sound like he cares. Compare that to President Bush's many moments of genuine compassion immediately following tragedies.
Oh, and all the heroes who stopped the killer when he was reloading got really bad seats in the middles of rows way back on the floor. Figures - all the "important" people like Pelosi and several other Democrat congressmen are sitting in the front rows. Assholes.
The point is, shouldn't these people be remembered by people who cared about them, instead of splashed on the television as evidence of the current tenor of discourse we're led to believe is all a result of the influence of those hateful Tea Party-ers and Sarah Palin? I can't watch Obama pretend he knows or cares anymore. This charade has gone too far.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Early 2011 Observations
I read that the IRS is blaming Congress for not acting quickly enough in renewing the Bush tax cuts. Apparently now they are unprepared for itemized filings during this upcoming tax season. This seems odd for two reasons. First, this is a major bureaucracy in charge of collecting money for the government. For them to not be able rollback to a legacy version of their software platform would be unbelievable if it were not a government entity.
What is more interesting about this problem is that the Bush tax cuts extended through calendar year 2010. That’s the year we’re filing for in 2011, so there should not have been any changes in place. It seems very likely the IRS does not know what year it is.
---
Once again the United States is closing in on the “Debt Ceiling” which Democrats will no doubt want to raise to a new unprecedented and previously inconceivable level. Didn’t they just do that 6 months ago? How could they spend a trillion dollars that fast? Democrats for ya. So why even bother with a debt ceiling if we just raise it every time we get close? In the NFL they have a salary cap – if the Patriots or Giants want to bring on everyone else’s expensive free agents do we just let them violate the cap? Of course not – that’s how a responsible private enterprise works. But again this is government, where rules are made to be broken.
---
The new Republican-controlled House is planning to send up a repeal of Obamacare before the State of the Union. This is a silly and futile act. It’s not good enough for them to do things based solely on principle. Furthermore, all they can really hope to accomplish is to undermine the funding for the law. It amazes me how naïve our side can be. If funding for Obamacare is cut off – whether it be by legislative act or judicial decree - the law still obligates providers of health care to maintain coverage and services. When the money runs out the private sector will be forced under. It’s a catch-22. This plays right into the hands of the single-payer advocates!
We can’t win this now, and I further suggest we can only make things worse by meddling until we get the Presidency back. Can’t Republicans wait 2 years?
---
ABC has threatened Republicans over the likely slate of upcoming investigations of the Obama Administration. California Republican Darrell Issa will run the Oversight Committee and has promised to bring Holder and others to task for their overt partisanship and dubious enforcement of the law. In response, a major media network has basically said, “You better not do that or else…” The message is pretty clear – if Republicans dare to expose Obama and his cronies as the partisan villains they are the “Free Press” will skewer them even worse than they already do. I imagine the ABC battle cry will be something like “The Spirit of 1996.” It’s the old trick - if you can’t beat ‘em, lie about ‘em in the press.
---
I still have heard nothing about the fate of Bradley Manning. He is a traitor, this should be easy, but it will be anything but. On a related story, Obama says he is all for gays serving in the military, but is still against gay marriage, although he fully supports civil unions. I cannot fathom the depth of his inner turmoil – he must not sleep a wink. Has anyone ever straddled the big throbbing gay issue so precariously? But he has to do it to prolong alienating the few socially-conservative democrats, including Latino Catholics. You might say he knows what side his buns are buttered on.
---
Now that Scott Walker is our Governor and he has solid Republican majorities in both houses, why not abolish taxes on business altogether? As conservatives we believe that prosperity is limited by government, and Wisconsin’s reputation as a high-tax state with an overbearing bureaucracy is not doing anyone any favors. It stands to reason that if we can become an ideal state in which to do business by not punishing companies for operating here we can solve our unemployment issue, and by virtue of increase of personal incomes resolve budget issues as well.
Maybe we don’t abolish all taxes on business, but at least be competitive! I have high hopes for Scott Walker – I think we all do. It may be too much to ask, but it would nice if he got a fair chance in Madison.
It occurs to me that the conservative model of nurturing investment and private enterprise is an organic process. There is inherent risk that the investment may not yield results, in which case the lower tax burden translates into diminished returns, but the laws of nature are on our side. The liberal philosophy of demanding fruit from the seed is clearly unsustainable.
Have a prosperous and healthy 2011!
What is more interesting about this problem is that the Bush tax cuts extended through calendar year 2010. That’s the year we’re filing for in 2011, so there should not have been any changes in place. It seems very likely the IRS does not know what year it is.
---
Once again the United States is closing in on the “Debt Ceiling” which Democrats will no doubt want to raise to a new unprecedented and previously inconceivable level. Didn’t they just do that 6 months ago? How could they spend a trillion dollars that fast? Democrats for ya. So why even bother with a debt ceiling if we just raise it every time we get close? In the NFL they have a salary cap – if the Patriots or Giants want to bring on everyone else’s expensive free agents do we just let them violate the cap? Of course not – that’s how a responsible private enterprise works. But again this is government, where rules are made to be broken.
---
The new Republican-controlled House is planning to send up a repeal of Obamacare before the State of the Union. This is a silly and futile act. It’s not good enough for them to do things based solely on principle. Furthermore, all they can really hope to accomplish is to undermine the funding for the law. It amazes me how naïve our side can be. If funding for Obamacare is cut off – whether it be by legislative act or judicial decree - the law still obligates providers of health care to maintain coverage and services. When the money runs out the private sector will be forced under. It’s a catch-22. This plays right into the hands of the single-payer advocates!
We can’t win this now, and I further suggest we can only make things worse by meddling until we get the Presidency back. Can’t Republicans wait 2 years?
---
ABC has threatened Republicans over the likely slate of upcoming investigations of the Obama Administration. California Republican Darrell Issa will run the Oversight Committee and has promised to bring Holder and others to task for their overt partisanship and dubious enforcement of the law. In response, a major media network has basically said, “You better not do that or else…” The message is pretty clear – if Republicans dare to expose Obama and his cronies as the partisan villains they are the “Free Press” will skewer them even worse than they already do. I imagine the ABC battle cry will be something like “The Spirit of 1996.” It’s the old trick - if you can’t beat ‘em, lie about ‘em in the press.
---
I still have heard nothing about the fate of Bradley Manning. He is a traitor, this should be easy, but it will be anything but. On a related story, Obama says he is all for gays serving in the military, but is still against gay marriage, although he fully supports civil unions. I cannot fathom the depth of his inner turmoil – he must not sleep a wink. Has anyone ever straddled the big throbbing gay issue so precariously? But he has to do it to prolong alienating the few socially-conservative democrats, including Latino Catholics. You might say he knows what side his buns are buttered on.
---
Now that Scott Walker is our Governor and he has solid Republican majorities in both houses, why not abolish taxes on business altogether? As conservatives we believe that prosperity is limited by government, and Wisconsin’s reputation as a high-tax state with an overbearing bureaucracy is not doing anyone any favors. It stands to reason that if we can become an ideal state in which to do business by not punishing companies for operating here we can solve our unemployment issue, and by virtue of increase of personal incomes resolve budget issues as well.
Maybe we don’t abolish all taxes on business, but at least be competitive! I have high hopes for Scott Walker – I think we all do. It may be too much to ask, but it would nice if he got a fair chance in Madison.
It occurs to me that the conservative model of nurturing investment and private enterprise is an organic process. There is inherent risk that the investment may not yield results, in which case the lower tax burden translates into diminished returns, but the laws of nature are on our side. The liberal philosophy of demanding fruit from the seed is clearly unsustainable.
Have a prosperous and healthy 2011!
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