Looking for a diamond in a manure pile

So, we've "officially" kicked off the 2012 Presidential Election Cycle. We've seen what the Iowan people have had to say about it and I'm not too surprised at the outcome, but I feel that the press is putting WAY too much emphasis on it. Perhaps because there is too little to talk about. Well, there was too little to talk about since our Beloved Present-dent has made some really goofy decisions on some appointments and his cuts to the military the past couple of days. Not to mention the new mortgage bailout fiasco he unleashed today. The man truly scares me.

As a conservative I tend to (mostly) align myself with the republican party.  I tend to label myself  as socially neutral, small government and fiscally conservative. There are no candidates in this race that I feel truly comfortable supporting.  Romney and Perry are both flip-floppy and therefore morally challenged. Gingrich also falls into this camp as his record indicates he's willing to compromise and support items that are, basically, untenable.  Santorum is a bit of a bright spot at the moment and his platform  is most in line with my personal beliefs, but his history in the Senate is wacky and doesn't support his current positions. Paul is too libertarian for my taste and I'm a small government guy. That says something. Huntsman is a dark horse who may surprise some people, but is too much of a dark horse to garner too much attention and Bachmann should have dropped out a long time ago.

Our country is in trouble as we all know. Our debt has now exceeded our GDP and we've lost our AAA+ rating. We owe everything to the Chinese and as our government keeps moving forward with quantitative easing (printing actual cash) and the dollar keeps falling we are facing an issue like none other that we've ever faced.

People keep talking about "supporting the 99%" and making things easier, then why are they (or we, since we voted these dopes into office) allowing prices to keep rising by the allowing the devaluation of the dollar?   We have to get this turned around and turned around soon. We have to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US and keep the unions out of the workplace.

Aside: As long as a company treats people fairly, then a union is null and void. I work for a wonderful, small company in chemical manufacturing and a union has NO chance of ever getting a foot in the door. The mines in our neck of the woods are non-union and the miners here all make better wages, benefits and safe workplaces that their compatriots in the union mines do not enjoy. Unions have tried to come into the local mines but failed miserably. Why? They could NOT guarantee a better wage, conditions or benefits.

We have a long, long road back from the brink, but we have to turn around and take that first step. The socialist-leaning democrats are not willing to take those steps. I don't know that any of the people currently vying for the republican nomination have the intestinal fortitude to get us turned, nor do most in the House or Senate have the will to do this. But it must be done.

And so it goes...

Yup. The crying, whiny, mad, angry, disillusioned masses on all sides are waxing verbose on the ups and downs of this election.

It was expected and if it is a suprise to you then I recommend that you crawl back to whatever rock you were under and hide your head, because life is going to get even stranger.

We are at a cross-roads in this country. A massive, multi-option intersection that is commonly referred to in my industry as a "malfunction junction". We need to choose the right one before the next truck comes lumbering down the path and flattens us.

As I write this, the dollar is in a free fall, the Fed just pumped another $600,000,000,000 dollars into the "economy" in a Keynesian attempt to animate a dead thing in a manner that would make Shelley proud and we're on the verge of an economic implosion the likes of which the world has never seen.

This has got to stop. We need to get our stuff under control and pick the path that will take us out of the muck and back to the top.

"A democracy fails the moment the people realize they can write themselves gifts from the treasury."

~Aristotle~

And friends, that is exactly what we've been doing. Our Government has been borrowing money that it is going to have trouble paying back. It has become so commonplace and put so many people out of touch with reality that they believed they could also borrow money beyond their means and be ok. We called it the "housing bubble". The mess that was started by our government, perpetuated by a bunch of greedy thieves and taken up whole-heartedly by the masses. Most people's credit is a mess and their finances are on the edge of total chaos. Most American's believe that they should have the best of everything. Biggest house, nicest car, full tank, stylish clothes and our system allows people to live that dream without honestly showing the reality of it.

We cannot maintain this.

So, what is the plan to fix it? Tax the rich. By golly, why not? They HAVE the money to pay off our debt and solve the country's problems. Right? Wrong. If you were to liquidate Mr. Soros' fortune today and give it to the government, it wouldn't even put a dent in what the Fed spent yesterday.

You've heard that the top percent of earners already pay the lions share of taxes anyway. Most don't buy that as you also hear, "They have accountants figuring out how to keep them from paying their taxes." And that is true to some extent. But, there is a larger majority that don't pay taxes at all! Are you one of them? Did you get back more than you paid in? Then you are part of the problem.

We've grown our government by demanding that they provide us with this, that and the other. We've allowed our government to grow by failing to watch what they are doing and holding them accountable. We have allowed ourselves the luxury of writing gifts to ourselves from our own treasury.

We need to do the following; right away:

• Balanced budget amendment. This needs to restrict the spending to no more than the government takes in for the previous fiscal year.

• Clarity in Legislation amendment Where all laws put forth for consideration are a single item issue. No tacking laws and funding onto the back of a seemingly innocuous bill. And all bills be written in such a manner that they are clear, concise and eliminate loopholes. I'm thinking that limiting bills to ten pages would do the trick.

• Flat tax for everyone. Eliminate the tax refund and everybody pays their share. Flat - say five or six percent. You could even make this a sales tax rather than an income tax. This would eliminate the IRS in large part. Save a chuck of change right there. Simplifies life, too.

• Shrink Government. We have a preponderance of bureaucratic nonsense in this country that is almost totally unnecessary. Most of them are not even Constitutionally legal! I do see the need for some commonality of laws that govern, say...interstate commerce. A truck driver shouldn't have to worry about what laws change as they cross from Pennsylvania into Ohio, or the necessity of the National Weather Service. But Education? Arts? No. these do not need funding. These should be left to the private sector and/or states exclusively.

• Set a plan to pay off the debt. This may need to be an amendment as well to keep it on track! But, we need a plan to pay off our national debt in a given amount of time. It won't happen over night, either.

• Charge an additional "non-employment" tax to those who ship jobs out of the country. One that can't be passed on to the consumer. We need our jobs back. We need to be protectionist of our country and her goods. There is a finite amount of money in the world and we've always had the lions share of it because we made the lions share of the worlds goods. Henry Ford started this whole mess because he wanted a faster, cheaper way to make goods. And he found it. BUT! the cost was finding automatons to do one simple job all day long. The only way was to up the pay. Then the unions got involved from a safety stand-point and slowly evolved to a profit venture. I don't like unions, personally, but if you take them back to their original intent (safety - primarily) then bring them on. BUT, make the US a Right to Work nation.

• Last, we need to re-regulate banking, lending and credit agencies to help keep the common man within due bounds and living within his means. Not regulate investment banking per se where a man can go and propose an idea and get money to pursue it, but personal lending; housing, cars and the like. When people only spend what they can afford, then prices and expenses will fall into line. If item Y cost's $X.xx today, but people don't buy it, then the price will fall until people do, or the company goes under. Supply and demand at it's finest. It's a known fact that prices will go up when demand is high and supply is low. Gasoline, food, hotel rooms and the like. Yep. You ever read the "rack rate" on the back of the hotel door? That is there by law to prevent the hotelier from gouging you during a blizzard. But you see it all the time. Why does a room go from $70 one week to $259 the next? Demand. It's also a known fact that some prices go up during shortages (canned food) but don't come back down as the situation corrects itself. So, when Del Monte raises the price on string beans because Florida froze it's royal naynays off, but the crops come in ok, don't buy the Del Monte brand. The prices will come down.

These are going to be hard decisions to make. Things aren't going to correct themselves overnight. Many will tell me that they are all pipe dreams and maybe they are, but we are at the point where we have to make the hard choices. China owns us right now. We should be beholden to NO country. Not for anything. Money, goods, energy...anything! We have to take steps to correct what we've screwed up. We need to limit our gluttony or face the consequences. And those are too terrible to contemplate.

And so it begins...

Election day. November 2, 2010. Is it the start of something big? A return to common sense? Or just a flash in the pan?

One cannot help but thing of the film "Vendetta" and the connotation that it brings.

Regardless of the outcome of today's various and sundry races and ballot issues "it" will begin. By this time tomorrow there will come the accusations, the tooth-gnashing, demands for recounts and lawsuits. The "found" ballots in trunks, attics and where ever else they are "stashed". The lost ballots of the disenfranchised. The heavy, dirty, ugly side of our democratic form of government.

We need to find a solid, honest form of one person (see, I can be PC), one vote. Biometric scanner comes to mind. Do it when you register, do it when you vote and any other votes by that biometric entity would be invalid and that person marked for investigation. A person could contrive to register multiple times, but a comparison matrix would eliminate all duplicate biometric signatures and mark that person for investigation.

And re-counts should be done by an out of state team of certified counters and the expense shouldered by the person who demanded it. These should NOT be allowed to drag out for weeks, months and/or years.

Again, these may all be pipe dreams. The ideas are definitely outside the "norm" and would require a major paradigm shift (ugh - old buzz phrase hauntings) by ALL the politicians AND the public. Any attempt to positively identify a voter has always met with stiff resistance and you have to wonder why, unless something shady was/is going on. But it needs to be done.

Internet voting is too rife with complications to ever be practicable for the foreseeable future. But something needs done to stop all the grief that follows any election these days.

A brief comparison study

People have been comparing our President to FDR. I've been looking back and I have to agree with them. FDR brought this country many of our socialist institutions that we have today. Our President is trying to do the same; bring us many more socialist programs. Programs that have no constitutional basis what so ever.

I agree that we need to have some major health care reform, but the only input that the government should have is to design a set of rules that would allow for national competition of all the insurance companies across all state lines. Also, and I almost can't believe that I'm saying this, a light regulation of the insurance industry that disallows them to drop or deny policies for any reason.

I digress, this post is not about health care. It is about the comparison of Obama to Roosevelt.

Given the price tags of all the policies implemented by FDR and trying to be implemented by Obama, and given the state of our country both then and now we can say that history is, indeed, repeating itself. The Democrats had control of both houses and the presidency, the same as today. However, things really didn't improve a lot.

FDR died while in office and we saw another great American step into office: Truman. It was during his presidency that things began to come unraveled. FDR's policy costs began to catch up with our budget and the cost of the war didn't help (again with the amazing comparisons). Americans were almost as financially oppressed as they were during the thirties. There were HUGE food and materials shortages and retail costs were sky rocketing as much as 6% in one month!

And all of this led to something not totally unprecedented in politics, but damning none the less: a total sweep by the opposing party.

Now, I'm not suggesting that President Obama is going to die in office. God forbid that would happen. I don't like his policies, but I wouldn't wish that on his family in any way, shape or form. Rather, I'm suggesting that his attitudes and policies are driving this country to the brink. We are going to become so financially unstable that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are going to be impossible.

And, as before, that will lead to another Republican Sweep. And the Democrats are cheering this on; Obama is more like FDR than anybody else in history. They need to stop and take a look at what they are saying and use the old 20/20 hind sight to see what they are saying and where it will lead them.

Republicans Sweep Mid-term Elections in 1946

Here be monsters...

Nine Stories of Failed Currency

We are headed here.  Fast. President Bush started the ball rolling with the war spending and that was then exponentially increased by the Demolition-crats and the  RHINOS trying to appear all soft and fuzzy in the face of the coming elections. Elections which the Demolitions won and with the urging of POTUS-O have spent us into new, uncharted financial territory.

Explorers of old set out with NO idea where they were going and pretty certain that the world had an edge that they were going to fall off of, but still they pressed on.  Our leaders, with our permission, have set out on a similar journey, the difference being that we KNOW where this course is going to take us and we can SEE the edge of ruin that we are going to fall off of in short order.  Fiscal conservatism is gravely wounded and floundering under the weight of the masses who expect to have it all without the pain and effort of actual work and sacrifice that comes with any good reward worth having.

If we don't change our current course then we are going to totally weaken our economy to the point that the dollar is going to be devalued like those mentioned in the link. A wheelbarrow full of cash just to buy a soda.  Most people just tut-tut that idea as preposterous, but it's coming.  America is dying.  She can be saved, but we are going to have to pull together, suck it up, pay off our debts, and get back on the manufacturing band wagon and start making (and buying) our own goods again.  This is what grows our economy.  This is what makes us strong and able to move forward: self-sufficiency.

This means shrinking the Gov't and NO deficient spending. Not the people, not our government. This means that people are not only going to have to learn to live within their means, but also to learn to live with less.  We got along fine like that for years, but have gotten soft and think that we have to have it all. And now! And that everybody should make a million dollars doing it.  That is not a sustainable philosophy, however, and to continue in this line of thinking will lead us to destruction.

We can do this in a sustained and controlled manner and manage our futures, or it will be forced on us. And given the current state of our population centers people will starve and die as a result.  Physically starve and die.  People have little idea and NO skills to survive the manner that will be required if we plunge over the edge.  Ironically, it will be the same people who voted our current power structure into place.

I see a potential problem here...

There are going to be record numbers of people on hand for this "historic" moment.  I won't go down the obvious path on the care and feeding of racism here (Yeah, the President is of mixed race - get over it.) , but rather I see a potential problem for America.  A HUGE issue.

This crowd is going to be so large that it is going to be impossible to control or police.  And I don't say that because I expect rioting to breakout or people to behave badly.  But a crowd of that size, a city that full of people, a population so immense that it is not only impossible to control or police - is also going to be impossible to protect.

This has got to be a terrorists version of the perfect storm.  To set off a bomb at the Inauguration of PE Barack Obama would guarantee any terrorist of any stripe instant notoriety. A coordinated attack at multiple points around Washington DC would cause mass hysteria and potentially kill thousands of Americans if not tens of thousands. 

And God help us if that happens because the left wing pacifists who believe that they are in control of this country would do two things: First - Blame the Bush administration for not doing enough to protect the People. They would have "obviously known about it and kept it quiet".  The second is that they would do nothing.

Pray people. 

Pray.

My but they are getting bold!

Illinois governor taken into custody - CNN.com

Our government, for the most part, is so corrupt that this isn't even all that shocking. I do believe, however, that this man was emboldened by the fact that the Dems were large and in charge and truly believed nothing would happen to him. What else would explain the level of bravado that he displayed while "selling" the seat in the Senate?

I think that you could find similar levels of corruption throughout Federal, State, and Local governments - maybe not as blatant but right up there. We know they exist in business and even in many charitable organizations. And I don't think that party affiliation has anything to do with it, the level of corruption comes down to one common factor: Simple Greed.

Greed has played a part in our lives since time immemorial, and I also believe that it is getting worse. There are levels of technology that are allowing us to expose greed and corruption that didn't exist even ten years ago, but I also believe that this has little to do with the number of cases being brought before the public.

One of the factors is that America (and the world to a large extent) has lost its sense of shame. People are no longer ashamed of their actions, they are only embarrassed and angry that they were caught. There is a prevailing sense of anger by the perpetrators are they are being unfairly charged and "scapegoated ", after all everybody is doing it and its just a little bit off the top. Nobody is truly getting hurt. Right?

Wrong, everybody pays. It undermines the trust of the American People and makes us cynical to the point that life actually begins to lose its luster and simple joy.

GM recently admitted that it had violated America's trust. And in pledging to do better they are hoping to win us back over to their side. But, my question is, why was our trust lost in the first place? They made cheaper, less reliable automobiles in order to try and make a profit. That profit was compromised by the American dream, by the greed of the employees and the mis-management of the company by her executives. And now they expect, and truly believe, that they are too important to be allowed to let die. This is wrong. They can die, and should be allowed to do so; they will be replaced by somebody making a better product with better management skills.

I recently had an email back and forth with a citizen of the web who has strong socialist beliefs. His/her belief is that a person should be paid on how physically hard a person works and that all CEO/owners check their stock and then play a game of Mine Sweeper and head to the club for the day. I fully and whole heartedly disagree with this belief. I think that a person should be rewarded on their skill sets and their willingness to improve themselves. A person who's only job is to man a shovel or is responsible for simply (and in many cases these days: automatically) torquing a set of bolts should not be compensated to the tune of $70,000 to 100,000 dollars a year (cash and benefits). These are no-skill required jobs that can be filled by ANYBODY in America. A CEO on the other hand has a higher and more specialized skill set that allows for oversight of the entire company and is then compensated at a higher level.

Now, I don't necessarily agree that they should be compensated millions of dollars regardless of how a company does, nor receive millions in compensation with the proverbial "golden parachute" when they are terminated for poor performance. But, this is not for the Government or the American People to decide! This is for the Board that the CEO reports to to control. That is a simple business decision that indicates the professional acumen of those making the decisions at the top. I, personally, would expect to be compensated for the quality of the work that I do.

Now, not all issues are directly under the control of the leaders of any business. The economy is a volatile and living thing that has its ups and downs. There are other factors that affect any business, but it is the responsibility of the managers to respond to those situations in a manner that will best allow for the health of the business. Allow that business to carry on and still make a profit. And the larger the business, the harder it is to "re-tool" and roll with the changes that are thrown at it. You don't turn an ocean liner like a sports car. But, there are tools available to industry that, again, with proper management will allow these businesses to succeed.

This is not the first recession our country has weathered, nor will it be the last. I would also venture to say that it is not the WORST we have encountered either. If you listen to the news you hear phrases like "last ten years" or "last five years". They are comparing this downturn to the early Seventies, but won't know if it is worse or not until it is over. And you can trace the causes of this downturn to one simple, root cause: greed.

Simple Greed.

Make these leaders who have taken us here pay for their own messes. Pray that they learn their lesson. America will survive. We will have to tighten our belts, but we will survive.

American's are a resilient People.

Socialized "National" healthcare at its finest...

 

'Hospital deceived me on the death of my beauty queen wife' | Mail Online

You'd think after our recent Democratically sponsored failed social experiment, there would be no question about the future of a nationalized health care plan.  But, people keep saying we need affordable healthcare, that everybody should have FREE healthcare.

There is no "free", people.  Everything costs and somebody has to pay.  Why should we be separated from our hard earned dollars to support people who refuse to work?  Who refuse to pull themselves up and out of their situation?

I am not totally opposed to our welfare system as I know that everybody needs a hand UP sometime.  But it should be that, a hand UP not a hand OUT!!!  Heck, I have used food stamps for a short while to help feed my kids during a spot of trouble; but as soon as I had that first paycheck from my new job I headed down to the welfare office to let them know I no longer needed their help.  But we have an entire generation of people who believe that they are OWED something.  And this generation is perpetuating the myth to their kids.

Wrong.

Look at the people who are demanding the government do something about any given situation.  This is NOT the governments job - this is not a "nanny" state.  The government should be there for initial response to serious emergencies and then make sure that we are not unfairly hammered by industry (like insurance) during the correction.  And people who refuse to obey the governments warnings to evacuate are on their own, the government owes them nothing.

I digress.

We should be running, screaming, away from ANY attempts at socialization or nationalization of any part of our economy or infrastructure.  The governments only job should be to over see that the public isn't being raped by the private companies providing the goods.

You can see through this like a Saran wrap dress

Obama Scolds Biden and then Biden calls Obama ad "terrible".

 

If I had to guess, I'd say this is the beginning of the end.  For Biden.  Oh, it's all planned.  Soon, we'll see the whole, "Biden not working out...blah, blah, blah" and then HIllary gets the NEW nod for Veep.  If it doesn't happen exactly that way, I won't be too surprised, but I will be surprised if Biden stays on as the Veep candidate.

Apparently, Gov. Palin has the Liberal Democrats running so scared that they have to get Hillary on the ticket.  Now.  I think that Palin is much, much more qualified than the MSM or the Dems are letting on.  If she is actually the non-starter that all the talking heads say that she is, then they wouldn't be responding to her they way that they do. 

Perhaps it was the 60K plus crowd that she is drawing.  Perhaps it was Biden stepping on himself during the mock debates.

Either way, Biden is going to "bug out" (again, this is all planned) and Obama is going to be forced to find another running mate.  But, again, I am sure that this is all worked out in advance.

DEMO-crats responsible for the financial sector implosion...

 

Bloomberg.com: News

 

But, you won't hear this in the next forty or so days.  Not in the MSM.  Not outside of a few blogs and pieces of opinion papers.

 

Not in a million years.

 

And my liberal friends will quickly point out, "This is SIMPLY one man's opinion!"  But, it is more than an opinion; it is based in fact.

 

You buy a can of black paint, open that paint and see that it is indeed black, it doesn't take a genius to foresee that it is going to be black once you put the brush to the wall.  And determining that the boss isn't going to like it isn't a huge stretch, either.  Especially when he ordered another color and it's going to cost a small fortune to make it right again.

On our backs.

 

cbs4denver.com - Investigators Look Into Possible Plot To Kill Obama

 

cbs4denver.com - Investigators Look Into Possible Plot To Kill Obama

 

Is this really surprising?  I didn't think so.  What is surprising is that it took this long to have the whackos start to come out of the woodwork.  Nor do I think it will be the last we see of their ilk.  It is saddening to think that very little has actually changed in America over the years.  We have had attempts on the lives of every president and many of the hopefuls.  And there are those, sickeningly, who will try to kill Obama simply for the color of his skin.

I have railed against racism in this blog before and I am sure that I will have to do it again.  There are just too many racists in this country.  Of all races, creeds, and religions. 

And I will say it again: Anytime that ANYBODY brings up RACE as the basis for ANYTHING (other than the obvious hate crime) it keeps racism alive and well.

GAHHHHHH!!! It's not that hard people!!!

Today in Investors Business Daily at Investors.com

Dems Lose all their marbles, to be sent away

Ok, I redid the head line, but geez, GET A CLUE ALREADY. Let BIG OIL do what BIG OIL does: FIND OIL. Let them drill all over the US. Let them build some refineries, away from the storm prone coasts, let them build some pipelines to get the stuff from the field to the refinery to the people. LET THEM BAIL US OUT OF THE HIGH GAS PRICE$!!! And do it today.

And let's get that dollar back up there where it belongs! Simple to say, hard to do, but it is do-able. We all just have to tighten our belts.

• Balanced budget amendment
• Line item veto or single item bills law
• Reduce (eliminate!) our trade deficits
• Usury Laws back in effect
• Start buying back our debts

Now, I am just Joe Average. But this is clear to me. We have to start digging ourselves out before we implode. We got ourselves into this mess, it is time we get ourselves out. It won't be easy, but it MUST be done.

We need to get Government out of the private sector places like the Arts (let the public support them) and all the other places that we are wasting money.

Let's start today.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

A hard day at the salt mine forces me to blog a bit later than I would have liked to today, but what is a working man to do? Roll with the flow, I guess...

Let us keep The Edwards in our thoughts and prayers as they climb back aboard this roller coaster that is cancer. Having lost Mom last summer to cancer, I am still painfully aware of just how hard the ride can be.

On the side of total absurdity, what in the world would make someone want to hack off one of the few friendly Muslim countries that we can count as an ally? Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California tried to force Secretary of State, Condaleeza Rice, to admit that something that happened almost one hundred years ago was an atrocity. Now, it may well have been a terrible thing, but for our Secretary of State (having just returned from a trip that included Turkey) to say that Turkey was bloody wrong would be like slamming your nose in a sliding door several times on purpose. Did he have a couple of extra bowls of stupid for breakfast? Note to Rep. Schiff: Let's move back to the present and tackle some issues that actually matter!

The Democrats really need to stop trying to play "Let's Spank the President" and get some real life, important stuff done before it all blows up in their faces. The elections are not that far off and so far the Dems are 0-6 on trying to send bills to the President. And things aren't looking so good for them on the funding bill right now either. Mrs. Pelosi has gone so far as to threaten to take people off of key committee assignments if they dare to go against her. Mrs. Pelosi had better remember that the same people who voted her into her top spot can jerk her out just as quick if they don't like being bullied.

And the whole thing boils down to the Democrats trying to hamstring our President. There is really nothing wrong with what happened to the Federal prosecutors, it is just some politicos trying to make some hay in a field full of fertilizer. And since they have had little luck in trying to make the President bend to their will (although he has done a pretty fair job of turning his back on the conservatives who put him in office) they have decided to go after the people in his cabinet. All of this will eventually blow up in their faces and the media will spend several post election news cycles analyzing and trying to figure out what went wrong and making up scenarios on how the election was stolen. Again.