NOW I see what's been going on!

Hello, dear blogfans!

For some time now, any who have read here know that I think much of our troubles today began and ended with the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality that has overtaken our society.

You know what I'm talking about; junior's team finishes dead last and the only thing junior won all year was the greatest number of splinters in his backside award...

...but he still got a trophy!

I didn't know they gave trophies for collecting splinters!

Guess I was wrong!

Well, it's been that way for at least twenty years now and if anyone tried to say anything about it, well...they were just un-American! What's the harm in trying to build up their little self-esteems, anyway?

Well, I'll tell you what the harm is! We've developed a whole generation of kids who think that the world owes them something whether they do anything to earn it or not! They think that they can put as little or as much as they want into an effort and, lo and behold, everyone gets the same reward in the end!

Hmmm....sounds a lot like SOCIALISM, doesn't it?

Well, that's exactly what it is and we, through our "go along to get along" attitude about it, have stood by and watched a whole generation get indoctrinated into socialism right under our noses!

Devious, they are!

Right now, before it's too late, we need to reverse this course and award trophies only to those who earn them, in every walk of life!

Maybe its too late already.

I hope not!

Well, maybe I was wrong!

Some time back, a dear Christian friend of mine asked me if I thought that Barack Obama could be the Anti-Christ.

At that time, I said no; he's not from the former Roman Empire as required by Daniel the prophet.

Well, in hindsight, who really knows WHERE he's from? He won't produce a birth certificate to verify his American birth, so who really knows where he's from?

Not only that, but signs of the end times are all around! Read Matthew 24! One-world government isn't far away! They're now talking about a universal world currency and our illustrious tax-cheating Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner seems amenable to the proposal! Outrageous!

All I can say is, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Technology I could do without!

Hello again, blogfans!

Today, I'm railing against the (apparent) latest in public restroom technology, the motion-activated towel dispenser, toilet, urinal, water faucet, hot-air blower, waste can lid, and bidet.

Well, a couple of those aren't motion activated as of now (as far as I know), but it can't be long, can it?

I kid you not; I fully expect Ashton Kutcher to jump out of a corner, rolling around and peeing himself laughing as I go through the gyrations necessary to make one of these devices do what it's supposed to do! "Punked, M-O-R-O-N!!!"

What are these ridiculous devices supposed to accomplish? Oh, I sort of get the fact that some people are immature, destructive, wasteful, stupid, or a combination of the above, but why do I have to stand on my head and plead with a wall-mounted box for a 3x5" sheet of brown paper that will dry right about NOTHING and then do it all again for another just a few seconds later? Oh, I KNOW why; we get frustrated, dry our hands on our pants, and save the retailer (AND THE PLANET, SUPPOSEDLY) a few nickels worth of paper!

What's with automatic urinals or commodes, by the way? You can't tell me that people stand at the facility and flush it over and over just for the fascination of it, can you? What's the harm in flushing your own? If it's not sanitary (allegedly), my foot works pretty well on the handle!

I think it's a huge conspiracy, that's what it is! Ashton?! Alan Funt? America's Funniest?

The moment I see myself on TV screaming at a toilet, a towel dispenser or a faucet, I'm going to sue!!!!

Okay, so what's fair about THIS???

Hello, dear blogfan!

It seems as though liberals don't like to take their own medicine.

As long as it's Michael Moore making hit-piece movies about GW Bush, it was a matter of free speech.

Now, it's a conservative movie-maker doing a similar piece on Hillary, and the thing's being taken to the Supreme Court!

Liberals are whiny, two-faced, hypocritical cry-babies!

Look. libs (and I know I've said this before, so please forgive me!), you can't have it both ways! You can't scream "McCain-Feingold!" when a conservative does a documentary on Hillary and then scream "free speech!" when that fat tub of disingenuous goo Michael Moore makes one on GW! It doesn't work that way! So, grow up, develop some stones, and learn how to roll with the punches, whiny two-faced, hypocritical Libs!

Even better; if you don't like the movie, don't watch it! Don't pay to see it, don't support the producers who made it, and don't buy the products of people who did! Now THAT'S an effective political statement....

...dunderhead libs!

It's not too often....

...that I post more than once a day these days, but our new Comedian in Chief is just too much!

First, doesn't he find it strange that no sitting President has ever been on the Tonight Show before? Doesn't he wonder why?

Hmmmm?

Well, let me tell you why (since you obviously don't know, Mr. Obama); the Secret Service has enough of a headache at a public outing without you turning it into Romper Room, that's for #1. #2 - Can you say "Presidential?" Do you know what that word means?

Apparently not!

And then there's this; When was the last time a sitting President made a prediction about an intercollegiate sporting event like the NCAA championship tournament?

Anyone wonder WHY sitting presidents don't do that? Simple! IT'S NOT PRESIDENTIAL!!! The President represents ALL the people, not just those from Chicago or whatever the favorite of the month is!

Whoever is advising this clown, PLEASE tell him that we don't have time for any more OJT! Please explain to this rube that there are some things that Presidents do and other things that they don't do and, so far, PRETTY MUCH EVERY SINGLE THING HE'S DONE IS SOMETHING THAT PRESIDENT'S DON'T DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please hurry, before we get stuck with something we can't get out of!

Buy American!

Okay, I've got to admit it; I'm a big "buy American" guy, but not for reasons of patriotism or even economics.

American goods are as good or better than their foreign counterparts most of the time and, if you know what you're doing, they cost less to buy as well!

In 2003, I bought a 23' bay boat. The dealer that I bought it from recommended a Yamaha outboard, but they also sold Honda and Mercury. I told the guy I wanted the 150 Merc on my boat, so he grudgingly had one put on. In the 6 years since, I've replaced the spark plugs one time, AND THAT'S IT!! Today, after sitting for nearly a year, I cranked it in my flush tub and it fired right up! So, not only has the Merc been everything I could have hoped for in an outboard motor for my boat, IT WAS $1500 LESS THAN THE YAMAHA!!!!

Take that, foreign equipment honks!

I didn't bother to tell the guy, but once upon a time, I worked in a job where spill response was part of the gig. We had a large spill boat with a 175 Yamaha on it and, every time we went to crank it up, it failed to start. It wasn't THAT much older than my 150 Merc, so I know it wasn't some sort of revolutionary advance in technology or something; the Merc's just a better engine! I wasn't about to tell the guy that the Yamaha is a piece of garbage, but I think he knew what my opinion of them was after I absolutely INSISTED he put a Merc on the boat.

I've already gone into some detail in previous posts about trouble we had trying to buy a Civic, but here's the bottom line on that. We got a GREAT deal on a Ford Focus and it gets just as good fuel economy as the Civic, so, here you go; Dear Honda - stick your Civic where the paint won't fade from the sun! I'm driving American!

I could go on and on, but the crux of the matter is clear; buy American, save money, and support the American economy!

Spring Break

Well, I've ranted long enough about the ridiculous new administration and their inability to keep their collective feet out of their collective mouths.

Let's talk about Spring Break!

My "to-do" list for Spring Break was 10 items long! Here it is:

1. Prime/paint storage building (has been bare wood for WAY too long!);
2. Yard work/boat prep at house #2 (my former bachelor pad that STILL hasn't sold!);
3. Clean closet/hang tie and belt racks;
4. Check washer/clean drier vent;
5. Yard work/fertilize yard here;
6. Clear east sidewalk, clear/clean patio;
7. Plant trumpet vine seeds;
8. Cash in aluminum;
9. Fix east gate;
10. Clean shower.

I worked on #1 until I ran out of paint (RATS!). I haven't made it over to "the bachelor pad" yet, so #2 is in limbo. #3; mission accomplished! #4 is a two-person job, so MDB and I need to work on that one together. #5; done deal! #6; ancient history! #7; I can hear those trumpets blowing a mile away! #8; I have $6.90 to show for that effort! #9; the east gate is RE-PAIRED!!! #10 (shhhhh....don't tell! this one's a surprise for MDB) the shower is C-L-E-A-N!!!

Hopefully, tomorrow will take us to "the bachelor pad" and I can get the boat ship-shape for a fishing trip on Friday (woo-hoo!!!)

Wish me blessings!

When are we going to get enough of THIS?

Drug violence along the Mexican border is at an all time high and much of it is spilling over into the streets of El Paso, Laredo, and other Texas border towns.

We don't look to the Federal government for help on much else, but we could use a little military assistance on this one, Barack!

The government of Mexico is corrupt and doesn't seem willing, or able, to do anything to stop drug crime within its own borders, let alone the violence that is spilling over into our country.

I have a solution to this AND the problem of illegal immigration from Mexico; lets annex that country, sweep their supply cartels AND their filthy corrupt politicians into the sewer where they belong, and make the hard-working and generally honest citizens of Mexico citizens of the 51st through 55th states of the United States!

I know; fat chance!

Well, the last time we had a problem like this, Pancho Villa was the culprit. What happened to our willingness to defend our border since then?

That's what I thought!

Health Care Reform (Economics 102)

In the most recent power grab attempt from the Obama camp, "the status quo is not on the table" was the rallying cry for the latest attempt of government to take over one-fifth of the US economy. I thought, just in case anyone really cares, I'd start Econ 102 for those who agree with him.

You see, the government doesn't HAVE any money; it takes it from citizens, corporations, importers, etc., in the form of taxes and tariffs and then spends it as directed by the Congress. Lately, as far as I'm concerned, Congress has taken FAR TOO MUCH of mine and spent it in a lot of ways that have little or nothing to do with their constitutional mandate, but that's another topic for another day. Here's the problem; when taxes are raised (and who in their right mind really BELIEVES that taxes won't go up to pay for all of this stuff Obama wants?), it creates an economic strain that WILL be relieved in one way or another. When the so-called "rich" have their taxes raised, they pass along the increase in their cost of doing business to their consumers in the form of higher prices, which means THEY don't pay it at all; WE DO!!!! Of course, higher prices mean that you have less to spend, so you ask for a raise, which, of course, raises overhead and causes still higher prices! Negative inflation spiral!!! When government does the right thing in cases like this and LOWERS taxes, employers can hire more people, or, if they don't need more people, they can lower prices, which increases sales and actually generates greater tax revenue for the government in the long run! I know that the libs called it "trickle down" during the Reagan years in an attempt to paint it stupid or evil, but the logic is undeniable and it works EVERY TIME!!!

It's all about supply and demand, Libs!

Higher prices reduce demand (see decreasing gasoline demand when gas goes to $4/gallon) and force prices to fall again! Falling prices usually bring demand back and would have in the case of gasoline as well if it hadn't been for everyone running out and buying a more fuel-efficient car to combat the high price of gas!

Why is health care so expensive? Easy! Supply and demand! There's not that many doctors and it takes a long time and a great deal of educational expense to become one, so they don't work for peanuts! I know that everyone wants to be insured and everyone would like it to be more affordable, but quality comes with a price! You don't pay the same amount for a Mercedes that you pay for a Hyundai, do you? Same principle! We have the best health care system in the world because there's money in it for those who provide the services. If you take the incentive away by controlling pricing, we'll have the same horrible system that Canada has or that Great Britain has!

Ask a Canadian what they think of socialized medicine!

So, Mr. Obama, if you want to do something to make health care more affordable, how about scrapping the market controlling Medicare and Medicaid and letting competition control pricing! I mean, a medical voucher for current recipients would be cheaper than what we're doing now, and the burden to non government health care recipients would be substantially reduced!

That's not status quo, now is it?

But you'll never go for it even if it makes sense, because the attempt to take over health care isn't ABOUT health care; it's about CONTROL and POWER!

What a sad place we've come to in America!

Well, the Clown in Chief finally got one right!

As much as I disagree with most of what our new president has done so far, you know, socializing our economy, nationalizing health care, rewarding thieves and losers with government bail-outs and attempting to stifle the rights of free speech for those who oppose him, I have to admit, NoQuama finally got one right!

In this article, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_waste , the president states that he has ordered a make-over for government contract procedure, doing away with "no-bid" contracts and "cost-plus" contracts where the "plus" isn't decided until after the work is performed! It's about time!

The return of the so-called "fairness doctrine" is another matter altogether. I have two questions; first, why is it wrong to deny the rights of suspected terrorists at Gitmo and perfectly alright to deny freedom of speech rights to freedom-loving Americans here? Second, what gives ANYONE the right to dictate to a private corporation what it may or may not do when their actions are perfectly legal and do no infringe upon the rights of any other person or entity?

Hey, Libs! There's a couple of buttons on the radio that you may want to familiarize yourselves with! First, there's this button typically labeled "power" or "on-off." If you manipulate this button, you can make whatever offends you go away! MAGIC!!! Second, there's another one called a "channel selector." With it, you can change the frequency of programming you receive! You don't have to listen to stuff that you find offensive! MAGIC TIMES 2!!!!

Now, to the two-faced Libs who would like to have their cake and eat it as well: You can't scream "human rights violations!" and then do everything in your power to deny those same rights to other Americans who simply do not share your myopic Utopian views! It begs a third question; What are you so afraid of? Ours has always been and, God willing, will always be a system of checks and balances with voices of dissent being given ear as well as those you agree with! Like I said before, if the cacophony of dissent bothers you, you have two choices; you can listen and find out where our objections lie, or you can TURN THEM OFF!!!

Thanks for listening and THANK GOD that I still have the right to write these words and publish them in this public forum!

Rick Santelli's rant

Well, FINALLY someone else said what I've been saying! The emporer is naked! Santelli was exercised about the bogus mortgage bail-out plan in particular, but I have a feeling he's not too proud of the whole "economic stimulus" package that our current regime forced down our throats, either!

Can anyone say "root cause analysis?" That's good; I knew that you could!

Now, does anyone in Washington know how to do one? Obviously not! If they did, they'd have come to the inescapable conclusion that their stupid community development legislation is almost wholly to blame for the so-called mortgage "crisis" and the cure, sad as it is, is to tighten credit makets and lend money to people who have demonstrated a propensity for paying their bills!

Is that what we did? NOOOOOOO!!!!!! We ran the banks into the ground by forcing them to make bad loans and then we stole money from the taxpayers to prop the whole house of cards up! NOW, if the Obama regime gets it's way (which is a foregone conclusion since the keys to the piggybank have been left with the largest legalized theft ring in the country (the Democrat-controlled US Congress!), we're going to have our money taken again to prop up the losers who borrowed the money to buy houses they never should have bought in the first place!

I say LET them lose their homes! LET the banks who loaned them money go bankrupt! LET the market right itself as it surely will if left alone long enough! There are investors out there who would LOVE to buy up those foreclosures and sell them for a profit! Meanwhile, the losers who are losing them should find apartments (which is where they probably should have been in the first place), SAVE for a home in the future, and buy another when WHEN THEY CAN AFFORD IT!!!!!!!

"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built." -- March 21, 1864 - Reply to New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association". - Abraham Lincoln

Where's the fairness?

I don't want a nickel of my money back; my tax money, that is. You see, my family and millions more just like mine are now in the business of financing irresponsibility. Families who could not afford to buy a home did so anyway, getting money for the transaction from banks who were forced to lend it to them.

I'm bailing out both sides of the rotten equation at this point, and frankly, it makes me sick!

I'd like to scream out, "Where's MINE!!! I pay my taxes, make good decisions, try to save money, and PAY MY BILLS!!! When is someone going to reward MY good behavior?"

We're not in the business of rewarding the people who do things right anymore. We're in the business of rewarding poor decisions and irresponsible behavior. What else would I expect in the "everyone gets a trophy" generation?

As I said, the whole thing makes me ill. I think I'll stop paying on my mortgage. I'd be rewarded for it, wouldn't I? I think I'll stop paying my bills. Uncle Sam will come to my rescue, won't he?

Not for me! I didn't make poor decisions and allow myself to be victimized by an adjustable rate mortgage. I didn't demand a lot more money than I was worth, so I don't have a Federal bail-out with my name on it. Where's the bail-out for my retirement fund? I'll have to work until I'm 80 to make up the losses; losses that were essentially generated by the whole banking mess that the government produced with its Community Development Act, which forces banks to lend money to people who are not qualified under normal circumstances for a $20 loan, let alone a $200,000 loan!

Our government, part in parcel, is out of control and WE sat back and allowed one liberal idea that sounded good but was rotten to the core after another steal any semblance of logic from our collective thought, all the while KNOWING that Uncle Sam would provide the safety net if it failed.

It HAS failed, Sam! Can we please go back to capitalism before we're nothing more than Red China with a red, white, and blue flag?

Nice job, Chicken Little!

Well, Chicken Little, you did it! You managed to scare the bejeebers out of everyone and get the largest socialist legislation package since the New Deal passed through our new Chicken Little controlled Congress.

I've heard all the arguments; "We're in crisis! We've GOT to do something!" "Only the government can get us out of this!" and "Our problems have gone beyond the ability of 'normal' mechanisms to cope!"

That's a bunch of garbage!

First, our problems could and should be fixed by realizing that the market forces that got us into this situation can be used to get us out of them. American labor costs have priced our goods and services out of the world market. We've got to realize this fact and adjust those costs to reflect what the market will bear. A tough thing to do, no doubt, but absolutely necessary.

Second, the government cannot and should not "get us out of this." The government has a strictly stated constitutional place in all of this, i.e., "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes (Section 8)." In case English is a second language to some who read here, "regulate" means "oversee and facilitate", it does NOT mean "control and dictate," which is how it is being practiced in this most recent legislation.

Finally, "normal" mechanisms, i.e., the law of supply and demand, will, despite attempts to the contrary, "get us out of this" just as it always has done in the past.

Unless Chicken Little manages to convert our economy into a pure socialist monstrosity, that is!

You know, there's a reason for declining turntable sales, just as there's a reason that covered wagons have gone away and 8-track tape players can only be found in antique stores these days. The market dictated their demise and the companies that produced those goods either changed to produce what the market demanded or they went bankrupt.

Where was their bailout?

If IBM was still just a typewriter company, do you think they'd still be around?

Here's the deal, Chicken Little; get out of the way and let the miraculous mechanism that is free enterprise take over! Will some suffer? I'm sure! But hasn't there always been suffering as change occurs? Adjust or perish, that's how things work!

Sadly, we're now in the "everyone gets a trophy" days, where there ARE no losers. Hate to pass this tid-bit along there, Chicken Little, but everytime someone wins, there's a loser in the other locker room! The losers either fix what cost them the game or they continue to lose! What happened to the Washington Senators? Anyone remember the St. Louis Browns? Teams that did not do what it took to adjust and become winners disappeared just as companies that do not do what's necessary to become profitable disappear.

It's called "Capitalism," Chicken Little. It's the economic system that has brought this country the wealth and prosperity that we all enjoy today and would continue to do so if you'd leave it alone and stop trying to kill it every chance you get!

The sky is NOT falling, Chicken Little, but if you don't stop pulling on it, it may very well if you absolutely demand it!

Well, there's a first time for everything!

Hello again, blogfans!

Those who read here fairly consistently know that I absolutely love Jason Whitlock, who contributes regularly to the foxsports.com website. Almost without exception, I agree with what he says and applaud his stances on various topics. Recently, I had to take exception to an article he wrote about Michael Phelps; not to disagree with his stance on Phelps, mind you, but to disagree with his arguments in favor of legalizing marijuana. Actually that's the first time I can recall that I had to disagree with Whitlock.

This time makes #2!

In his most recent entry, Whitlock attempts to argue that the reason white fans have such distaste for Barry Bonds is because he broke the record of white icon Babe Ruth and white fans need the Babe to bolster their opinion of the athletic prowess of their race.

I hate to disagree, I really do, but that's preposterous!

Barry's disliked because he is and always has been a boorish, moody, unlikable guy! Barry's disliked not such much because of whose record he broke, but by how it was broken! Did anyone other than a bunch of pointy-headed backwoodsmen dislike Henry Aaron when HE broke the Babe's career mark? No, no one with a real live functioning brain said anything at all except to laud his accomplishment and acknowledge that his hard work, stamina, and perseverance paid off handsomely. Hank did it the right way and he was accepted by ALL fans because of it.

Barry cheated and now, with the exception of the few "blacks can do no wrong" apologetics out there, he's universally vilified because of THAT, NOT because of the color of his skin!

In case Mr. Whitlock hasn't noticed, one Mark McGuire is getting pretty much the same treatment because he, too, is seen as someone who didn't do it the right way, choosing instead to cheat his way into the record books.

It's cheaters we don't like, Mr. Whitlock, REGARDLESS of what color they are!

Quantrell Strikes Again!!!

Hello again, blogfans!

As you know, I'm vehemently opposed to "finding racism under every rock" and those who seem to do just that. Here in Houston, our community activist of that stripe is one Quantrell X, the Nation of Islam mouthpiece who shows up for every little thing that involves someone of color (well, as long as a video camera is anywhere near, that is!) and assumes the role of "family spokesperson."

This time, Quantrell bit off a little more than he could chew.

In the case of NFL receiver Donald Driver's father, Quantrell showed up as usual, and ranted about the (alleged) brutality of the Houston police and how they supposedly forced him to ingest cocaine in an effort to introduce him to Jesus (Quantrell's words, not mine).

You can read about Quantrell's rant here.

Well, imagine this! The police officers were exonerated! There is no evidence that any of the allegations against the officers have any merit, so charges are being dismissed and the officers involved are suing Quantrell and the elder Driver for defamation of character!

Hmmmm.....not too bright, eh Quantrell? Perhaps it would be wise to see that camera as a two-way mirror from now on! What you say may jump up and bite you on the other side!

Look; no one is more against police brutality than yours truly, and no one detests racism more than I do. Here's the key; rail against REAL racism when it shows it's ugly head and leave the "alleged" variety to the people who investigate that sort of thing for a living! If it proves to be racism as well, THEN you can call the limelight to yourself if the family wants you to do so and shine the light of truth on it! In this day and age, racism is totally without a home and you may find yourself on the RIGHT side of a public argument for a change!

Just a friendly piece of advise from a casual observer who's sick and tired of hearing your wolf cries, Quantrell!

Phelps, MJ, and Obama

As usual, Jason Whitlock hit the nail on the head in this recent article about Michael Phelps and "Bong-gate." The common denominator of why Phelps gets a pass and an AA athlete doing the same thing is not the weed; it’s the surrounding behavior of the perpetrator. Now, I’m not sure if I agree that drugs in general ought to be legalized. Let’s be honest; it’s not so much the drug use as it is the surrounding behavior; thieving stuff that doesn’t belong to you in order to purchase said drugs or killing people to keep your corner. Who’s to say that such behaviors would change if the object of the stoner’s affections were suddenly legalized? People always want to compare alcohol to the chronic as well, but oranges are orange and apples are red, aren’t they? Drinking under every circumstance isn’t allowable, either, so why would burning blunts be any different or any less a headache for law enforcement? I don’t think that it would. I guess you could agree that the dollars that are being wasted to prevent the importation of said hemp could be better spent, but I certainly don’t think they amount to a drop in the bucket compared to the dollars that would be wasted picking up the pieces after the full impact of legalization is known. Who’s to say? I’m sure Obama will fix that, too. After all, he’s going to fix everything, right?

In an article about the recent Democrat party lovefest, we find that ALL of our nations woes are due to the last 8 years. Who are these idiots trying to convince; themselves? We’re in the mess we’re in BECAUSE we have TOO MUCH government, not because there’s too little! If it hadn’t been for the government telling lending institutions who they MUST lend money to, we wouldn’t have a foreclosure crisis and we wouldn’t have banks going under or a NEED for government money to help those poor newly homeless from their own stupidity! We need LESS government interference, not more! Furthermore, the only way out right now is to reduce the tax burden (read, “operating expenses”) on corporate America so they CAN hire people instead of laying them off! Economics 101, Mr. President; a company operating in a capitalist economy MUST make a profit or it becomes another government-subsidized bankruptcy statistic! If you want this economy to thrive, go back to Washington and get out of the boardroom! Let these companies do what they do best; pad their bottom lines! Then and only then will this economy turn itself around! (See “Great Depression” and “Economic Recovery after WWII”)

Uhhh...who ARE these guys?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bailout_executive_pay

Has this guy no shame? On one hand, he approves of top executives of the US government not paying income taxes and then caps executive pay in the private sector. Can anyone say "contract?" That's good; I knew that you could!

How about this? Tell companies who wish to receive economic aid from Uncle Sam that they may not exceed a payroll of x% of reported income. Why not tell them that if they have executives making in excess of x% of their total company payroll, they're not ELEGIBLE for government bail-out funds? How can you or anyone else, Mr. Obama, tell a guy who's been making 1.5 or 2 million dollars per annum that his salary was just reduced to merely $500k? How's HE supposed to pay for those things he's obligated to pay for, like his mortgage, car notes, college education for kids, electricty, water, etc.?

I know you guys like to scoff at "trickle-down" theories, but you cannot deny that that is exactly how it works, can you?

The naivete' and sheer ARROGANCE of this bunch simply amazes me!

Daschle Bows Out

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_go_pr_wh/daschle_taxes


Today, the ultra liberal Tom Daschle, formerly of the United States House of Representatives and the US Senate, removed his name from consideration as Barack Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services.

It’s about time someone down there got one right!

I guess it’s okay to nominate one crook after another, starting with the governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson (who was asked to be the Secretary of Commerce) and including the current Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of State (whom I’m STILL not convinced is free of interest conflict when it comes to purchased favoritism via her husband’s fund-raising efforts overseas), and Nancy Killefer (Secretary of hurry let’s make something up!). Was Michael Millikin not available? Of course, these are the same folks running the Executive branch, which is responsible for ENFORCEMENT of the very laws they apparently hold in disdain!

What a shock! The guy who sat and listened to Jeremiah Wright for twenty years and never heard a word, the guy who sought the advice of Bill Ayers, and the guy who had a shady Chicago businessman (and I use that term loosely) running point on his fundraising efforts, has nominated a bunch of shady characters to run the government! Is the AED charged up? Does anyone know CPR? I’m having a heart attack over here from my total shock and surprise!

Uhh…..no I’m not!

What did you expect, America? You elect a guy with shockingly poor judgment and he exercises it with aplomb! Way to go, dunderheads! God, please see this country through the next four years! We’ll need all the favor You can muster!

Not a time for profit?

In a comment he made following a meeting with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner, Barack Obama said:

“There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses — now is not that time. And that’s a message that I intend to send directly to them.”

Now, in fairness, I must report the context of the comment. Obama was referring to a report that Wall Street executives were still being paid bonuses even as they accept bail-out money from Uncle Sam.

There. Fair and balanced.

However, Obama's comment did not directly speak to that situation alone; he spoke of profit, the reason any business exists and the sole engine of the economic system in America! Without profit, no business has any reason to continue! Does Mr. Obama not understand this? Is he really such a neophyte? Has he been stuck in one public sector job after another so long that he does not understand where the money for such jobs come from? Let me set him straight. Without private industries and private citizens working for profit and then paying a portion of that profit in taxes, THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT, Mr. Obama!

That is, unless you plan on nationalizing everything and following the Red Chinese model!

Uhhh...let me think; Red China, the home of government control and direction of every aspect of life. Red China; the progenitor of stifling repression and forced labor. Red China, the society that must impose stifling censorship on its populace lest they find out what freedom brings. Red China, the bastion of zero pollution control, lead-based children's toys, forced abortions, rigid population control, and zero personal liberty. THAT Red China, Mr. Obama? That's what we aspire to?

You voted for it eyes wide shut, America!

All I can say is this; someone.....ANYONE...please set Obama straight and educate him on how American capitalism works before he completely undermines the whole deal and his little speeches on how "now is not the time for profit" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Sorry, Pittsburgh!

Well, I guess it’s time to weigh in on the Super Bowl. As usual, there’s plenty of stuff to talk about.

I could talk about former bag-boy Kurt Warner and his Horatio Alger story of rags to riches to rags and then back to riches again, all the while being one of the true nice-guy role models in the sometimes nasty business of the NFL. I could talk about Pittsburgh’s tenacious defense and their seemingly magical ability to disguise blitzes and stifle any semblance of offense by the opposition. I guess I could make a prediction (Pittsburgh 24, Arizona 17) on Monday and then tell everyone that Nostradamus predicted it 400 years ago in a quatrain where Pittsburgh was called “smelly mountain” and Arizona was called “habitual loser.” I could even discuss the relative success of the Pittsburgh model and how they’ve adapted to the age of free agency and the new CBA and still maintained a high level of performance.

I don’t think I’ll talk about any of that. I’m a Browns fan; Pittsburgh sucks!

Seriously, you’ve got to give the devil his due. Pittsburgh is good and they’ve earned what they’ve achieved, but they still suck! Their fans are arrogant in the Dallas mold, and they wave those silly little yellow towels, reminding me more of a mid-major college game than a real, live NFL contest. Pittsburgh’s stadium, Heinz Field (aptly named since playing there can only be described as slogging through a bottle of ketchup), is the worst surface ever. Sitting on the banks of the famous “three rivers,” it’s more akin to playing in a swamp than on a proper playing surface. Kickers can’t kick there with any proficiency, so it’s either touchdowns or punts and not much in between.

Pittsburgh sucks!

Where you’ve got to give them credit is that they KNOW Pittsburgh sucks, so they’ve worked very hard over the years to develop and maintain an effective running game. They know that no one is going to throw for long gains in that muck, so they get receivers who specialize in short routes; pudgy little guys with wide feet and big hands who can cut in that slop and then catch short, efficient little passes to keep the ball moving up the field. They got a quarterback who’s tall, so even if he sinks down 6 or 8 inches, he can still see over rushing linemen. What’s amazing to me is that the NFL allows games to be played at Heinz. It hasn’t been that long ago that the NFL canceled a game in Houston because the playing surface was deemed “dangerous.” Where’s the NFL when it comes to Pittsburgh?

They’re up the distal end of the Rooney family’s alimentary canal, that’s where!

Let’s face it; the NFL wants powerful, stable ownership like they had in the old days; you know, the Wellington Moras of the world. What they’ve got now is a bunch of “profit-first” guys who’re liable to move their franchise at a whim just for an extra nickel or two, fan loyalty be damned! Pittsburgh has such ownership in the Rooneys and it’s just what the NFL wants, so who cares if they play in an oft-times dangerous quagmire?

I do!

The NFL ought to insist that Pittsburgh repair its home field and keep the number of games played there to a minimum so the field is playable on Sundays. Of course, that doesn’t include re-sodding every other day and pretending that new grass that is simply laid on underlying dirt is an acceptable playing surface; it’s not! Loose grass is worse than worn grass, which is only slightly better than the painted dirt that Cleveland used to play on routinely.

So, even if Pittsburgh is good and is going to win it’s sixth Super Bowl on Sunday, they suck!