Nanny Calls Summit on Texting While Driving

"The Obama administration will convene a summit of experts to figure out what to do about the problem of texting while driving."

Experts? Teen-aged girls? Seriously, who is an expert on this? This kind of crap drives me insane!

The follows right in line w/ increasing taxes on tobacco, sodas, fast food, output of atmospheric gases, transportation(oil and gasoline), heating and cooling (coal). Nanny Barry wants to legislate your personal activity to control your life and dictate your activities to meet their ideological goals. Before inauguration day some pundits conjectured that Barry wanted to be loved, be a great President and get a second term. I say they are wrong; that was Billy Jeff Clinton, the glory hound. Barry is an ideologue. He wants to "transform" the country - his words, not mine.


That is why, I believe, he and Rahm and Nancy and Reid and all the other Reds in DC are rushing everything to the floor for votes. The transparency they so loudly boasted was coming under Democrat rule died before it ever saw the light of day. Not one piece of proposed legislation has been posted online for the 48 or 72 hours of review they claimed it would be. Barry and his ilk want to hurry and push through as much transformational legislation that we will have a very tough time overturning legislatively - if ever. They also know that if they get the unions more power and money they are almost ensured re-election in perpetuity. They can do this through EFCA, immigration "reform" (read: amnesty for illegals), government giveaways, control (manipulation) of the census.


They see money as power and they want both. They'll tax you into oblivion, then give you your money back as they see fit - only for doing the things they want you to do. Make no mistake, taxes are going up on everyone - indirect taxes you'll pay in the form of higher prices and income taxes. Have a great day!

See a good recap of the situation around the above posters here.

Local Idiocy = Federal Idiocy

In case you couldn’t tell, I am growing more and more fed up w/ government “leaders” at all levels. If you watch the news or listen to any talk radio outside of NPR (or its network and cable equivalents) then you know pretty much what the Fed is doing, and trying to do, these days. It is pretty sickening. Sadly, though, the BS doesn’t stop in DC.

Our local city council in their infinite wisdom, prudence and logical forethought relied on a $3M grant from the Fed to fund city police and fire services in an effort to close the $20M budget deficit. (There is also a $40M deficit projected for next year. How much do you want to bet it turns out to be bigger?) Guess what? Shocker of all shockers, the grant didn’t come through. This is the same city council that tried to close last year’s deficit in part by installing red light cameras to catch local taxpayers running red lights, then mail tickets to the car’s registered owner (maybe not the driver), to raise funds (hidden tax) instead of cutting costs. Great idea folks.

This little ploy to threaten to lay off cops and firefighters is very similar to the California legislators “worrying” that great state may have to lay off teachers and cops and open up the prison doors in order to cut costs. They still haven’t done it months later.

But back to The ‘Nati… I understand that in bad times all departments need to make sacrifices, but that is only after all unnecessary programs have been slashed and/or killed. This is definitely not the case. They found it necessary to put in $3M for a new environmental department for a 4th layer of EPA-type oversight (isn’t $3M what the supposed grant was for?), they want to give section 8 housing in a new riverfront commercial / condo development downtown, etc. and they are pursuing a trollycar / streetcar on a fixed track route. This would cost at least $100M, all for a downtown area near a part of town recently ranked #1 on deadliest neighborhoods list in the nation?! WTF?? Talk about an Epic Fail if that goes through. How many tourist and suburbanites are gonna be mugged or killed on the streetcar if they build it? We’re already claiming we can’t afford the cops and extra jail space. (The voters did turn down a wopping tax increase to build a new jail, but if they could have come up with a plan for a jail at a reasonable price, it would have gotten the votes.)

There is still a little problem of a $7M deficit that they haven’t addressed – and have gone into a summer recess. I had this very short exchange on Twitter with a member of city council. The first 3 were posted before I logged in to check the updates.

Council Member: Sigh. Another suburbanite telling Enq street car is wasteful and analysis needed. Well, we did anlysis, which is why we want to build it.
Council Member: Maybe city residents should start complaining more about the billions we spend on sprawl highways to subsidize your suburban lifestyle?
Council Member: Well, we want an urban lifestyle here--based in transit, not 3-car garages.
Me (ajh1836): @Council Member: urban life=hi pop density. you have 2 clamp dwn on crime b4 any1 agrees 2 live dwntwn & use streetcar sys. can't RiF cops.
Council Member:(By Direct message) Well, 64 percent of our budget goes to public safety--$103 mill to CPD. Obviously this Council prioritizes safety.
Me (ajh1836): (By Direct Message) Yet Council threatens 2 layoff cops & firefighters because foolishly relied on gov grant? Politcal tactic? other cuts (enviro dept) better.

And then the conversation was ended. Why didn’t he (or likely his aide) respond? Notice how “they” responded by direct message, out of the public timeline? Easier to be snarky and make misleading assertions where the public won’t see. Pathetic,but not unexpected.

So, is it any wonder people across the country are fed up with their government at all levels? When you hear threats of layoffs for cops and opening of prison doors, is it any wonder gun sales are up across the country?

Here is an article from a senior law enforcement professional in Columbus, OH. Sobering stuff. It isn’t just crazy, end of the world, folks buying up guns and ammo. Cops, grannies, working stiffs... all worried about a breakdown of government services, mainly cops and jails, riots due to loss of jobs/income, etc., general disenfranchisement and distrust of government - buying firearms and getting their concealed carry permits, if Nanny allows it. Do you see what is going on in France? Could it be coming here? Throughout history, the best way to control a people is to disarm them. A majority of the population are already mindless sheeple waiting for their feed at the Public trough. Maybe it won't be too hard for the gov to take that next step. They tried it in New Orleans after Katrina...
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Every move the Congress and President have made over the last year (obviously longer, but we’ll stick to recent events) has been about control. Not the welfare of the people or the future of the country. As the Fed amasses more power and takes oversight of, stock in, and partnerships with, private business we’re further down the fascist road. How many “leaders” move in and out of government and private sector jobs in big corporations? Goldman Sachs, Fannie/ Freddie, SEIU, AFL-CIO, ACORN, etc, etc. And the state / local level politicians, and Congressional Reps grovel for scraps of bailout and stimulus money, “sweeteners” (aka bribes), selling their states and constituents out in hopes of getting enough dollars for the next campaign and enough uninformed voters to keep them in power.

“I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them, but to inform them by education.” – Thomas Jefferson

Uh-oh....not the change he was talking about.

I normally don't have much use for polls. I think you can make them say whatever you want them to say by changing up a few words in the questions / making them a bit confusing / less straight-forward. But we'll assume Rasmussen is reliable and respectable. Barry went negative for the first time a week or two ago, then hit -2, -3.... Now this week he's hit -5 and -8 in two straight days of reporting.

Is it the growing deficit for this year, the mounting national debt, the 2009 Euorpean/ Mid-East apology tours he's been on, the lack of transparency he's pushing with Crazy-Eyes Pelosi and Whorehouse Harry, the capNtax / Gorebal Warming nonsense, the Sotomayor nomination, the nomination (and confirmation) of transnationalist Harold Koh, paying back the unions big time with the GM and Chrysler bailout/nationalization/restructure/screwing of the primary creditors, pushing EFCA, agreeing to a nuclear disarmament deal w/ Russia, staying silent on the Iran protestors, but siding w/the Leftist would-be dictator in Honduras in record time (with Castro, Chavez, et al), etc. etc. Quite a list off the top of my head.

So, maybe, just maybe the American Sheeple and starting to wake up and say to themselves, "This doesn't seem right. Maybe this isn't what I bargained for when I flushed my vote down the toilet and let the patients run the asylum." I hope I'm right and the tide is turning. Only time will tell, but it may already be too late save the ship.

And some random notes from the news......

Holy crap. Big Nance did something I actually agree with. Don't know why she did it, and for now, I don't care. This Rep. Jackson-Lee is a whack-job. She's been pimping this resolution so much it is sickening. Check out this nice recap at RedState.com. As a bonus you'll get to see Rep. Peter King (R-NY) turn a nice little partiotic piece into a great tirade against MJ and the media. I don't agree with the guy on everything he says and does, but on this one, I think he's pretty much got it down.

Of course the money is going to those who put him in office. I don't necessarily think there is anything conspiratorial going on here. Like the article says, they are just signing checks and sending them out to whoever asks and maybe qualifies. If you look at a breakdown of the '08 Presidential voting like this one, with the county bubbles and county leaders filters, you see that Barry won in the NE, Midwest and West coast where there are large cities and mostly urban population centers. So if you ship the money off to big cities blindly, you end up giving the money to those who voted for you.

Dear lord! First he gets punked by Chavez in the whole sucker "book gift" photo-op at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, then he bows to the king of Saudi Arabia, bows the Putin, now he's glad-handing it with Qaddafi? WTF? I'm not buying this whole "repairing the US image around the world BS." You can "repair" our image without making us look like the class punk whose next in line to get his head flushed down the toilet after gym class. This guy doesn't know the first thing about earning respect. Kissing ass just gets you laughed at and used. If America has been so horrible that he needs to "transform" it, why have we been the lone superpower in the world for the last two decades?

And a good story to end the day. Video of a guy who fought off a car jacking punk in Florida. It's great to see the good guy win!

No More Green Guilt - By Keith Lockitch

I pulled this article from Glenn Beck's free daily email / newsletter. The article appeared in his bi-monthly Fusion magazine. I think it pretty well sums up the issue with listening to the wacko enviro-terrorists and

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Every investment prospectus warns that "past performance is no guarantee of future results." But suppose that an investment professional's record contains nothing but losses, of failed prediction after failed prediction. Who would still entrust that investor with his money?

Yet, in public policy there is one group with a dismal track record that Americans never seem to tire of supporting. We invest heavily in its spurious predictions, suffer devastating losses, and react by investing even more, never seeming to learn from the experience. The group I’m talking about is the environmentalist movement.

Consider their track record—like the dire warnings of catastrophic over-population. Our unchecked consumption, we were told, was depleting the earth's resources and would wipe humanity out in a massive population crash. Paul Ehrlich's 1968 bestseller, The Population Bomb, forecasted hundreds of millions of deaths per year throughout the 1970s, to be averted, he insisted, only by mass population control "by compulsion if voluntary methods fail."

But instead of global-scale famine and death, the 1970s witnessed an agricultural revolution. Despite a near-doubling of world population, food production continues to grow as technological innovation creates more and more food on each acre of farmland. The U.S., which has seen its population grow from 200 to 300 million, is more concerned about rampant obesity than a shortage of food.

The Alar scare in 1989 is another great example. The NRDC, an environmentalist lobby group, engineered media frenzy over the baseless assertion that Alar, an apple ripening agent, posed a cancer threat. The ensuing panic cost the apple industry over $200 million dollars, and Alar was pulled from the market even though it was a perfectly safe and value-adding product.
Or consider the campaign against the insecticide DDT, beginning with Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring. The world had been on the brink of eradicating malaria using DDT—but for Carson and her followers, controlling disease-carrying mosquitoes was an arrogant act of "tampering" with nature. Carson issued dire warnings that nature was "capable of striking back in unexpected ways" unless people showed more "humility before [its] vast forces." She asserted, baselessly, that among other things DDT would cause a cancer epidemic. Her book led to such a public outcry that, despite its life-saving benefits and mountains of scientific evidence supporting its continued use, DDT was banned in the United States in 1972. Thanks to environmentalist opposition, DDT was almost completely phased out worldwide. And while there is still zero evidence of a DDT cancer risk, the resurgence of malaria needlessly kills over a million people a year.

Time and time again, the supposedly scientific claims of environmentalists have proven to be pseudo-scientific nonsense, and the Ehrlichs and Carsons of the world have proven to be the Bernard Madoffs of science. Yet Americans have ignored the evidence and have instead invested in their claims—accepting the blame for unproven disasters and backing coercive, harmful "solutions."

Today, of course, the Green doomsday prediction is for catastrophic global warming to destroy the planet—something that environmentalists have pushed since at least the early 1970s, when they were also worried about a possible global cooling shifting the planet into a new ice age.
But in this instance, just as with Alar, DDT, and the population explosion, the science is weak and the "solutions" drastic. We are told that global warming is occurring at an accelerating rate, yet global temperatures have been flat for the last decade. We are told that global warming is causing more frequent and intense hurricanes, yet the data doesn’t support such a claim. We are warned of a potentially catastrophic sea level rise of 20 feet over the next century, but that requires significant melting of the land-based ice in Antarctica and Greenland. Greenland has retained its ice sheet for over 100,000 years despite wide-ranging temperatures and Antarctica has been cooling moderately for the last half-century.

Through these distortions of science we are again being harangued to support coercive policies. We are told that our energy consumption is destroying the planet and that we must drastically reduce our carbon emissions immediately. Never mind that energy use is an indispensable component of everything we do, that 85 percent of the world's energy is carbon-based, or that there are no realistic, abundant alternatives available any time soon, and that billions of people are suffering today from lack of energy.

Despite all of that, Americans seem to once again be moving closer to buying the Green investment pitch and backing destructive Green policies. Why don't we learn from past experience? Do you think a former Madoff investor would hand over money to him again?
It's not that we're too stupid to learn, it's that we are holding onto a premise that distorts our understanding of reality. Americans are the most successful individuals in history - even in spite of this economic downturn - in terms of material wealth and the quality of life and happiness it brings. We are heirs to the scientific and industrial revolutions, which have increased life expectancy from 30 years to 80 and improved human life in countless, extraordinary ways. Through our ingenuity and productive effort, we have achieved an unprecedented prosperity by reshaping nature to serve our needs. Yet we have always regarded this productivity and prosperity with a certain degree of moral suspicion. The Judeo-Christian ethic of guilt and self-sacrifice leads us to doubt the propriety of our success and makes us susceptible to claims that we will ultimately face punishment for our selfishness--that our prosperity is sinful and can lead only to an apocalyptic judgment day.

Environmentalism preys on our moral unease and fishes around for doomsday scenarios. If our ever-increasing population or life-enhancing chemicals have not brought about the apocalypse, then it must be our use of fossil fuels that will. Despite the colossal failures of past Green predictions, we buy into the latest doomsday scare because, on some level, we have accepted an undeserved guilt. We lack the moral self-assertiveness to regard our own success as virtuous; we think we deserve punishment.

It is time to stop apologizing for prosperity. We must reject the unwarranted fears spread by Green ideology by rejecting unearned guilt. Instead of meekly accepting condemnation for our capacity to live, we should proudly embrace our unparalleled ability to alter nature for our own benefit as the highest of virtues.

Let’s stop wallowing in Green guilt. It’s time to recapture our Founding Fathers' admiration for the pursuit of each individual's own happiness.
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Keith Lockitch, PhD in physics, is a resident fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, focusing on science and environmentalism.

The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights is located in Washington, DC. It is a Division of the Ayn Rand Institute, whose mission is to advance Ayn Rand's ideas. To learn more go to http://www.aynrand.org/

Minnesota, You Idots‏

(Not Everyone, just those that voted for this guy or didn't vote)

Al Franken?!? This guy???


Hollywood gave him the money and you guys put him in (though likely with the help of ACORN and definitely with the help of the courts. Now the Socialists, err, Democrats in the Senate have a filibuster proof majority. Bend over folks, the "change" can get kicked into high gear at anytime (assuming it isn't already- I "hope" not). This guy is not qualified, has no sense of rational thought and will vote the Party line without even thinking.

Isn't the Senate supposed to be one of, if not the most, respected bodies in the nation? And no this clown is a member? Too bad it isn't funny.

Have to go scrub my eyes with a brillow pad now.

The Traitorous 8

Coming from the email link for the first time....

We knew pretty much what to expect from the Dems. But 8 House Repulicans, too?

Arlen Spector must be so proud.

These are the 8 pieces of waste politicians who should use this Congressional break, to actually talk to their constituents and find out how many really back on this horrendous capNtax bill they just let through. And then beg for forgiveness. Which they may get, but no more votes for re-election.

Bono Mack (CA)
Castle (DE)
Kirk (IL)
McHugh (NY)
LoBiondo (NJ)
Lance (NJ)
Reichert (WA)
Smith (NJ)

Don't forget about these losers when you're paying more for your electricity, natural gas, gasoline, food, clothes, cars, airline tickets, tires, building materials, fertilizer, property taxes, etc etc etc. Everything! This is an economy and job killer.

Even if you can't vote against them in 2010, donate to their opponents in the Primary.

I think I'm going to be sick.

Quick! Look Over Here....

Look, I liked the guy. He was great. He was on TV almost every weeknight for decades. Ed McMahon was so comfortable with himself playing "second" to Johnny Carson. Many think he made Johnny better, setting up his jokes, laughing at the jokes, making his own, etc. And who could forget the Publisher's Clearinghouse work he did. Classic.

Never cared for Farrah, but can't say I watched her much. Maybe she was hot in her younger days. Beauty fades and from what I saw, she turned out to be nuts. Remember her appearance on Letterman years back?

As for MJ, I can't say I care much. Nobody, including me, ever wishes for, or rejoices in someone's demise, but..... is anyone surprised? He made good music, but his personal life was nuts and he may or may not have spent "alone time" with little boys. I can't respect that and I can't pretend to get all broken up over his death. And to top it all off, he was reportedly in debt to the tune of a "measly" $400M!!!! WTF???!?? He sold 61M albums in the US alone! How many people is he screwing over via this debt? Bye bye to all his music rights, his home, cars, cash on hand, furniture, art, dishes, bath towels, toothbrush, old noses, etc.

The media fawns and crowds weep. Meanwhile, back on the Hill, our duly elected distinguished leaders in the House took another step to royally screw the country (mainly taxpayers and businesses w/ out connections) with the Crap and Tax bill. Where is the media on this? UCLA med center trying to find out what MJ's last meal was. The utter dumbing down of our society is leading to the ruination of the country. Hopefully, nobody will die when ObamaCare or EFCA come up for a vote. Or God forbid there be a rainstorm, or a celebrity cat fight.

Can we talk about the N Korean's and their nukes? Can we talk about China looking to dump the dollar and not buy our debt any longer? The trillions we're printing? Harold Koh got confirmed by the Senate - anyone hear about that? He's a bad dude and, like Barry, wants to "transform" the nation. But, we lost MJ and Farrah ON THE SAME DAY!!!! OMG! For sure! What a joke.

A Great Article and My Ramblings

Below is the full text of today's article by Thomas Sowell on Townhall.com. I thought I'd save you an extra mouse click and just post it here. Mr. Sowell always makes intellegent and timely points; this is no exception.

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"Burke and Obama" by Thomas Sowell
The other day I sought a respite from current events by re-reading some of the writings of 18th century British statesman Edmund Burke. But it was not nearly as big an escape as I had thought it would be.

When Burke wrote of his apprehension about "new power in new persons," I could not help think of the new powers that have been created by which a new President of the United States -- a man with zero experience in business -- can fire the head of General Motors and tell banks how to run their businesses.

Not only is Barack Obama new to the presidency, he is new to running any organization. One of Burke's fears was that "we may place our confidence in the virtue of those who have never been tried."

Neither eloquence nor zeal was a substitute for experience, according to Burke. He said, "eloquence may exist without a proportionate degree of wisdom." As for zeal, Burke said: "It is no excuse for presumptuous ignorance that it is directed by insolent passion."

The Obama administration's going back and forth on the question whether American intelligence agents who forced information out of captured terrorist leaders will be subjected to legal jeopardy, even though they were told at the time that what they were doing was not only legal but a service to the nation, came to mind when reading Burke's warning about the dangers of continuing to change the rules and values by which people lived.

Burke asked how we could expect a sense of honor to exist when "no man could know what would be the test of honour in a nation, continually varying the standard of its coin?"

The current drive to take from "the rich" for the benefit of others came to mind when reading Burke's warning against creating a situation where "any one description of citizens should be brought to regard any of the others as their proper prey."

He also warned that "those who attempt to level, never equalise." What they end up doing is concentrating power in their own hands-- and Burke saw such new powers as dangerous, even if they were used only sparingly at first.

He said, "the true danger is, when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients and by parts." He also said: "It is by lying dormant a long time, or being at first very rarely exercised, that arbitrary power steals upon a people."

People who don't like "the rich" or "big business" or the banks may be happy that President Obama is sticking it to them. But such arbitrary powers can be turned on anybody. As Robert Burns said: "Send not to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee." There was a lot of wisdom in the 18th century.

The Constitution of the United States set out to limit the powers of the federal government but judges have greatly eroded those limitations over the years and the dispensing of bailout money has allowed the Obama administration to exercise powers that the Constitution never gave them.

Edmund Burke understood that, no matter what form of government you had, in the end the character of those who wielded the powers of government was crucial. He said: "Constitute government how you please, infinitely the greater part of it must depend upon the exercise of the powers which are left at large to the prudence and uprightness of ministers of state."

He also said, "of all things, we ought to be the most concerned who and what sort of men they are that hold the trust of everything that is dear to us." He feared particularly the kind of man "whose whole importance has begun with his office, and is sure to end with it"-- the kind of man "who before he comes into power has no friends, or who coming into power is obliged to desert his friends." Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers and others came to mind.

The biggest challenge to America -- and to the world -- today is the danger of Iran with nuclear weapons. President Obama is acting as if this is something he can finesse with talks or deals. Worse yet, he may think it is something we can live with.

Burke had something to say about things like that as well: "There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief." Acting -- not talking.
-------------------------------------------------

Now my comments......

I am always amazed when I hear people today dismiss thinkers from history, saying that "they aren't relevant anymore" or "times have changed," or "we are more enlightened now." Alot of these comments are directed at the Constitution and anything that might be related to morals, ethics, honor, justice, etc. Activist judges, politicians and other "leaders" want us to "evolve" and see the Constitution as a "living document."

They have no problem taking rights away - from certain groups - as they see fit, and possibly turning over rights and our sovereignty to the U.N. It is incredible how far we've moved away from the original foundation of the country thus far, but there is still quite a bit they can do - and they are trying. The growth of government over the past few administrations is ridiculous (both Bush's and Clinton included). Look at all the departments and "czar" appointment positions that have been created. (I had this written out and then I saw Beck on a tape delay, and he counted 14 "czars" now! Absolutely, f--in' ridiculous.) The Fed government is amassing power to the -nth degree every year / week / day and there is no end in sight.

The whole thing is a mockery, a travesty, a sham, etc. The circus that was the "Climate Change Hearing" where Chairman Waxman hired a damn speed reader to read the BS 900+ page bill. The arrogance is amazing. I'm starting to believe we need to wipe the whole lot of them out of Washington. I could possibly think of 10-15 Reps and Senators who I trusted to stay around passed their current term.

Senators......Demint(CS), Kyl(AZ), and Sessions(AL)? Maybe....
Reps.....Flake(AZ), Hunter(CA), Pence(IN), Bachmann(MN), Shuler(NC), Paul(TX), Poe(TX), Chaffetz(UT), and Ryan(WI). For some reason I guess I trust Reps more? Or is it just that there are so many more of them? I'll have to think about this list, but at first blush, it seems to be it. The only way I think it would change is by subtraction. Pretty sad state of affairs.

One last thing that pissed me off this week, and it is related. When you talk about government taking more and more control, anyone who tries to argue this, I believe, is either completely ignorant, a total idiot, or has a job in government. "Global warming" is a prime example. They claim that the science is settled and refuse to debate the facts and data with anyone who has real knowledge on the topic. Waxman said he relied on the UN scientists to write the climate bill. What about the 30,000+ scientists who disagree w/ the UN findings and reports???

So, Crazy-eyes Pelosi ran over to China to talk about "climate change." (And of course you've noticed that they don't call it global warming anymore, since the Left using the old trick of changing the name of things to distract and divert attention and change the topic when they see they are losing. ) And for clarification, Nancy rode her private government jet to China. Did Al Gore say anything about her "carbon footprint" on this one? Did he say anything when Barry flew AF1 to Colorado to sign his bill with the solar panel folks? Not very green, guys.......

Again, I digress. Nancy said "I do see this opportunity for climate change to be ... a game-changer. It's a place where human rights — looking out for the needs of the poor in terms of climate change and healthy environment — are a human right." Then she said, "Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory ... of how we are taking responsibility." Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on there Big Nance. Back it up. People don't want government controlling their thermostat, regulating what days you can drive, how far, what you'll eat, etc. Contrary to what Colin Powell said recently, Americans don't want more government. The GM and Chrysler take over / bankruptcies are a way to dictate what cars are made available for sale - and of course give back to the unions for all of their election support - but I've gone through that whole thing already.

Free Help?

Good quote I heard this week on the Dennis Prager Show, in relation to the government: "Every helping hand is a controlling hand." I was already told this week that this was very cynical, and maybe it is, but I think it is more realistic than anything, especially since it came in the context of "government help." Ever heard or read the line, "Relax, I'm from the Government. I'm here to help?" They probably aren't going to help, and they almost always want something in return.

The government doesn't give anything for free. There are usually more than tax in place or coming to cover the cost. Education isn't free, whether it's grammar school where property is generally taxed, state/Federal loans come with interest and now Barry wants the gov. to take over the whole student loan market. If you want a loan for college, you're going to have to give a few years in "public service" (read "Youth Corps" or "Brown Shirts"). Welfare and government housing aren't totally free. The gov. wants something in return or wants to tell you how to live. In most areas, guns are prohibited in public housing complexes. Can anyone explain the rationale there, let along the legality? The NRA just settled a lawsuit in January of this year with the San Francisco Housing Authority which had a inserted a clause in their lease ducments that banned guns in the public housing residences. They have agreed to remove the provisions and admited that they are not lawful. Score one for the good guys.

Personally, I think this can apply to other areas of life as well. I do not like being in debt to others, especially financially. I believe the adage that "the borrower is slave to the lender."

Barry Loves Big Labor

"Craig Becker and Mark Pearce are President Barack Obama’s nominees to fill two of three vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). .......Becker is associate general counsel to the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO."

No shit, really? A lawyer for the SEIU and AFL-CIO? I said it before, it's all about payback now.

And how about this little piece of info that hasn't gotten much, if any reporting - Barry decided that the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) in the U.S. Department of Labor can do without $4M of it's 2009 budget for 2010, a decrease from $45M to $41M. For anyone who doesn't know, this is the government agency that investigates fraud, embezzlement, etc. by union leaders and officials. It's a good thing that corruption is not a serious issue anymore in Big Labor. Did I miss that goernment report? It must have been released on a Friday afternoon.

Check out the link to this story over at Atlas Shrugs for a very solid rundown of the stories linking Barry w/ the SEIU and ACORN.

Barry's Disdain for America

I have not read such a complete and well documented article detailing the numerous acts of disdain and harming America as I have here. I don't know that I would go so far as to say Barry "hates" America, but he certainly doesn't love it as much as an American President should.

You could see it during the campaign when he repeatedly stated that he wanted to fundamentally "transform" and "change" America. Anyone who loves their country does not want to see it transformed. Improved upon, sure, but not transformed. Dennis Prager has written some great pieces on this issue, and honestly, is who I read to form this opinion. Mr. Prager has the best political and social commentary on American radio today. If he's not on in your market, you can stream his show online (12-3p) or join his site and get podcasts.

Back to Barry. I believe he is an amalgamation of left and radical left figures from throughout history. I do not think he has a single core belief or principle, but only acts as the social and political zealot playbook tells him he should act. He is not a religious man with a strong foundation of character as W. had (like him or not). This was obvious during the campaign and in reviewing his life history and voting record in Illinois and the US Senate. But look at how much he pressed that he was an avid church-goer, albeit not to a church most would recognize as one, but in the fact that he never joined a church or attended more than maybe one service in his first several months in office. He was in DC the whole time and never made it? I don't mind that he didn't go (I wish I could say I attended church more often), but why did he profess so strongly that he had a great church attendance record? It's all part of the facade; the illusion; the mask.

Glenn Beck asked this week if anyone had given much thought to what the country will look like later this year, or at the end of Barry's first term, given all the legislation he's passed and spending he's pledged - not to mention what he still wants to do. I fear we will not recognize the America of 2008 in 2012.

Intro / Welcome, etc.

So, this is a first attempt at this sort of thing. I'm not sure exactly where this endevour will go, but hopefully it will at least be interesting and maybe somewhat cathartic for me. I don't have time to waste these days, so maybe there won't be many postings we'll see. I did manage to get some lists, recommendations, etc. posted to the right, so at least I was somewhat productive during the time spent staring at the screen. Here is a political cartoon from 1934 that I found today on the website of James T. Harris after seeing his appearance on The Factor. (He found it here: http://www.tommcmahon.net/) The picture details may be hard to see and the words hard to read here, so save it and enlarge it OR go the listed link to view it. It will be well worth your time.