Odessacons Opinion Press

The Tennessee Fire

2010-10-07T11:43:00.003-05:00

From The Huffington Post--"This week, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann reported the story of the Cranick family's house fire. When the family's Obion County, Tennessee house caught fire on the night of October 5th, the fire department from the nearby town failed to respond since the Cranick's had forgotten to pay a $75 fee. Firefighters finally responded to a call by Cranick's neighbor, who had paid his fee. They sprayed the property line to protect the home of the neighbor and watched at the Cranick's home burned to the ground."

"The Obion County fire incident is symbolic of the moral and economic bankruptcy of the Tea-Party-Republican vision of government and the economy. And it poses the stark choice facing American voters in the Mid-Term elections."

This is from an article in the Huffington Post,you can read the full article here.

-Robert Creamer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/obion-county-fire-tragedy_b_753893.html

I read this outlandish article and decided to do a little research. What I found first was that the State of Tennessee's Governor Phil Bedesen is a DEMOCRAT.I also found that the State senator(Roy Herron) representing the 24th district(where the fire occurred)is a DEMOCRAT. The story that this is evidence of the "moral bankruptcy" of REPUBLICANS is already starting to fall apart. There's more.......

I called the Obion city office and eventually got in touch with the Mayor.He is a very nice man and was happy to speak with me,I should mention that the Mayor-Benny McGuire is also a democrat. His entire city board is democrat.

1.Sheriff Jerry Vastbinder(DEMOCRAT)

2.Court Clerk Harry Johnson (DEMOCRAT)

3.Trustee Lori Seals (DEMOCRAT)

The Mayor seemed surprised by my inquiry but was happy that I wasn't part of the leftist media that has descended on his answering machine,fax machine,e-mail and phone. Since the fire "victim" was bandied about on Olbermans MSNBC show COUNTDOWN the town has been under assault with threats and hateful attacks.

Mayor McGuire explained to me that this has NOTHING to do with party affiliation and this policy has been in effect for 20 years under several administrations BOTH republican and democrat.When I asked him if he thought of overturning the policy he emphatically replied "NO,I support it,You play you pay!" Remember Mayor McGuire is a DEMOCRAT.

The Mayor went on to explain that the city has a Fire dept funded through CITY taxes. The Dept will also OFFER fire assistance in an approximate 5 mile radius outside the city if PEOPLE CHOOSE TO PAY a $75.00 fee. As I stated the policy has been in place for 20 years and until recently went unchallenged by citizens and politicians,republican and democrat alike.

The fire in question started in a trash barrel and spread to an out building then to the double wide trailer.According to the mayor by the time the fire dept arrived the buildings were a lost cause. Interestingly the "victims" relative had had a fire a few years ago and hadn't paid the fee,but in that case the fire dept allowed them to pay the fee AFTER the fire had been extinguished. It seems the "victim" was operating on the assumption that he would only pay the fee if he needed actual fire protection. He didn't count on the city actually enforcing its 20 year old policy and possibly rightfully so.

I feel for the family that lost their house in the fire but I also understand that the city followed a long standing policy and that the "victim" was WELL AWARE of the policy. I think the city should implement ANY policy WITHOUT deviating so that county citizens aren't operating under false assumptions.

All of that is for this community to decide,the point of my post is to SHOW the FACTS surrounding the Huff post's accusation that this is what we would have if "morally bankrupt" republicans ran the show. The evidence SHOWS that this has NOTHING to do with party affiliation and DEMOCRAT Mayor McGuire agrees.

An unexpected sideline to this story was the hate ginned up by Olberman on this issue. We have all seen how the left can get whipped up into a frenzy when its spokesmen parade "victims" in front of the cameras. the Huff Post takes it a step further by trying to correlate a local tragedy into some sort of "gotcha" moment in the national political arena.

the Mayor offered to send me hundreds of the vicious e-mails but I was afraid it would crash my e-mail so i asked for just one. Here it is.

"What a bunch of dumb asses you all are ever hear of volunteer fire departments. I hope you burn in hell"

The left and Olberman should be ashamed of themselves! When will they leave the sacrificial lambs out of their agenda?

The Culture of Corruption

2010-10-07T08:01:00.002-05:00

This is as really informative read!

America's Labor and Living Costs

2010-10-05T11:50:00.001-05:00

For over 40 years the U.S. has supported an economic environment that facilitated and encouraged corporations to seek out lower costs with the belief that such an environment was good for America; and it was, to an extent. In the 60’s and 70’s the U.S began transforming itself from a manufacturing based economy to a consumer driven economy. Prior to this evolution, America manufactured everything imaginable. America mined its own raw material, grew its own crops and livestock, built the growing electronics industry and exported massive amounts of goods and services. The U.S was the financial powerhouse of the world. Soon after WWII, America appears to have grown tired of hard work for a day’s wages, and deemed their battlefield victory worthy of a new lifestyle; Consumerism.
The 60’s saw Nixon visit China and open the gates for U.S. exports; a vast new market with a billion new consumers! It also saw an influx of cheap foreign oil that fueled Americans thirst for the transformed auto industry, which thrived on massive new roads built for “military” transportation purposes. The ‘70’s saw our exported products being copied and exported back to the U.S. at much cheaper prices. The cheap oil suddenly stopped flowing with the ’72 & ’79 OPEC oil embargos. Times had changed, but we didn’t see it.
By the ‘90’s America had lost its mojo, but didn’t know it. Cheap foreign labor was available throughout the world, and American industries chased it at a fevered pace. American jobs were being exported and supplanted with credit cards, home equity lines and an exploding equity market. Leverage was becoming the American way. Cheap foreign labor fueled corporate earnings, which fueled stock prices, which fueled quick and easy money. Unfortunately, American’s had forgotten the lessons learned by our parents and grandparents in the Great Depression.
2007/2008 will probably become known as the Brick Wall. The time when America realized that paying the piper required real money, not more pre-approved credit lines. With jobs gone to other countries, corporate earnings maxed-out and the debt collector on the phone, America awoke to the new reality; the fun was over.
What made America great must transform it again. But, like the past, America must start from scratch. It must learn once again to compete on a global market place. American has to roll-up its sleeves and get dirty; work hard for a day’s wages. With much of our manufacturing gone, America must re-build itself from within, and to do this America must be willing (or forced) to take less and expect less. There is no other way out.
Soon, if not already underway, American’s must concede that in order to survive they will have to accept lower wages and benefits to compete against the foreign labor force. Gone are the days of lucrative retirement plans and long vacations. Gone are the days of loose money, extravagant houses and new cars for our teenagers.
Some may argue that through this process, the cost of living will also decline as the reduction in labor costs will filter down and cause prices to fall. I disagree. Foreign labor costs are rising while domestic labor costs are falling. This occurrence will, at best, stagnate prices, but prices won’t decline. There still remains a tremendous gap between us and them. We have seen the maximum benefits from cheap foreign labor, and as the wage gap narrows, prices will most likely rise; although slowly. This scenario will stress America’s labor force as they struggle to balance “needs” verses the learned mind set of “wants”. A fundamental economic change is underway. No political party can stop it, but who will embrace it?

2010-10-05T11:33:00.001-05:00

The Sacrificial Lamb

2010-10-02T09:42:00.002-05:00

Those of you that visit my blog know that I have strong feelings on ILLEGAL immigration. I support immigration reform but NOT a plan that offers amnesty to those that broke the law to come to America. I believe most immigrants are good people just looking for a better life but those that CHOSE to break the law and live under the radar should NOT be REWARDED with citizenship,but rather should go to the back of the line. In short, I welcome immigrants with open arms. LEGAL immigrants!
Liberals have done a good job of positioning themselves as the champions of minorities and ILLEGAL immigrants. I could go on and on with example after example of how these "champions" have actually hurt inner city blacks and all other minority groups by basically enslaving them into the fold of political warfare. They are used as pawns on the electoral battlefield and then cast away to fend for themselves in an economy rife with special interest corruption and stifling government intrusion....until the next election cycle rolls around,when they will ,yet again, be offered up as sacrificial lambs.
Liberals are obviously good at keeping this game alive. Since the Civil rights act of 1965 and the subsequent "WAR ON POVERTY" not much has changed to improve the fortunes of minorities in America.Despite BILLIONS of dollars aimed at this issue minorities still languish as political marionette's, until pulled out the box every two years to play their victim role choreographed by the liberal machine.
The sad story of Meg Whitmans housekeeper illustrates this tragedy ever so clearly. The "compassionate" Gloria Allred has offered up this poor woman for sacrifice to help elect her long time political ally Jerry Brown. Who knows what promised were made or what was offered but I cant understand why a housekeeper that BROKE THE LAW,FORGED DOCUMENTS and lied repeatedly would forsake an employer that paid her $23 an hour and treated her fairly for 9 years.
Allreds "complaint" states that Whitman owes the housekeeper money for "driving expenses" and offers her up as a "victim" while ignoring that she was obviously aptly compensated with a wage many AMERICANS would love to make. Allred is evidently oblivious to the fact that the compensation paid also blows a huge hole in any accusations that Whitman "exploited" this woman.
Whitman hired this woman through a reputable employment agency and was provided documents that this woman was LEGAL to work in the U.S. Allred sites a letter from Social Security as "proof" Whitman knew of the housekeepers status. Ive seen copies of this letter and it merely asks for clarification of the housekeepers social security number and expressly PROHIBITS WHITMAN FROM FROM TAKING ANY ACTION TO PENALISE OR TERMINATE THE EMPLOYEE! Whitmans husband passed the letter on to the housekeeper and considered the issue handled.
In June of 2009 the housekeeper approaches the Whitmans and tells them that since Meg is running for Governor they should be aware that she is an ILLEGAL alien. The Whitmans faced a hard decision but chose to follow the law and terminate her immediately. Whitman has espoused how difficult this was but stayed true to her convictions and the letter of the law and did what was necessary.
Now that Allred ,and I presume the Brown campaign, have offered up this sacrifice in a weak attempt to discredit Whitman, they have put this woman in great jeopardy. She will at least be investigated by ICE but could also be brought up on fraud charges and possibly spend a little time in jail before she is deported. I don't know if Allred may have issues with the California BAR Assoc for knowingly putting her client in legal jeopardy but it matters little when you consider the liberal cesspool that IS the "left coast"oligarchy. Allred will not suffer for her lack of compassion nor for her willful disregard for this woman's legal problems. The left coast liberals will simply milk this for all its worth and regardless the outcome in November, the housekeeper will be soon forgotten and cast out to fend for herself....unless she proves useful in a future election cycle. Liberal compassion is wonderful sentiment.....on the surface.

Odessacon would like to welcome JDog as financial expert.

2010-10-01T12:10:00.001-05:00

JDog’s BIO
I have spent all 32 years of my business life in the financial industry, principally engaged in the trading of currencies, commodities and securities in the international arena. In my early business life I found it extremely interesting to learn and watch economies, other than just the United States. That interest continues today. As such I have learned the reactions of not only the “markets” to specific monetary policy(s), but also the general population’s reaction too. Today, what too many Americans fail to recognize is the absolute globalization of economies and workforces. Domestic policies that used to work in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s are just obsolete. A U.S. economic policy intended to extract “X” from Americans, is felt by and reacted to a multitude of foreign countries and their markets. Failure to foretell the reactions of foreign entities is the perfect recipe for failure.
TAXING THE RICH
Sounds good to me. Sounds like a logical solution to part of our government’s deficit. Why not?
First, before we can tax the “Rich” we have to define “Rich”. Is rich really an individual income of $200k or a family income of $250k, (Top 2% of income producers)? Well, it certainly may appear so if you’re making $40k for your family of four. I beg to differ. A family of four with an annual income of $250k has the ability to be self-sufficient and clear of any financial needs from the government; I see this as a good thing. This family can afford their medical expenses, fund the children’s college needs, make their mortgage payment, buy a new car every 5-6 years and save enough money for their retirement. By increasing this family’s tax burden, we simply move them closer to relying on government assistance; this is a bad thing.
Lets’ look at the top 1% of income producers; $800k for a family. These people have excess income after assuring their independence from government assistance. They also have the disposable income that can be used as venture capital to start new enterprises that generate the vast majority of permanent new jobs. These are the people that spurred the dotcom boom. These are the people who spurred the housing boom. These are the people that have the greatest tax loopholes!!! These are the people that have “off-shore” accounts and “charitable foundations”. These people are beyond self-sufficient, they are “Rich” by any definition. But, do we really need to raise their taxes? I say No.
What we really need to do is simplify the tax codes by eliminating many of the “loopholes” that only are within the reach of a few. Did you know that you can contribute 50% of your annual income to charity - tax free? So, the Clinton’s, Gate’s, Buffet’s, etc. put 50% of their income into THEIR charitable foundation and avoid the tax liability. Then, the foundation pays for their travel, hotels, limos, lunches, dinners, autos, boats, country club(s), etc. All they have to do is “mention” their foundation and the expense qualifies.
In most industrialized countries, a tax bracket is just that. If Sweden taxes “rich” individuals at a 35% tax bracket, that is exactly what is paid to the government; no deductions/loopholes. Did you know that Warren Buffet readily admitted that he only paid 17% in taxes for 2009 (total for Federal, State and Local), while his Administrative Assistant paid 34%? This was made possible by the loopholes, nothing else. Even Buffet advocates simplification of the tax codes; and he’s really rich!
But STOP. Is raising or collecting more taxes going to solve ANYTHING? Any answer other than NO is just plain wrong. No increase in tax rates or revenues (on the “rich” or otherwise) will provide one ounce of relief unless our government STOPS spending. This is where our government loses the faith of the people. Why would anyone advocate increasing taxes on anyone when our government is uncommitted to reducing their spending habits? How can ANYONE believe that any increase in taxes, on anyone, is a good thing when historical evidence proves our government will find a way to squander it?
I’m all for increasing taxes, even on the families making $250k per year, but it MUST be offset with a dollar-for-dollar decrease in government spending. If that means cutting Entitlement programs, cut them. If that means raising the Social Security age, raise it. Our Government can’t afford its current deficit with interest rates at .25%. What shall we do if interest rates rise to 5%!!!
Raising taxes without equal cuts in spending is merely CHANGE for the worse – for EVERYONE.
JDog

Liberal Omnipotence

2010-10-01T11:39:00.004-05:00

As usual democrats have politicised and issue and are banking that Americans are too stupid to see through their faulty assertions. They have tried to position themselves as champions of the "workin man" in hopes of staving off abysmal losses in November.On the surface this rhetoric sounds wonderful and has obviously been swallowed whole by our "enlightened" friends on the left.The problem for liberals is, you need only scratch the surface to see the hypocrisy and fallacy of this political ploy.

Here are the facts:

Liberals decry the hole in the budget that extending tax cuts for the top 2% of the country would cause. Its widely reported and there is a consensus that this number is $700 Billion. Contradicting themselves and their "concern" for budget deficits liberals hope to garner votes by extending tax cuts to the middle class that would total $3 TRILLION! So much for fiscal responsibility.

Lets look at the $700 billion for a second. liberals are ever so concerned about this number. This is the number we would "lose" if we extend tax cuts to the top 2% of earners. So if we try to understand liberal logic here, we must ignore the $767 billion dollars of "stimulus" liberals have already spent to jump start the economy and the fact that it has had dismal results in achieving its goal. We are also expected to turn a blind eye to the fact that this $700 Billion would be left in the hands of the investors and job creators.

We have all seen the lack of success the $767 billion of stimulus has had. Jobless claims continue,investment is stymied and consumer confidence is at all time lows. I cant help but think that if our liberal leaders in congress would stop the uncertainty around the tax cuts and place confidence where it belongs, in the hands of the private sector job creators that we would start to move out of this recession.

Pelosi and her ilk failed to move on this issue this week and left this issue and any prospect of recovery to languish yet again. I can only imagine that their desire to gain political power through class warfare and economic envy is the strategy being implemented this election season. They have already tried to sell the lie that republican obstruction has caused the gridlock on this issue. That's a tough sell when you consider they have solid majorities in both houses. Wouldn't common sense tell you that some democrats don't support the classicism espoused by the liberal leadership? Its also interesting to note that Future Speaker Boenner said he "had the votes" to pass tax cuts for all Americans".

The elitist attitude displayed by Pelosi is obviously backfiring on her and her supporters and will only deepen the losses this November. It just shows how far out of touch they have become and how they view the public as ignorant serfs who will believe anything they say. The old saying "give them enough rope......" comes to mind. Drunk on power and convinced of their omnipotence the liberal elites don't seem to notice that the noose is around their neck and they are already standing on the electoral trap door.

Conservative VS Liberal Political 101 by Tony Rollo - Liberalism and Con...

2010-09-30T17:40:00.000-05:00

Odessacons Opinion Press

Conservatives condenm homophobia

2010-09-24T07:56:00.005-05:00

The Liberal media has tried to make much hay out the story from Montana,where a small group of republicans in the STATE legislature are trying to introduce a bill to ban homosexual activity.Myself and my fellow conservatives have made it perfectly clear that we SUPPORT EQUAL TREATMENT of Homosexuals!Notice I said EQUAL treatment and NOT SPECIAL treatment!This is a small group of close minded assholes that don't understand the the intent of the Constitution and seek to push THEIR morality on other people. We should all know by now that you cant legislate morality and your PERSONAL opinions have NO PLACE in legislation if they infringe on someone Else's pursuit of happiness.

Lumping all conservatives in with these guys and trying to scare people that the religious right is taking over the country is irresponsible

It would be like a conservative trying to say that all democrats support forced population controls or Homosexual indoctrination in our schools which are tenants of the FAR left.
This is just MORE evidence of how desperate the left is because they know they have abysmal losses to face in November.

Politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle resort to scare tactics when they have lost the argument on the FACTS.

I trust the American people are smart enough to see through this canard.

Just so you know-if mainstream conservative politicians would happen to support this outlandish policy-you would see the grassroots tea party movement come out IN FORCE to defend homosexual CIVIL RIGHTS!

Homosexuals for the most part ALREADY enjoy Equal treatment. We have many laws to protect them from discrimination and they are free to live their lives as they see fit.I personally care less if Ted wants to doink Kevin or Mary wants to kiss Carrie,Its not my business.Ill raise my family how I see fit and they can do the same.However,I would bet that Ted and Kevin raise some screwed up kids!....just sayin.
The debate has come to the use of a word."Marriage".I have to ask myself....Isn't CHANGING the traditional meaning of a word SPECIAL TREATMENT? "Marriage" has ALWAYS been defined as between a man and a woman.....right? Why not be happy with a term of their choice that aptly describes their union? They could call it a "Fairiage" for all I care, as long as they get EQUAL TREATMENT under the law.

The pro-gay marriage crowd tells me I don't have exclusive rights to a word and I don't disagree with them....but words DO have SPECIFIC meanings.I mean if you want a vodka tonic and you get a bloody mary,your not gonna be happy.They BOTH have vodka but are two VERY DIFFERENT things.

In the spirit of compromise,Ill make them a deal: Since I don't have exclusive ownership of any words,and that would imply that they don't either.How about this? Ill trade you "marriage" for "faggot" and we'll call it a day?Its Only fair. You say we cant use that word because its divisive,well I happen to think that your use of "marriage" for a union between two people of the same sex is equally divisive.

The homosexuals have ALREADY achieved 98% of their quest for equal treatment. Now they are holding out on the last 2% over the use of a word. This is obviously more about acceptance and affirmation than it is about equal treatment.As long as they draw these ridiculous petty lines,they will only alienate more people like me, that support EQUAL treatment for EVERYONE!

Conservatives VS Liberals revisited

2010-09-24T07:52:00.001-05:00

Most Conservatives make decisions based on facts,research and common sense.

Liberals make decisions based on emotions and perceptions.

Conservatives believe in limited government which by definition implies MORE FREEDOM.

Liberals believe Americans are too stupid to think for themselves and want the government to think for them which by definition is OPPRESSION.

Conservatives believe there are traditions in our country that made us a great, compassionate ,prosperous people.We want to keep those traditions. We also KNOW that we haven't been perfect and have made mistakes-we learned from them and don't wish to reinstate those misguided Ideals. We can admit our failures but also know we have done far more good for this world than bad.

Liberals believe that to be "enlightened"you have to be able to blur the line of even the most basic truths. they don't believe there is such a thing as good or bad...its all gray area and subject to emotional interpretation rather than factual INFORMATION. They also refuse to admit that despite Americas growing pains that we were the FIRST to FREE OUR SLAVES and that we STILL LEAD THE WORLD in FREEDOM,PROSPERITY and COMPASSION.They cant admit that our "evil wars"have FREED MILLIONS of people from evil oppressors.They cant see that our prosperity has raised living standards for those countries willing to follow our lead.Liberals are green with envy and wish to penalize those that have found more success than them.....even if it means they sink the whole ship.

When you live your life based on individual freedom and take responsibility for YOUR OWN destiny,more often than not you will find success.

When you live your life hating envying and living life based on emotion and not reality ,you will never be happy. When you rely on OTHERS for your success and demand redistribution of their wealth you will drag everyone down.Liberalism IS self-destruction on an individual and a societal level.

A letter to President Obama.

2009-04-30T13:35:00.002-05:00

Dear Mr. President,

I would like to congratulate you on your historic victory as the first African-American President. I'm not, as I'm sure you are not, under any false pretenses that however historic and cathartic your election truly is,the unprecedented aspects of your ethnic origins and the Presidency will only carry you so far. I wish you Godspeed.
At a recent appearance in Arnold,Mo, you appeared to extend an olive branch to those of us that felt compelled to attend "tea party" rallies,that by and large,represented Americans,from All walks of life coming together to let our voice be heard as to how we feel about the ever increasing size of the government. No matter how dismissive some took your comments to be, I personally would like to start the serious conversation you stated you would like to engage us in.
You asked of us,"the ones waving tea bags around" how we would address healthcare cost,essentially while needing to balance budgets and fund the government.You also say we are worried about you spending trillions of dollars and creating deficits and you ,once again ,took the opportunity to remind us that you "inherited" $1.3 trillion in deficits from the previous administration. Mr.President let me assure you that we are aware that you have been in office for 100 days and the economy was in poor shape when you took office.You went on to tell us that "we need to tighten our belts" and the Bush policies of "more tax cuts for the wealthy" wouldn't achieve our objective.You said" We tried that and it didn't work".
Now we come to the part where I hope you are genuine in your assertion that you are open to a serious conversation about curing our economic woes. Those of us that "were waving tea bags around" are democrats and republicans and understand how our government is supposed to work,most importantly,we pay attention to the facts and have watched our government grow under the past 3 administrations.I admit until you took office and took government spending to a crisis level,most of us were content just living our lives and contributing to the economy in our own ways. Since you signed the Recovery Act and the Budget ,several hundred thousand of us felt compelled to come together and say "enough".
Mr.President,with all due respect, I feel I need to correct your facts on a few issues.Tax cuts in no way had a negative impact on our economy. In fact most economist agree that the tax cuts were the engine still driving a vibrant economy after the devastation of the 9/11 attacks. Yes President Bush created deficits but,I'm sure you know,he was faced with rebuilding a military that President Clinton had cut by a third,while the American people were demanding action against terrorism.I'm sure,as you have indicated,that you are impressed with the military President Bush left for you.You know as well as I do,what caused the economic crisis.That's why I am always bewildered by some of your assertions about tax cuts and policies of the past eight years. The record shows the economy was growing at UNPRECEDENTED levels up to 2006,the year you became a US Senator and democrats took control of congress.At this point in history domestic spending,under President Bush, rose to unprecedented levels. You know this because you and your democrat colleagues controlled the purse strings.President Bush signed these bloated budgets and deserves criticism as well.None the less,the budget you tell us you "inherited" you actually contributed to by asking for spending in your district to the tune of ONE MILLION DOLLARS for every day you spent in the senate.You sir, need to be more forthright about YOUR role in deficits you inherited if you expect people like myself to take your call for a serious conversation....seriously.
Another area where you appear to be a bit shaky on the facts is the actual cause of the economic crisis . We often hear you make statements like "de-regulation" or "Un-regulated" markets caused this. You often say "WallStreet greed" got us in this mess.........Again,with all due respect, I understand you were able to spend NINETEEN years in a church but were unaware of what the church actually practiced but I find it hard to reconcile that you aspired to hold the Presidency at a time of economic crisis without being aware of how we got in that crisis. I'm sure your rhetoric resounds well among those Americans that don't pay attention and are busy watching American Idol but for a guy like me...I would like to hear a "serious conversation" about this so we don't make this mistake again.Let me help you with some facts. First de-regulation played a VERY SMALL role in this meltdown. When Glass-Stegal was overturned, in Bi-partisan agreement and signed by President Clinton,the act had been in place since 1933 and many,republicans and democrats alike,felt it was outdated.Essentially all this did was allow investors and investment firms to package mortgages and other investments and sell them as such.Clinton had no issue with taking credit for the growth in the economy generated by such de-regualation ,and rightly so. Also we saw no negative aspects of this de-regulation until early 2007.I said de-regulation played a small role in this mess...so what played the largest role? OVER-REGULATION!That's right, when congress pushed through the "community reinvestment act" at the behest of groups like ACORN and community activist such as yourself ,it gave the government the teeth it needed to force lenders to make loans to the poor and minorities regardless of their ability to pay. I'm sure you are familiar with this as you were once an ACORN lawyer yourself. Now banks were being sued for discrimination if they didn't loan a certain amount of money to minorities in defunct communities.All was well with de-regulation until these loans started to go into default. Many,including President Bush saw this coming and congress was warned as early as 2003. Congress failed to heed the warnings and investors started "packaging" these loans and sold them as "safe" investments until it all started to unravel.Mr.President, THAT is what happened to our economy!Politicians using the strong arm of government to force banks to give POTENTIAL VOTERS(that traditionally vote for democrats)money they knew would never be repaid. Your continuous,blatant misrepresentation of these facts cause me to question your honesty and integrity.The record shows that this is what happened,yet you use FALSE,revisionist history to promote your agenda.I guess Rahm Emanuel was being honest for once when he said"Its a shame to let a crisis go to waste".Its one thing to use a crisis to forward an agenda but to lie about the facts to get there is deplorable and despicable.
I hope my honest assessment of history and willingness to let blame fall where it rightfully belongs hasn't discouraged you from wanting to continue a serious conversation about whats best for our country. I just thought it best to start from a factual account of how we got here so we don't make the same mistakes again.
To answer the healthcare quagmire,it will require that you let go of some obvious misconceptions you have about economics.First we need to come to the realization that when government gets involved in business, prices go up and quality goes down.The government and insurance bureaucracies are heavily involved in healthcare payments and there is very little contact between the customer and the caregiver. Because of this,free market forces are unable to work. If a person shopped around for cheaper healthcare with better quality, the prices would come down,quality would go up and healthcare wouldn't be so overpriced.Now,I admit we have traveled too far down this road to change things overnight but more government involvement is not the answer especially when you consider we've established that government is a big part of the problem.Free market solutions will cure these problems,its time we pursue those avenues before we ruin the most innovative and accessible health care system in the world.
Mr.President , I hope you find my insight helpful...there is just one more thing I think will help you.Principles! Plain and simple. Its clear that a man that displays unwavering certitude when he repeals policies that will ensure no terrorist will be treated unfairly,Even goes so far as to call things that we do in the training of our military personnel "torture" when its done on a terrorist that is taunting interrogators that "something big is coming" , can reconcile that killing a helpless child in the latest months of gestation is frankly, unprincipled. Your positions on these issues show that you will cower to the far left puppet masters that funded your meteoric rise to the Presidency. These are not principled decisions! You expect me to have a serious conversation with a man that places the discomfort of a known terrorist above his own soldiers or the life of a child.You actually started to go in the right direction when you said we needed to look forward and not prosecute the former administration for doing what they thought was best to keep us safe. It wasn't 48 hours later,AFTER MoveOn.org and other Soros minions launched a bitter campaign,demanding the heads of the former administration that you reversed your decision. Mr. President.......I wish I could believe you wanted to be bi-partisan and listen to us but the facts and the record show your actions don't support your words. You call republicans the party of "NO" when they offered a stimulus bill that the CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE stated would cost HALF the money and create twice as many jobs.Again your counting on your sheople that don't pay attention. You say " we could have got information from terrorist that SAVED LIVES without aggressive interrogation" but fail to support those claims when reality and torture memos SHOW OTHERWISE.Mr.Obama, I am disgusted with you and many of my fellow Americans. You get away with misrepresentation after misrepresentation ,we've established your lying on some issues or blissfully ignorant to others. If more people would pay attention and pull themselves away from the kool-aid stand or the latest fad on television you wouldn't be able to get away with your lack of principles and integrity.I know you will try to label me an extremist or worse but I challenge you or ANYONE to displace my assertions.I'm passionate,principled and honest and its people like me that will be a continual thorn in your side.
I look forward to more serious conversations and hopefully watching you grow into a principled, honest communicator. We have to start somewhere.

Squandered Wealth of America-A simple solution

2009-03-19T13:43:00.003-05:00

We all have our fears of what is to come.We wonder how deep or how long this economic crisis will go? It becomes more evident everyday that Washington is clueless as to how to stop this spiral.If we get a moniker of good news our hopes are quickly dashed with more bad news. The President and congress are starting to feel us out to see how we will react to yet another corporate bailout in the TRILLION dollar range.One thing we know or should know by now is that government IS the problem and is inept at offering solutions.
Many of us knew this when Bush proposed the first bailout.Many of us called our representatives and begged them to let these companies fail and let markets find solid ground on their own. A precious few in congress understood that would be the only way to get out of this mess in a timely,least expensive manner.Oh well.....no one listened and now we find ourselves outraged over bonuses paid to employees of companies that took federal money.
First off we shouldn't be in a position that the taxpayer has skin in the game on wall street anyway.None the less, warnings weren't heeded and for some unknown reason we allowed our government to do what most of us should know is not a principle of our republic or constitution.Secondly, we have the audacity to be outraged that less than 2% of the money AIG received was paid to employees for competing the obligations required by a contract they made with the employer.
I understand how people can perceive this and what has lead to the outrage but before we get into solutions for our problems I think its important to look at this situation and come to terms with some of the realities.
The outrage comes from the perception that employees at AIG were paid bonuses while they were responsible for running the company into the ground.THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE. Based on testimony from the current head of AIG yesterday on Capitol Hill,the employees that WERE in charge of AIGFP(AIG financial products)are gone.Mr Liddy told congress that other AIG employees were pulled in because they had the knowledge and talent to wind down these toxic accounts which had totaled over 2.5 trillion and are now down to 1.6 trillion. They are still a large risk to the future of AIG but these employee's cut that risk in half. When they agreed to take on this monumental task these employees were GUARANTEED to receive healthy bonuses if they stayed and closed the accounts given to them to oversee in a satisfactory manner to the AIG board. Now I don't know about you but I would like to know that in this country a contract still means something regardless of what congress or the uneducated public think of them. A contract is a bond! It is open to renegotiation but when congress acts in a reactionary manner to satisfy a lynch mob populace to pass special laws to punish a small group of people I take issue with that.This rush to judgement based on public outcry is dangerous.Not to mention that many Americans lack the common sense to balance their own checkbooks or make a wise decision on a purchase of a home.
How do we expect people to enter in to contracts in the future when we set the precedent that they can be nullified if public outcry strikes a chord with congress?Aren't we a nation of laws and individual rights? In the face of crisis have we lost our principles and will allow ourselves to revert to a basic democracy where two wolves and one sheep can decide whats for dinner? I hope not.
The prospect of these bonuses is distasteful,as Mr Liddy told congress yesterday but whats done is done.We can't abandon our principles to try to achieve some sort of vengeful satisfaction.Remember,if we hadn't abandoned capitalism and our principles in the first place,we wouldn't care what AIG did and they would be in bankruptcy court where these bonuses would have been nullified LEGALLY.Hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20.
All of this controversy and populist vengeance that is brewing makes me wonder if it is not part of some grand plan. Has the government and a few on Wall Street realized that this kind of legislation sells well to the masses that are busy watching American Idol and will only lift their head when congress feigns outrage and crisis to take us one step further to socialism. I know you will want to tell me that Wall Street fat cats support capitalism and republicans but you are wrong.AIG gave hundreds of thousands to Obama and democrats. Wall Street corporations give 2-1 to democrats over republicans. You have to realize,these guys live, by and large on the east coast and are liberals if not liberal republicans.We know Bush and MCcain leaned to the left and Washington caters to the Harvard/Yale crowd regardless of party affiliation.I will provide a link later that proves my theory that we have drifted decidedly left under most administrations since 1960 regardless of party affiliation. We've done it America.While we have been too busy to govern ourselves in a republic based on self government,we have allowed the few elitist to garner all the power. They have us convinced to fight over democrat vs republican when the real battle lies in conservatism vs liberalism.We bought in hook line and sinker. I myself used to wage battle on this false premise until I realized the in today's political climate democrats are extreme liberal and republicans are merely liberal light.If this makes sense to you,you have taken the first step toward being truly enlightened of the battle and how it needs to be fought. To win any war you have to understand the battlefield and your enemy.Now we know,the enemy is government and the battlefield is not made up of democrats vs republicans. Its us vs them-the people vs the tyrants.
What is our strategy? That's a good question. Now we will talk about real solutions.First we must dispel the myth that I ,myself was guilty of buying. We need a 3rd party. I know many will say that conservatives should just wait for the right republicans to come along and we will get back to our roots.....Well,Ive been waiting a long time and we haven't seen true conservatism in a long time. Right now a battle rages in the republican party over who will gain control.The east coast liberal republicans or the true conservatives.Ive watched this unfold for a while and I'm convinced that the liberal republicans will prevail. Many in power on the right have made it clear that in effort to win elections we must compromise our principles and move left in order to increase our base.What they forget is we just tried that and MCcain lost!Why did he lose? He didn't contrast enough from Obama and was ineffective in articulating conservatism because he DOESN'T TOTALLY BELIEVE IN IT!MCcain was firm on Iraq and other than that he was not much different than Obama.He had no credibility on tax cuts because he voted against Bush on it.He had no credibility on illegal immigration because he hailed from Arizona,a state with a very porous border.We tried it their way and ended up with Obama and the biggest liberal agenda in history.Be honest,Mccain was for the bailouts,he was soft on tax cuts,he was soft on immigration and when you add it all up, he was liberal light.
Now we can debate about need for a 3rd party but I don't think there is any denying that the direction some want to take the republican party has been tried and failed.Some will say that we need to be more inclusive but when you consider that most Americans oppose late term abortions and Obama and MCcain were in sinc on gay marriage just who is it we need to include? Illegal immigrants? Islamic extremist?No thank you,I'll keep my principles and take my chances at the ballot box.
What we need is a clear message of freedom,Americanism and fill the peoples minds with the myriad of examples that exist to show that government is the problem not the solution.We need to remind people of why we have the constitution,what rights its gives and what ones it doesn't. We need to explain that we are a wealthy enough country to be able to fund our military ,settle trade disputes foreign and domestic and care for our elderly and disabled. If we didn't squander so much wealth on frivolous programs we can do all that and still provide a reasonable safety net for those that fall on hard times but still keep welfare from sapping people of their motivation and becoming a generational epidemic.If you look at the charts on the link below you will see a number of things. You will see that discretionary spending makes up around 30% of our federal budget and if eliminated we could balance the budget and still do a better job of funding the responsibilities I mentioned above.Do we ever get the opportunity to talk about these discretionary spending issues during elections? No! These are slipped in to bills in the form of earmarks and is basically money that is sent to Washington and sent back to states to help insure politicians can be in office perpetually.I say, If the state wants it-put it to a vote and if the citizens in that state see it as a worthy program THEY can fund it through sales tax increases or other STATE taxes. I would bet,when people were asked up front if they think some of these programs are worthwhile,most of them wouldn't exist.That's just another way Washington has taken our voice away.Whats sad is that our forefathers protected us from this in the constitution,we just let politicians,over time convince us that this is how its supposed to be.
Term limits are the final piece to the puzzle to get us on the right track. To me this is a no-brainer. Lets let the politicians have to actually go home and live under the laws they made.We would save a small fortune on the gold plated health insurance and retirement alone. This is not unreasonable,after all its supposed to be public service,not a club for the rich,educated elite to go and build alliances for power on the taxpayers dole.One term your out!PERIOD!Why do we have a government so large and complicated we think we need "experts" to run it anyway? If you read the constitution the federal governments powers are few and not complicated.I even added care for the elderly,disabled and welfare because I believe if spent wisely we can do all these things and still have a balanced budget.The way we do it now,many people that have paid into the system will never see any retirement or security when ACTUALLY disabled because we waste it all on nonsense.
If a 3rd party or a true conservative that chooses to work under the banner of republican would adopt this simple plan,explain it well and stick to it, they could win the hearts and minds of much of the people.The best part is we could keep taxes at present levels or lower while promoting freedom,individual success and prosperity for all willing to seek it.As Ive said before,we have to get back to our roots or all could be lost.We have to govern ourselves or be controlled by bureaucrats.Ive laid out a plan that would appeal to most Americans and it would cure our ills.This is not rocket science-the Washington bureaucrats and politicians just want us to think it is.Lets stop trying to reinvent the wheel and do what we all know is right.

http://www.heritage.org/research/features/budgetchartbook/index.html?CFID=56940763&CFTOKEN=62778766
(Sorry-I was unable to provide direct link-please copy and paste to your browswer)

The Big Three....

2009-03-13T15:36:00.003-05:00

I know what your thinking,here's another conservative rant against labor unions...Well,your wrong. I do think unions do far more harm than good and breed mediocrity but that is not the subject of today's post.I want to talk about ,what I see as the REAL Big Three,the three groups of influence that are complicit in leading us further away from freedom and doing great harm to our country.

The first group in the REAL big three is by far the most complicit,they are in control and are leading us,at breakneck speed down a path that will surely end in socialism if we are lucky enough to have it stop there. I struggled with who all to include in the top tier of the big three and it occurred to me that the top two groups can be classified under the heading "Liberal Elites". Liberal politicians are at the top of the sub-group consisting of the liberal elites.They have prevailed in the past two election cycles and are back in power and wasting no time in making conservatives pay for their years in exile.

Notice I didn't say liberal democrats? Its unfortunate to say, but that wouldn't be an accurate assessment of our political hierarchy in these turbulent times. It seems a significant faction of the republican party has misread the losses in elections to mean that they must be "liberal light" or in some cases outright liberal to gain favor at the ballot box.These folks generally rein from the northeast or west coast and were educated at some of the finest liberal indoctrination centers IE:Ivy League and a growing number of Universities, across the country. Time spent at these institutions is what contributes to their misguided mindset. Its what makes them "liberal elites" and perpetuates their outlook that those of us that hold on to silly things like the constitution and conservatism are stuck in our hapless,uneducated lives due to ignorance,frustration and our faith in Christian values.

None the less, they are in charge now , as Obama never lets true conservatives forget when he holds "bi-partisan" court. They have the purse strings and are wasting no time in implementing their agenda that was forced on the back burner for so many years.Cap and trade,card check,Higher taxes,hidden taxes,welfare,abortion rights,universal health care and gun control are all in the works as we speak.Hell, they are moving so fast they cant even stop long enough to read the bills Obama is signing into law.The era of big government is here!Never mind that we have seen massive spending in poor economic times keep Japan in a recession for over 10 years,never mind that economics 101 teaches us that you cant spend your way out of debt and most importantly disregard the reality liberalism has failed EVERY society that has succumb to its everyman promise of utopia.

Make no mistake. From Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to Arlen Spector and Arnold Schwartzenegger liberalism has infiltrated our government at all levels. If we don't stop and take a good hard look at ourselves and remember with honest history what principles guided us to become the great nation that we are and take back our government in the next election with HONEST, TRUE conservatives,we risk allowing damage to be done that is too great to undo.

As I mentioned earlier,there are two groups of people that encompass the liberal elite. We just discussed the liberal politicians now we need to address the failings of the other group. You probably guessed it.....the media. In this group of "elites" I will also include liberal academia. Why would I include professors in with the media as culpable in this assault on our freedom and the constitution? Because many times it these professors that appear on "news" shows as "experts" that the talking heads go to for insight on the issues of the day. Mind you, they aren't introduced as "liberal",their introduction often includes titles such as "the foremost authority" or "Dr so and so,Professor of political science-Princeton". They neglect to tell you that this person always contributes the maximum allowed by law to every Democrat in their state and suffer from Bush derangement syndrome. Not only do these people go on national television as "unbiased experts" but they are also educating our children with revisionist history blaming all the worlds woes on conservatism,Ronald Reagan,Tax cuts and George W Bush. They betray the trust of parents and students by rewarding liberal bias in grading term papers while punishing a student that may have a conservative viewpoint REGARDLESS of how well the student may have performed.

The media and teachers are supposed to be the watchdogs of the truth. They are trusted to inform our students and populace of the reality of events,past and present.If you follow politics and current events or have children in our education system,you are probably aware of how out of hand this situation has got. You only need to spend an hour watching MSNBC or listen to your child tell of the American History lesson of the day to know that we cant count on these people for the truth anymore. Think about what I just said for a second.......We have actually hit a point where we can no longer count on teachers or the news media to tell us the unbiased truth about what is going on in our country or the world. Isn't the press the "fourth branch" of government as it was referred to in days gone by? How can we hold our politicians accountable when the media is complicit in promoting their agenda and not telling us of the failings of its policies? If Chris Matthews gets a chill up his leg when Obama speaks or grows noticeably angry when Ari Fleisher calls him on misquoting his conservative viewpoint,How can we trust Chris to give us the facts? Unfortunately it goes much farther than Chris Matthews and MSNBC its rampant on most news channels and has even infiltrated Hollywood and every form of media. It's become hip and popular to deride conservatives and conservatism even if you have to misrepresent,distort or outright lie to promote Obama or the liberal agenda. After all these folks honestly believe that if we just had the benefit of their liberal enlightenment, we would be liberal too. We just cling to our guns and religion out of ignorance and frustration.

The 3rd and final group in our liberal big three is not necessarily in a position of power but could very well be the most dangerous. This group is preyed upon by the other two groups and until recently I would have argued were too smart to buy into the indoctrination for any length of time. That's right its the people that make up the liberal and "centrist" part of our population. As the last election proves,they are growing in number but are by and large not our best nor brightest.This is the group I like to call the sheeple. They fall prey to liberalism for a number of reasons,Indoctrination at our universities,poverty,race,misguided compassion or an embrace of popular culture.

It is this group that scares me the most.It is they that we will have to reach if we aim to reverse this travesty that is sweeping our nation. As the government grows larger and squeezes out free markets and opportunity this group will grow ever more dependent on government and liberal politicians for survival.They will continue to vote for candidates that promise to equalize the economy and take from the "rich" what is rightfully theirs. I fear this last election could have started a trend that will not be reversible until self-reliance and production in this country are things of the past. Socialism has a history of equalizing economics,the problem is everyone ends up equally poor.Now more than ever we need to read our Constitution and understand what our federal governments limits are and ,more importantly WHY our forefathers saw the need to limit its power. These days the government operates so far outside its intended limits that individual states have to submit to congress will or die on the vine. Have you ever asked yourself why our country,a Constitutional republic(Group of states bound by a constitution) has to send all our money to Washington and let just over 535 people decide how to distribute it? That's NOT what our forefathers had in mind.States rights were important.The federal government was formed to simply provide for the common defense,to settle international trade disputes and trade disputes between states....that's it.....NOTHING MORE! It wasn't meant to take money from Missouri to pay for welfare checks in California. It wasn't meant to take money from Texas to fund abortions in Alabama.It wasn't meant to take money from Oregon to fund water beetle mating research in Florida.Read the Constitution. Its plain to see.We have allowed the few to take our power away and its evident they are no longer listening.They pander to the weakest of our people to keep themselves in power.How long can we hold this course before it all falls apart? Who knows?,but history and reality show us that we are short on time,unless we remember our roles in this country.From the politicians,to the teachers and media on down to the people that make up our society,we need to get back to our conservative roots or we are destined to fail.

On The Path To Socialism.Failure Is Not An Option.

2009-03-08T12:14:00.002-05:00

FAILURE. Its a word we have grown increasingly uncomfortable with in our society, of late. From little league T-ball to banks that are "too big to fail".We have lost the ability to admit that success is earned and not guaranteed. After all this is America, the land of plenty , we shouldn't suffer any inconvenience especially when fat-cat Wall Street power brokers spend millions redecorating bathrooms in palatial high rises . Its just not fair! Why shouldn't the government force them to share the wealth,especially when they are taking taxpayer money to keep these corporate giants afloat? Good question.

Why did we start allowing our kids to play in T-ball games that,in the end,will not reward one teams hard work nor allow the other team the opportunity to learn from its mistakes? I will not argue that this,for a time, will not improve a child's self-esteem.....but at what cost? Is our job as parents to simply ensure that a child is protected from any form of adversity, or does it go deeper than that? Aren't we supposed to be preparing them to function and be productive in life?

It has become clear to me that recently we have allowed this mentality to creep into every aspect of society. It ranges from little league all the way to Wall Street. The core of our financial crisis started with the unwillingness of community activist and government to let people live, and in some cases suffer the consequences of their station in life. We regulated financial institutions into making loans,while abandoning minimum criteria that had served us well for many years. We used to require a certain amount of job time,money down and income to be able to secure a mortgage. Some saw these criteria as a means that the evil rich used to keep minorities and the poor from being able to share in the American dream and own a home. When you think about it,that's a pretty easy sale on a populace that is being conditioned to not accept failure.Only now have we learned the cost of such thinking.

This problem was exacerbated by greed on Wall Street.The prospect of being able to "package"these questionable mortgages and sell them as "securities" to other entities was too much for some to pass up. So now we find ourselves in a situation where our lack of morals and reasonable guidelines have put all of us in a quandary of how to fix this mess. Ask yourself, who is less moral? The "homeowner" that signed a note on a house he knew he couldn't afford or the Wall Street broker that profited from selling packaged securities for an obscene profit? In my opinion,they both suffer from questionable morals.

Is the pursuit of wealth or the possession of wealth a bad thing? NO! Our Constitution provides EVERYONE with the right to pursue happiness. Happiness can have many different meanings to a myriad of different people but I will admit,that in America today,we all too often mistake wealth for happiness. The "keeping up with the Jone's" mentality has caused us to become too beholden to wealth, real or invented. We allow the government to force institutions to let people live above their means,while at the same time turn a blind eye to politicians and power brokers that garner wealth and votes from the very people they propose to help.

Now we find ourselves in the mess we have today. The new President seems to lack the basic financial knowledge that you cant spend your way out of debt. He continues to write checks from a checkbook that is already operating in the red. Its funny to think that we are proposing to fix this mess with the very philosophy that got us here. Haven't we established that living above our means and taking on debt we cant possibly afford is how we got here? When will we learn that a society conditioned to believe that they cant fail will continue to make bad decisions in effort to keep failure at bay,if even for just one more day?

Let me give you all a much needed reality check. There is no one or no institution that is "too big to fail"! The free market is based in that very reality. The institutions that make up our markets live and die by that very FACT! When we propose that we can regulate markets so they don't have to eventually submit to these realities, we do our country and its citizens a great disservice. Right now we are continuing to inflate a balloon that is DESTINED to pop! Until we let it pop and free market forces take over,we are only prolonging the inevitable. What cost do we risk when we continue to throw good money after bad? Ill tell you, and some of you will not face it. We risk the very FAILURE of our nation! That's right! We, the United States of America are not too big to fail!

This is not going to be easy. People and companies will suffer. Ask your self, weren't the spending/stimulus bills supposed to override market forces and keep us from losing jobs and the stock market from crashing? Yes! That's what you were told. They just didn't tell you of the reality that I just shared with you that you cannot stop market forces from running their course. The proof is in the pudding and we ARE losing jobs and the stock market is crashing DESPITE the Trillions we have thrown at this problem. We have no other choice but to let the balloon pop and restart from solid ground,the solid ground that will ONLY be found when we let the chips fall where the free market says they will.

When we let this happen and start to rebuild we must remember that we have to live within our means and by the unchanging laws that make up our economic world. You cant pay for a house you cant afford. You cant regulate markets to protect people from failure. You have to let those that made bad choices fail. The liberals will tell you that de-regulation caused this in effort to pass MORE regulation to "protect"you. WE KNOW BETTER! We have to face facts and learn the reality that OVER_REGULATION caused this. We have enough laws on the books to protect us from the greed that we know can exist in free markets, we just need to watch them and heed the warning signs that were ignored by Barney Frank and Maxine Waters.These two "protectors" refused to listen when warned in congressional hearings that this crisis was on the horizon. They were too weak to tell their constituency of primarily poor minorities that these loans could bring about the collapse of the entire economy...after all....they had to get their votes.......

Running a government can be compared to parenting in the following way. You have to learn to tell a child what you WONT DO FOR THEM in effort to prepare them for the reality of life. Our government,President Obama and Democrats spend an awful lot of time telling us what they WILL DO FOR US even if it's not good for us. Why do they do it? Because its what many of you want to hear! You want to believe that you can make it in this world without hard work and sacrifice and they are all too eager to make promises they cant keep or that will cause more harm than good. THEY NEED YOUR VOTE! We have proven they lack the honesty to tell you the truth so its time for us to face facts,rise to the challenges life presents and become a strong self reliant country once again. We all know the recipe that made us a great nation...Self reliance,integrity,hard work and ingenuity....its just that some of us have forgotten that WE posses the ingredients not the government.

Income tax and Entitlements.

2007-12-18T08:51:00.000-06:00

Taxes and entitlements go hand in hand. Its important to understand that when you hear of government programs , whether it be food stamps , health care or housing , its not "free" money , its the peoples money.The government does not "make" money , it gets its revenue from taxpayers...us. The average American works four months to pay thier tax bill...four months!This puts you in a position to have to make tough decisions. We dont have the luxery of operating our households in a deficit situation...not for long anyway. But the government refuses to make tough decisions , it/we continue to spend money WE DONT HAVE on programs that are outdated , ineffective or redundant only to pass the debt on to our children and grandchildren.After all somebody will HAVE to pay SOMETIME , we cant push these deficits off forever.Right now as we speak , China is buying up our "debt" at an alarming rate. Do we want to explain to our children and grandchildren that China owns the US because we were unwilling to make sacrifice and the tough decisions needed to keep our country solvent?How can we explain to them that we as a people were unwilling exercise responsibility and restraint? Do we want them to work eight to ten months to pay OUR tax bill? We have an oportunity to make the tough choices and pass on a vibrant , growing America but it will require sacrifice.Who knows, maybe we'll find that with a massive overhaul of our entitlement programs that we do have the funds to keep many or most of the benefits in place , as I stated earlier many of these programs are outdated and ineficient , perhaps an overhaul could restructure programs so that they are affordable.These choices have to be made and the time is NOW! Ask yourself are you willing to say NO to more spending ,even if you have to sacrifice some entitlements that a portion of our society have grown dependent on? Are you willing to make the tough choices needed to ensure our children and grandchildren wont be slaves to our government for benefits we received and are already spent before they even joined the work force?

Tough Love for Illegals.

2007-12-16T06:46:00.000-06:00

Tough Love is one of the most common paths parents of struggling teens have to travel.
Many cannot understand or grasp the concept of, Tough Love or "not enabling" the child to ruin or run the family unit. Enduring life with a teen that is running the home can result in many uproars, conflicts, arguments, battles, and sometimes psychical and verbal abuse. Tough Love is exactly that: Tough. Loving our children is unconditional, but we don’t have to like what they are doing or how they are destroying their lives.
There will come a time when a parent realizes enough is enough! This is the time that they need the support from outside sources, such as a Tough Love support groups, along with professional intervention. This does not reflect you as a parent, nor does it place blame on the family, it is the child that is making the bad choices and the family is suffering from it.
I pasted th above article from a site I found while researching tough love. Whats my point?
Well... Ive gone "round and round" with the pro-illegal crowd around here and they always ignore little facts like...Laws..and soveriegnty so on and so forth. So I thought Id take MY argument to their "emotional"level.
For my metaphor the above "teen" represents the illegals and , of course the "family" is America... Are you starting to see my point? We do the illegals no favors when we "enable" them to allow Mexico to let them live in poverty. Now is the time to say "enough is enough" as stated above this does not reflect badly on the "family"( as mpvan and ilovemyillegal love to say)It is the bad choices of the "child/teen"that cause the problem.
Come on America!!!!! lets show em' we all really do have hearts and exert a little more tough love on the illegals and maybe just maybe we can save our "family".

Torture.

2007-12-14T22:36:00.000-06:00

Come on man I dont want people maimed or...I dont know...tortured! I know that sounds stupid but I dont consider water boarding torture. I know many nations do as well as Mccain. First I dont think Its wise to tell them what we will or wont do. They will only train to become less suceptable to a particular technique. But we have to , in few but important circumstances,be able to extract information from the one's we know...KNOW.The argument from your side and Mccain is often- "We cant do this or they will do it to us". Did you guys miss the BEHEADINGS they will already do it to us and far worse than we as a nation would ever condone.This touches on a larger issue. the left wants to believe that if we negotiate and treat these extremeist with respect they will listen to reason and stop this war on Israel and christianity. Theres a misconception that this hate from the extremist is our fault because we are arrogant and live like infidels. No , thats only part of thier recrutment "talking points"the core of the issue is we let our women have power and dont worship Alla. this is a religious war , STARTED AND PERPETUATED by islamic extremist not a Soveriegn nation. When will you guys start condemning the violent , vicious close minded behavior of the terrorist instead of vindicating them by attacking your own government for petty infractions when we all know the US is far more benevolent than any other nation?

Illegal Immigration

2007-12-13T18:26:00.001-06:00

I think two subtle changes in the dialougue on this issue would make a big difference in how we proceed in winning back our southern border.Number one when we have illegals protesting our government we and the media need to make clear over and over again how absurd it is for citizens of another country protest to gain citizenship to the US when they do nothing to reform thier own corrupt government.If Mexico would stop corruption and spread more wealth to its own citizens instead of facilitating northern migration more Mexicans would want to stay in thier own country and mexico would prosper economically.They have two beautiful coast for tousism,oil and obviously a large workforce.So why no jobs?Government corruption possibly stemming from the large drug cartels that dominate many regions.Until mexicans take control of thier own government as we did in the late seventeen hundreds no bigtime investors with look at Mexico seriously also an honest bussiness man doesnt stand a chance against a corrupt police force.Just the same this is a Mexican problem not a US problem.
The second needed change in dialogue is to dispell the myth that we cant deport twelve to twenty-five million illegals-HOGWASH!If ICE and employers get serious about enforcing EXISTING immigration law we would deport many and many would leave on thier own because they would find it harder and harder to stay in one place and stay under the radar.
Many will accuse me of being cruel.The families that get broken up and all that.
I dont care!It was thier choice (yes choice)the try to live here without documents,they know they are breaking the law and they know thier families are at risk.Until the safe haven of the US is no longer tolerable for them they will never go home and fix thier own country.

Wildfires VS Katrina

2007-12-13T18:16:00.000-06:00

I ask everyone to take note of the California wildfire crisis.Pay particular attention to differences in Louisiana and Katrina.Now Im sure FEMA has done alot to clean up its act but I seriously doubt these people would resort to crime if things were less organized.Racist? NO! HONEST? YES! MAny of the homes burning in California are ,yes,affluent,Im sure all some people had to do was call the caretaker and have everything handled but hundreds of thousands of poor and middle class people are being evacuated as well.The Goverenator deployed the national gaurd and contacted the feds and citizens went to work finding places for them and their animals to stay.The outpouring of compassion and heroism is amazing.
Why wasnt Katrina more like this?Here was an opportunity for a community to come together and help one another and New Orleans failed horribly.Is this indicative of a community too dependent on government?After all Ive heard no retrospection of how the citizens reacted to the crisis,only people blaming the government and ,oh yes,racism.
I dont make these comments to be devisive,I am not a racist but I hear clammerings of a good,self reliant message emanating from impoverished black neighborhoods and thought I would take the opportunity to address the contrast in how two American communities dealt with crisis.If you dont like this comparison,check out what happened during Katrina in Mississippi,Louisianas next door neighbor.
Discuss.

Is liberism a mental disorder?

2007-12-13T18:12:00.001-06:00

Conservative talk show host , Michael Savage , wrote a book called LIBERALISM IS A MENTAL DISORDER , Ive never read the book but the title got me thinking.
Is liberalism a mental disorder? Well , maybe not a disorder but there is definatley some "flawed" thinking comming from the left these days. From Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to Hillary and MOVEON.org.
Ive set down several challenges to "libs" here and there , on different post and other than a VERY lively debate on homosexuality, have yet to be challenged(adequately) by anyone offering to "prop up" the liberal side.
I believe conservative policies are based in reality and liberal policies are based on emotion.When implementing policy for millions of people what side of your brain do you want to be working? The emotional side or the pratical side.
Im avoiding bringing up any particualr issue , in hope of bringing forth the best "lib" this blog has to offer, to debate conservative/liberal ideas and policy. This is why I blog folks... I believe in conservatism as a savior for our country and relish every chance I get to have an HONEST debate on the issues of the day.I know to a lot of you I may seem like just another Bush lovin,party line republican.....but not true. I am critical of our President and base my arguments solely in facts and research.
So...please... with the presidential election less that a year away...lets debate the policies of our two major parties ( and independents)and see who prevails.It should be entertaining and educational.

2007-12-02T15:24:00.000-06:00

I'm probably not much different than you or the people you work with , I've worked in retail/service for many years and recently took the oportunity to stay home with my new son ( 2 years old now),work a little and finally be able to write about some things I've grown increasingly passionate about over the years.My wife is an asst office manager and does well enough to see us through and we've also been smart with our money.My point is we couldnt be anymore "joe-six-pack" as Bill Clinton likes to call the workin man. I prefer " average joe" myself. I tell you these things about myself no there is not any confusion of who I am or what my motives may be in starting this blog.I am not perfect,my wife and I have both been married twice before and are well aware of the issues that arise,everyday,for the average American that have maybe not always made the best choices in life...in short what I want first and foremost is to tell you that a "conservative" is not the "wall street" capitalist,although I support capitalism strongly,also I want you to know Im not a racist as conservatives are often stereotyped.Lastly I want you to know that even though I support tax cuts for ALL americans, I am not a rich man myself...or anything even close to rich. I want to dispell the myths the sixties brought out about conservatism. Now these days , because of our two party system we are forced to articulate conservatism,as it relates to day to day government through the republican party. This is unfortunate because they are as beholden to "special interest as the democrats are but this doesnt mean we cant affect REAL CHANGE for the better.The reason the "parties are beholden to special interest is because " we the people" dont exercise our right and obligation to "self-government" and therefore dont give politicians any reason to be beholden to us.That is where we will start and throught this ,ever so important election year we will reclaim our government and ensure true freedom for generations to come.

2007-11-21T18:32:00.000-06:00

Hello from Odessa , Welcome to my Opinion Press. Feel free to comment , especially if you disagree as I love a good challenge. I look forward to sharing ideas and vigorous debate!