Monday, March 28, 2011

Libs right for once

As you know, I like to peruse the Democratic Underground and see what the DUmmies are complaining about. Now and then, I find a situation where as a Conservative, I absolutely agree with the Libs on. I rarely speak out on those that I disagree with. I could do a dozen posts a day on the Daily Kos, Huffington Post, and DU every day. Yet, such effort would be wasted as the DUmmies are too rabidly anti Conservative to ever listen or consider.


It seems the TSA fired a woman for being Wiccan. Claiming that the woman had cast a spell on her co-worker. It's good to see the Federal Government has admitted it believes in Magic officially. You see, there isn't another force that explains how the Feds manage the budget, or the legislative process, or our national security.

Guys, if anyone deserved to be fired over the incident, it would have been the hysterical lunatic who claimed that the Wiccan cast a spell on her car heater and made it stop working. If anyone should be fired, it would be the manager who actually decided that those claims deserved investigation.

Here it is in 2011, and we're still screaming burn the witch.


Burn the Witch, the new battle cry for the TSA. God help us all.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Corporate Taxes, or Truth about High Taxes

First, it must be understood that the Tax Code isn't written to collect Taxes, it's written to control the population.

Now, what do I mean about that. There are literally more pages in the Tax Code than the Bible.

Now all those pages are loopholes that someone put in to help a friend, or contributor. Now, when you consider that the Democratic Party has had control of Congress a vast majority of the time, you are left with the obvious problem, that this Tax code was designed by Democrats the same way the Unions were, to keep Democrats in power.

Now, what got me started on this was a post at Democratic Underground, where there is only one approved subject matter, supporting Democrats, regarding Bernie Sanders, Senator, (Socialist).

This post referenced a list that Bernie had put out, on Ten Corporations that had paid no taxes.

Now what is interesting, is that the facts are not even brushed over. Just the blast that Exxon got $19 Billion in Profits, and a Rebate from the IRS for $156 Million.

Now, how did Exxon do this? Unlike you and me and other "Regular" people. Exxon hires a bunch of Attorneys to go over each line of the Tax Code with the singular desire to save the company money. They shift money to qualify for this break, or that loophole. Now, these are the same pages of the law, almost all of it written by Democrats, that the Democratic Supporters are now screaming is unfair. As an example, if you put Solar Panels on your roof, you qualify for a Green Energy tax credit. If you change the insulation, or if you build a headquarters with Green Energy policies, you get another credit. If you use all these silly little do nothing but make you feel good things to combat Global Warming, you get credits.

Wait, there's more. By brewing Ethanol, that is to say, turning our food into gasoline, in accordance with Federal Law on the matter, you are then qualifying for subsidies to make sure that the Average Consumer doesn't know that Ethanol is more expensive to make and less useful than Gasoline.

So by wisely choosing to take advantage of all these tax breaks, and all these credits. Exxon invested in green energy, and approved programs. They instituted a Diversity Awareness program, EEOC, and every other mandated, and encouraged program out there. They put up information about carpool opportunities, and qualify for another tax break.

Now, each and every one of those dollars is taxed. When Exxon makes a profit, they pay that profit to stockholders. The stockholders are people like you, and me, who are trying to invest in our future and set money aside for our retirement. We make dividends on those earnings, and we report them to the Government, and we pay taxes on those dividends. It's called Capital Gains taxes.

So all the histrionics from the Libs is both predictable, and deplorable. First they write the laws to benefit their campaign cronies, and then they denounce those same cronies in an effort to stir up the base to cough up even more dough for the re-election campaign. Then they promise more favorable laws to the cronies, to get more campaign contributions from them.

The cronies know they have to be denounced from time to time to make the dumb voters turn out and vote Democratic. They accept this as a price of doing business. The only ones who are really being played are you Democrat supporters who think that anyone in Washington cares about what you're shouting about. They are the ones who wrote those laws. Most you approved of to help save the planet and green energy this and that. Now, you're angry because rich people are using those same laws that you wanted to save the planet to pay less in taxes.

The laws are on the books, the companies are merely serving you, and me, in finding as many opportunities to save money, as possible. If the Government put as much effort in saving money, then we wouldn't have a trillion dollar a year deficit. Instead, the Government puts that much effort into finding new ways to SPEND money they don't have, instead of saving the money they do have.

I believe the phrase here is, don't hate the player, hate the game.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Smart Power in Washington

We were told that the election of President Obama that we'd get Smart Power. While we were never exactly told what Smart Power would be, we were assured that it was exactly what it sounded like. The Democrats were just smarter, and Obama was the smartest of them all.

So we started Bombing Libya. Despite that there was no Congressional Authorization, which Candidate and self described Constitutional Expert and former Editor of the Law Review Obama swore was needed. Despite the fact that there was no direct threat to America, or our interests, we're bombing. We were told that President Obama was going to get Al Qaeda.

Get them what? Their own country? We are bombing in Libya, with no clue who we are helping, or what we are doing. At least in Iraq we had ten years of Intelligence assets having collected some information. In Afghanistan, we had a few people we'd been talking to from time to time since we helped them overthrow the Soviets.

Apparently in Libya, we just called people at random on the phone and asked if they needed some bombs to help them defeat the brutal Dictator, Gaddafi. Because it turns out, the Smart Power in the Administration, is bombing to help Al Qaeda and The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which to date we have called the Rebels in Libya. Elsewhere around the region we've identified them as Terrorists, Insurgents, and barbaric murdering criminals.

Now, Gaddafi is no prince, but at least he is not the enemy we've been fighting for the last nine years all over the region. Are we hoping that the radical Islamic loons who to date have spent every waking moment of their life working, and praying that the Great Satan America is destroyed will decide that we aren't so bad, and perhaps we should only have our knees broken?

If this is Smart Power, then we're doomed. If this is the best we can do, ride to the rescue of a people oppressed by a brutal dictator, and give control to an even more brutal group of lunatics who will then have their own military to plan and launch attacks against us, financed by our own oil purchases, we're screwed.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

French take lead in Libya

Yes, you read that right. The French, who's last known Military Victory was sinking the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, have taken the lead in standing up to Quaddafi and helping the Rebels. France.

Now, America used to lead, and be the first in. Now, we follow, at a distance, a great distance.

In the meantime, France has been the first to fly over Libya, and the first to fire on the Government forces. France. We've been out done by France.

Remember when President Obama was going to improve World Opinion towards the US?


Monday, March 14, 2011

The Oxymoron of Gun Control

President Obama has taken the liberty of taking time out of his busy schedule to write an Op Ed in the Arizona Daily Star. In it, he explains how he is in favor of the Second Amendment, but says we need to first realize that in Arizona, a man who was disqualified from joining the Army, still managed to buy a gun, and murder 13 people.

Mr. President, how about the man who was able to join the Army, and also murdered 13 people. The warning signs there were so egregious that the Army is going to discipline nine officers for failing to do their duty about him.

OK, let's ignore the economy that is so bad that thirty five percent of our citizens are on welfare. That is far less important as a subject for your Op Ed than a shooting.

Let's ignore the Earthquake, and Tsunami in Japan, where early estimates are for over ten thousand dead, and with the distinct possibility of a Nuclear Meltdown, a disaster of unequaled magnitude could well greet us in the morning news. Far less important.

Instead, you want to rail against a system that allows a man like Jared Lee Laughner to be crazy as a loon, and still buy a gun. Fine, lets talk about that Mr. President. How much do you feel responsible for egging on borderline psychotics with instructions for them to argue and get in the face of those who disagree with them? Or perhaps Mr. Laughner merely heard your advice about bringing a gun to a knife fight?

So somehow we are supposed to prevent crazy people from ever harming another person. Mr. President, as much as I grieve for those who lost their lives on that tragic day in Tucson, and as much as I grieve for anyone who loses a loved one. I think that your time, your efforts, and your leadership should be on issues of more national import. Right now, our nation is teetering on a brink, and you aren't leading on any issue we need you to. You wanted the job, you fought for the job, campaigned tirelessly for the job. The job you have isn't to write Editorials for a paper in Arizona, it's to lead the nation. Our economy is in the worst shape it's been in since the Great Depression. Gas prices are skyrocketing, costs to families struggling to make ends meet are going through the roof. Instead of focusing on those problems, and coming up with solutions, you're wasting time writing about this? When your Army, and it's your Army sir, you are the Commander in Chief, was victimized exactly the same way by a man who COULD and DID join the Army.

Mr. President, we have ten thousand gun related laws on the books, and no law is ever going to make Americans Safe. You simply can't just legislate this away. Lunatics have driven cars into crowds. Psychotics have stabbed people to death, choked them, drown them. Susan Smith drove her kids into a lake, drowning them. Jack the Ripper sliced them up like Sushi. A psychopath will find a way.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Catastrophic

Catastrophic. The word is one which is bandied about rather freely. A political event is called a catastrophic if a program doesn't get enough funding to satisfy the speaker. If the Roast Beef isn't quite right, it's a catastrophic failure to some.

What has happened, and continues to happen in Japan is what Catastrophic was meant to convey. The island nation has already endured a brutal one two punch combination that would have any nation reeling from the events. First the largest, most powerful earth quake in the recorded history of the nation. It literally shifted the entire island nation eight feet. Some scientists are now of the opinion that the entire world shifted on it's axis a few small inches from the severity of the earthquake. I am not going to bother commenting on that one other than to merely raise an eyebrow in amusement.

That amusement ends at the actual first acts of the catastrophic situation in Japan. The earthquake was first. It was followed by a huge Tsunami of over twenty feet. Video of that has captured the worlds horrified imagination.

Then we come to the third act, and we hope last act. The Nuclear Power problem. Engineers design things with safeguards, and with back ups when it comes to major systems or sites. They engineered the Nuclear Power Plant the same way. If a major earth quake struck, the plant could continue safely by using prepared and provided Diesel Generators. In fact, the plant personnel were reported to be doing that very thing, starting the Diesel Generators after the Earthquake, when the Tsunami hit.

This second punch knocked out the Diesel Generators, and they have been struggling since that time to get something working. Now, the reports are that there has been a bit of meltdown, but they're working to cool the plant using sea water.

This ladies and gentlemen is a situation where catastrophic certainly fits. We should save that word for times like this, for times when widespread disaster strikes a people. If we can't refrain from using it for lesser things, then we need a new word. One we seal in a box and place on a shelf with a sign next to it. Break glass only when Catastrophic fails to describe disaster.

The situation in Japan would certainly qualify.

Our best wishes, and hopes, go out to the Japanese people, and those with families in Japan.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Club Gitmo to stay open.

On January 22, 2009, as one of his very first official acts as President. President Obama signed an Executive Order which instructed the Government to close the Terrorist Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. As he signed it, he announced that America would live up to its values.

He realized a few months later, it would be impossible. The nations that the detainees came from didn't want them back. The countries in question refused to accept responsibility for the detainees, and the Administration was left to trade them as part of deals.

Then there were the detainees who readily admitted that they would attack us if we released them. That threat coupled with the roughly twenty five percent of those released who were again captured fighting us later gave President Obama more pause.

Now, he has signed a law that keeps Gitmo open. If that wasn't enough, he also signed an order reinstating the Military Tribunals to determine guilt of the detainees. So Bush was a war criminal for doing this, does that make Obama a war criminal too?

Some on the left are starting to think so. They are outraged that President Obama, the Hope and Change himself, would not only embrace the Bush policy, but essentially give Bush a pass on that policy.

The Democrat Party until death group swears that President Obama had no choice. It passed with a Veto Proof majority. Yet, he could still veto it. That would send it back to the Congress, who would have to pass it over his veto. Then he could go down in History as standing up for what he believed in. Instead of trampling his own executive order.

Now, what do I think? I think that people should be willing to put their money where their mouth is. If you think that Club Gitmo is so wrong, then do something about it. If Congress says no to Federal Trials, then smile and instead order the prisoners released to their own countries no strings attached. When the Congress shouts, tell them that the Constitution gives you little other choice. You see, the Constitution demands a speedy trial, and does not allow you to detain someone for extended periods without due process. When one of the people you released does do another act of terrorism, then you can blame Congress for not allowing you to follow the Legal and Constitutional path.

Instead, Obama took the easy way out. What that shows is he never really believed what he said before. He wasn't really willing to close Gitmo, instead signing a worthless order that he had every intention of voiding later more quietly.

At least George W. Believed he was doing what was right, and the courts agreed that Guantanamo Bay was not the United States, and the Constitutional requirements did not apply there. So it seems that W had more integrity regarding his beliefs than Obama did. If the Democratic Congress had passed a law ordering all detainees be transferred from Guantanamo to US Courts, even with a Veto Proof Majority, I bet Bush would have vetoed it anyway.

Monday, March 07, 2011

Deficits matter, no matter who is in charge.


I have previously posted that the Deficits matter, even when Republicans are in office. I begin with that so the Liberals can't accuse me of being in favor of Republican Deficits, because I am not.

Like you, I spend only what I have. Like you, I don't spend money I don't have. Like you, I have to budget my expenses, based not upon what I'd like, but upon what I can afford. I'd like an Audi parked in my driveway, I have a Kia, a Toyota, and a Ford Pick Up truck parked outside. The Toyota belongs to Mrs. Conservative if you're wondering.

Now, what caused me to again break my posting hiatus? A report on the Deficit for February of this year. The picture is President Obama's Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2012. That's right, it's not a worker at Walmart putting products on a shelf to sell. It's not a delivery of critically needed supplies to a war torn area. It is a pallet load of a budget, which has to be delivered by a powered pallet jack.

According to that article, where you'll find that picture, the budget deficit for February 2011 was $223 Billion. Now, many people, myself included, were upset when George W. Bush posted a budget deficit of $161 Billion for the fiscal year of 2007. Yes, the Liberals were especially enraged that George Bush would dare bankrupt the country by overspending a whopping $161 Billion a year in 2007.

Now, as we browse the various Liberal sites on the web, we find silence on the record breaking deficit. Daily Kos has an article ridiculing Senator Simpson for pointing out that we're spending at unsustainable levels regarding Social Security. Just the usual Cut all funds to Republican District rants on Democratic Underground. None of those in a week by the way.

So when will we admit that this is unsustainable? We are reaching the point where the total money we owe is greater than the total money earned by all every single person in the nation.

So what are our elected leaders discussing in Washington? Cutting a whopping $61 Billion from the budget, and event that is too much for the elected folks to agree on. Cutting less than a quarter of the debt of February, the shortest month, from the entire year's budget.

The entire house is on fire, and the people in charge are discussing which tea cozy they should remove from the house.

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