The Obama Phone

Who’s paying for your cell phone? I know what I pay. For my wife, myself, and my son, including minutes, texting and data tagged to two smartphones out of three: $230.00/month. This past week a video has been making the rounds about a Cleveland voter who said all of Cleveland has an Obama Phone. It took me more than a few seconds to realize she was talking about cell phones which the government is now providing to folks. She also offered this political commentary: Romney sucks. What’s really scary is that one million Ohioans, a little under 1/10th the population, are using Obama Phones at a cost to you and me of $26.9 million/quarter and rising…or $107 million/year…just for Ohio.

You pay for this bit of government largesse through a line item on your phone bill marked FUSF, or the Federal Universal Service Fund, as calculated by the FCC to 1) help keep local telephone rates affordable for all customers; 2) support telecommunications services in schools, public libraries, and rural health-care facilities, and 3) subsidize local service to high cost areas and low income customers. Oh yes…and to pay for Obama Phones.

To the government’s credit, it has supposedly been trying to cut back on this particular expenditure by reducing duplicate and/or fraudulent phones. But the amount of phones given out in Ohio seems to be on the rise notwithstanding. $26.9 million in the first quarter 2012 vs. $15 million in the first quarter 2011 which the government says is due to the ballooning population on food stamps, one of the Obama Phone criteria.  Of course the telephone companies are making out like bandits. They are basically charging for bandwidth (re: air). No skin off their backs. The more customers the merrier so long as somebody pays the freight. And hey….Ohio is a battleground state. What better state to hand out the Obama Phones?

In all seriousness, nobody begrudges folks in need of help a cell phone. The limits imposed on usage are stringent. These kinds of “conveniences” are almost necessities today especially if there are children. On the other hand, there is something unsettling about a woman appearing on You Tube screaming the praises of Obama because he gave her a phone.

At the end of the day there is no free phone. Somebody has to pay for it. Therein lies the problem. This woman got a free phone. Chances are she is getting lots of other government assistance. She is probably getting food stamps. If she has kids they are probably getting free lunches, breakfasts, and maybe even dinner notwithstanding the food stamps. In Mahoning County, she could probably get free transportation on the WRTA. Medical services are likely provided by Medicaid…on and on and on.

What these folks really need is a good paying job.  Obama and crew are making sure government dependency is on the rise by destroying free enterprise and giving people phones. Phones are nice.  Jobs are better.  All of us need help from time to time, and there are certainly some that need it on a regular and permanent basis. But to encourage it as a lifestyle…cradle to grave dependency is to destroy hope, not give it. Hope is defined as looking for a better future.  Cradle to grave government dependency is not hope.  That is despair.

We, as a nation, cannot afford to keep this up. As Margaret Thatcher said, sooner or later you run out of other people’s money. Meanwhile, maybe I should tell Verizon to cancel my plan.  Maybe I can qualify for an Obama Phone.

Just a Spoonfull of Sugar...

Bill O’Reilly had it right tonight. In a normal world, Barack Obama’s numbers would be in the dumper. The economy is bad…it is getting worse. Gas is high. The middle class is being squeezed in all directions. 47 million Americans are now on food stamps compared to the 17 million when Bill Clinton was president. Gas is close to $4.00/gallon (I paid $4.25 tonight).

In Ohio, median income is down to 17% to a 27 year low, 39th in the union. The unemployment rate is over 8.2%. So…why is Obama pulling ahead in states like Ohio to the point Rush Limbaugh said today Romney will lose Ohio? O’Reilly said it’s because Americans are living in a fantasy world rooted in the internet, cell phones and tablets. They are mesmerized to the point they actually retreat into an alternate universe totally unaware that Rome is burning. Add to it cable television with 150 channels, you can go through life completely oblivious to what is going on around. This is more than a spoonful of sugar. It’s the whole freakin’ bag.

The news media is the icing on the cake of this faux world in which Americans find themselves. They simply don’t report the news. The Mideast is in turmoil after a 9/11 terrorist attack that killed our Ambassador who was tortured for hours....and the media did reported on Romney’s tax returns. Those that did report the story bought Obama’s line about it being rooted in a video on You Tube. Really? Worked for CNN and NBC…end of story!! This is dangerous stuff. Americans have always had at least an “idée” about what was going on around them. Now they have given up and retreated. Too many baby boomers…let them die. People unemployed, who cares? The campaign ads are just plain lies. But they are on television so they must be true.

This is a dangerous course. Sooner or later things will spin so far out of control the American public will have to take notice. By then it will be too late. The most obvious comparison is Germany in the 1930’s that danced away as the National Socialists came to power, living in a world of night clubs and beer halls, not exactly the internet but the equivalent of the day. Things were so bad the country went on a toot while the Nazis were left to fix things as best they could.

Obama isn’t a Nazi, but he is a socialist. The left uses the same approach to politics. Tell the lie long enough and everyone will believe it. Start up the propaganda machine. Find an enemy on which to focus public opinion. For Obama, hate the rich. They succeeded on your back. You didn’t build that. Threaten those who oppose you. Meanwhile, he is cavorting with some of the richest people in the world with towers of golden champagne bottles at his fundraisers and his wife and her entourage taking extravagant vacations. It’s the oldest trick in the book, and Americans are falling for it hook, line and sinker. If Obama says blame the rich while courting the rich…you can bet your bottom dollar, and you are, that you will be paying the price.

Folks…America needs to wake up from its Obama stupor and look at the facts. There is no good end to this story. By the time America reaches the end of the story, it will be too late. The spoonful of sugar will no longer be able to mask the horrible medicine America will be facing.

Notre Dame Joins the ACC



Life is too complicated. As I get older I have more and more difficulty in following stuff that used to be simple but now is “complicate" as my grandmother used to say. Football conferences are a case in point. Those of you who know me know that I am not an avid sports fan. But I follow, or used to follow, college sports on some level. But now I can’t tell the players, literally, without a program. Schools have been shuffled in and out of conferences like so many pieces of fruit. Add to that the scandals and who is eligible to play in what bowls, what’s a body to do?

Notre Dame is the latest example of schools doing the Teaberry Shuffle. Notre Dame is traditionally an independent when it comes to football, but has floated in and out of conferences for "everything else." It was in the Big East, but announced last week that it is leaving the Big East for "everything else" and joining the ACC (the Atlantic Coast Conference for those who are blissfully ignorant about such things). But its football schedule must include five ACC teams which may cut into its traditional rivals mostly in the Big Ten which now has twelve teams, two of which are under some sort of NCAA sanctions. I don’t get it.

Conferences used to be geography centric. Big Ten schools were in the Midwest; Pac 10 along the west coast. The Big East was mostly northeastern schools; the ACC along the central east coast and those along the southern east coast were in….you got it…the Southeast Conference. There was a reason for this, including school travel arrangements as well as time zones to fit school and limited broadcast schedules.

Conferences also exhibited different styles of football, most notably the Big Ten which had a reputation for old style, big bruising football…the Woody Hayes “three yards and a cloud of dust!” The Southeast Conference was noted for fast paced passing football.

Now it is all jumbled as schools jockey for positions and money. Below is how the Big East and ACC conferences will look in 2014 after the shifts in and out.

ACC: Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Florida State, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame

Big East: Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette, DePaul, Rutgers, Temple, Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Connecticut, Rutgers, Villanova, Memphis, UCF, SMU, Houston, Boise State, San Diego State

Boise State and San Diego State in the Big East…really?

I always thought Notre Dame would eventually end up in the Big Ten. But the conference has a long and historic tradition of revenue sharing and program integration that would never fit into Notre Dame’s school centric view of sports (translate: its broadcast contract with NBC for $20 mil plus/year). That may change as the conferences continue to slosh their way through the muck to a true national championship game based on conference playoffs rather than poll rankings incorporating the traditional “bowl” games as playoff venues. How long will other schools tolerate Notre Dame as an independent?

But what do I know? Can anyone tell me what conference Youngstown State is in? I think I need a Bloody Mary.

Post Democratic Convention Thoughts and Fears

The conventions are over, and maybe America will begin to pay attention to the serious issues we are facing. This election cycle has been marked by some interesting twists. I know that polls are notoriously inaccurate, but this cycle is the first time when I have noticed that the polls are being purposely skewed. What is even more amazing is not only are the pollsters not hiding it, they readily admit there are problems with the methods and numbers.

Adding to the problem are folks who are fearful this year. The public being polled has wised up, and is simply either refusing to participate or outright lie to the pollster because one never knows who is at the other end of the poll telephone call really. I trust Rassmusen, and that’s about it.

Obama gave his speech claiming he is going to spend money saved on war to build bridges and cut the deficit. Uh? The money we are spending on “war” is off budget and is borrowed. So where is Obama going to find the phantom peace dividend? And he hauled Clinton out to give a speech…you know, the convicted felon who has been disbarred who has prostituted his wife to Obama after a filthy dirty primary four years ago. Did I say that? Hey America….Clinton is NOT running for President, and we know he is a liar.

Beware of Obamacare. For those of you who currently have insurance under your current employer, you can be sure unless you are among Obama’s chosen few you will not have the same insurance policy after 2014. The number of companies quietly saying that they will drop health insurance as a benefit when Obamacare goes into effect is rising. If the penalty for NOT offering health care is $2,000.00 per employee and it is costing the employer $7,000.00 per employee, one doesn’t have to be a genius to see that one coming.

I am fearful that America doesn’t fully understand how bad an Obama second term will be. EPA regulations will issued like sand in the wind. Gasoline prices will soar. Utility prices will “necessarily” rise as Obama promised several years ago. Inflation will take over. The health care you currently enjoy will not be there. The war on religion will be intensified. Those were Democrats booing God at the Democratic Convention. The Middle East will explode in war as Israel, abandoned by the United States, will attack Iran with unforeseen consequences. The dollar will begin to lose its place as the world’s reserve currency. If you take into consideration those folks who have stopped looking for work, the unemployment rate is actually 11%. If Obama is re-elected, look for it to push 20%. You can poo poo me, but I am right. Gold will soar as the world looks for a safe haven. And those who are suffering now will learn there is no free lunch. “Free” can be very expensive! And the standard of living provided by the government is low.

I talked with a senior lady the other day who can’t come to grips with what is happening in America today. She kept repeating over and over again that she is Democrat, and she has no one to vote for because the current “Democratic” president doesn’t seem quite right. I tried to explain to her that this isn’t her father’s Democratic Party. This is something else. The ideas are foreign to America. They were rejected with George McGovern. They were rejected with Jimmy Carter. They were rejected the first two years of the Clinton administration. I am not sure the country will reject this social cancer this time around.

I heard a talking head on television say that the press has made Obama’s re-election a moral issue. The unfinished part of the statement is it is a moral issue based on race. The job numbers announced this past Friday clearly show that this is a “moral” imperative we can’t afford. Obama’s post convention bounce seems to as tepid as Romney’s. This is scary stuff and we should all be concerned.