MARK KNOWS IT ALL / THE FRIDAY MORNING RANT

King Obama vs. the Catholic Church

2012-02-12T17:47:00.000-08:00

And you thought Henry VIII stuck it to the Pope? He couldn't light a candle to King Obama.

The real story about Barack Obama, the Catholic Church and contraception is being missed by the news media. In another political blunder, Barack Obama instructed Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, feminist extraordinaire, to require any health insurance policy offered to employees by a Catholic sponsored institutions to include contraceptive services including access to free birth control pills and abortion services. Any practicing Catholic knows that is a sin in the eyes of the church. This was done in direct violation of promises made to the Catholic Church by Obama during the Obamacare debate from whence this edict emanated. As in all things Obama…all together now…look at what he does, not what he says. He is a lying snake in the grass.

This is wrong on so many levels it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s pick one. I want to understand this. Obamacare requires that contraception be offered in all employer provided health care policies for “free” in order to preserve women’s rights. Is birth control now a right? Really? Just as an aside, here is some free birth control advice that works: keep it zipped and keep your legs together. I guarantee no one will get pregnant.

But the bigger issue is that government can issue “waivers” from the requirements of Obamacare, including this one. And Obama has taken full advantage of this “waiver” privilege to allow his friends, mostly unions and companies that cater to unions, off the Obamacare hook while the rest of us dangle in the wind. Now King Obama can sit on his throne and decide who will be subjected to the horrors of Obamacare and who will not. He is omnipotent and all powerful. In this case, feminists and progressive leftists are at war with the Catholic Church over abortion, and King Obama decided to side with his leftist base and stick up the church’s seven sacraments.

Is this kind of America you want? This socialist thug from Chicago and his Democratic cohorts pass a draconian piece of legislation in effect taking over 1/5 of the United States economy and the gives themselves complete arbitrary power to decide who has to comply and who doesn't. What America do I live in? Do you really want Barack Obama to decide those kinds of issues? Because listen folks if he can do it with this he can do it with anything! This is serious and scary stuff, and so un-American in its execution it is beyond the comprehension of most folks in the country.

Nancy Pelosi said that they had to pass Obamacare to see what was in it. Well…this is one little nugget that pits Obama against the Catholic Church. Today it is birth control. Tomorrow he will push the envelope a little further, maybe limit education in the Catholic Schools, or force the church to ordain women…any ideological concept du jour…he will try to shove down the church’s and our collective throats.

I am glad to hear that a number of states are banning together once again to challenge this in the courts. Let’s start with the equal protection clause of the Constitution then move to freedom of religion and freedom of speech…and revisit the commerce clause. Obamacare, and this President who overtly stated the Constitution is getting in the way of his grand vision, is dangerous.

Please, please, please pay attention to what this man is doing, and not what he says, and especially what the news media says he says. Freedom is precious, and we are losing it to big brother day by day.

The Mideast Boiling Over

2012-02-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

There are three stories that have sort of made the news midst the Super Bowl hoopla of yesterday and today. The first centers around the outright verbal assault on the nature of our Constitution by Barack Obama and Justice Ginsberg. The second has to do with recent events in Indiana which will make it the fastest growing state in the Midwest. Both of these stories will be addressed in next week’s edition of Mark Knows It All. But one news story has been reported by the media, but the significance of the story has been lost in translation. I don’t understand why it’s not getting more play. It’s the rising turmoil in the Mideast. It is about to boil over, and we should be deeply, deeply concerned.

A friend of mine at lunch the other day asked if he was the only person at the lunch table concerned about Leon Panetta’s comment that Israel would probably attack Iran this spring, So what else is new I thought. But then I saw numerous other stories on the news over the weekend: the bloody civil war in Syria costing thousands of lives and an outright slaughter of innocents; the escalating sectarian violence in Iraq; the ratcheting up of the crisis in Iran; and now the rise of the Islamists in Egypt.

The so called Arab spring touted by a clueless media has turned into a democratic deep freeze. All of that money spent by the United States to assist the dissidents in Egypt has been flushed down the toilet as the Muslim Brotherhood has taken control of the Egyptian Parliament. This past weekend the Egyptian authorities, at the behest of Muslim extremists, prevented nineteen Americans from leaving Egypt, including the son of our Secretary of Transportation, and have threatened to put them on trial for inciting violence. The American ambassador has now invited the Americans to plan for their defense in the United States Embassy. Sound familiar? Egypt is among the top five recipients of American foreign aid. Now you can see what your money bought you.

The Mideast is spinning out of control. Sanctions have failed in stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. American withdrawal from Iraq is resulting in renewal of car bombs and terrorist attacks. Syria is a basket case as Obama fumbles with foreign policy non-decisions. Israel may force the United State to s___ or get off the pot, so to speak.

All of the above is the result of a perceived, weak American president. Shades of Jimmy Carter, much of this could have been avoided if Carter simply would have invaded Iran and got rid of those Ayatollah bastards. Every president since Carter has tip toed around the problem, and now it has festered and is the nucleus of what is becoming the Mideast firestorm.

And what is Obama doing? He is cutting back our military to a status that mirrored America before World War II. The Joint Chiefs are dutifully following the orders of their Commander in Chief…but those who have left the military are sounding the warning.

The media has hidden the dirty underbelly of the Obama administration. It has hidden the poverty, the homelessness, the hunger and despair of an America in debt ridden economic turmoil. Now it is under-reporting the consequences of bad American Mideast foreign policy putting us all at risk.

War is coming, and it will be a humdinger. I only hope that the Egyptian hostage crisis is resolved sooner than the Iranian hostage crisis. When Iran is dropping a bomb on Tel Aviv, or Istanbul, or Paris…or even Miami if launched from Cuba or Venezuela, maybe then the media will finally wake up.

In this case, the watch pot is boiling, and anyone with any sense of history can see it. Be warned.

What About Romney?

2012-01-29T16:46:00.000-08:00

In all of my days actively following politics, never have I seen anything like this past week. Like antibodies attacking a foreign organism, the Republican Party establishment, in a methodical and deliberate manner, acted to destroy the candidacy of Newt Gingrich. From all directions they portrayed him as an unstable nut and a crook. They made the face of conservatism look like Jimmy Carter’s twin brother. The face of 1980’s conservatism was made to look like a liberal shill. They even went out to the cemetery and dug up Bob Dole. I didn’t know he was still living.

I am a Newt Gingrich fan…as the moral voice of the conservative movement. I’m not so sure he would make a good president. Of course in this election, the issue is a good president compared to whom. Many of his contemporaries who are up for re-election and fear a controversial Republican presidential candidate, claim he is off the wall and has some kooky proposals. I truly believe he is just thinking out loud, and articulating possibilities verbally. I do that. We try to reach good ideas be verbalizing all ideas. By the way, verbalizing about the moon in Florida might not play well in Nebraska, but that’s Cape Canaveral on the coast, and there are no more manned flights. Can you say tourism and jobs?

In all of this political pastiche I haven’t learned one thing I didn’t already know about Newt Gingrich. What I have learned is what I didn’t know about Mitt Romney, which is a lot. I know he is a Mormon. I know he was governor of Massachusetts. I thought he was a two term governor, but I found out it one term. I know he passed a universal health care bill, and I actually advised one client to move to Boston so he could get health coverage unavailable to him in Ohio at a reasonable price. I know he saved the Colorado Winter Olympics. I know he is worth a boatload of money. I also know he is personality challenged.

I really hadn’t formed an opinion about Romney other than if you called central casting for a President, they would send Mitt Romney. He looks the part. But to me, he was no different than John McCain or Bob Dole. All are really nice guys, but as a Presidential candidate…yawn. As Ann Coulter said, Romney is the generic Republican, the one who can beat Obama.

But what I have learned from the primary is that Romney may have had the best campaign organization in the world, but he was woefully unprepared on the most basic of issues. Fumbling the tax return issue is like having to learn where the line of scrimmage is. Hello…when you run for President you will be asked to release your tax returns…Running For President 101. When you are as rich as Romney in an election where class warfare is going to be THE central issue, you better be able to defend your wealth and how you earned it. His private equity firm saved and created in excess of 100,000 jobs, and yet Romney allowed Gingrich to run roughshod over a few plant closings involving companies on the verge of bankruptcy when Romney’s firm came in. And what difference does it make anyway. As one who wants to be the voice of the Republican Party, he should be ready to defend capitalism and talk about the expanding pie as opposed to Obama’s divvying up a shrinking pie. Never apologize for being successful.

And mostly I was shocked at his mean spiritedness. This is a primary election. They are rough and tumble. But Romney is a Mormon…and I had hoped that he had a moral code that would shine through the primary election falderal and his character would emerge a shining example of what a politician should be. Silly me!!!!! Gingrich had enough legit stuff to be called out on. Romney instead stooped to outright lies and character assasination. I don’t have the space to list them here. But call me and I will tell you what they were. He should be ashamed.

This primary I have learned nothing new about Gingrich. He will always be my favorite pundit, but I remain ambivalent about him as a presidential candidate. As for Romney…let’s just say I am disappointed. Like I said, in this election the issue is whether the Republican would be a good president compared to what. This year, Obama has set the bar pretty low. That still doesn’t say much for the Republicans, and certainly not much for Mitt Romney.

Obama Flips Us the Keystone Pipeline Bird

2012-01-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

So now you know where this president stands; ideology over country. I can’t think of a single domestic priority that is any more important to the security and welfare of this nation that the Keystone XL pipeline.

This pipeline already originates in Alberta, Canada, home of the sand oil fields belonging to our neighbor up north, and currently extends to Oklahoma and Illinois. This branch of the pipeline would bring the oil to gasoline and diesel refineries in Texas for domestic and foreign consumption. The amount of oil is staggering. Through it would flow 700,000 barrels of oil per day. At $100.00/barrel, that is $70 million/day coming into this country for refining.

Unfortunately for us, the Keystone pipeline is Barack Obama’s worse nightmare. Start with the premise that he is ideologically opposed to carbon fuels. Add to the mix this is an election year, and rather than try to appeal to the common sense independents, Obama has decided he would rather appeal to his radical left wing base. This is the most boneheaded and selfish decision I have ever seen a President make ever!!! He is an idiot.

In a showdown with Congress several months ago over an extension of the payroll (social security) tax holiday, Obama agreed to make an up or down decision on the pipeline within 60 days of his signing of the extension bill. He decided. Thumbs down!!! He lamely tried to blame Republicans for forcing the issue without proper review. The facts are this is the most reviewed pipeline in American history with three years of thorough examination, and preliminary approval by the State Department. He tried to blame Nebraska, pointing out Nebraska has yet to approve the route through Nebraska where environmentalists are making their stand, never mind that Nebraska is the center of pipelines criss-crossing the United States (pipelines totaling 25,000 miles in length go through Nebraska). And Nebraska had alternate route ready to go.

Obama was hoping to defer judgment on the pipeline until after the election so as not to piss too many people off. Surprise!!! And just in case you are interested, there are already oil pipelines EVERYWHERE in the United States…and I mean everywhere.

Canada is angry. They have their trade teams all over the United States pushing this pipeline. They have also made it clear that if the United States does not approve it, they will ship the oil to China. This belies the biggest environmental argument. What is safer? Shipping oil to Houston through a pipeline, or shipping oil to China in a parade of tankers? No, this is an ideological decision from a President who has squandered a $1 billion in bogus “green” energy companies which are going bankrupt one after another sticking the American taxpayer with the tab. He just flipped the American public the bird.

Nobody believes that this pipeline will secure American energy independence. But coupled with the infinite amount of natural gas and coal in the United States, and the oil reserves in Mexico and off shore, it forms a North American block of energy stability should things go south in the middle east. Think Iran closing the Straits of Hormuz.

Nothing is more important to the military and economic security of the United States; except of course, if you’re Barack Obama. To him, the priorities are reducing America’s military might, income redistribution not only within America but within the nations of the worlds, the destruction of greedy corporations, and of course global warming.

Would you really vote for this guy again?

America the Monitored: Elementary Students Wearing Monitoring Wrist Bands.

2012-01-16T12:44:00.000-08:00

America has become a nation of sheep being led around by Big Brother. How much do we have to take? Do we have be to be monitored 24/7 by do-gooders who should mind their own freakin’ business? We are in danger of losing our liberties, and now is the time to stop an intrusiveness that borders on dictatorship of the politically correct of the worst type.

From Drudge and Fox News and the New York Post comes a story about several school systems which now have students wearing wrist bands to monitor the amount of their activity, inactivity, caloric burn rate and heart rate in the school systems’ efforts to fight the epidemic of childhood obesity. The information is then downloaded and sent to an ostensibly secure cloud storage system. One school system uses the information to help provide a grade in Phys. Ed. It appears other school systems are doing it because it is a “good idea.” It is clear that in at least one school system parents were uninformed about what was going on, and there is an issue as to whether this is voluntary.

What is even more disturbing, on Fox News this morning the anchors didn’t even seem disturbed by the story. "Email us what you think" they said. Forcing students to wear monitoring devices like animals? Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this?

From strip searches at airports to auto insurance monitors in our cars to unknown monitors on cars at car rental companies to surveillance cameras everywhere to television cameras watching what students place on their cafeteria trays in the lunch line to companies tracking our every move on the internet to the smoking police watching to see if we are smoking in our own cars and apartments….what are we doing folks? This is the stuff of Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany and North Korea. We have become so desensitized to it that it seems normal. Like a bunch of dummies we accept each new intrusion on our life. Well the government says it’s good for us, so we just have to go along. No you don’t!!! No, a cavity search of an 85 year old woman by the TSA in an airport is unacceptable.

If America doesn’t wake up and wake up soon, we will be George Orwell’s 1984. He may have had the date wrong, but his forecast is 100% correct and it is creeping up on us slowly and by stealth. There are always those who know what is best for you, and will force it down your throat for your own good or throw you in jail if you don’t comply.

As for those school systems, those parents should tell the school boards to shove those wrist monitors up their ass. Teach math, and leave what my kid eats to me. We don’t teach our children that it’s okay for the government to monitor our every move with a wrist band. If that is acceptable today, an implanted microchip will be okay for the future.

This is serious business. Wake up America. 1984 is just around the corner.

Obama Election Strategy: Class Warfare and Racism

2012-01-10T17:16:00.000-08:00

In a speech on Monday night, President Obama said the following: “The basic premise that no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, there’s a place where you can make it if you try … the notion that we’re all in this together, that we look out for one another, that’s at stake in this election.”

That’s kind of hard to disagree with. Republicans have always been for a level playing field. America is a nation of equal opportunity. Obama, however, believes that it is a nation of equal results. That is socialism. That is communism. The Karl Marx’ axiom “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” is what Obama really wants. He calls it “fairness.” (I think we should call the gender police on Karl Marx for using sexist nouns.)

The Monday night statement, however, is more of an indication as to how he is going to run his election. We already know about the class warfare. Now we are finding out about the race warfare. Veiled in Obama’s platitudes is Obama’s war message for 2012. It’s not our future that it is at stake, it is the future of minorities. Translate: if we elect those nasty racist Republicans, we are screwed.

Is this the uniter that was elected in 2008? He is a divider of the worst type. He has fanned class warfare against the successful and rich. Now he is fanning hostility between the races. His strategy is almost scary, but it foretells of the progressive hope for the future. This is especially disturbing taken in conjunciton with the pundit Pat Buchanan flap about the chapter in his new book entitled The Death of White America. The message is the same. Minority America taking over White America. How awful is that sentiment!! We are better nation than this.

Obama’s campaign strategists have already overtly said they are going to write off the white, blue collar vote. For those of us in the Buckeye state, his people believe Obama can win the election without Ohio. In fact, their electoral vote tally excludes most of the rust belt states with high unemployment. His strategists are probably right about the rust belt states. Talk to union voters privately, and Obama’s support is sketchy at best. In the Youngstown area, the Democratic stronghold in the United States, elected officials are railing against the fracking industry which right now is supplying northeast Ohio with new jobs by the gas well full. The liberal econonsense is not ringing true with the pipefitters union. If Obama if not for the Reagan Democrats, then for whom?

Where does he go for support? The new poor, the permanent underclass, the 50% of Americans who are currently living at poverty level or just above!! These are the folks who have suffered the most under Obama’s regulation nation. And he is going to the minorities. Don’t let those Republican wasps (white, anglo-saxon protestants), and I actually heard that term among the talking heads tonight, wreck your “chances”. They are racist. They hate you. They are keeping you down.

What a gimmick this racist President is pawning off on the public. Make them poor. Keep them poor, and blame the other guy for being racist. Students of history have seen it before. This week, Obama’s popularity is at an all time low. 36% of Americans say their biggest fear for 2012 is that Obama will be re-elected. Americans know a con when they see one.

Republicans know that at the end of the day, money is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter if you are black, or white, or pink with purple spots. All Americans, white Americans, African Americans, Italian American, Hispanic Americans, Jewish Americans and Muslim Americans…know that the color of green…the color of money….knows no race. We may have our disagreements, but we all want prosperity. Obama’s America only promises despair and fighting over a shrinking pie. Our America is one where we help each other prosper, one in which hatred of race and success isn’t preached, one in which we celebrate success and we all keep the fruits of our labor, one in which we are truly Americans.

We need a nation based on hope. We need a nation based on an expanding economy. Americans will instinctively work together to make our nation great again. We are the ship of freedom, and we are all on board together. No class warfare. No race warfare. To paraphrase your statements from the last election, Mr. Obama, there is only the "United" States.

Breast Feed Your Babies at Home!

2012-01-01T15:58:00.000-08:00

Let’s be blunt. America is a nation of easily offended pompous asses whose personal affronts are rooted in their belief that life is all about them. America is now the “me” generation on steroids. These folks, who are offended if the wind blows the wrong way, have raised narcissism to an art form. There is no regard for anyone but them. There is no regard for anyone else’s sensibilities but theirs. They are selfish. They are egocentric. They are emblematic of what is wrong with America today.

Case in point is NASCAR Kasey Khan who tweeted he was offended when he saw a woman breast feeding a baby in the aisle of a supermarket. The media went nuts. How could he tweet such stuff? Shame on him!! Breast feeding is perfectly natural. It is a woman’s right. Blah! Blah! Blah! Instead of standing his ground, Mr. Kahn backpedaled and groveled at the feet of political correctness. What a fool! He should have stood firm.

Here’s a news flash. Of course breast feeding is perfectly natural act. But so is a whole list of other bodily functions and acts; and I don’t want to see, hear or smell any of them in the aisle of a supermarket. Being “perfectly” natural is not an excuse for behavior that would be appropriate elsewhere. You want to breast feed your baby, here’s another news flash…do it at home; or at least do the rest of us the courtesy of doing it in private. I don’t want to see a boob hanging out of a blouse, or any of those other garments that pass for women's tops, in a grocery store anymore than I want to see a man’s hoo-ha or a hairy butt crack.

Has all decency gone from this country? Breast feeding supermarket lady…the only thing that is offensive is your behavior. Please have some courtesy to those around you. You think it’s cool? It’s not. And I am not going to be shamed into saying anything other than what it is. The world is not all about you. There are others who live here. Standards of behavior have to exist otherwise we would all simply live in a "clothes are optional world." Life does have its No Shirt/No Shoes/No service equivalent.

Common decency and respect for others is kaput in this country. Life has gotten tough in the United States because several generations of people have decided that world revolves around them, and everyone else should conform to their entitlement arrogance. Enough!!! Until we learn how to respect each other, and realize that some restraint is good, things will continue to get rapidly worse than they are now.

Kasey Kahn should not have retracted his honest statement. Even if he was wrong in his opinion, and he wasn't, he has as much right to express his opinion about breast feeding in the aisle of a supermarket as those who are actually doing the act. To those who say he should just look away, I say if you don't like what he says, turn a deaf ear. Quit your whining.

So…folks…..cover up. Put on some clothes. Your body isn’t that attractive. Yes, you have a baby and I am thrilled that you were able to procreate, but you don’t have to bring all your bosoms with attached offspring into the supermarket. Breast feed at home, and if it is inconvenient…then stay home and be inconvenienced. It comes with being a parent. And if this commentary offends you, or any other feminist or politically correct whacko….that is too damn bad!!!!!!!

There, I feel better now!

The Coming 3rd Iraqi War

2011-12-26T17:21:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama has declared the war in Iraq over, and has withdrawn American troops. There was a ceremony in Iraq that was not attended by Iraqi officials. American troops were ingloriously moved to one of our bases in Kuwait. Here in the United States, there was nothing. Obama gave a speech, the press gave it a day’s worth of headlines, and life went on as normal…oblivious to all things Obama.

What am I missing? I am not a military planner. I have no experience with anything military. I have degree in international relations, but for the most part that was the Vietnam era. I am not privy to any classified information, and my general knowledge about both Iraq wars is limited. But it seems odd to me, and should to you, that America has now fought for Iraqi territory twice, and we have absolutely nothing to show for it but huge loss of American blood and treasure.

And what is worse, the existing government in Iraq is not particularly friendly to the United States even though its very existence is owed to the United States. Immediately upon withdrawal of American troops the sectarian violence in Iraq resumed with a vengeance. The government in Iraq is weak, and its former deadly enemy Iran is salivating at the border, ready and willing to fill the vacuum that the United States has left.

What is Obama doing? It seems to me that no country should have to fight for the same territory twice, and give it up a second time. In February of 1991 American troops were within 150 miles of Baghdad, and Bush the Elder unilaterally stopped the advance and withdrew American troops back to Kuwait. We had the sneaky bastards and the Iraqi Republican Army on the verge of collapse…and Bush withdrew.

Now Obama has done it again. It is Obama, not our troops, who is unilaterally leaving Iraq with his tail between his legs making whining noises about nobody better not ever try anything or else. He is leaving without one drop of oil, or not one petro dollar to repay the United States for disposing of the despot Saddam Hussein. What is he thinking?

What is really upsetting is Iran is still rushing headlong to make a nuclear bomb and wipe Israel off of the face of the earth. Obama has decided to sell some twenty odd fighter jets to Iraq. I hope Obama is smart enough to get paid in advance, because you can be sure that within a year or two those fighters will in the possession of Iran.

This is the single dumbest foreign policy move in a series of dumb foreign policy moves by the Obama administration which is acting on ideology rather that practicality and reality. The showdown with Iran is coming. It is just a matter of when. And our troops will have to fight for Iraq a third time. Only this time they will be fighting Iranians on Iraqi soil. Thank Mr. Obama for such a bright future. No American soldier should ever have to risk his/her life fighting for the same piece of land twice, let alone three times. And oh yes....

For those of you who will complain that we shouldn't have gone into Iraq the second time in the first place...you may or may not be right...but that doesn't make the withdrawal policy of the Obama administration any less lame!!!!!!

Punch Payroll Tax Here / Push Mortgage Tax There

2011-12-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

Once again the old adage robbing Peter to pay Paul is rearing its ugly head in American fiscal policy. In the quintessential example of government "planning" gone amuck, the government extension of the payroll tax holiday for another month or for a year, depending on which politico is pontificating, is being paid by a $15.00/month tax on new mortgages backed by everybody's favorite Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac. And that's 90% of all mortgages currently being issued in the United States. Barack Obama has done a good job of making sure the private mortgage market is dead.

Here's the skinny. As you have heard, 48% of all wage earners pay no income tax. It's tough to give a tax reduction to those who pay no taxes. However everybody pays a "payroll" tax which funds social security. As part of Obama's stimulus package, the payroll tax, although Social Security is going broke, was reduced from 6.2% to 4.2%. Unless Congress acts, the payroll tax will go back up to 6.2% January 1. The Senate bill extends the cut until February 28, 2012.

This effort is opposed by the House which wants to extend the payroll tax deduction for a full year, and the Republicans in both the House and the Senate have mixed in the construction of the Keystone Pipeline from Canada to Houston for good measure. This was done in an attempt to back Barack to the wall to approve the pipeline, a shovel ready project that would create a minimum of 20,000 jobs and help assure North American energy independence, that so far he has refused to approve placating the global warming environmental whacko bunch.

Notwithstanding, the payroll tax reduction needs to be paid for. Although the payroll tax reduction is temporary, Congress has decided to pay for it with a $15.00/month permanent tax on new home mortgages. Isn't that special? And you thought Super President promised not to raise taxes on the middle class. Of course, he can say he really isn't raising taxes since no new mortgages are being issued anyway. Who knew?

This is pitiful. If you want to know why this country is going down the toilet, look at the policy these jack asses are implementing. You can poke it, shake it, reshape it, bend it, and squeeze it....but at the end of the day.... when dealing with these kinds of temporary fixes to the economy, you are always robbing Peter to pay Paul.

And don't forget to go and borrow money to buy a house to make sure you pay your fair share with that new $15.00/month tax!!!

Jon Stewart's Vile Comments About the Shroud of Turin

2011-12-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

The war on Christmas took a particularly ugly and highly visible turn last week when Jon Stewart did “comedic” commentary re: Bill O’Reilly and other Fox News figures’ criticism of Rhode Island’s Governor Chafee who called the statehouse Christmas Tree a Holiday Tree. Stewart quipped that calling it a Holiday Tree is “not akin to wiping your ass with the Shroud of Turin.”

For those of you not familiar with the Shroud of Turin, it is a relic believed by many Roman Catholics to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. On the shroud is an imprint of a man who was crucified bearing all of the wounds described in Jesus’ crucifixion. Even more interesting is that while image is only faintly visible on the cloth, it is actually a photographic negative.

Experts are divided as the authenticity of the shroud. Carbon dating puts the origins of the cloth back in the middle ages thus making it impossible to be the burial shroud of Christ, but the carbon dating was done on a small sample, and the cloth had been almost destroyed in a fire during the middle ages. Scientists now feel that the carbon dating may have been skewed with carbon residue on the cloth from the fire. The cloth itself seems to be authentic to the time of Christ. Some scientists have claimed to have duplicated how the image on the shroud was created…but those claims have been unverified. The Catholic Church has taken a neutral stance on the shroud, but millions of Catholics and other faithful believe the image was created on the shroud at the moment of Christ’s resurrection.

To many, apparently Jon Stewart among them, the shroud is a fiction. But most matters of faith aren’t provable. That’s why it’s called faith. Is the shroud any more of a fiction than the Dome of the Rock where Mohammed mounted his horse, leaving his foot print in the rock, as he began his ascent to heaven?

So while Muslims attack and kill Christians throughout the Mideast, and fly planes into our buildings, and issue death sentences to those who bring Bibles into Saudi Arabia…Jon Stewart worries about Fox News complaining that Governor Chafee called a Christmas Tree a Holiday Tree.

The hypocrisy of the left is unending. Those who preach tolerance are the most intolerant of all. I can guarantee you that Jon Stewart would never use similar phraseology when commenting on Islamic issues. God forbid you print a picture of Mohammed and death edicts are issued by Muslim clergy while people riot in the streets for weeks.

Even more disturbing is that there is no outrage anywhere outside of the blogosphere about Mr. Stewart’s comments. The hate of Christianity from the left has become so prevalent in our society even vile comments like this are greeted with a “what’s new” shrug of the shoulders.

To be honest, I don’t know what can be done. I don’t watch so called liberal gurus like Jon Stewart and the hate mongers on the View. I stopped watching Bill Maher on HBO when he began to call President Bush a douche bag...over and over and over again. These folks claim to be comedians to shelter their vile and hateful comments. But at the end of the day, they expose themselves for what they are: vile and hateful human beings who reveal the true face of American liberalism. Shame on Jon Stewart.

Lynching Herman Cain

2011-12-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

My first choice for the Republican presidential nominee is Newt Gingrich. My second is Chris Christie. And my third is…was…Herman Cain. Do you want to know why we don’t have better candidates running for office? Look at what they did to Cain. A rabid, liberal press, fearful of a black conservative presidential candidate, vilified a fine man on the word of some floozy bimbos not even alleging sexual misconduct…just that maybe he made some advances if that.

The credibility of these women was zero. They either had overt ties to the Democratic Party, or were in such terrible financial condition it was obvious they were looking to cash in on either money or their fifteen minutes of fame. Wolfe Blitzer media types, eyes bulging as their tongues wagged, jabbered on and on and on and on, never questioning anything these women said. This was the same press that looked the other way on John Edwards, Bill Clinton, and the Kennedy brothers…especially Ted.

Here is the liberal segment of our society, the supposed champion of the downtrodden and racially oppressed, leading the charge for a public lynching of a black candidate because he didn’t fit the mold. They pulled the worst kind of racism out of their collective hats…black men having sex with white women. The Dems and their media supplicants called out the dogs to keep the uppity black man on the plantation until he learned his place. Shame on them!!! It is disgusting and vile. What have we come to in this nation?

I think we all can agree Herman Cain was not the best choice for a Republican presidential candidate. Although a shrewd businessman, he lacked governmental experience and political savvy. I don’t think even he believed the press could be guilty of such contemptible conduct, and was unprepared for the frontal assault. Now he has withdrawn to try to heal the wounds and repair damage to his marriage based on innuendo…and not much innuendo at that.

Even if just half of the accusations were true, they wouldn’t rise to the standard of sexual tolerance of public officials established by Bill Clinton: oral sex in the oval office with a twenty year old intern…then lying about it under oath parsing words. Let’s not forget all of his other indiscretions, one of which approached if not crossed the line of rape. Of course, for Bill Clinton, it was the women who were the evil ones. Not him. The press still treats it as a joke.

What happened to Herman Cain is the true racism that exists in America. It is racism in its worse form perpetrated by those who claim to be enlightened. Whether it is Herman Cain or Clarence Thomas, raising up the myth of black sexual prowess in order to defeat an African American with whom the liberals disagree is wrong.

Like I said, you wonder why we can’t get good people to run for office.

Obama's America of Hate

2011-11-28T20:10:00.000-08:00

Dennis Miller is a regular guest on Bill O’Reilly’s television program. For those of you who don’t know, Dennis Miller is a comedian/humorist who is actually pretty good in reaching the core of any issue. He struck a chord with me the other night. Commenting on Barack Obama he said that he doesn’t like Barack Obama anymore. He didn’t vote for him, but he liked him. When Obama was elected, Miller felt like me. I like the guy. What a great moment for America electing the first African American President. Let’s give him a chance. Miller then said that he has changed his mind about Obama. He doesn’t like him anymore, because Obama has made it clear he doesn’t like Miller; not Miller personally, but Obama has made it clear he does not like successful white guys.

And that is the message that is resonating through America now. Obama has fueled the flame of class warfare. It is a nasty business. In an article today, the uber liberal New York Times stated Obama is writing off working class Americans; translate those white blue collar Americans. You know…the ones we don’t need any more jobs for.

Can you imagine? Obama has made clear who the enemy is, at least according to him. And why are we surprised? These beliefs are absolutely representative of the radicals that were his friends prior to being elected. He can’t hide his spots anymore. He tried, but he just couldn’t do it. So now he is going to piece together a coalition based on hate…and race…and gender…and sexual preference…and class. Never did I think I would ever see a presidency based on hate.

Obama’s America is the Occupy Wall Street who are blocking people from going to work, disrupting small businesses trying to sell hot dogs or coffee, and defecating in public places. These are people whose moral compass is rooted in statism, secularism and relativism. They are anarchists, communists, socialists. Look across the tent settlements and you will see what a community organizer does. This is Obama’s America. How do you like it?

Meanwhile, he continues to sue states trying to enforce the law. He continues to fund risky ventures with public money that belong to his political cronies and are ideologically pure. He has shut down oil drilling in the gulf, stopped the Canadian pipeline to Houston, attempting to stop shale development in Ohio. This is Obama’s America of hate.

Do you have the sense that things are spinning out of control? I do. At least he isn’t trying to fool anyone any more. Now we know where he stands. If the putative unemployment is 9% and the actual unemployment is 25%, so be it. He just doesn’t care if it disrupts all that he perceives to be evil with the United States.

We now we see Obama’s vision of Hope and Change…hate for those who have…anarachy for everybody else.

Tax Tax the Christmas Trees

2011-11-15T04:59:00.000-08:00

T’was the nite before Christmas and through the White House,

the tax planners were planning our spirit to douse.

Obamama in his kerchief was sending a fax:
"I spent us to broke. We need a new tax."

What new ways to find government coffers to please!

A brand new tax on Christmas trees.

You just can’t make this stuff up. In one of the most politically boneheaded moves I have ever seen by any administration in my lifetime, the Obama administration decided two weeks before Thanksgiving that it should tax Christmas. Can you believe it? These numb skulls actually decided to impose a 15 cent tax Christmas trees.

When I read the story for the first time on Drudge, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Obama’s administration has a reputation for being tone deaf, but taxing Christmas trees? Really? What were they thinking?

The actual story is somewhat less titillating, but disturbing none the less. A group of large Christmas tree growers decided it wanted the US Department of Agriculture to run a public relations program ala "got milk?"promoting the purchase of live Christmas trees. It lobbied the USDA to do so, and this past week the USDA decided to go along and fund this through a 15 cent per tree tax. Of course, not all tree growers wanted this. Small growers were downright opposed to it. But as in all things Obama, pick the winners and to hell with the losers. So the USDA forged ahead right into a public relations nightmare. They could have at least waited until January to announce it for next year...like on New Year's Day when everybody was hung over.

The Obama administration retreated within forty eight hours, and put the tax on “hold” as the story began to grow legs. From the time this type of story appears on the Drudge Report to when it makes the mainstream news is usually 3 – 5 days, and this one was on the cusp. The White House issued a statement stating that this was all just a big misunderstanding…a basic Roseanne Rosanadana “nevermind” moment. The story has since died an inglorious death it didn’t deserve and Obama and crew can now sleep at night with visions of taxed sugar plums dancing in their heads.

The tax on Christmas trees is absolutely indicative of how the Obama administration works, geared for the propagation of government programs and taxes to feed the beast. The public is secondary. Good sense is secondary. Of course there would be a tax on Christmas trees. Why not if the do-gooders can do some more of the good that the do-gooders do at your expense?

But stop and think…if they are willing to tax Christmas trees going into an election year, just imagine what they will tax after the election if he wins! But then again, they will probably say they aren’t taxing Christmas trees. They are taxing Holiday trees. Nothing like a dose of political correctness to go with your new Obama tax!!

Joyeux Noel!!!!!

NCAA Pimps and Whores

2011-11-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

George Bernard Shaw once found himself at a dinner party, seated beside an attractive woman. "Madam," he asked, "would you go to bed with me for a thousand pounds?" The woman blushed and rather indignantly shook her head.

"For ten thousand pounds?" he asked. "No. I would not." "Then how about fifty thousand pounds?" he contined.

The colossal sum gave the woman pause, and after further reflection, she coyly replied: "Perhaps." "And if I were to offer you five pounds?" Shaw asked.

"Mr. Shaw!" the woman exclaimed. "What do you take me for!" "We have already established what you are," Shaw calmly replied. "Now we are merely haggling over the price."

I noticed during a commercial during the LSU - Alabama game on Saturday that "I'd rather see ya in a Kia" is the "official" car company of the Southeast Conference. Wow!! Who knew that the Southeast Conference needed an official car company? The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but one can surmise that it was more than a grand or two.

This piggy backed on Saturday's report that Penn State's former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was arrested for years of sexual abuse of minors. Along with Sandusky, the Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schulz, Vice President for Finance and Business, were also charged for covering up the incidents. Coach Joe Paterno was aware of some of this, and made a single report to his boss, which he was required legally to do...then did nothing. My oh my oh my.

Let's see. This is on top of an NCAA investigation of the University of Miami related to big money prostitution excursions provided to Hurricane football players by a man serving extended prison time for running a Ponzi scheme close to, but not quite as big, as Bernie Madoff's.

To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw...NCAA, we've already established what you are. Now we are negotiating the price.

Now let me see, while the SEC is selling itself to Kia Motors, and Penn State is pimping young boys, and the University of Miami is providing high priced hookers to players....Ohio State is forced to sack Jim Tressel because several of his players exchanged memorabilia that they owned for tattoos.

I rest my case.

The Most Vile Kind of Racism - The Caning of Cain

2011-10-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

I intended the topic of this week’s Rant to be how I “got” the Herman Cain's smoking television ad that everyone was dissing this past week. (See the video on the MKIA page) It’s abstract political art and genius. In thirty seconds, Cain tells the do-gooders to shove it where the sun don’t shine. That ad, smoking and all, represents the American spirit…Don’t Tread on Me!!!!

Then the ugly hit. The Politic, in what was nothing less than a hit piece, wrote a story about Herman Cain’s alleged sexual harassment of two female employees of the National Restaurant Association. Wow. But then it went on to say that the allegations were based on physical gestures that may, or may not, be interperated as being sexual. It was clear there was no touching. There may have been some verbal communication, and perhaps a gesture. The Association settled with these two ladies for what CNN called a "five figure" settlement, approximately $10,000.00 to make the problem go away.

This story is so wrong on so many levels, it would laughable if it weren’t a racist hatchet job of the worst kind. Ann Coulter said it best. Nothing threatens the liberal establishment more than a successful conservative black man. It shakes the very foundation of plantation liberalism that believes the African American community has to be taken care of, and they in turn will give the Democrats their unending homage and votes. I find it personally disgusting.

All of the innuendo was second hand hearsay at best. The worst claim was he propositioned these women. Have you ever propositioned a woman? Hey, babe, how about coming back to my apartment. No? Really? That is not sexual harassment. That is called hooking up, and is as American as apple pie. Cain claims the gesture he made was telling one of the women that she was as tall as his wife, lifting his hand to his chin. Okay…but even if it was worse…maybe giving someone the finger. Or maybe dropping the F bomb in an office setting (one of my favorite things to do…seriously)…none of this merits what is going on right now. That, my friends, is how most of us live today.

Even at that, I have written that the standard for this type of behavior is oral sex in the oval office, sitting at the Presidential desk, with a 20 year old intern (not to mention the alleged rape of another and more sexcapades with still another). That is where we as a nation have set the bar as to what is acceptable sexual behavior. Teddy Kennedy driving a girl to her death then leaving the scene of the accident is okay. Martin Luther King’s peccadilloes are okay. We won’t even talk about Jesse Jackson. John Edwards cheating on his dying wife is okay (but not using campaign funds to cover it up…that is not okay).

Once again, as with Clarence Thomas, the way to derail a powerful conservative black man is to raise the specter of sexual impropriety of the worst kind. Watching CNN tonight I was physically sickened as Wolf Blitzer interviewed the author of the Politico article completely ignoring that even according to the article he wrote, what happened was open to interpretation. Even Fox News commentators had jumped to a “cover up” mentality forgetting that for there to be a cover up, there has to be something to cover up!!!!

When this type of base politics rises to the surface by a bunch of pig reporters that is when I am sorry that I am involved in our political system if only in a minimalist manner. With all that this country is facing, the Politico and other media that is propagating this racist bile should be ashamed.

Warrior or Assassin?

2011-10-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

Do we have a warrior President? I have to give credit where credit is due. I honestly didn’t think the guy had it in him to go after bin Laden with the shoot to kill directive these guys obviously had. His drone attack on al-Awlaki was another surprise given that he was an American. And of course, last but not least, the participation in the capture and disposition of Qaddafi was a little fall surprise given that we were “leading from behind.” All of these are great achievements. Nothing like a little Chicago justice to make the world a better place. And his liberal base must be shaking in their shoes wondering what happened to their soulmate?

But individual “take outs” like these do not a foreign policy make. And American foreign policy has been positively bogus since the Korea. It’s time for America to stand up, grab its crotch and strut its stuff around the world. Enough already. If we win a war, for once in a century lets act like it!!!!!!

Obama’s diplomatic fiasco in Iraq necessitating the pull out of all American troops by January 1 is a complete foreign policy blunder. Oh…we didn’t go in there to conquer. Oh…the Iraqis should be able to decide their own destiny. Horse manure. How many times do we have to fight for the same piece of real estate? HELLO. Iran is right next door, and they are ready to move in for the prize won by our blood and treasure….TWICE in 15 years. What are we doing? The bad guys are across the border. The oil is right there. For God’s sake, can’t we just once act like a conquering country and do what conquerors do…set up shop and run the joint? My God, we are still in Japan, Germany, and Korea…and we are leaving Iraq to the radical Mullahs of Iran?

And things ain’t much better in Afghanistan. Karzai said that if there was ever a war between the United States and Pakistan, he would side with Pakistan. His bony Arab ass is sitting there in Kabul due to our largesse, and he is making deals with the devils that surround him; Pakistan to his west and Iran to his east. HELLO AGAIN. Our troops are already there and there are bad guys all around with nuclear bombs…and Obama wants to pull out by next fall? Is he nuts?

These are two of the most boneheaded, ideological election based foreign policy decisions I have seen in a long, long time. Reagan had it right: it should be “We win. You lose.” But not Barry. He can’t even negotiate a lease like we have in Cuba where our troops would stay in a self confined area like Guantanamo. Nope. Get them out of there.

So, when Pakistan implodes, and that nut case in Iran finally gets the bomb, what are we do? Float around in the Gulf of Persia holding our ass? Beg the Turks, the Chinese, and the Russians to use their airspace? How many Americans will have to die AGAIN to get back in to where we already are so we can pursue the Pakistanis and Iranians?

Obama is a sneaky little assassin who is going around the world in 80 days taking out those individuals who would do us harm. That is a noble gesture, and will ultimately cost him the election as his base runs the other way. But the real risk to America is in Iran and Pakistan, and right now Obama is giving our strategic advantage away. I say stay there, and we should do a little pillaging and plundering just to let them know we are serious.

And oh ya, don’t forget the oil to pay for all we have done for these people.
UPDATE: The head of Libya's Transitional Council has announced that the new Libya will be based on Sharia law. He is already banning banks from charging interest and reinstating polygamy. Oh joy!!!! This is what we paid for?

Foreign Aid to China?

2011-10-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

As part of an aside on a news program today, the moderator of a discussion group happened to mention that the United States is still giving foreign aid to China. Really? The discussion panel chuckled. I didn’t. So I did some research, and here’s the skinny.

China still receives $2.6 billion/year in foreign aid from western countries. These sap countries in order of decreasing aid are Japan, Germany, France, Britain, then the United States. Our country gives to China $65 million/year. You heard me. We give China, the second largest economy in the world, $65 million. Can anyone tell me why?

We are in hock up to our necks…with a good portion of the blame resting with massive trade deficits with China. Consider the following: China spends $100 billion/year on its military. It spent billions on its Olympic extravaganza. It spends billions on a space program. It is second only to the United States in the number of billionaires in its country. It holds $2.5 trillion in foreign reserves….most of it in dollars. It is the largest borrower of money at preferential rates from the World Bank. All of this while it is sticking it up our ass in Iran and Africa, propping up some of the most brutal regimes in the world…and don’t even mention North Korea.

In addition, India receives $126 million; Russia $71.5 million; Brazil $21 million; Mexico $316 million, and Egypt $1.5 billion. Israel is in a class by itself at $3 billion.

Let’s leave Egypt and Israel out of the equation where foreign aid is predicated on things other than actual economic need. But look at the rest. None of these are poor countries. Sure, there is poverty within those countries, but that is a result of individual government policies. Russia, Brazil and Mexico are natural resources rich…and nobody seems to know where the money goes. India is not exactly poor either. Sure, there is huge amounts of poverty in India, but they are a linchpin in the BRIC powerhouse (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

So while we are borrowing our way to the poor house, while our infrastructure is collapsing, while entitlements are being whacked….we borrow money from China to give money to China?

If this isn’t an outrage, nothing is. And while the government seems to be looking at the issue, and has cut back this year from last…much of this should be gone all together outside of military aid to countries who are our FRIENDS, and who are strategically important to the United States.

And you wonder why the United States are broke!!!!!

(Thanks to Investors.com editorial Why Does The U.S. Still Give China Aid? for source material)

Dudes. Let's Occupy Wall Street...got a joint?

2011-10-11T04:50:00.000-07:00

So the now the truth is out as to just where the President hangs on the issues. His class warfare rhetoric, either by chance or design, has rallied his “peeps” under the banner of “occupy Wall Street.” Thousands of leftists and anarchists and God knows who else, have taken up residence in front of the New York Stock Exchange calling for an end to capitalism and worse. Supporters like Michael Moore and Roseanne Barr have made such incendiary comments saying all of the bankers should be beheaded, and the people should march into the banks and take what they want. It is going to get worse. Today they are going to march on the private homes of the "rich". Shame on them.

The press has gone gaga at the gogo of these folks. The glory days of the sixties are back again with the radicals marching in the streets. They call these folks the left wing Tea Party. Nice sentiment, but far from the truth. While the Tea Party people brought their families, and sang patriotic songs and prayed…these folks are outrageously vulgar, have no clear vision other than hate, and are vile and violent. Seven hundred were arrested last week on the Brooklyn Bridge, and now they are suing New York and Mayor Bloomberg. Pardon me while I smirk about Mayor Busy Body. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!!! Hey Mayor, want some salt for your burger? Why not require the "movement" to post calorie counts on whatever it is they are eating. Are you arresting them for smoking in a public place?

Add to the mix an assortment of Obama supporters feeding the beast. George Soros and Moveon.org have thrown their financial support behind these folks, especially as the “movement” spreads to other cities. And guess who else showed up!! Why it’s the public employee unions and SEIU…Obama supporters all. Add the mix Obama’s radical friends like Van Jones, and it is just one big happy socialist “let’s go blow up the Pentagon” family. How about those pre-printed signs!! Look for the union label.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that this group blossomed from Obama’s hate the rich rhetoric. And given the presence of the unions and Soros and a plethora of Acorn-esque organizations, this is community organizing in its purist form. This is what these people do, and no one can tell me that Obama is not behind these marches. This is the change and post partisan politics promised by this president.

This piggy backs on the comments by the Democratic Governor of North Carolina who said that we should forego elections this time around so Congress can work in a non-political atmosphere. Sounds goods…except the scandals are growing. Both financially busted Solyndro and the Fast and Furious gun scandal is going to reach right into the inner circles of the White House. These are serious issues that had they occurred in a Republican White House, the mainstream press would be shouting for the impeachment and special prosecutors. Here, the fair hair boy and his posse barely get a mention on the news, right behind the story about a sign on Rick Perry’s father’s rented ranch allegedly naming part of the landscape "Nigger Rock", which may or may not have been there six months ago or longer…depending on whose story you choose to believe.

To paraphrase Herman Cain, if these folks aren’t rich, don’t blame the people who are They should blame themselves. Don't steal somebody elses Cadillac.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Dave Betras?

2011-10-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

Unless you live under a rock, you probably know that Dave Betras, the Democratic Party Central Committee’s choice to fill the vacant seat on the Board of Elections, was rejected by Jon Husted, Ohio Secretary of State. Husted cited Betras’ involvement with Mark Dann, the now disgraced former Ohio Attorney General as part of the reason for the rejection. Betras was his former law partner and campaign treasurer. The Central Committee was given a week to come up with a new nominee, or Husted will appoint a Democrat of his choosing to fill the slot.

Some strange bedfellows have popped up out of the woodwork. The Vindicator’s Bertram de Souza and former Mahoning County Republican Chairman Bill Binning jumped to Betras’ defense. On the other hand, many Dems as well as other residents of Mahoning County have quietly applauded the decision.

Dave Betras is a Youngstown original. Binning referred to him as Bombastic Dave. He certainly lived up to that reputation in his full frontal attack against the local Chamber of Commerce. The focus of his attacks was Tom Humphries, President of the Chamber, raising money for John Kasich in the last gubernatorial campaign. Of course, there was no objection when Humphries raised similar money for Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan. I have written several times that attacks on the local Chamber of Commerce in tough economic times was probably not a good idea, but nobody asked me.

In response to all of the above, Betras has taken a somewhat reserved public response stating that he is now considering options available to him, including a possible lawsuit and/or appeal of the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is controlled by Republicans…probably not a good idea.

I have known Dave Betras for many years. I ran against his father for Boardman Trustee too many years ago, and lost by a few hundred votes in a three way race. Dave has always been an interesting person, and the few times I dealt with him professionally, we got along well. He is a tough lawyer, but then again he is representative of how many of the lawyers practice law in Mahoning County.

He has been a tough Democratic Party Chairman. He has raised lots of money for lots for candidates at all levels of the political spectrum, from national all the way down to Board of Education. He is mentioned as a possible candidate for state party chairman, and has been awarded Democrat of the Year awards from the state party several times.

Maybe the problem is that he represents a different kind of politics. His style is Don Hanni-esque. No matter what you think of it, it apparently appeals to a certain strain of politics peculiar to the Mahoning Valley, a strain that produces a certain type of politician…think Jim Traficant. There is a reason why this area is called Little Chicago.

Unfortunately, the state is changing, and so is the Mahoning Valley. The steep decline in the population over the past 10 years has cost us two Congressional seats. We are now competing not with China or Korea, but with states like Texas, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee, all right to work states with low taxes and limited state governments. As Ohio begins to reinvent itself, political attitudes are also beginning to change. While the dreamers envision a tech belt in Youngstown, the reality is that we are becoming a center for oil, gas, and coal production and are returning, to a degree, to our manufacturing roots. Except the rules are different!!!!

Folks who are still here tend to be more serious. They are entrepreneurs who have chosen to stay here against all odds, or are willing to pioneer into the areas of Marcellus and Utica shale development. The rewards are huge, and this Valley does not fully comprehend what is coming down the pike. But the folks in Columbus do, which is why you see so many Republican politicians continually visiting one of the strongest Democratic areas in the country. And maybe, just maybe, the Betras style is one that is becoming passé as the state and the Mahoning Valley move forward.

I don’t know the legalities of what happened with the Betras nomination. That will be a matter sorted out by people a lot smarter than me. But I do know that sometimes style does matter over substance, and perhaps Bombastic Dave isn’t what the doctor ordered for a Board that is traditionally low key and whose focus is fair elections.

On the other hand, don't be surprised to see the state Democratic Party choose him as its leader for the very attributes that may have contributed to his Board of Elections problems. There is only one question. Is Ohio ready for Bombastic Dave?

Here Comes Herman

2011-09-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

Take off your slippers and put on your marchin’ shoes…here come Herman. Wait a minute. That’s Obama. Never mind about the footwear…but here comes Herman nonetheless. Herman Cain, the Republican answer to Hope and Change, the anti-Obama, a car in every garage and a pizza in every pot, has hit a homerun in Florida winning the straw poll with more votes than Perry and Romney combined.

I am thrilled. I got a tingle going up and down my leg. Here is a guy that can finally relate to people. Here is a businessman that understands retail politics. Here is someone with a definitive yet simple plan for turning around our economy…and actually knows how to make money. I don’t care whether you sell pizza or airplanes. At the end of the day, business is business. You make 1% on every sale. You know, buy it for $1.00 and sell it for $2.00…1%.

In all seriousness, Herman Cain is number 2 on my presidential hopeful list. He has that certain charisma combined with a can-do attitude that is appealing to people. Like Ronald Reagan, he talks in simple terms. He puts out simple solutions to what he perceives to be, at the end of the day, simple problems. The press, both from the right and left, scorn him. Conservative pundit Bill Kristol said the Florida straw poll victory was a fluke. Rather than a vote for Cain, it was a vote against Romney and Perry. Left leaningSaturday Night Live has already started on him. They did a parody of the last debate making him sound like Steppin’ Fetchit.

What they are missing is here’s a guy that understands people. While Romney and Perry are hobnobbing with political bigwigs, Cain is on a bus meeting the people in Florida. He is telling them things will be alright. He has put forth a plan he calls the 9-9-9 plan in which the tax code is completely overhauled. Corporate tax rates go to 9%. Individual tax rates are 9%, and there is a national sales tax of 9%. That way, everybody pays their fair share to quote Barack Obama. It is simple. It will bring huge amounts of revenue because finally, everybody is paying something with no special deals for a few. Even the drug kingpins pay under this plan when they go to buy one of those fancy cars and the bling.

Do I have reservations about Cain? Of course I do. He has had NO government experience. But then again, there are those who think that’s a good thing. I am also concerned about his foreign policy experience. He doesn’t have any. On the other hand, neither did George W. Bush. That’s why he had a Dick Cheney.

I don’t really think Cain can win the nomination, but stranger things have happened. His message is resonating with the public. A more likely scenario is that with his showing in Florida, the former CEO of Godfather Pizza probably secured the VP slot on the ticket. I don’t anyone that doesn’t like Herman Cain.

Now if we can only find someone for the top of the ticket. Chris Christie…where are you?

They Went Hiking Where?

2011-09-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

From time to time I have to vent about people who do stupid things. So these three “it’s all about me” types decide they want to go hiking on the Iraqi/Iranian border two years ago. How stupid is that? They stray over the Iranian border and get arrested. Who'd of thought that would happen?

The girl of the bunch got released for “medical” reasons on $500,000.00 bond. She flies back to the States and leaves her fiancé and buddy in an Iranian prison. They are put on trial…and sentenced to eight years in prison for spying. But wait….there is still hope. As I write this, the whole world is waiting to see if the Iranian government will suspend the sentences in return for payment of a million dollars. Supposedly the plane is standing by at Tehran’s airport to whisk these twenty something gems home to America, after the judge gets back from vacation. Maybe he went hiking in Yellowstone!!

So here’s the deal. Assuming they are released, who has paid the 1 ½ million dollars paid to get these idiots out of Iran? You know what? Let them rot. If they wanted to go hiking, we have some lovely hiking trails right here in Mill Creek Park. The most you have to worry about here is getting mugged if you are out after dark.

What are we doing? Who are these people who go off to be fulfilled only to get in trouble and have to be bailed out somebody else’s expense? Here are some rules. Don’t go mountain climbing if there is going to be a snow storm or an avalanche. Don’t go vacationing in a war zone. Don’t go deep sea diving in shark infested waters. Don’t go hiking where the bears are. Use your brains for once. You go looking for trouble, you are going to find it!!! And it's time people stopped bailing these Bozo's out.

Then there’s that babe who is stuck in an Italian prison. She supposedly killed one of her lovers. This chick is portrayed as the Virgin Mary on television suffering at the behest of some pimped out Italian prosecutor. She is no Virgin Mary. She goes to Italy to go to school, but ends up on the party circuit doing God knows what while high on God knows what…you get the picture. Then this guy is found stabbed to death in her apartment. Her and her boyfriend are arrested. She blames some black dude. That turns out to be bogus. The press forgets about the boyfriend, but rapidly decides this little darling is not guilty of anything, which may or may not be the case.

Enough!!! The folks who find themselves in these situations know exactly what they are doing and the dangers involved. Aruba should be off limits. It’s too bad about Natalie Holloway. On the other hand, what is she doing going off with some foreign guy at one in the morning. And where were her parents…and where was the school? You mean they couldn’t find anyplace else within the borders of the United States to go on a school trip? Noooo!!! They choose a party central island to send these girls…complete with booze, drugs and gambling…when some of these little princesses were just 17. What were they thinking? The pres or anybody else has yet to question the so called chaperones on the trip. What were they doing? Pardon me if I don’t cry too much.

Then there’s 50 something bimbo who goes to Aruba with some guy she meets on the internet. He turns out to be an abusive whacko who bought all sorts of insurance on this lady’s life before they left the airport. On top of it, she was supposedly engaged to somebody else. Next thing we know, she is dead in the water…literally…as he male friend climbs out of the ocean and onto the beach and immediately call the insurance company to tell them she was swept out to see. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. But you know what? It’s not too sad. It IS funny. What was she thinking? She can’t find enough horny guys to jump into bed with here in the states…she has to go to Aruba???

It’s time the press stopped giving some of these whack jobs so much air time. It’s time the press started asking these folks what kind of responsible people would do these things. Sound cruel? What is cruel is somehow glamorizing this type of behavior, putting others at risk who might be dumb enough to try some of these stunts themselves.

As for those Iranian hikers, they may be out of jail by the time you read this. Stick them and their idiot families with bill for bailing them out.

I feel better now.

Rosewood Bitters - Why We Have No Jobs

2011-09-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

MICHAEL STANLEY BAND SINGS THE ROSEWOOD BITTERS

Here are more examples of regulations strangling American jobs. If these stories make you want to rant…they should. Welcome to :progressive" America.

1) The California Department of Fish and Game was on the losing end of a lawsuit filed by various environmental groups against it for failure to do environmental impact studies on fisheries, hatcheries and stocked ponds operated by the Department. While promulgating regulations for itself, the CDFG decided it would be a good idea if it would regulate private fisheries and ponds also. This was not required by the court order, and went way beyond the scope of the lawsuit. It is now proposing draconian restrictions on privately run hatcheries, private fishing lakes and ponds. The impact statements now foisted on private hatcheries and fisheries will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per company and require impact evaluations right down to the grass and weeds around the pond. Translate, there will be no trout stocking in California. If implemented, it will in effect end fishing in California, and cost thousands upon thousands of jobs. The private fisheries have banded together and have filed suit against another whack job agency with not enough to do in hopes of blocking these regulations. What a shame.

2) You have probably heard the story about Gibson Guitar Company, the largest guitar manufacturer in the United States. The Nashville based company uses rare woods in its products, specifically rosewood and ebony which it buys from India and Madagascar. Federal agents raided several of its facilities and seized millions of dollars of these imported woods. The Feds claim Gibson violated United States law claiming that Gibson cannot import wood from a foreign company that may have violated a foreign law. Huh? Gibson, as well as just about every stringed instrument maker in the country, uses the same agents to purchase these woods as well as the same compliance agents. There is a debate as to weather a 2009 rosewood shipment was exported to the United States by an exporter that violated Madagascar law. The raw wood could not be exported legally, but Madagascar law states that a finished product can…and the wood was precut into specified lengths prior to shipment, and received the stamp of approval from the Madagascar government. But our crack Federal officers determined that it did violate Madagascar law notwithstanding what the Madagascar government said. Yes….you read that right. Funny thing, none of the other guitar companies were raided, all of whom did the same thing. Gibson, however, is a non-union shop, and its owners are Republicans who donate substantial sums of money to the Republican Party. What do you think? Mmmmmm?

Both of these stories would be funny if they weren’t so sad. This is how our country has degenerated…a bunch of bureaucratic thugs. In California, a pissed off agency who decides to take it out on private industry with NO authority. In Tennessee, the United States government has decided it can interpret Madagascar law better than Madagascar, and do a little political persecution at the same time.

And you wonder why we have no jobs.

Jerry Lewis and the Mean and Nasty 30 Somethings

2011-09-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

I know that the world didn’t grind to a halt, but in case you didn’t hear about it, Jerry Lewis did not host the Muscular Dystrophy telethon this year. So much for Jerry’s kids! It apparently was not an amicable breakup. From I was able to glean from those reliable entertainment news sites, someone in the MDA got a burr up his/her butt and unceremoniously fired him, except someone forgot to tell him. For awhile it looked like they would kiss and make up for another year, but that too collapsed as air time approached. Instead of an icon running the show, there was an amalgamation of stars in a truncated show after an announcement on air that Jerry Lewis had “retired.”

Time marches on, and change is inevitable. One of my pet peeves is old war horses that don’t know when to pack it in and move on. But this was different. Jerry Lewis was the Muscular Dystrophy telethon. Those WERE Jerry’s kids. He was so identified with the organization it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. Maybe that was the problem.

Or maybe not!!! Why do I sense a thirty something smart ass in the wood pile? Not that I have any inside information or anything, but my experience with folks between the ages of 20 – 35 has not been good these past few years. This generation is the most narcissistic, arrogant, and self centered that the post war baby boom has produced to date. Raised on tech, they have no social skills and rely entirely on technology as a moral compass.

People this age have always elbowed their way into positions of authority in show business, espcially in television. I have had some interaction with show business types as of late, and I can tell you to watch out. It is a culture like none I have experienced before. No patience. No understanding. No social skills. No decorum. No loyalty. And everything centered on “me”. It is scary.

I have also experienced it in some of the locals around here. They’re not all that way, but more than a goodly portion of them have no respect for anyone or anything but themselves. I can’t tell you how many times I have bumped into young adults of that age group who don’t even have the social grace to say hello. They just stare at you, and when they speak, it usually turns into some kind of chronic whining. They are entitled. Unless you are there to serve them, they want no part of you.

I would like to think that sense of entitlement comes from the government, but mostly it comes from over indulgent parents who have given these kids everything they want when they wanted it. Now the kids want more. There is no working for the future. Everything in their life has to be instant gratification whether it is communication, houses, jobs, or sex. If it is not provided to them, watch out. And if they can’t get a job after college, Mom and Dad better get used to supporting them in the style to which they are accustomed.

Next year, mention Jerry Lewis around telethon time and you will get “Jerry who?” Fame is fleeting no matter how long you may have had it. But I can just see some smart 35 year old account executive sitting at an MDA meeting this past year saying “Time to get rid of the old goat. That senile dude is bringing us down, man.”

And if that’s case, shame on them. And if we don’t start to clean up our act with another generation of self absorbed, self centered tech junkies with no social skills coming down the pike, shame on us.

YSU Faculty Non-Strike: The Frog and the Scorpion. Vote YES on Issue 2!

2011-08-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

A scorpion was standing by a river trying to get to the other side. Looking around, he called upon a frog to carry him to the other side. “No” said the frog. “You will sting me and surely we both should die”. The scorpion replied that he was certainly not suicidal, and the frog had nothing to worry about. So the frog allowed the scorpion to climb on his back and they proceeded across the river. ½ way across, the scorpion twitched his tail and stung the frog. “Now you have done it” shouted the frog. “Why would you sting me knowing that we will both now drown?” “It’s my nature!” replied the scorpion as they sank to the bottom of the river.

I am so impressed by the largesse of the Youngstown State University faculty. Their decision not to go out on strike warms the cockles of my heart. And the news media is positively batty over their generous decision to allow the students to resume their very expensive education this week. Look how reasonable the local union is acting.

This past summer, Youngstown State instituted ANOTHER 3.5% tuition increase supposedly to make up for cuts in this year’s Ohio state budget. But the unions saw that money, and decided they wanted a raise. A “fact finder” decided that all of the money should be awarded to the faculty union, even though other unions had yet to have their shot at the gold ring. When the Board of Trustees said no, the union voted to strike, and gave the university its 10 day notice. Then almost immediately after giving the notice, the union abruptly changed its mind and agreed to work under the old contract until a new one could be worked out

Nowhere and I mean nowhere, did I see anything mentioned anywhere about State Issue 2 (SB 5) being the motivating factor behind all of this union civic mindedness. These folks aren’t this way by nature. The unions at YSU are just the opposite. In fact, public employee unions in this area are among the most strident in the country, going out on strike before it was legal for public employees to strike! Ask the folks in Boardman.

I would have loved to been a little bird in the room as the frantic calls poured in from the Democratic Party and the union bosses’ telling them now is not the time to go on strike. This strike would have been the topic on every radio talk show in the state, not to mention SB 5 supporters’ commercials. This kind of behavior is exactly what SB 5 was designed to prevent. How is the media missing this story? Can you imagine? A strike by state university professors right before a statewide referendum designed to prevent this type of public employee “behavior”?

Issue 2 is the referendum on Ohio Senate Bill 5. Here are some easy questions to determine whether you support Issue 2 (Senate Bill 5) or oppose it.

1) Do you believe public employees should have the right to strike? If you say no, vote yes on Issue 2.

2) Should public employees be required to participate in a uniform health care plan as provided for by the state rather than negotiate individual plans? If you say yes, vote yes on Issue 2.

3) Should public employees be required to pay at least 10% of the cost of their health care plan like employees in the private sector? If you say yes, vote yes on Issue 2.

4) Should public employees be required to pay at least 10% of their pension costs like employees in the private sector? If you say yes, vote Yes on Issue 2.

5) Should public employees be allowed to accumulate sick days and vacation days and be paid a lump sum for them when they retire, sometimes in excess of a $100,000.00? If you say no, vote Yes on Issue 2.

6) Should teachers’ job security and pay be determined by seniority or by their effectiveness as teachers? If you think the latter, vote Yes on Issue 2.

7) Should employee pay be based on the ability of a political subdivision to pay salaries, or based on an outside arbiter telling the subdivision they have to give raises, and put a levy on the ballot to pay for it? If you believe the former, then vote Yes on Issue 2.

The professors at YSU have dodged the bullet by heeding the story of the scorpion and the frog. But without Issue 2 being on the ballot this fall, school's out for summer, and all fall too! Remember, that trip across the river is a two way trip. The scorpion might not sting going across, but coming back is a different story.

Vote Yes on Issue 2.

A Safety Deposit Box in the Cayman Islands

2011-08-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

It gets frustrating week after week pleading for Obama and his liberal henchmen to do what is right for the country. I am personally sickened by his tone deafness evidenced by the foreign made bus fiasco last week and his millionaire Martha Vineyard vacation this week and next. His aides are attempting to frame it as a “working” vacation, which it probably is to an extent. But the visuals of him and pies and golf and his wife’s insistence that she go there separately at the taxpayer expense is downright disgusting.

In the meantime, we are supposed to sitting around waiting for his “C U in September” jobs plan. Where the hell has he been for the last three years? I don’t want to hear he is “entitled” to a vacation. He wanted this job. Now he’s got. He cavorted around the world right after his inauguration. You couldn’t tell where his apology tour ended and his vacations began. They all ran together. Not to mention his wife’s sortie to Spain. He has played more rounds of golf than any recent sitting president. His idea of leadership is to wait for Congress to call him and tell him what to do. Now enough is enough. Go back to Washington and at least look the part.

Those of you who know me know I like to dabble in the stock market, so I watch the business news…A LOT!!! This morning one of the CNBC guests was Mark Faber of the Gloom, Doom and Boom report. His analysis of things has been spot on for the past several years as he raised the hue and cry while the rest of Wall Street frittered.

This morning he talked about gold. He said that gold is too high to buy right now, but you should grab it on the dips. And he didn’t mean gold stocks or ETF’s. He recommends that you hold physical gold, like bars or coins, and keep them in a safety deposit box. He then went on to enumerate a whole list of nations and cities you where you might want to maintain a safety deposit box. The United States was not on the list. The interviewer pointed that out to him, and he again listed the places he would store gold and refused further comment.

If there is any indication how distrustful business is of these jackasses in Washington, it can’t get any clearer than this. He says 30% of your portfolio should be in physical gold maintained outside of the country. Without saying it, he confirmed what many of the “right wing whackos” have been warning about. They know how people like Obama and his crew operate. If they view anything as a threat to their economic philosophy, they move to crush it.

Marc Faber apparently remembers Executive Order 6102 signed by Franklin Roosevelt criminalizing the ownership of gold as he moved forward with his New Deal. His rationalization was that hoarding gold impeded economic development making the depression worse. Over the next few years numerous orders were issued to replace previous ones declared invalid by the courts…but the net effect was that it wall illegal to hold physical gold until Gerald Ford's administration. In the mix, there were rumors of Roosevelt’s enforcement arm raiding banks and seizing safety deposit boxes to get those horrible gold hoarders. The record is unclear as to exactly what the government did and didn’t do seizing private safety deposit boxes…but the conclusion is that something happened. Where there is smoke, there is fire!!

Has the nation reached a tipping point when respected financial planners tell clients to buy gold and get it the hell out of the country? The answer is a very clear yes. Obama has lied over and over and over again as to his intentions and content behind his legislative initiatives in the first two years of his presidency, and his regulatory initiatives he is using now to circumvent the Republican House.

I repeatedly say that when it comes to Barack Obama, don’t look at what he says. Look at what he does!!! And you, too, may be looking for a safety deposit box in the Cayman Islands.

Youngstown State Faculty Strike and SB 5

2011-08-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

Let me understand this. In Ohio, the Republicans took control of all state level elected positions, plus both houses of the Ohio congress, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Governor Kasich faced a multi-billion dollar shortfall in the state budget which must be balanced as required in the Ohio constitution. As part of his effort to balance the budget, and to bring sanity to all levels of government in Ohio, Kasich supported a piece of legislation which came to be identified as Senate Bill 5, or SB5.

This bill returns the law to where it was 20 years ago, prohibiting public employees from striking. It requires that all public employees pay a part of both their health care costs and pension contributions. It also eliminates binding arbitration from third party arbitrators who have had the propensity to order wage increases based on everything BUT the current fiscal situation of the government entity at issue. In other words, they can’t order a pay increase based on a supposed future tax hike.

It was a contentious battle in the Ohio legislature, but it passed and was signed into law. Next, the public employee unions took their over the top behavior and filed for an initiative to repeal SB 5 in the November election. The SEIU showed up in Ohio and hit the inner city neighborhoods for signatures, not telling these folks that their taxes would go up if SB5 is repealed, and that the only ones who benefit from the repeal are the unionized employees.

They also hit the university campuses telling the students that SB5 “destroys the middle class.” But it doesn’t tell them that it could cause their state university tuition to go up because it would give back to their faculty members the right to strike and cause another tuition hike.

The effort to repeal SB5 was particular virulent in Youngstown, Ohio…home of Youngstown State University and one of the strongest Democratic enclaves in Ohio, if not the United States. The Chairman of the Democratic Party just about destroyed the local Chamber of Commerce because it supported SB5 making a jack-ass out of himself in the process. Youngstown State is also a hot bed of public employee union activity with a hair trigger propensity to strike.

The final piece of the picture occurred last spring when the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees raised tuition another 3.5%, as they have done almost every year, the maximum allowed by state law.

Here’s the fun part. The YSU faculty is currently negotiating its new contract, the last it can negotiate under pre-SB5 rules. And these idiots have voted to give the university a 10 day strike notice. The arbitrator looked at that 3.5% tuition hike and decided that just about all of it should go to the faculty. Of course, it only makes sense because the administration of the university has been giving themselves hefty raises “to keep up with comparable positions in other parts of the country.” Ya…like New York or San Francisco where the cost of living is 10 times higher than here. Of course, the tuition hike was actually instituted to replace reduced funding from the state to the university, or so they say, which has nothing to do with salary increases.

Do I understand this correctly? The faculty at Youngstown State University is going to go out on strike to get salary recommendations from an arbitrator who wants to award an unpopular 3.5% tuition hike to one set of wage increases benefiting faculty members who are already grossly over paid…AND they want to strike right before a vote to repeal the piece of legislation that was designed to prevent this very scenario from happening in the first place…AND in a part of the state where the repeal effort needs the most support…AND effecting a group who might otherwise vote to repeal it but for their tuition hike and their teachers going on strike as the students have to get a third job to pay for all of this? Sweet!

As my Aunt Josephine said…some people are so smart they're stupid.

Downgrade: The Death of Keynesian Economics

2011-08-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Those of you who have ever taken an economics class probably learned like me to hate those graphs with all of those intersecting lines. To me, equilibrium was something that kept me from getting dizzy. Economic equilibrium had just the opposite effect on me. I wanted to run out of the classroom screaming as those graphs started spinning round and round.

One of the first words out of the mouth of my first economic professor was the name John Maynard Keynes, a British economist who died in the late 1940’s, and came up with some clever economic theories during the Great Depression. At that time, political, business and economic leaders were trying to make sense of what was happening in the world economies. Of course, they were looking in the wrong places. Much of the Great Depression was due to political reasons in Europe (the train track gauge from country to country was different, for example) and bad policy by the Federal Reserve Bank here in the states which continually upped reserve requirements for the banks to the point where over 90% of American currency printed by the Federal Reserve was being held in the banks.

Keynes, however, decided that what the world needed was a new economic theory. Communism and National Socialism (Nazis) were running amok in the world, and he attempted to come up with a theory that would allow the democracies to take a more activist role in their respective countries’ economy. Thus Keynesian economics was born.

It is not hard to understand. Keynes theorized that governments could circumvent normal business cycles by trying to achieve more efficiency in a nation’s economy. Although he admitted that if left alone, any problems in any economy would eventually correct itself in the long run, he also believed that in the long run, we would all be dead. This type of thinking during the Great Depression gave political cover to those who were caught up in the socialist utopian theories of the day without having to actually call themselves socialists. Massive government spending and debt in areas of the economy that needed correction was better than extended periods of displacement and discomfort. It would speed the normal correction along.

And it worked once. Keynes propounded his theories in the 1930’s, and the massive government spending resulting from World War II proved his point. My economics teacher was quick to point out that it was the huge deficit spending to build the war arsenal that ended the Great Depression. He was right. Massive spending on hard assets….tanks, airplanes, steel, concrete, trucks, jeeps, bombs and guns absolutely ended the Great Depression…and don’t forget all of those unemployed men enlisting or being drafted into the army. The economy was humming.

So American politicians decided that Keynesian theory was a winner, and it gave them an excuse to continue to meddle in the economy. If you were a leftist or a progressive or a liberal, you found your hero and justification to mold America into the place you thought it should be…a reflection in the social democratic eye of nations. Keynesian theory sanctified the ever increasing national debt.

Unfortunately, World War II was the only time Keynesian economics worked. Of course it worked…look at what they made with the money!!! But since then, government spending has been directed at everything BUT hard national assets. It has been directed towards social justice programs, welfare, entitlements…NOT roads, bridges, energy development, or as Obama has recently admitted, shovel ready projects that weren’t as shovel ready as he thought.

Less than 10% of Obama’s stimulus package went to those kinds of projects. What wasn’t sopped up the states to pay their bills and pension funds was directed towards liberal causes that produced little if any ripple effect through the economy. As one Democratic Congresswoman said: “We don’t need any more white blue collar construction jobs.”

Obama has now learned the hard way that is exactly what we needed. The downgrade by Standard and Poors, no matter how unjustified or justified it may be, is a stunning rebuke of Obama’s socialist policies hidden in the camouflage of Keynesian economics.

And it is not only Obama. Bush the 1st and 2nd, Carter, Johnson, Clinton, and to a lesser degree Nixon and Ford, all practiced Keynesian economics. Only Ronald Reagan saw it for what it was…a phony excuse to spend money where it ought not to be spent.

Those that practice Keynesian economics always forget one important thing. It’s not only how much you spend, it’s what you spend it on. The downgrade of American debt may finally mark the end of Keynesian economic theory. The country rejected it in last November's election. The European Union and the Euro are on the verge of collapse. China is attempting to end the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Standard and Poors simply is telling us enough is enough.

Maybe Keynesian economics will be buried once and for all.

And That, Mr. Greenberg, is Why Americans Tune Out Democrats

2011-08-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

A recent article in the New York Times asked the rhetorical question: Why do voters tune out Democrats? It was with a dose of vinegar that Stanley Greenberg, author of the piece, stated: “I see clearly that voters feel ever more estranged from government — and that they associate Democrats with government.” Really? He is just figuring that out? But then he goes off the road. He further states: “If Democrats are going to be encumbered by that link, they need to change voters’ feelings about government.”

His premise is that the American people see government as corrupt. They see government representing all of those big, bad corporations and wealthy Wall Street types to the detriment of the little guy on the street. The Democrats have to change the perception, and go after all of those bad guys in order to get the confidence of the people back.

Of course, let’s start with the struggling little guy who pays NO federal income tax. In 1975, the percentage of American who paid no federal income tax was 17%. Now it is 53%. It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that the little guy is getting a pretty good deal, even if the big guys might be getting a better one. Case in point: General Electric.

But that’s just an aside. Americans have an innate distrust of government. What they are feeling is an oppressive government smothering them to death at the behest of whack-a-doodle special interests. It interferes in every aspect of their lives. It hinders their ability to make a living and provide for their families. Every new regulation, every new rule promulgated, every new compliance requirement, kills jobs. It costs the public money. And there is no more money.

I had a box in the back seat of my car with melted glue all over it and warnings in big black letters going up and down every side of the box. You had to see this thing. I was afraid to open the box to see what was inside the warnings were so dire. You know what it was? One of those squiggly light bulbs! I have kept the box to bring it with me when I give speeches as Exhibit A. God forbid you use a regular light bulb you earth destroyer!!!!

The EPA has just stiffened ozone particulate regulations from 75 ppb (parts per billion) to 60 ppb. What does this mean? For the energy industry, it means about $90 billion over the next few years; for American drivers it means about $1.00/gallon. That is really going to encourage job growth.

The EPA is now attempting to impose by regulation the cap and trade bill defeated by Congress last year. Even the Democrats voted against that one. Yet the Obama EPA refuses to listen to the will of the American people and is implementing these horrendous provisions where lots of people will make trillions of dollars trading air credits at your cost and mine. The money will come right from Joe Bag of Donut's pocket.

They want to regulate what you eat. They want to regulate how warm or cool you can keep your house. They want to regulate what you can drive. They want to regulate how you raise your children. They want to regulate, regulate, regulate…all of which is done by legal coercion. My favorite is the attempt to regulate water usage. Why? Conserve water for what? You take a shower. It goes down into the sewer. It goes through water treatment into the Mahoning River into the Beaver River into the Ohio River into the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico where it evaporates and flies through the air back to Meander Reservoir when it rains into the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District system into the water storage tank into the pipes then back to my shower. And the cycle starts all over again. Water is NOT a limited resource. It recycles NATURALLY. But some do-gooder in Washington…probably a Democrat….knows what is best for you.

In fact, if you look at all of the whack-a-doodle legislation that we have to deal with in our daily lives, you will find some do-gooder Democrat leading the charge with some pie in the sky cause that absolutely must be shoved down our throat to save the world, or make it fair. God forbid life might be unfair.

And that, Mr. Greenberg, is the reason Americans tune out the Democrats.

Uncomfortable Truths for the Budget Debate

2011-07-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

Who Pays Income Taxes and how much?

Tax Year 2008

Level of Wage Earners   Income     % of Collected Income Taxes

Top1%                               $380,354                         38.02
Top 5%                              $159,619                         58.72
Top 10%                            $113,799                         69.94
Top 25%                            $ 67,280                          86.34
Top 50%                            $ 33,048                          97.30
Bottom 50% below          $ 33,048                              2.7
Source: Internal Revenue Service

As the debate over the debt ceiling and budget drones on, here are some truths you should be aware of.

1) In the mid 1960’s, Lyndon Johnson declared “war on poverty” and instituted his progressive Great Society program. At the time he instituted these policies, the number of Americans living in poverty was 14%. Most of those programs are still in place, plus numerous others. Collectively the country has spent untold trillions of dollars in instituting those programs. 45 years later, the number of Americans living in poverty is 14.3%. The number of poor has actually gone up. And you want to know why we are broke!!!

2) 50% of working Americans pay NO federal income tax, and the number is rising. The top 10% of wage earners pay 70% of all income tax collected by the government. The top 1% pays 38% of all taxes collected by the government. So excuse me when I hear Barack Obama talk about “shared sacrifice” that I don’t cry too much. It appears that the lower 50% of wage earners make out like bandits paying nothing. The system can’t go on like this. Everybody should pay something or the system will collapse under its own weight as the ever increasing number of workers who pay nothing demand government services paid for by a shrinking portion of the population.

3) I attended a Senate Bill 5 debate with Representative Bob Hagan speaking on behalf of those who oppose SB 5 and Republican Chairman Mark Munroe speaking for those in support of the measure. What was interesting was the audience. There were several university professors in attendance, plus some teachers, plus some other public employees…all of whom make pretty good livings from the public treasury. The university people I found particularly interesting because I know for a fact several of them in attendance make upwards of close to $100,000.00/year plus benefits with very little employee contribution, if any. Hagan claimed he represented the poor and downtrodden and elderly, and that I didn’t live in his district so he didn’t have to respond to my questions. What he failed to tell the folks is that every time a public employee gets a raise, the poor and the elderly pay the bill either through increased property taxes, increased sales taxes, and/or increased local income taxes. Public employees making in excess of $65,000.00 getting pay raises and benefits to the point that taxes have to be increased helps the poor and the downtrodden how?

4) Also in attendance at the SB 5 meeting were several small businessmen from the downtown area. They asked how Governor Kasich can say he is for creating jobs when he is eliminating government jobs downtown. What is disturbing is that these folks just assume that jobs are created by the government. They don’t realize that it is the private sector that actually creates jobs to pay for the government jobs…not the other way around. Where did these folks learn the wrong assumptions? The fact they even think that way is scary. I admire their courage and risk taking, but you can’t rely on government as a source of wealth because sooner or later, it will run out of other’s people money….as is happening in the United States right now.

5) The press is making much about a report showing the disparity of wealth between whites and minorities is at an all time high. But the press is not reporting two important back stories: 1)the country is still primarily white, and the white population is aging. Seniors, contrary to conventional wisdom, constitute the wealthiest segment of American society because of accumulated income and their houses being paid for. 2) The exact opposite applies to minorities, especially Hispanics, who are younger than the general population, and more likely would have suffered from the financial debacle of 2008. It is NOT because of an increasing disparity of incomes.

Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, said the other night that when government creates a job, it takes money from the country. When private business creates a job, it gives money to the country. True words. We should take some lessons.

Which Lemonade Stand Would You Prefer?

2011-07-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

I watch a lot of business news during the day. CNBC, the NBC business channel, has an early morning program called Squawk Box. It has a unique ability of making things seem alright even when they are not. Nothing rattles these guys, not even 9-ll. One of its anchors passed away a few weeks ago, and the network replaced him with semi-regular guest pundit Andrew Ross Sorkin, who also happens to be a journalist with the New York Times. Ouch!!!!

This morning, in a debate with a Republican congressman, Sorkin commented that the congressman should be specific when saying the too much regulation from government is bad for business. I shook my head in disbelief. It’s pretty clear he has never run a business.

I emailed CNBC with the following comment: “Perhaps Andrew should try to open up a lemonade stand to learn how business works. Wait a minute. He can't. The police would shut him down for not having a $150.00 vendor’s permit.”

There have several incidences around the country where police have shut down kids selling lemonade in their driveway trying to make a buck or two to buy whatever kids their age buy. What a better way to make entrepreneurs. Verizon ran a commercial for months where they showed how little Suzie turned her lemonade stand in a national company. Verizon must live in the old United States. That couldn’t happen in Georgia where the chief of police said that the little girl’s lemonade was dangerous because they didn’t know what was in the lemonade…or who made it.

So what did those kids in Georgia learn? They learned what Andrew Ross Sorkin didn’t. An oppressive government stymies, and even closes down, businesses. Hope for expansion or jobs? Forget about it. Those little girls learned not to go into business…the cops may come and arrest you for someone smoking a cigarette in line while waiting for lemonade with too much sugar.

People joke about the closing of these lemonade stands. But it is absolutely indicative of what is happening in America today. Which vision of America do you want? The vision shown in the Verizon commercial…or the vision shown in the police closing down a ten year olds effort to make a buck selling a cool beverage on a hot day?

Shame on America for letting it come to this.

Risk vs. Reckless

2011-07-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

Several tragic deaths have occurred this past week. A firefighter died trying to catch a baseball thrown by a player into the stands at a Texas Ranger’s baseball game. He was sitting in the stadium's second level and leaned over the rail to catch the ball. His young son witnessed the whole thing.

An Iraqi war veteran who was a double leg amputee was thrown from a roller coaster in Buffalo, New York, falling two hundred feet to his death while his college aged nephew riding next to him looked on in horror. In June, an eleven year old girl fell 150 feet to her death out of a ferris wheel gondola. She was alone in the car and investigators still can’t figure out how she got out of the cage. Why was she alone in the gondola car?

Deaths like this are senseless and my heart goes out to these devastated families. But my sympathy level is fairly low, especially when news commentators are looking for someone to blame and SUE. The family of the war veteran said that the decedent was so happy when he got onto the roller coaster, but not one person from the park challenged him…not one (family’s emphasis). Really? He wasn’t wearing his prosthetics, and the restraint system was a bar across the legs. What am I missing from this story? He needed to be told that’s not a good idea? In addition, what would have happened if the attendant actually challenged the guy and told him he couldn’t ride. I can see the headlines now…War Veteran Denied Ride on Roller Coaster. Can you spell the Americans with Disabilities Act?

At some point in time people need to take responsibility for their actions. If you are going hiking in the backwoods of a national park, you may get accosted by a wild animal such as the bear that just mauled a man to death in Yellowstone. If you are going yachting off the coast of Somalia, don’t be surprised if pirates board your boat and kill you. If you are going to climb a mountain because it is there, watch out for avalanches or crevices or snow storms or any other myriad of events that can leave you stranded and/or dead.

Risk has always been America’s strong suit. Our country was built on risk. On the other hand, there is risk, and there is recklessness. And it even becomes more of an issue when the dire consequence of one’s reckless behavior is foisted on to someone else, be it through liability or the cost of an associated rescue mission. What has happened to common sense?

Was the baseball worth the fall over the rail? Was “being normal” worth being thrown from a roller coaster car? How’d that walk in the woods work out for you? And if you want to go boating, here’s a thought. How about doing it off the coast of the United States? And here is another good idea, don’t go on a lake bordering Mexico when those bonfires you see on the other side belong to the Mexican drug cartels.

We are all human, and none of us are made alike. If there was a god, I would have a 32 inch waist and be able to run marathons. I know my physical limitations because I am overweight, and try to act accordingly. We all need to realize our limitations, and learn to live within our physical capabilities.

Forest Gump said "stupid is as stupid does." I think right now there's a whole lot of people with a whole lot of stupid. Where does America get some common sense? There are those of you who will think I am terrible for writing this essay. But if it makes someone think just once about doing something dangerous in pursuit of God knows what, then it was worth it.

Casey Anthony

2011-07-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

The Casey Anthony trial is over, and the Monday morning quarterbacking will be ongoing for the next few months as the principals of the case move from the courtroom to the court of public opinion, and money, in the media. Not since OJ Simpson has a trial generated so much interest. And why not? A missing baby; a mother who is a pathological liar; a whacked out extended family…it was hard to find someone you liked in this mess, including the prosecutors and defense attorneys.

A wise man once said that the law is not about justice. It is about ending disputes. This is a perfect example. Do I think this was a just verdict? No. Do I think it was a proper verdict? Absolutely.

While I despise murderers and rapists and the like, I cherish our legal system more. It is there to protect you and me from the authority of the state. It is what stands between us and the Nazis…the rule of law. It isn’t perfect, but we must cling to it to protect our freedoms.

Like the OJ Simpson case, in the Casey Anthony matter it was pretty obvious what happened and who did what to whom. But there was a fundamental flaw in both cases. The prosecutors had to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. That is the prosecutor’s burden. If it can’t be done, there is no statute of limitations on murder. And most of all…don’t pimp up the case to make it appear there is something there when there is not. Juries are much more sophisticated these days. All of those CSI and Law and Order programs have taught us how the system works.

In both the OJ Simpson case and Casey Anthony case, it was a lie that brought the prosecutors’ case down. When Mark Fuhrman, one of the lead detectives in the OJ Simpson case, got caught red handed in a lie, then it became plausible that he tossed the glove over the wall and pilfered a few drops of blood from the trunk of his fellow officer’s car to plant blood evidence on a pair of socks and on a door handle. That spells reasonable doubt, and it took the jury less than two hours to arrive at the not guilty verdict.

The case built around Caylee Anthony's death was ripe with lies. Casey appeared to be a walking sociopath, and the prosecutor did a good job of showing she was a liar of the worst kind. But he could NOT connect the dots as to how Caylee actually died. The forensic evidence was non-existent in any way, shape or form. The prosecution claimed Casey smothered her daughter with duct tape. Wouldn’t a pillow have been easier? Add to that all of the pictures and testimony that Casey was a loving and good mother…what the prosecutor was selling was bound to run into trouble.

And that trouble was George Anthony. The prosecutor presented one theory of death, and attempted to prove it with Casey’s lies. The defense offered another theory of death, also surrounded by the lies of George and Cindy Anthony. The defense claimed that Caylee drowned in the family swimming pool, and George took over the disposal of the body. Ugly allegations of abuse and incest filled the courtroom, which George vehemently denied. But it was clear that something was seriously askew in the Anthony household. None of these folks would recognize the truth if fell in front of them.

While the press was singing the praises of George Anthony, the defense team destroyed his credibility. He lied about phone calls and contacts with the man who found the body the first time and the second time. His wife called 911 and said there was an odor of death in her daughter’s car…what an odd thing to say in a panic 911 call. George reiterated the smell of death, over and over and over again. Hey…just in case you forgot...there was the smell of death in the car. Being a cop from Warren, he knew about those things. By the way, did I tell you there was the smell of death?

Then there was his “suicide” attempt. Puhleez. He was a cop. If he wanted to kill himself, he would have succeeded. Instead, we get a self serving suicide note with a trumped up sympathy factor.

Then there was testimony from Casey’s brother refuting testimony of the father relating to phone calls and comments made about the death of Caylee. And the brother lived in the same house and didn't know Casey was pregnant, and George didn't acknowledge the pregnancy until the 8th month? Really?

Then there were Cindy’s lies that she searched “chloroform” on the family computer when her punch clock showed she was at work. Can you spell P-E-R-J-U-R-Y?

But most compelling, and I believe the coup de grace to the prosecution’s case, was the testimony of River Cruise, aka Krystal Holloway, who stated she had an affair with George, and had the phone records and text messages to prove it, and further testified that George told her this was an accident that snowballed out of control. Midst the continual lies from all of the parties to this mess, I believed this woman. She had nothing to gain. And George denied it. Dude, you were caught with your pants down…literally.

So…which scenario do you believe? If you think that Casey Anthony’s bizarre behavior after her daughter went missing is enough to prove that she chloroformed her daughter, put duct tape around her mouth to smother her, put her in her trunk for a few days then threw the body into the woods to rot…then you would have voted to convict.

But if you believe that the little girl drowned in the family pool, and the abusive grandfather told his daughter he would dispose of the body and to disappear for awhile…and don’t tell your mother….and he would find a way to cast suspicion onto someone else…and would wrap the body in tape and plastic bags and dispose of it in the nearby woods calling on some of his questionable contacts to take care of the matter and make it look like a kidnapping and murder…with the police training to know how to do it…. And then lie on the witness stand over and over again. Well, what do you think?

With absolutely no forensics whatsoever (and I believe time will tell the cops really blew it) is enough to spell reasonable doubt. And that means not guilty on all of the serious charges.

Here is the lesson to be learned. Prosecutors should not overcharge. In my opinion, they probably could have gotten a conviction on a simple, clean manslaughter charge. Prosecutors must not use junk science ( a sniffing machine?) to prove a case. Prosecutors must rely on more than pure circumstantial evidence when there is a plausible explanation contra to the case they are presenting.

At the end of the day, a little girl is dead and we don’t know who, what, where, when and how…and nobody will be held responsible. If you paused a bit, you must acquit.

WFMJ Meets the Declaration of Independence Meets McDonald's Coffee

2011-06-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

So it was five in the AM and I was watching the WFMJ Good Morning program today. It came time for the call in game segment of the program…you know…the one where people who don’t know their name call in for a chance to win a prize-pak consisting of a small McDonald’s coffee…and….well…a small McDonald’s coffee. What some people won’t do for a small McDonald’s coffee.

Being the 4th of July and all, WFMJ decided to ask some patriotic questions. This morning’s question was “What is the opening line of the Declaration of Independence?” Some guy called in from who knows where. He spent the weekend doing some four wheeling stuff. He was given three choices:

1) When in the course of human events it becomes necessary….

2) Give me liberty or give me death.

3) Four score and seven years ago….

After some contemplative thinking, he picked “Four score and seven years ago….” I almost wet my pants. Not only did this guy NOT know the Declaration of Independence, he obviously didn’t know the Gettysburg address either. He must have slept through his history or civic classes, if he had any.

But it's not funny. In fact, it is pitiful. It is absolutely indicative of what is going in America today. I don’t blame this guy one bit. This is what our schools are producing. We had to memorize the Gettysburg Address when I was in 5th grade. We also had to memorize large portions of the Declaration of Independence, and studied the meaning behind these documents. This is America's foundation.

Why am I not surprised? Schools today worry about everything but what they are supposed to…teach the students. In Maryland, the state Board of Education, by decree, stated that all students in Maryland must graduate environmentally literate, whatever that means. Although guidelines have yet to be established, the environmental group charged with promulgating these standards has already said it wall contain knowledge of global warming, the waste of nature’s resources by mankind…you get the picture. It will be a propaganda indoctrination program.

And in the process, because there are only so many school hours in a day and so many school days in a year, other things will have to be shoved out for the left wing educators to mold the minds of our impressionable young people as to the evil ways of man…and to ride bikes instead of driving cars. Certainly there will be NO room for evil items like the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address. No, those items stem from the racist bourgeoisie that founded this country. Global warming must trump everything, including our Constitution if they even bother to teach that we have one.

Governor Kasich sent his assistant to the Valley last week to talk with teachers about the merits of Merit Pay or the lack thereof. My wife attended the meeting. Midway through the session, another teacher stood up and said that the schools have to move to protect children. We have to keep the schools open to 10:00 at night to provide a safe haven for our kids…and to make sure that they get three meals a day. The schools must step up to the plate. Huh? My wife was dumbfounded, and asked this “educator” who is going to pay for all of this? Her question was met with stoic silence and rebuke.

So there you have it. Schools are becoming propaganda vehicles for the left wing environmentalists, and they want to keep the kids in school until 10:00 at night to make sure their minds aren’t polluted with ideas that might come from the families that are supposedly responsible for them.

No wonder the four wheeling dude couldn’t answer the WFMJ question. Guess he will have to spring for that small McDonald’s coffee himself. I would pay for a small McDonald's coffee if that would help fix the problem.

Greece is the Word

2011-06-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

At the end of the day, the issue is always “Who pays?” If you don’t think Europe matters, think again. It will affect you both directly and indirectly. If you are watching rioting in the streets of Athens, you need to know that sort of thing could be heading here. In fact, I would argue that it is already here showing up in the anger that is currently rampant in the country. And you also need to know that it will reach directly into your pocketbook. Your money will be buying more than baklava over the next few years.

If you want to understand what is going on, you need to know that Greece has a complete cradle to grave socialist system with generous benefits. Although the official age for retirement is 61, the vast majority of Greeks can retire somewhere between the ages and 50 and 55 with full pensions. For example, a hairdresser’s job is classified as hazardous and she can retire at age 50. The demonstrators are resisting governmnet efforts to raise the official retirement age to 63.

Greece manufactures very little. Its primary source of revenue is tourism and associated industries. Its government has been on a borrowing spree and right now owes something like 145% of its GDP. No matter how the Greek debt is sliced and diced, it is impossible to repay and there will be a default in one form or another.

Greece is part of the Euro zone. It consists of most European Union countries minus Britain, Switzerland and Sweden, and maybe a few others. It is a confederation of independent states with a central bank issuing its currency, the Euro, but with very little authority to control the fiscal integrity of the member nations other than to set “targets” for debt, GDP and the like.

The banks of all the various member countries are each other’s clients. So, Greek banks can buy Greek government debt, and the Euro Zone banks have to accept that debt as collateral for further Greek bank finances. The Greeks know this. So they continue to run up their debt, and lay it off to other European banks knowing full well there will be a default. One might as well make a little money in the process.

The debt is worthless. Greece cannot pay it back. A default of Greek bonds would have ramifications clear around Europe as European banks move to increase their reserves to write off the Greek government debt. The solution is to bail them out…and the only two countries strong enough to bail out the Greek government is Germany and France, who would do so to protect the interest of the German and French banks holding all of this Greek debt.

While the Germans and French citizens are kicking and screaming that they are being made responsible for another country’s debt, the Greeks riot in the street because they continue to want to retire at age 50 with the Germans and the French picking up the tab. What a sticky wicket.

And here is where you come in. The German and French banks are going to have to borrow money to pay off the Greek debt. While the Chinese have been skulking around Europe offering to assist, the Europeans are rightfully suspicious about the strings the Chinese will attach to any bailout money.

So they are looking to the Federal Reserve Bank, that would be our Federal Reserve Bank, to give them to the money to prevent the collapse of the European banks while they give the money to Greece to pay off the debt incurred by its citizens retiring at age 50. And Greece being the cradle of democracy and all, the Greek citizens are rioting in the streets…which means the Greek government may look like it is instituting austerity programs, but in reality they are really kicking the can down the street to deal with later…borrowing forward so to speak.

And you will be paying the bill, even though financially we are not too far behind Greece with our worthless money.

Spanakopita anyone?

In Obama's America: Boeing and Jobs

2011-06-14T05:09:00.000-07:00

In Obama’s America, things are never as they seem. Don’t look at what he says. Look at what he does.

Today, Barack held a jobs council in order to determine what to do to create some jobs. Seated next to him was Jeff Imelt, CEO of General Electric. His head is so far up Obama’s rear it would take the jaws of life to pull him out. How sad to watch this charade of a meeting. What a show for you. What a pity for the nation.

If you want to know how Obama handles the lack of growth and jobs in America, consider The Boeing Company…you know… the airplane people. One of Boeing's recent success stories is the development of the fuel efficient 787 Dreamliner. Years in development, it is estimated to increase fuel efficiency aircraft by 20%.

Boeing’s main plant is in Seattle, and it is unionized. The union relationship with Boeing has been tumultuous. There have been four major strikes against Boeing since 1989. In 2008, a 58 day strike cost Boeing $2.8 billion (with a “B”).

In an effort to build goodwill with the International Machinists and Aerospace Workers to build the Dreamliner plant in Seattle, Boeing voluntary entered into non-required negotiations with the union to see what could be agreed upon. This was NOT required under the existing contract. What Boeing got was a demand from the union that it be given a seat on Boeing’s Board of Directors, and that ALL FUTURE PLANES BUILT BY BOEING….EVER….BE BUILT IN SEATTLE. Obviously Boeing couldn’t agree with that.

So Boeing looked for an alternative site, and found one in South Carolina. It invested $2 billion (with a “B”) in the new facility located in North Charleston, SC. It had a ribbon cutting this past week and was about to hire over 1,000 workers when the Obama appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (who have yet to be approved by Congress) filed a complaint against Boeing for building a plant in a Right to Work state. No union at the plant!!!

This is the first time in history that the NLRB, through its Obama appointees, has tried to say that if a company is located in a union state, it is not allowed to move OR EXPAND in a Right to Work state because that action alone is union intimidation and a threat to union workers. Never mind the fact that the workers in the new plant could agree to join the union if they so chose. The action of the NLRB is so far off the charts that Congress is having a difficult time processing it, and has threatened the legal counsel for the NLRB with subpoenas if he fails to show up to justify this type of action in front of the House Commerce Committee.

In effect, Obama’s America would be comprised of union states and non-union states in which there could be no free interaction of labor and services. It is kind of like the slave/non-slave states before the Civil War, with the new lines being drawn very close to the Mason Dixon line.

In Obama’s America, you will open you plant where he tells you to. But that will never happen. You see, American companies have foreign subsidiaries governed by laws of other countries. So if you are Boeing, where would you build you next plant? In South Carolina? No! In Washington State where the union want to take control of the company? No! The next Boeing plant will be in China or Mexico. Boeing will NEVER build another plant in the United States. Obama should be ashamed of himself.

And you wonder why unemployment in this country is 9.1%!!!!! It is in Obama’s America. Don't listen to what he says. Look at what he does...in Obama's America.

A Little Mustard with that Wiener (Weiner)?

2011-06-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Congressman Chris Lee(R) Resigns

Congressman Anthony Weiner(D) Refuses to Resign

Now I know the difference between a Republican and a Democrat. A Republican, after being caught with his pants down and pictures being scattered across the internet, resigns. A Democrat does not. This latest congressional peccadillo involving Congressman Anthony Weiner from New York City shows the spirit of Bill Clinton is alive and well in the halls of Congress.

This little wiener has reached new lows in hubris and narcissism. The scope of his online and telephone sexual escapades is growing by the day. I am sure there will be more to come. It has been pitiful watching this arrogant SOB wallow on television as he plays out his own inability to come to terms with his problems. Not only did he lie to Congress, the press, his constituents and his family last week, he used left wing attack groups such as Salon.com, The Dailey Kos, Media Matters, and MoveOn.org to blame conservative activist Andrew Breitbart for his problems. Breitbart now holds an outright explicit photo of Congressman Weiner, fully loaded, so to speak, which he is burying to save the Congressman’s family. Weiner even introduced a bill into Congress to go after sexual predators on the internet and wrote about it at length on his Congressional web site.

Meanwhile, Republican Congressman Chris Lee resigned immediately upon disclosure of his sending a shirtless picture of himself over the internet last February. It was almost a non-issue, the Congressman moving quickly to avoid embarrassment to his family and the Republican Party. His Republican district just elected a Democrat after the Democratic Party ran ads showing Congressman Paul Ryan pushing an old lady in a wheel chair over a cliff.

I don’t like wallowing in other people’s misery. Bill Clinton set the standard as to what acceptable sexual practices in the White House. Anything short of sex in the Oval Office with a barely of age intern is apparently acceptable in the American value system. Internet and phone sex between a Congressman and another consenting adult doesn’t reach that level of perversion.

On the other hand, Congressman Weiner is a sanctimonious, arrogant little weasel, sex or no sex. He has a cocky (no pun intended) attitude. He has disdain for the American public. He represents the worst of Congressional politics generally. He is a liberal among liberals who has shown a major penchant towards spending other people’s money and thumbing his nose while he is doing it. He was media darling for awhile because he always put on a good show, but as of late has been overlooked interviews because he is just plain obnoxious.

He, along with Charlie Rangel, represents the worst the Democratic Party has to offer. That is the type of attitude we find in many of our office holders here in Mahoning County, and I find personally disgusting and distasteful. These hangers on who are all too willing to sit in judgment on everybody else while unable to admit their own foibles and shortcomings (again, no pun intended) represent politics at its worst. Minimally these folks have a defective value system and have very bad judgment. What kind of a Congressman would post a picture of his private parts on the internet? Would you want him to represent you?

Mr. Wiener should resign now, and save the country and his party another year of investigations and possible additional scandals. There are too many important things facing the country to waste any more time on Mr. Weiner’s ability to come to terms with his predilections and mental health issues. This is not a story that should be played out on the national stage.

Me and the Geek Squad

2011-05-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Today I am a man. I moved up to a 46” LED Samsung flat screen smart television. In the process, I learned much about myself. Mostly I am an old fart that was wallowing in some electronic limbo holding cell. Given that I run a website and even know some html which enables me to put all those fabulous You Tube videos into the site each week, I liked to think of myself as being somewhat technologically savvy. Of course, I still believe in the Easter Bunny.

Walking into to Best Buy was a humbling experience. But the digital gods must have been smiling on me as I entered the television section. Some guy named Dan…some kid named Dan…came up to help me. This dude knew his stuff.

He taught me about plasma televisions (great for dark rooms); LCD televisions (probably the brightest you can buy); and LED televisions with backlighting which make them perfect for bright rooms, and somewhat less desirable for dark rooms. There is a reason for that. I learned that when I turned the lights off in the family room, the television set dims itself. If I wanted to brighten the picture, I had to turn on a light. It was cool brightening and dimming the television by turning the sofa lamp on and off. I wised up and read the instruction booklet and figured out how to stop that from happening. But it was fun while it lasted!!

I decided to go all out. I wanted the best of everything, except for 3D which I never liked in the movies why would I want it on my living room’s television. So Dan of Best Buy had a field day with me. He sold me the television, a television stand, HDMI cables, screen cleaner. He sold me a new router to solve a long standing problem with my home network. This was important because the Smart TV hooks into my home network to access the internet so I can buy Samsung apps and download from Netflix!!!! My problem was ultra difficult so it needed an ultra router which cost an ultra $160.00!!!!

Then Dan sold me on the Geek Squad because there was no way in hell I was going to attempt to put all of this stuff together. The contract to buy my house was easier to understand than how the Geek Squad charges because they piggy back price reductions the more they install. Dan didn’t have to sell me, I just told him to sign me up. This he did, after he tried to sell me $175.00 universal remote that would “sync all of the functions” whatever that means. I passed on the remote.

So the cost of the television was $1,000.00 after price checks with the new JJ Gregg store in the middle of the Best Buy parking lot. But with the router, the cables, the 4 year warranty several consumer companies told me to buy for an LED television with little lights that go out, the router, the television stand, the installation and the sales tax…let’s just say I will be eating peanut butter all summer!!

But there was good news tonight. Best Buy Dan, the dude who sold me the stuff, was kicked upstairs. I was there on his last day of sales, and I was his last sale. Guess who came to my house to install the stuff. Good ole Dan. They moved him into service...and he could sell stuff off the truck!!!!

Dan, and for that matter me, was a little taken back by my lack of technologically advanced gizmos. No, I don’t have a desktop. I have a laptop and net book (“You actually bought one of those things?” he asked. “Dude, you need a pad.” Isn’t a pad a bachelor apartment?)

He was intrigued by the old style tube Phillips portable television in my “office”/spare bedroom. It is attached to an original Nintendo. It was like he was looking at an Edison Disc Player. And my router…how old is that piece of _______? And my old flat screen 32” television that weighs 200 pounds and has 10 year old circuitry that will last for next 25 years? Didn’t even know they made those. And my cable box???? Fuggetaboutit! Dude, there is no HDMI attachment to this cable box. They only made these for a year then dumped them. I was defeated. I was dejected. How could I be so un-cool?

But all’s well that ends well. Dan was a super salesman, and he and his partner Marc were even better installers. They were fast and efficient and knew their stuff. My network now actually reaches into my family room, which I couldn’t get to happen for years. My new television is up and running and is actually easier to use than my old television. It is connected to the internet and my blue-ray player…which is also now connected to the internet. My Bose radio, which I use as my “sound system” is attached to the television and linked to my computer. And the new cable box with the HDMI connection is so slim and tiny, it could fit into my wife’s purse. These guys were good. Oh ya... did you know the new televisions don't come with RCA plugs, the standard to connect stuff for years!!!! When you're out, you're out!

I have to give snaps to the Geek Squad and Best Buy. I paid a lot of money, and it was worth every penny. I only have one problem, there doesn't seem to be a place to insert my VHS tape. I think maybe I better call Dan.

Hello! Republicans! We need a candidate!!!!

2011-05-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

In the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the Greek father of the bride said of his daughter's betrothed, Ian Miller, that he and his family were like white toast. That came to mind this morning when I heard a talking head on television say that Tim Pawlenty goes out each weekend to paint the town beige. He's a nice guy that has done a great job as Minnesota governor; but that pretty much sums it up. What’s a Republican to do? Where is the sizzle?

In all my days I don’t think I ever seen such an array of white toast Republican candidates. My goodness…even the ones who decided not to run aren’t much better. Consider Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana. I think they had to wake him up to say he wasn’t going to run. He did it by email at midnight on a Saturday night. Governor…Governor…wake up!!!!! He said it was to protect his family…maybe his on again off again on again wife? Hey…she doesn’t have any problems. Maria Shriver…now there is someone with problems. Again, one of Indiana's finest and most successful governors, but a little like a glass of baking soda.

Then there is Mike Huckabee who gave us a big Huckano making his exploratory efforts a big Huckabust. He is the Lawrence Welk of politicians. I kept looking for Joe Feeney and the Lennon Sisters on his television show. And uh one…and uh two…thank you boys. Champagne music anyone?

So who is left? Mitt Romney has his Mormon robes wrapped around his health care legislation in Massachusetts. Seriously, cartoonists are already talking about Romney’s garments. Then there is Ron “let’s legalize heroine” Paul. I actually like the guy and agree with him more than disagree. But let’s get real!!!! There is always Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Who? You know…the guy who lost his senate re-election bid by 15 points. Ouch!!

My favorite candidate with no chance in hell of winning is Herman Cain. What a great guy and an absolutely boffo orator. I sure love a good political speech. He is African American and THE Tea Party favorite…you know, the folks that Nancy Pelosi said were just short two eye holes in their sheets. For those of you who don’t know, Herman Cain is African American and the former CEO of Godfather Pizza. He can’t win…but if he did we sure would eat good! There is always a silver lining! Maybe he's not ready for prime time this cycle...but he has potential next time around.

Undeclared but threatening candidates are Sarah Palin (if only she could drop that whiney voice down an octave); Michele Bachmann (another Minnesotan running against her governor - Tim Pawlenty); Representative Paul Ryan (heavy hitter but looks soooo young); and some guy named Huntsman who served as Ambassador to China for Barack and is now back to run for President as a Republican. He must be from Utah because he served as governor...another Mormon? (let’s start with if I don’t know who he is, neither will anybody else notwithstanding his serious gravitas).

The same guy cracking Pawlenty this morning said the solution for the Republicans is to hire Tony Soprano to visit Chris Christie in New Jersey and make him an offer he can’t refuse…then pay a visit to Marco Rubio and tell him he will be VP or find a horse head in his bed.

THAT is who Republicans want. And I predict THAT is who Republicans will get.

Monitor School Lunches Today - Cavity Searches Tomorrow / Big Brother is Watching

2011-05-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

I saw on the news where the City of San Antonio, Texas, is spending $2,000,000.00 (that’s two million dollars) to put cameras in local school cafeterias to keep tabs on what students are eating for lunch. And you want to know why Johnny can’t read. I am so angry I could scream. This is so wrong on so many levels that it almost unfathomable. What are we doing, folks? Are they really serious about this?

Here is how it works. Students are issued a bar code (I am not making this up). When they go through the pay the bill line, a camera takes a picture of the food on the plate. When the students are done eating, another camera takes a picture of what is left on the plate, then calculates the number of calories eaten by that student. The numbers are tallied, and sent home to the parents. It is being funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, and plans are to have these in all schools throughout the country.

I don’t even know where to begin. We are becoming so desensitized to this type of government behavior it only got mildly raised eyebrows on Fox News. It is in some of the print media that I have found some degree of appropriate outrage.

It is none of the government’s business what I eat…or what my kid eats. The food police in some schools have become so strong, they are banning home bagged lunches for fear some student might bring in some contraband into the school…like an Oreo.

Now you know why voters are outraged. Enough is enough. Kids are failing in schools. Many schools can’t afford to buy books. Class sizes in Detroit are approaching sixty students per class. And what does our government spend money on? Cameras to monitor school lunch trays. Unbelievable.

If the government wants to cut the budget, here is the place to start. It is a waste. It is Orwellian. It is just plain scary. But what else should we expect from a government that pats down our private parts before going onto an airplane. I know…cavity searches...which might be next for both the TSA and our school systems. You can hide Oreos in all sorts of places.

Shame on the United States government.

Ohio's Sinking Public Schools

2011-05-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

The gravy train is over for the public schools. The public trough has run dry. Recent defeats of school levies in Canfield and Poland, as well as the Boardman Trustees removing the police levy from the May ballot, are ominous signs of things to come. With a possible referendum on Ohio SB 5 on the ballot in November, those in support of repeal have their work cut out for them. When Canfield defeats a school levy, and Boardman defeats a police levy, you know there is trouble.

At the heart of the matter is the manner of funding local schools. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled numerous times that Ohio’s manner of school funding was unconstitutional. Based primarily on local property taxes, the Supreme Court ruled that disparate tax rates between school systems provided unequal education between the schools. The State of Ohio was directed to even it out. The state cut back additional state funding to the more affluent school systems, and increased funding to the inner city school. The more money generated from property taxes in a system, the less state money it would receive.

So…Youngstown City Schools gets more money from Ohio than Canfield Schools. Here is the end result. The cost per student in Youngstown City Schools is approximately $13,000.00 per pupil. The cost per pupil in Canfield is about $8,000.00 per pupil. Youngstown City has a low property tax rate, and gets approx $4,000.00/pupil of its money from the state. Canfield has a high property tax rate, and is right now being reduced to almost zero from the state. Notwithstanding, Youngstown City School is among the worst performing systems in Ohio. Canfield is among the highest. This ultimately shows the fallacy of the current approach to education. MONEY IS NOT NOW, NOR EVER HAS BEEN, THE ANSWER!!!!!! The State of Ohio effectively punishes the most successful schools, and rewards those that are in the crapper. Learning, or lack thereof, is as much cultural as anything else. The net result is those school systems which have the highest property tax rates are now in dire financial straits. While Youngstown City Schools is coming out of fiscal emergency…Canfield Schools is headed the other direction.

Not that that the successful schools are more than partly to blame. Mismanagement of local school money is notorious and widespread. There is no constant vision or plan coming out of local school boards who are usually too willing to jump into to bed with the hired school administration. Cutting back teacher salaries while giving raises to Superintendents and Principals and hiring more and more administrative staff is unconscionable, yet it happens all the time. Hiring practices based on hiring local district citizens or who can coach volleyball doesn't help. And people don’t like to be fooled. Don’t tell the public that the teachers are taking a 1% pay cut when in reality they giving up 1% of a 3% raise. Dudes, this is the age of the internet. This stuff comes out and people are miffed.

Nor do the edicts from the do-gooders in the Federal government and formerly liberal federal courts help. Mainstreaming has been carried way to far; unfettered accommodation for special needs students WAY BEYOND THE PALE for what should be done or needs to be done; teachers being made responsible for making sure students eat breakfast and lunch; cell phones and total lack of discipline either by school policy or federal order; and schools developing policies based on avoiding frivolous lawsuits rather than what is good for the students...all of this is reflected in our disastrous public school system.

No one seems to know where Kasich is headed with the schools, but the anger and dissatisfaction is palpable. People are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore. Ohio SB 5 seems to piss off all the right people, so it must be doing something right. And for those of you in Poland…hiding salary schedules which are public records is verboten. Inquiring minds want to know, and are entitled to know.

Unfortunately, I don't think Ohio SB 5 is the answer to the problems in the schools and more likely than not will make it worse. On the other hand, Kasich is right. We can’t keep going on the same way we have been going. The public trough has run dry, and the school systems, the courts, the legislature, and the governor must move to fix the problem before total bankruptcy.

Above all, if the non-financial issues such as discipline and non-sensical maintreaming and unreasonable public accomodation are not fixed, I will guaranty you that within ten years, you won’t have to worry about measuring how well little Johnny and Jane can read or do math. They won't be able to do either.

Where is the Apology for George Bush?

2011-05-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

President Obama is going to Ground Zero on Friday for a ceremony remembering the victims of 9/11. He has asked President Bush to join him. Bush declined stating that he wishes to remain outside of the public eye in his post presidency. Good for him.

The loony left should be ashamed of themselves. For the last four years of Bush’s presidency, they did everything but crucify him as a torturer, a dictator, and thug. They superimposed the likeness of Adolph Hitler over his face. They threw urine on anyone who supported him. In Congress, demagoguery was raised to an art form as Bush was portrayed as the Grand Inquisitor of the Inquisition. Shame on Guantanamo, that horrible hell hole of prison where these poor, innocent terrorists were thrown to rot!

Then Obama got elected, and his Attorney General promptly started investigations of the lawyers who gave the legal opinions related to enhanced interrogation techniques. They toyed with idea of criminal charges against Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. He tried to close Guantanamo. His Attorney General moved a terrorist trial to the United States out of a military court and promptly go his ass kicked….the terrorist innocent on all counts except one. And all of those nicey-nice folks in Guantanamo…went right back to terrorism when released. And now Guantanamo is still open. And now the trials will now be military.

And now Obama can bask in the light of killing Usama Bin Laden, by virtue of an intelligence network set up by Bush; by information obtained by the enhanced interrogation techniques; and use of the armed forces he roundly criticized and voted against when in the Senate. Bush was a class act all the way, and still is. I would have told Obama to shove it sideways.

There is no question Barack Obama made a gutsy call to do what he did. I honestly didn’t think he had it in him. It has actually been kind of fun to watch all of his cronies stumble around with a success rooted in all the things they believed to be the devil incarnate. This is a president who wanted to Mirandize prisoners taken on a battle field!!!!!!

Maybe they have learned something. Bush and Cheney weren’t the enemy…it was those horrible, horrible animals pretending to be human who indiscriminately took away the lives of women and children and innocents all over the world. There are no rules when dealing with evil. You kill it…and that is what Obama did.

Now where is the apology to Bush and the members of his administration? Where do they go to get their reputation back?

Britain's Dire Warning to America / Trump - Obama - and the Royal "We"! / Trump's Spectacular F-Bomb Rant

2011-04-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

Newsweek Magazine featured an article this week about the rapid decline of Great Britain. Emblematic of the problem for Britannia who ruled the waves, is the once mighty empire is now down to a single aircraft carrier that is being moth balled because Britain can’t afford to keep it at sea. Unemployment is rampant as the government, which employs more than 40% of the population, can’t meet payroll. Massive layoffs are occurring across the country just as social services are being cut back. Did you know the second largest employer in the world is the British National Health Service? There is obviously something wrong here.

Right now Britain manufactures….nothing!!! Over the past 30 years, just about every industry in the country has shut down. It makes no ships! It makes no cars! It makes little steel! It mines little coal. The industries that still exist in England are owned by the French, the Swiss, the Germans, the Chinese. The country is in dire straits.

The decline is rooted in two world wars. Britain was victorious in both, but went broke in one and was nearly destroyed in the other. When World War II ended, the British promptly threw out the victorious Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and installed a socialist regime that nationalized all of the industry while granting huge amounts of power to the labor unions. It was a recipe for disaster.

Margaret Thatcher tried to reverse the trend, and it seemed to work for awhile. But the demand for excessive social services remained high, and so did the taxes. Business drifted slowly but surely away to more fertile ground…more business friendly countries. Like the United States, Britain tried to replace manufacturing with “service” jobs, and London rivaled New York as the major world financial center. The 2008 debt ridden economic collapse put an end to that. Britain is in trouble.

The British only recently have adopted the Mark Knows It All Rule of Economics: the wealth of a nation is measured by how many refrigerators it makes, not by how many hamburgers it flips. The Brits are seriously hoping as the government lays off tens of thousands of people, somehow private enterprise will reignite in the country, and the private sector will hire those the government is laying off. You know… the “if you build it, they will come” theory. I don’t think it is going to work.

Britain killed the goose that laid the golden egg. And that is what we are doing in the United States. We have reached the precipice of Margaret Thatcher’s prophecy: Sooner or later, you will run out of other people’s money. Guess what folks…all gone!!!!!!

You can argue that the two countries are different, have diverse histories. But at the end of the day, the problem is the same. Manufacturing is not infinite. It has limits. Do things to kill it, it will die. It happened in Britain. It is happening here. President Obama hasn’t figured that out yet.

America needs to learn from Britain’s cautionary tale. If we don’t start getting our debt under control; if we don’t institute domestic and foreign policies that promote American business growth; if we don’t get move quickly to develop our natural resources; if we don’t bring down the number of government employees, we will be in trouble. Just like Great Britain.

_______________________

TRUMP/OBAMA/AND THE ROYAL"WE"

If anyone has any doubt about the efficacy of a possible Trump run for the presidency, just look at what he forced the President of the United States to do. Obama blinked. For the first time in his entire presidency, Obama was forced to do something he didn’t want to do. He could have released the birth certificate 2 ½ years ago when first brought up by Hillary Clinton. He deliberately chose not to. He was mollycoddled by the press as many members of the press attacked Trump, while not asking the simple question to Barry Boy…why didn’t you release this 2 ½ years ago and spare all the aggravation. Oprah asked the question as Obama appeared on her show campaigning and raising money. He chose not to answer it. Score: Trump 1- Obama O.

But the bigger story, and one that is being missed in the press, is Obama suddenly using the “Royal We.” Here is a guy who raised the use of personal pronouns to an art form. Everything was I, Me, My…never, never, never did he ever use a collective term to describe his policies or his administration!!! Anything he has done usually started with the phrase “I have instructed my czar to report to me findings related to….fill in the blank.”

All of a sudden, it is “we have important things to do”, “we decided to release the certificate to free us to do the country’s work.” In fact, in all of the appearances and statements he made yesterday, I only heard him slip up on the new pronoun once reverting to “I”.

I am glad Obama made his birth certificate available just like every President. I am also glad that his handlers have finally realized that “I” and “Me” works fine when things are going great…but in bad economic times, he needs to invoke the rest of the country in this most narcissistic of American presidencies.

And to Donald Trump…"we" thank you!!!!

DONALD TRUMP'S F-BOMB RANT

Show me where he's wrong!

Trump: Framing the Debate for 2012

2011-04-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

Whether you agree with a Trump presidential candidacy or not, he is striking all the right notes. He is skillfully articulating the framework for the 2012 Presidential debate by pushing the Republican Party into addressing issues it should have been addressing beginning with Bush I. He is finally spelling out what America innately feels. We are thinking our country to death. Common sense is like an essential vitamin for the collective American body. Lose it, and we die.

First and foremost, he has legitimized the birth certificate issue. We all have to produce birth certificates at some time or another. Try going to Canada lately? You need a passport, and a birth certificate to get one. If this topic is so ridiculous, why doesn’t Obama just produce it? It is no big deal to do; and then they can show those of us with suspicious minds how stupid we are. Not gonna happen!

Trump has finally said what I have been writing about for years. We have been had by the Chinese. China is an economic predator which makes late 20th Century Japan look like a babe in the woods. In an economy based solely on producing cheap exports with slave labor, it has drained the world of capital. It is time to say enough.

Trump has finally said if America goes to war, it should go to war to win. If a country benefits from our largesse and protection, they should pay. The first Iraq War was fought not to free Kuwait, but to save Saudi Arabia…and they stuck it to us….over and over again. We are in Libya…take the oil. We paid to liberate Iraq…they owe the cost of the war in oil. Canada can offer all its wonderful social services because it maintains only a minimal army, relying on the United States to defend it. How about kicking some energy back down to us to pay for their protection? Enough of this garbage.

Trump has finally said the obvious. OPEC, which does business and maintains funds in the United States, violates our anti-trust laws. It’s time to get the American court system involved to tell them they are violating our laws. You want to do business here? Here are the rules.

Trump wants to know how come the Obama Carbonistas have smothered oil well drilling anywhere in the United States, butr has sanctioned America funding through the World Bank for drilling off the coast of Brazil and Columbia. Can you spell George Soros? You know the guy who hates capitalism and funds every left wing whackadoodle in the country? Guess who is drilling those wells!!

Trump wants to know why Obama, who claims to want to spread the wealth around, chums it up with Jeffrey Imelt, the chairman of General Electric. That is the same GE that paid no taxes in the United States last year. Makes you wonder…Mmmmm?

And Trump wants to know why the Fed is devaluing the currency, and understands the direct relationship between interest rates and the price of oil. He also understands that increased energy and food prices are the worst kind of a regressive tax borne primarily by the poor.

Trump is once again articulating American exceptionalism, and the greatness of our country in its ability to provide an expanding economy to benefit all, if only the government would get out of the way.

Trump may or may not have what it takes to win a Presidential election. And he may have enough baggage trailing behind him to sink the Titanic. But his candor, and common sense presentation of issues is refreshing, and reminds me of Ronald Reagan. You might not like him, but he shouldn’t be dismissed!!!!!!

Is Trump THE One??

2011-04-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

In a lackluster Republican field of presidential candidates, Donald Trump is stirring the pot and may be coming out a winner. Could he be the one? When I first heard he was going to run for President, I poo poo’d the idea. He is a brilliant businessman and a consummate self promoter, but President? Go onnnn!!!!!!

But the more I hear him, the more I like him. He is Reaganesque in his view of America. His no nonsense, America first approach is refreshing and loaded with common sense. And the left is going bonkers. He is asking all the right questions…the questions they don’t want to answer. He asks those questions looking for simple answers.

Item: Obama won’t produce his birth certificate. Why?

Item: America has spent billions of dollars on the war in Iraq. Now Obama wants to leave Iraq, and Iran is ready to move in…and take the oil that we paid for in blood and treasure. Why?

Item: Our tax code allows companies like General Electric to pay no taxes. Why?

Item: The Chinese are cleaning our clock with their trade policy. Why?

Item: Energy prices are going through the roof while we bankroll oil drilling in Brazil. Why?

Of course, he is not a politician. There are those who will argue he has no governmental experience. Here is a news flash. He has more experience in his little finger than Barack Obama has in his entire body…and that’s after he has been in office for 2 years. He understands business. He has had to negotiate with foreign countries. He understands the art of the deal and the art of compromise. And most of all, he understands and can articulate American greatness.

I’m not ready to say he would be my first pick for President. That would be Chris Christie of New Jersey. But it’s clear that unless some other Republican shows some life and a spark of meaningful activity, Trump may be the anti-Obama we are looking for. Then we can all breath easy once again. You're fired!!!

Item: Trump for President. Why? Why not?

Donald Trump: Birther Issue Ascendant!!!

2011-04-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

As in all things Obama, the press has done an outstanding job in characterizing anyone who raises any issues about him or his presidency as somehow being either delusional or just plain nuts. They have especially done this with the so-called “birthers” who question whether or not Barack Obama was born in the United States. That is a simple question that Obama and his media groupies, claiming some sort of moral high ground, have refused to answer.

Clear and simple, his campaign was asked to produce a birth certificate when he was running for election, and on a regular basis since. He has refused to produce one. What they have produced is something called a Certificate of Live Birth. This was a mechanism used in Hawaii where anyone can walk into the Bureau of Statistics and say that someone was born, and it would be published in the newspaper. But almost 99% of all Hawaiian births were done in hospitals with deliveries by doctors and nurses, with a regular birth certificate filled in and signed by a doctor. Obama cannot produce one, and neither can anyone else. Nor are they willing to give an explanation as to why...other than you are nuts to ask.

The current Democratic Governor of Hawaii decided to put an end to all of this, and locate the birth certificate by researching the information as to the hospital(s) in which Obama was supposedly born. After substantial effort, he openly stated that no such records exist, and has remained quiet on the issue since.

Now Donald Trump has resurrected the issue again in his campaign for the Republican nomination for the presidency. The usual left wing media types have ridiculed his efforts as he has unleashed his considerable wealth to find out the truth about Obama’s place of birth. That being said, the din of media criticism this time around seems to have been turned down. Trump is no fool. He is media savvy. He is the quintessential businessman. He doesn’t chase pipe dreams or waste money. He has been loud and vocal about his efforts, and once again asked the President of the United States to please produce his birth certificate.

I think the truth will win out in the matter one way or the other. Trump will get to the heart of the matter, and I suspect the press knows the truth already and is ratcheting down the volume of criticism deliberately. Nobody wants to look like a fool if the truth lands on the side of those whacko birthers.

I never paid a whole lot of attention to the issue until the Governor of Hawaii didn’t like what he was discovering and then stopped talking. My overly thick eyebrows were raised!!

Here is what nobody knows: 1) The family apparently can’t agree at which hospital he was born. 2) No one has access to information as to when he got a social security number. 3) His family traveled to Indonesia when it was illegal for Americans to go there…what passport did he use to get into the country? 4) Why did his Kenyan grandmother say she watched his birth in Kenya? Does she have any reason to lie? 5) We know that his mother’s parents lived in Hawaii, and that was the address used on this birth registry most likely recorded by his grandmother. Where did his mother live in Hawaii?

At the end of the day, notwithstanding the ridicule of the left wing Obama aficionados, he was either born in a Hawaiian hospital or he wasn’t. If he was born in a Hawaiian hospital as he claims, there would be a birth certificate. There is NO record anywhere of that happening.

Logic, as ugly or as whacked as it sounds, can lead you to only one conclusion. And as Donald Trump said this past week, it would be the biggest scam in American history. It would also force the nullification of some of the most wrenching legislation passed since the end of World War II. It is a serious matter, and one that deserves serious attention.

The City Series: And Then There Was One.

2011-04-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

This is less of a rant than a sad goodbye. Last week, the Youngstown City School System announced a realignment of its education program. Youngstown schools as previously configured was a remnant system set up to serve a community of 200,000 people. With the closing of the mills and the de-industrialization of America's rust belt, the population of Youngstown began to drop, but the structure of the school system remained in place.

It was a complete system of neighborhood elementary, junior high, and high schools located throughout the city. High school names reflected Youngstown's quintessential hub-spoke layout: South High School, North High School, East High School...along with Wilson High School on the Southeast side, Chaney High School on the west side, and the Rayen (High) School also on the north side. Together with the two Catholic high schools, Mooney and Ursuline, these schools made up a powerhouse athletic conference called the City Series. Add in the Steel Valley Conference comprised of the suburban and outlying city schools, that's what made Northeast Ohio one of the top high school football meccas in the United States.

It was a big deal. South and Rayen High Schools had legitimate football stadiums that rival many colleges, along with athletic field houses. On any given Friday night, you could get up to 20,000 people crowding into these stadiums to see various cross town rivalries, the biggest of these being the Mooney/Ursuline game.

Going to those games was an event for me as 5th grader. Both of my parents graduated from South High School, and my Dad went to the games on a regular basis taking me with him. Everything seemed larger than life. It was like a movie. When I went to Boardman High School, a Steel Valley team, rivalries were built among my school and Chaney, Mooney an Ursuline. That is when football was fun.

As the city population decreased, so did the City Series. First Mooney and Ursuline left the City Series and joined the Steel Valley Conference. Then Youngstown began school consolidation first closing down North High School. Then it closed South High School and changed Rayen from a high school to a junior high school. Then it began a building program with the tobacco settlement money. Not only did close the schools, the system tore them down. It tore down Rayen. It tore down Wilson, along with several of the junior high schools and elementary schools.

And then there were two. Chaney on west side, and East on the east side. Both of these schools fielded their own athletic programs. But the money crunch continued...and then there was one. East will function as the primary high school in Youngstown, with Chaney becoming a specialty magnet school. The city schools will only field one athletic program. Students from Chaney wishing to participate will have to bus or drive to East High School...and they are a long way away from each other, literally on the fringes of both sides of the city.

When the school tear down program began it was suggested that Youngstown move to one senior high school located downtown. That idea died for several reasons, including the violence that is associated with the Youngstown Schools and visions of punks running around downtown after school, and school parochialism. You see, people from this area identify with their school until death. Their school identity never dies. You are where you went to school. Even if you move out of the city...you will still be a Wilson graduate or Rayen or Chaney graduate. School ties are the ties that bind.

What the city school system is doing makes sense in these hard economic times. It should have been done years ago, but politics precluded the school board from doing what was necessary. Now it has no choice. With the city population at a mere 66,000, a good portion of which being senior citizens, it really can afford only one high school athletic program. But I feel bad as I think back on those days when my Dad would take me to see the games at South High School stadium. I feel bad as I remember thumbing through my parents' yearbooks and looking at those snapshots of life in 1936. I feel bad as I remember all of my cousins who went to Wilson High School. Good bye to the Chaney Cowboys; the South High Warriors; the Rayen Tigers; and the Wilson Redmen. Time passes.

Fighting Wars: In It to Win It!!!!!

2011-03-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. What is Obama doing now? While tripping the light fantastic in Brazil, he all of a sudden decides to move against Libya while spewing excuse after excuse for what he was doing, and ready to cede American leadership to anyone else but us. His message is all over the place, with no stated goals other than to get out quickly???? It’s the policy of the country that Qaddafi must go…but that is not the mission of the air attacks…and it will be turned over to NATO, no…France, no….a coalition based in Italy, no… the Brits. What is this guy doing? He even refuses to call it a war. 'Tis a Kinetic Military Action.

In all seriousness, he is running a war in Afghanistan that he considers a “just” war with no end game. He is still bogged down in Iraq with no end game even though the press won't talk about it. And now all of a sudden he has gotten religion and has attacked Libya with no stated goals and no plan as to who is actually in charge of the operation, all the while telling the world we really don’t want to be there to support of Libyan “rebels” we know nothing about. Therein lays the danger of having an ideological academic in the White House. Only a law school professor could come up with something like this.

I don’t necessarily fault what he is doing. Unfortunately, he should have done it three weeks ago when it probably could have done some good. But the complete chaos of the operation is indefensible.

War is a serious thing. People die. Our boys die. People from the opposing side die. Civilians die. People suffer. Their property is destroyed. What I am seeing in Libya is the culmination of bad war policy started with Harry Truman in Korea, expanded by Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in Vietnam, carried on by Bush I in the first Iraq war when he refused to move into Iraq after chasing Saddam out of Kuwait, and repeated by Bush II and Obama in what is tantamount to a war of attrition in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, tin dictators like Qaddafi in Libya and Kim Jung Il in North Korea and the ayatollahs in Iran continue to wreck havoc on the world with impunity.

Here’s Mark’s rule. Get in it to win it, or don't get in it. If you are going to fight a war, go fight it to win it with no limits. I saw Qaddafi standing in his compound on a balcony addressing the nation on television. How about sending one of those smart cruise missiles in to wipe him out once and for all? He is dangerous. He will continue to do harm to people even if he is forced to leave the country. He has already killed thousands of people, and blew a plane up over Scotland. How many people have to die while he lives in plain sight?

Truman stopped Patton from marching to Moscow. We got the cold war and an expensive arms race and several hot wars to accompany the cold war killing at least 60,000 Americans. Truman fired MacArthur…we got North Korea and China killing millions of its own people. Johnson and Nixon fought a defensive war to benefit a corrupt South Vietnamese government. We got 40,000 dead American soldiers, a communist Laos, and Pol Pot in Thailand killing tens of thousands of people in his re-education camps. Jimmy Carter pussy footed with Iran…we got the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and just look at what happened from 9/11 to what is going on today. How many people have to die because of American half hearted wars. Go in and win, or don’t go in at all.

Obama is playing a dangerous game with ramifications that will affect not only the immediate future in the Mideast, but also the future of America’s leadership role in the world. After apologizing for all of America’s misdeeds, it’s amusing to watch Obama attempt to justify these actions into his ideological framework….except people are dying. I hope he knows what he is doing.

Michelle from Impanema

2011-03-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Okay. Let me understand this. Japan is on the verge of a nuclear meltdown just after the most devastating earthquake in its history and a tsunami that has killed tens of thousands of people. Libya, home of Qaddafi, Guadaffi, Quadafi…daffy…, the dictator who ordered a plane full of innocent people shot out of the sky over Scotland, is now terrorizing its citizens by mowing them down with bombs and machine guns from airplanes. Civil war has broken out in Bahrain, home of a massive United States military installation. It is a proxy war with Iran on one side and Saudi Arabia on the other. That's comforting. The stock market is plunging. And the price of food has just had its biggest increase since 1974…and those of us who were alive back then remember what that was like.

And where is Barack? Playing golf…filling in NCAA brackets on ESPN…giving speeches on equal pay for women…and about to take his family for a weekend in Rio. Maybe Michelle is the Girl from Ipanema!!

What is this guy doing? People are dead or dying in Japan and the Mideast under terrible circumstances. Show some respect. Show some leadership. Does the President live in the same world I live in?

Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her frustration over the disengagement of the Obama. Obama let a possible revolution in Iran wither on the vine as he turned his back on those who were marching in the streets of Tehran. Now he was going to let some more die on the streets of Tripoli…and miss an opportunity to depose a horrible dictator.

The people of Japan are experiencing tragedy beyond belief, and face the real danger of a nuclear reactor meltdown. What words of encouragement did he have for them? Maybe he couldn’t do anything about it directly…but for God’s sake, at least look concerned. True to form, Obama is an iceman, apparently void of feelings, empathy, and/or the ability at least to pretend that he has any of the above. The media made fun of Reagan, Clinton and Bush as often being “mourners in chief.” Sometime some decorum is exactly what is needed. Michelle and two little darlin’s frolicking on the beaches of Rio while the Prez takes in a fast 18 is not decorum. Now is not the time for this type of behavior.

Obama has used the White House as his family’s personal travel agency with lots and lots of expensive vacations. Only the best for his family while the country wallows in economic malaise on the verge of the long predicted stagflation. His callous disengagement is so outrageous it is beyond comprehension.

I know that Brazil is one of the BRIC nations and important to the United States as a trading partner. It is a major player on the world economic stage, and ordinarily this trip would be necessary in every sense. But to play golf all week while Japan radiates and the Mideast flagellates, then take his wife and kids to frolic on Copacabana Beach is an outrage, and an embarrassment to the United States.

Shame on Barack Obama. How much more do we have to endure?

Tressel-ized

2011-03-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

I have written before about NCAA big time college football. What a joke. Maybe one of these days I will research some statistics as to what happens to those young men who shoot for the NFL moon and fail. How many find jobs? How many end up in jail? How many actually use their degree if they get a degree?

This past week, Ohio State coach and Youngstown hero Jim Tressel was called on the carpet for violation of NCAA rules relating to the age old question: “what did he know and when did he know it” vis-a-vis his players who exchanged championship rings and autographs for tattoos and other sundry stuff. Tressel, true to form, said he was acting to protect his kids. OK, we will go with that. But there does seem to be a trend with players who don’t want to follow the rules.

Tressel was apparently made aware of his players indiscretions last April when a Columbus lawyer emailed him that his two star players had inadvertently fallen into a Federal drug investigation aimed at the tattoo guy. The players were collateral damage to the main event. Tressel failed to notify the NCAA per rule 3.4.6.7.999.2(a)(b)Section 2345 at paragraph 254 sub-paragaph (j). More importantly, when asked about it last September by his Ohio State superiors, he denied any knowledge...and it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!

So now Coach will be sitting out the first couple of games in the fall with his suspended players. He is not allowed into the stadium so I assume he will be watching the game at the Varsity Club with the rest of the hoy ploy. Let’s not forget the $250,000.00 fine…there goes last year's Michigan win bonus. Easy come! Easy go!

And those are just the Ohio State penalties. The NCAA has yet to complete its investigation, and given that Ohio State never seems to be a favorite among the BCS set…I expect them to recommend life without parole. Maybe Obama or Kasich could give him a pardon!

Here’s the thing. I don’t blame Tressel one bit. He is a good guy, and faces pressures that are beyond the imagination of any of us. In all seriousness, the only job worse than being coach at Ohio State, Michigan or Notre Dame would be President of the United States…and then it would be a toss-up. Tressel knows, and so do we, that this “trinkets for tattoos” exchange is penny-ante stuff in the scheme of NCAA/BCS football

There's the real racket. Hundreds of millions of dollars is generated from the sweat of these kids who are playing their hearts out for a chance at the NFL gold ring that the vast majority will never achieve. Meantime, the schools give them “scholarships” in exchange for owning them for four years. Any business man will tell you that’s a hell of an exchange. The education the schools give these kids cost the schools….nothing...not one dime. And the money that is generated is almost limitless. And while the players are let into the candy store, they are told not to touch. The NCAA should be ashamed. The NFL should be ashamed. The television networks should be ashamed. The universities should be ashamed.

So if Tressel wanted to look the other way to protect these guys, or even to protect the integrity of the team for his own purposes, so be it. It’s time the NFL and the NCAA sit down and work out something so that these kids get some cash for their efforts in what is a de-facto farm system for NFL football players. There is no pretense of amateurism left in big time college football, and everybody knows it. Just as the Olympics had to rightfully redefine “amateur” status of its participants, the NCAA at the BCS level should do the same. Enough is enough!!!

In Ohio: The Times They Are a Changin'!

2011-03-03T17:32:00.000-08:00

I have received numerous comments relating to my essay two weeks ago on the public employee unions and specifically Ohio Senate Bill 5. It is certainly one of the more emotional issues facing the citizens of Ohio, and indeed the nation, today. I don’t know about police and firemen unions. So I will confine my comments to teachers.

Let me start by saying I have had two very bad experiences with teacher unions. A friend of mine reminded of the 1981 Boardman teachers strike in which teachers actually went to jail. It was mean and nasty, and like my friend, changed my view of teachers. For those of you sports minded readers, it was Bernie Kosar’s senior year as Boardman’s quarterback, and most of the season was cancelled. The union knew how to hit when it hurt.

The second experience occurred when my wife was illegally rif’d from her job (Reduction in Force). The OEA for reasons I won’t go into now, refused to pursue the RIF. More importantly, it refused my wife the right to pursue the RIF individually, stating that the grievance belonged to the union collectively and not to her personally. There was a lot of nasty stuff going on between the union and the school board, and it was unclear if the OEA was representing the school board or its union members. When the local teachers finally wised up as to what was going on, they switched from the Ohio Education Association to the Ohio Federation of Teachers, and the OFT sued the OEA for the right to pursue the grievance on my wife’s behalf; won and filed the grievance. Unfortunately, five years had passed, and the arbiter ruled that although my wife would have won on the merits, too much time had passed between the incident and the filing of the grievance.

I have watched school boards sell teachers down the river for coaches. I have watched unions sell its members down the river for early retirement buyouts for union officers. It is a dirty business on both sides.

But I know one thing. If the tenure requirements are nixed by Ohio, school hiring and firing will become totally political, merits and performance standards be damned. Employment of teachers will be determined by three things: can they eliminate a higher paid teacher for a lesser paid teacher; what does the teacher coach; and who does the teacher know. Here is a hypothetical:

Linda has been a math teacher in the Blossom School System for 20 years. She has never called in sick. She gets good reviews from students and parents. Her class proficiency scores are above average. Her salary is $50,000.00/year. Briana is also a math teacher in the system, and has been there for two years. Her salary is $35,000.00/year. She is the cheerleading coach, and has decided to be “friends” with all of her students. Her class proficiency test scores are also above average, but not near as high as Linda’s. Briana has also been named teacher of the year because she is such a sweet little thing, flirts with all of the men, and does all that gosh darn cheerleading stuff. Blossom School System faces a money crisis. Under the existing system, Linda keeps her job and Briana is laid off because of tenure. Under the system as will exist is House Bill 5 passes, which teacher do you think the school system will let go? Do you think that’s fair?

Education is the bulwark of the American economic system. One thing I think we all can agree upon is that there have been, and there continues to be, abuses of the system on both sides. While Senate Bill 5 may address who gets to do what to whom…it doesn’t address the problems that are facing the schools and are the root of our education failures. All it does is swap one set of problems for another, and I guarantee you that you will not like this new set of problems.

At the end of the day, the problems with our schools are socio-economic and systemic. The state should address the union abuses on their own merits, addressing them one by one and imposing solutions. The teacher unions should get off of their high horses and understand that the days of shutting down education for raises and accumulated sick days are over.

As the song says: They times, they are a changin’.

The 2011 Public Employee Protest Awards

2011-02-23T12:44:00.000-08:00

The Egyptians marching in the streets of Cairo have nothing on our own public employees marching into the state capitol buildings along with doctors to write them excuses for days off. Union thuggery is not how to win friends and influence people, but it sure makes for great television. There has been plenty on display. In the battle over government retaking control of the services it provides, the posturing on both sides has been unseemly to say the least. Here are some of the highlights.

The Worst Offender Award goes to the Democratic legislators in Wisconsin who left the state in an effort to filibuster by thwarting a quorum. Looks real good guys! I am sure all of the independents will vote for you next time around.

Biggest Jack Ass Award goes to the guy in the goofy hat chanting “Fox News Lies” over and over again attempting to disrupt the Fox News on the scene reporter. That was fun. It’s scary to think that idiot might be a teacher teaching your children civics. It’s even scarier to think he might be a fireman or EMT who is responsible for saving your life. And scarier still, he might be a cop with a gun!!! Give him whatever he wants!!

The Employee Who Should Be Fired Award goes to the caller to a local talk radio show stating he was a policeman in a certain urban area in the Mahoning Valley, and that prior to the election he drove around and took down the addresses of any folks who had Republican yard signs in their yard so he knows who is enemies are when the time comes. Oh my!!!

The Social Faux Pas and Bad Taste of the Year Award goes to John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, who moved his address to the Mahoning Valley Chamber of Commerce from Leo’s Restaurant to the Youngstown Airport. The airport? Really? He said that security is an issue because of the large amount of public employee protestors expected. I suspect he just didn't want another harrowing ride down Belmont Avenue viewing beautiful Liberty Township.

Best Performance by a Local Politician goes to State Senator Bob Hagan who shouted at a local rally that the Governor could kiss his union ass. He also gets Best Supporting Role by a Local Politician for the statehouse showdown in Columbus in front of the locked down state capitol building, screaming that this was the people’s house. The supporting role contest was tight, with Dave Betras, the local county chairman, leading the protestor march up the airport access road.

Best Teachable Moment goes to the Mark Knows It All blog. I had to learn the difference between capital and capitol. For reasons known only to Webster and God, the city for the seat of government is the Capital. The building in which government activity takes place is the Capitol. So…Washington DC is the capital of the United States. Congress meets in the Capitol Building. Not to be confused with financial resources…such as I don’t have the capital (money) to proceed with the project. And, of course, you start a sentence with a Capital letter. You also are either for or against Capital punishment.

How many people banging on the statehouse door know that? Power to the People!!!!!

One Party Rule - Ohio Style

2011-02-15T12:31:00.001-08:00

I think Wall Street got it right. The best of times is when there is divided government and government does nothing. And that holds at any level of government. In Ohio, Republicans control the entire state, from the Ohio Supreme Court all the way down to most county governments. Ohio is about as red as a red state can be.

But some of the stuff going on in Columbus is even raising my Republican eyebrow. The change that Governor Kasich is attempting to implement in Ohio with his Republican House and Senate is every bit as profound as what Obama tried to do during the first two years of his term with his one party rule of extreme leftists on Capitol Hill.

The Columbus Dispatch gave a summary of some of the things currently being processed out of Senate committees onto the floor for a vote.

1) A bill to eliminate the Ohio estate tax. Pro: There are only a few states left in the Union that have a state estate tax. Most Ohioans with money retire to Florida renouncing their Ohio citizenship often taking their businesses with them. It may actually cost the state money with the flight of the wealthy. Con: The Ohio estate tax is a primary source of income to local government, but especially to townships which have limited ability to raise money by some other means. In Ohio, if your estate is over $332,000.00, you are assets are taxed at a rate of 7%.

2) A bill to privatize the Ohio’s Economic Development Program by creating a non-profit corporation to take the helm. Pro: What we had wasn’t working. Con: Freddie and Fannie…Amtrak…and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

3) A bill to give back to the schools the two calamity days eliminated by the Strickland administration. Pro: We live in Ohio. Talk to folks in Geauga and Ashtabula Counties. Con: There is none. The elimination of the two days was the Strickland plan to improve Ohio education. Most stupid thing I have ever seen.

4) A bill to allow those with concealed weapon licenses to bring guns into bars. Pro: Huh? Con: Are they nuts?

5) A bill to alter the collective bargaining rights of public employees in Ohio. Pro: Those bad public employees are screwing the tax payer. Con: It isn’t the law, but the elected officials who caved to every demand made by public employees. Collective bargaining means that both sides have to bargain!!!!! See Opinion.

This is just the beginning. We have all heard Obama say he wants to fundamentally change America. Well, we know how that worked out. Kasich has said the same thing about Ohio state government. Let’s all hold our collective breath.

SafeAuto's Ball Commercial

2011-02-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

Violence in the media has always been with us. I remember when I was small my parents forbade me from watching the Three Stooges, whose physical antics bordered on abusive. That being said, when violence is on the uptick in our society, enough is enough.

Case in point was the Super Bowl commercials last week. There was not a standout commercial in the bunch; and a few were just plain offensive. Pepsi is the grand prize winner for hitting people with cans. In both of the 1st quarter Pepsi commercials, people were physically hit with a can of Pepsi. The can to the groin in the Pepsi light commercial was not funny. The Pepsi can hurled by an African American woman at her husband but hitting a white woman by mistake almost started a racial crisis in Congress this past week.

But the super grand prize winner for being offensive at every level was the SafeAuto commercial which featured a series of men being physically kicked in the groin, over and over again, ending with another poor fellow getting kicked in the ass. Do they really think that is funny? Do they really not think that some kids would find this commericial worth imitating?

This is about as an offensive commercial as I have seen. Can you imagine a commercial where a woman is being continually hit or abused let alone kicked in the crotch? In addition, it is just plain dangerous. Men can be seriously injured by this type of behavior resulting in impotence or worse. This is not behavior to be taken lightly on television shows, movies, and especially commercials which are repeated on a regular basis. I have seen this offensive commercial several times since the Super Bowl, last night during dinner.

One of my pet peeves is the treatment of men in the media generally. In movies and television we are portrayed as Neanderthals, brutish, stupid, sex craved, inept and inadequate. I have written about this before several times, and once again I am compelled to write about it. No other group in our society, except for maybe those who are overweight, is singled out for such stereotypical and offensive portrayals.

I don’t have a man cave. I try to treat my wife with respect. I help out around the house. I work hard. I try to be thoughtful and considerate to those around me. I hope I have been a good father. I don’t belch beer. I may not be the smartest person on earth, but I am not stupid just because I am a guy.

Stereotypes are bad for everybody. Add violence to the mix, don’t be surprised when you see kids kicking the hell out another kid on the evening news after posting it on You Tube. Just remember that SafeAuto commercial. You saw it there first. Shame on them.

When the Bomb Falls on Tel Aviv...

2011-02-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

When the bomb falls on Tel Aviv….what are we going to do? The Egyptian revolution is scary. Nobody seems to know who the players are. I keep thinking of the commentator who said today that there are 1 million Egyptians in the streets, but 86 million staying at home. Who represents whom? And the recent assassination attempt on the life of the newly appointed vice-president certainly gives one pause. This kind of tactic is the mark of the Islamists. I have read story after story that they are streaming via tunnels under the border from Gaza into Egypt.

It’s clear that the most organized group in the Egyptian revolution is the Muslim Brotherhood. This is not a benign organization. It is the parent of Al Qaeda. These are bad dudes. No matter what the intentions of the Egyptians marching in the streets, the chaos breeds radicalism. Do I think that Egypt will become an Islmaic state? Probably not. The United States gives $1.5 billion to the Egyptian army each and every year. The generals will do what the United States tells them to do unless they can find another sugar daddy.

On the other hand, the Islamists can destabilize Egypt turning Cairo into another Baghdad with suicide bombings, roadside bombs, thuggery and assassinations. Nothing good can come from what is going on Egypt. A destabilized Egypt is not much better than one controlled by the extremists.

More importantly, the United States continues to look weak. From Obama bowing to these folks when he took office, to the betrayal of the Iranian dissidents during the attempted Iranian revolution last year, and now to the collapse of Mubarak…we look like fools. We look indecisive and weak. That is a dangerous combination as Islamic extremism continues to spread throughout the middle east. What they understand is strength and resolve.

Wikileaks has leaked information relating to stolen yellow cake and other missing nuclear materials. Al Qaeda is developing minimally a dirty bomb…and worst case scenario a full blown nuclear device. They intend to use it.

The same can be said about Iran. Do you think they are building nuclear weapons for the beauty of the day? Of course not! These are folks who are willing to die for their God, and are willing to bet that if they use a nuclear bomb, the United States would not react in kind.

I agree. If a bomb were to drop on Tel Aviv, the United States would kick and scream and condemn and hold hearings…but ultimately there would be a tepid response because we rely on these idiots for our oil. Israel would fire back, but not us.

We are on a dangerous path. The warning signs are there. We need to learn from history. If we don’t stop these guys now…it will take millions of dead people later. There is no good choice; but the worse choice is to continue to do what we are doing, nothing.

Will Egypt Become Obama's Iran?

2011-01-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

I know a lot of things about a lot of topics. Egypt isn’t one of them. It is considered to be one of the oldest nations on earth, with recognizable borders dating back to 5000 years BC. Wow!! It is a relatively poor nation, with little oil exporting capacity. There is a small, but growing middle class. 70% of the population is under the age of 35. It has a reported unemployment rate of 33%, although it is probably higher. 40% of the population makes less than $4.00/day.

Hosni Mubarak has been a friend to the United States in his handling of Egyptian relations with Israel, the Gaza Strip, and Islamists, which was bought for a price of tens of billions dollars in American aid over the years. As of late, Egypt has taken an extremely tough stance against Islamic terrorists, banning the Muslim Brotherhood, which is figuring prominently in the chaos festering in Cairo today.

A wave of discontent is spreading across the Mideast tonight; from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen and Jordan, one of America’s staunchest allies in the region. It is clear that nobody, including the United States government, has a handle on what exactly is happening there, and who are the players. This is a dangerous situation with ramifications that can reach the United States to our core. President Obama cannot repeat the same mistakes of Jimmy Carter in Iran, and Dwight Eisenhower in Cuba.

There are three stages to any revolution. The first is the popular uprising demanding the voices of the people be heard. The second is the establishment of a democratic government of sorts. Unfortunately, stage two is usually the bugaboo because typically this is when these types of movements are the weakest. Stage three is the attack of the extremists, who are usually better organized than the good hearted but inept democrats trying to establish a democratic country.

The clearest example of this is the Russian Revolution, where there were 2 revolutions. The first was the overthrow of the Czar and the establishment of the Kerensky government in St. Petersburg. The Communists, in turn, overthrew the Kenensky democrats, establishing Communism in Russia. What followed was a bloody civil war…and the rest is history.

Add to that the American penchant for siding with stable dictators instead of messy democracies. Eisenhower refused to come to terms with Castro after the overthrow of Batista, forcing Castro to turn to Russia for aid and support. Carter slept through the Iranian Revolution. He allowed the Shah to fall, then sat on his hands. Things spun out of control as he let the Shah into the United States for medical treatment. The Shah, although installed under American auspices in the early 1950’s, was a bad dude. What was Carter thinking?

So now we have one of the most inexperienced Presidents ever elected to the office dealing with a rolling Mideast revolution rivaling the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. Which way will the dominos fall? Will they fall towards democracy and at least neutrality in the war against Islamic fundamentalism? Or will they fall the other way, into the hands of the extremists thus setting the stage for a World War?

Hyperbole? No. This is dangerous stuff. We should all be concerned that Egypt doesn’t become Obama’s Iran. Yes, President Obama, there really is a war on terrorism.

Who Pays? Pantalone!!!

2011-01-27T20:18:00.000-08:00

They saying goes fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Let me see, after two nightmare years of unchecked liberal claptrap, spending more money than in the entire history of the United States combined, Congressional closed door meetings expelling and excluding all Congressional Republicans from deliberations on the most significant piece of legislation in a hundred years; after dissing the Chamber of Commerce; vilifying insurance companies, steel companies, oil companies; after telling those who opposed his policies to go to the back of the bus…we are now supposed to believe that this jack ass is “Reaganesque” and “Clintonesque”?

Mr. President, you ran for office saying exactly the same things you said in the State of the Union address, then you literally shoved it up our proverbial you know what. We are supposed to believe you NOW?? No way Jose!!! Take that and you shove it up your Arizona lawsuit. We don’t believe you anymore.

Do I sound angry? I am. I watched all of the major networks say how Obama is moving to the center. He is following the path of Bill Clinton. He is like Ronald Reagan. Really? If I remember correctly, when Reagan was President, the press did everything but crucify him, making continual references to his wife being “imperial” and he being “dumb”…took lots of naps…Bedtime for Bonzo. Now Obama is “Reagan-esque”? Puhleeez.

This guy is the most liberal President this country has ever seen. In real life, he had six months business experience then quit because he couldn’t take it. Notwithstanding his law degree, his working experience as a “community organizer” makes him a social worker. There is nothing wrong with that…just not in the White House during the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. When elected, he was no more qualified to be President than me.

This guy will not change his spots. No matter how they dress him up or how they try to sell this so called move to the middle, at the end of the day, he is a guy with a stolen credit unable to contain his compulsion to spend. That translates over to his personal life. He is addicted to an imperial lifestyle like none this nation has ever witnessed before.

He has yet to answer the question, who is going to pay for all of his largesse? The amount of money he has borrowed is beyond human comprehension. Who pays? As my Italian grandmother used say…Pantalone pays. When asked who was Pantalone…she shrugged her shoulders. In a word, he doesn’t give a damn. You, my fellow Americans, are Pandelone.

He is not Ronald Reagan who made this county stand tall not bowing to the leaders of other nations; standing up to the communists. America first. America last. America always.

You want to help create jobs and innovation, Mr. President? Get the hell out of the way. Stand tough with the Chinese. You can do your environmental thing…but drill for oil in the meantime. And put reasonable restrictions on the EPA. Simplify the tax code. Reduce taxes on corporate profits. Hang tough with the public employee unions.

No, I don’t buy this move to the center one bit. As with all things Barack Obama, always look at what he does. Not what he says. And you won’t like what you will see.

I Almost Wet My Pants - The Mahoning Valley Resort and Casino

2011-01-21T00:11:00.000-08:00

Here we go again. Shades of the blimp factory, brewery, and Avanti, the Mahoning Valley has always had a penchant for pie in the sky projects. Never mind that the area is actually one of the economic bright spots in Ohio right now as a result of thirty years of local hard work nurturing small business and General Motors…we be gettin’ a $400 hundred million resort casino and race track. And we are off!!

Apparently all the local politicos were caught with their pants down last week when the Mahoning Valley Development Group out of Cleveland announced out of nowhere that it is planning to build the multi million facility somewhere in the Mahoning Valley on 700 acres of land, including a 400 room five star resort hotel, a racetrack, a casino, a shopping mall, a teen entertainment complex, and a partridge in a pear tree; AND, they were going to do it all with private money...no government assistance or tax abatements are needed, thank you very much. WOW!!!! One small problem…they don't have a racing license, or any other license for that matter. And it was reported that Ohio hasn’t issued a racing license in over fifty years, and doesn’t even have a procedure to do it.

I wonder if they are going to build it next to the Indian Casino announced by Jim Traficant after a meeting with several Indian chiefs at the Yankee Kitchen in Boardman last year, complete with head gear. I almost wet my pants. Only trouble is they have to be declared a tribe first, then show the land in North Jackson was their land. Of course, while the Mahoning Valley was a meeting spot for numerous Native American tribes, it really never had any local resident tribes. But don’t confuse me with the facts. We're talking black jack, baby.

Meanwhile, the Youngstown Business Journal, searching for the why’s and wherefores of the new development, reported that the Mahoning Valley Development Group was forced to go public with their plans prematurely because Penn National, a gaming outfit that owns a racetrack in Toledo and Columbus, was planning on closing the Toledo operation and moving it to the Mahoning Valley. Only problem is someone forgot to tell Penn National.

Here’s the deal. If you remember, the State of Ohio had an election a year or so ago whereby four casinos were approved by the electorate to be located in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. The Youngstown area was not included much to our chagrin, in the mix. But the owners of racetracks were still demanding video slot machines at racetracks, and Governor Strickland decided he could allow them by fiat under through the Ohio Lottery Commission. That was booted out by the courts, and further legal action is still pending. No one knows where Governor Kasich stands on the issue…nobody can find him.

The Penn National group is planning on partnering in casino developments in Toledo and Columbus. If video slot machines are ultimately allowed in racetracks, it may have to move one or more of the existing racetracks to an area of a state where there isn’t a full blown casino to keep from cannibalizing itself, and maybe the Mahoning Valley may be considered. Studies are being done, but that is a whole lot of “ifs”.

Nowhere have I seen in the discussion that Mountaineer is just forty minutes away from here, and the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh is just about an hour away. And I have to tell you, watching the local politicians scramble to figure out what was going on with this one was a real day brightner. Talk about getting caught with your pants down...it was hysterical!!!! Where are they going to put the casino? Bend over and I'll show ya.

Seriously, I wish both of these organizations well. Any development for this area is a plus, and quite frankly, I think this a great location for such a venture. There may be something to all of this as there has been an exceptional amount of option activity in North Jackson and around the Youngstown Airport. Something may be afoot!!!

But while we are waiting for hell to freeze over, there is always Connie’s White Owl!!!!! Which way to the blimp factory?

Obama's "Come to Jesus" Moment!

2011-01-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

I am not sure what it was that I watched tonight. It was supposed to be a memorial service for the fallen victims of the Tucson shooting. What we got was a Native American blessing the doors of the room and everything else in the universe; Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano quoting Isaiah and Paul; Barack Obama quoting Job; and a university venue filled with 13,000 college students on the inside, and 14,000on the outside acting like this was a standard Obama political rally.

In fairness to the President, he looked more than a little uncomfortable in what should have been a solemn event. He didn’t show up in pep rally mode. To his credit, he adapted and succeeded in turning the thing into a rally for America and our democracy event. His speech was outstanding. He is nothing if not a great orator. On the other hand, didn’t his advance team talk with the University hosting the event and tell them the kind of intended atmospherics?

Notwithstanding, it is clear that the November election was a “Come to Jesus” moment for Obama both literally and figuratively. Many of the speeches he gave around Christmas reflected a “Keep Christ in Christmas” message. And now he has Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano, both looking overtly uncomfortable, reading epistles at public events? Wow. What happened to bowing to the Muslims?

Whatever else the Tucson service was supposed or not supposed to be, intended or unintended, it will be viewed as the kick-off event to the 2012 election campaign because that’s what it turned out to be. The hooting and hollering took on the 2008 Obama messianic ardor. He left the venue pounding the flesh. The media went orgasmic…particular Diane Sawyer. And we’re off to the races.

I don’t fault Obama for what happened. In a way, maybe the Tucsonians were ready for some relief and wanted waive the flag a bit. Obama showed he could speak without a teleprompter. Who knew? His comments about the nine year old girl jumping in heavenly rain puddles even brought a tear to my eye; not as much as John Boehner, but a tear nonetheless. Every now and then we all need to hear about the way a democracy should be rather than the way it is.

Will this be the make-up sex speech between Obama and the American public? Does this speech mark a pivot to the center? Will the discourse of American politics become civil once again? Naaaaa!!! Les jeux sont faites (the dye are cast). Fasten your seatbelts for the next two years…it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Wait a minute, do you think we could get Janet Napolitano to substitute for that crazy nun on the Ecumenical Channel? How do you think she would look in a habit? What a coup!!! Come to Jesus.

Go Paint on the Beach

2011-01-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

Today marks the beginning of the 112th Congress. The long two year nightmare of leftist rule in America is over as the Republicans take control of the House and exercise substantially more leverage in the Senate. Watching the parting the comments from the Democratic leadership, particularly Nancy Pelosi, is dumbfounding. She actually got in front of the cameras and stated that the Democrats always practiced fiscal restraint. Their mantra was “pay as you go.” She is either a liar, delusional, or thinks the American public is stupid. I suspect it is a combination of all of the above.

The American public has yet to understand the damage done to this country over the past two years. We are going to be ten years undoing the mess. The Democratic Party has morphed from a common sense, no nonsense, defender of the common man, into a leftist, almost socialist, ideological driven party based on some undefined concept of fairness. I still can’t believe some of the things I’ve seen the last two years. Nancy Pelosi stood in front of the cameras last year and had a John Lennon “Imagine” moment when she said imagine a world where a painter can go to the beach to paint and not worry about health care. Nancy…somebody has to pay for that.

If this sounds rambling, it is. Watching supposedly responsible, rational people steal the nation’s credit card and max it out with no rationality at all is beyond my comprehension level. America fools around with liberalism every twenty years or so, but this time, My God!! If I can’t comprehend what happened, the nation probably isn’t doing much better. Rush Limbaugh likened dealing with what happen to pealing an onion. You have to undo it layer by layer.

And it has ramifications. My business managed to squeeze out a $1,000.00 surplus last month. I went to buy a ten year Treasury note which was paying about 3.4% interest, a multi-year high. My broker didn’t want to sell it to me. He said I could do much better with corporate bonds. “What if there is a problem and the company goes bankrupt?” I asked. He said bond holders are a priority in bankruptcy court. I responded just like the bondholders in the General Motors bankruptcy. The government unilaterally came in and rearranged the creditor priority list contra to established law. The bond holders got screwed. Sure gives me a lot of confidence. He sold me the the Treasury note without another word.

Since the November elections, business confidence is beginning to rise. Private sector jobs are being created. The Republicans forced Obama and his leftist cadre to extend the Bush tax for those who produce the jobs in the country. People can finally make plans knowing that there is a check and balance on the power of an out of control Federal government.

Who knows? I might decide to quit my job and go paint on the beach, but at least Congress will finally understand that someone has to pay the bill for my dreams…and that person should be me.

Food Police or Snow Removal?

2010-12-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

2011 will be called the Year of Austerity. Spending with abandon is now oh so passé. Belt tightening, both for girth and fiscal management, is de rigueur. Thank God for the French!!

The question that all levels of government is going to have to face is just what is it government is supposed to do? President Obama, and those of his ilk, think social engineering should be at the top of the list. That idea goes in and out of favor. Beginning midterm of the Bush administration, it was in favor. States like California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and even Ohio expanded the role of state and local government way to unheard limits. And now it has bitten them on the ass!!!! And now I hope that all of you are learning a hard lesson.

Two stories jumped out at me this past week. The first had to do with New York City’s snow removal debacle. Mayor Bloomberg, who has more money than God in his own right (Bloomberg TV??) went on a holy crusade to clean his perception of New York’s ills. First, he went after trans-fats, and hired public employees to enforce trans-fat limits in food. New York restaurants are now required to post all sorts of stuff relating to fat content, sodium content, and trans-fat content. Of course, enforcement of these rules takes public employees. Then, he goes after salt. He actually tried requiring restaurants to take salt shakers off of tables in addition to them meeting sodium requirements in their food.

Is he nuts? Well, he got a big kick in the derriere (there goes those French again) this past week when a blizzard dumped snow on New York City when the snow reached derriere levels, grinding the city to a halt. And you know what? They didn’t have enough road crews to clear the street and people died. Bloomberg claims the unions slowed the work down in protest of layoffs. The unions claim Bloomberg deliberately delayed plowing the streets in an effort to save on overtime.

Notwithstanding, I am sure the money Bloomberg spent on the food police could better have been spent on city maintenance workers. What is wrong with him? First and foremost, citizens of a city expect three things: pot hole patrols, snow removal, and trash removal. The city is responsible for essential services, not trans-fat/calorie/sodium monitoring. And now Bloomberg will pay the price. He won’t be the first mayor to lose his job over snow removal. Just ask some of the mayors of Chicago. And he gets exactly what he deserves. Before you go out social engineering, take care of essential business first!!

Story number 2 has to do with the Boston School System, which just closed ten schools because of budget concerns. Yet it continues to provide extraordinary perks to its teachers’ union. Included are free legal services for basic wills, house sales and the like. It also provides for funeral assistance and picks up the cost of a soft ball league. All of this largesse will cost the school system $8.4 million placed into a “trust fund” while the school system has a $64 million deficit. Teachers respond that this was agreed to in 1968 in lieu of a salary increase. Of course, now it has both the perks and the salary increases…not to mention standard health care benefits way beyond what the average American gets. The City response is “It’s time to rethink this!” Do ya think?

Folks, the priorities of government are out of whack, and if not fixed, will cripple this country for the next 100 years. I think it is time to get rid of Mayor Bloomberg, and time for a new school board in Boston…one with some cajones. (That’s not French…that’s Spanish!!!)

The 111th Congress - Good Riddance

2010-12-15T12:17:00.000-08:00

It is a sad state of affairs in Washington. While us grunts go about our lives of quiet desperation trying to put together a living, those over bloated, over paid, self centered, ideological idiots in Washington are sticking it to us once again. This time, in addition to a most disgusting display around the tax hike compromise, the lame duck Democratic Congress is attempting to pass another $1 trillion dollar omnibus (what a great word) spending bill dressed in a 2000 page document filled with thousands upon thousands of earmarks which nobody has read. Just like the fiasco health bill, they will shove this one down our throats on Christmas Eve as well. Shame on them!

The 111th Congress will go down as one of the worst in American history. It has been ripe with histrionics, lies, concealments, out of control spending, and a complete disregard for the taxpayers and our liberties. They have behaved like a crook with a stolen credit card. It can’t end soon enough for me. How can these people go home and sleep at night? Are they tone deaf? No. They just have no regard for the hoy ploy that pays their outrageous salaries and benefits.

In addition to the financial fiascos, Congress is addressing periphery issues like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the Dream Act, the Start Treaty….all items which could have, and should have, been addressed earlier. Instead of acting responsibly, the Democratic led Congress decided to do these things during the Christmas holiday, when the members’ unpopular views can be implemented while the rest of America is distracted with Ho Ho.

I have come to the conclusion that the only way to resolve the problems with Congress is a complete revamping of how they do business. If it has to be done by a grass roots movement to amend the Constitution, so be it. These folks have placed themselves in a world so far out of reality that this may be the only way to get their attention. Here is what I would like to see:

1) Term Limits: 12 years in the House or the Senate is enough. I didn’t vote for Nancy Pelosi, and I am sure her constituency didn’t vote for Newt Gingrich when he was Speaker. These set for life power hungry narcissistic politicos have to be turned over on a regular basis in order to prevent an over concentration of power and a feeling of self importance way beyond the needs and desires if their constituents.

2) Health Insurance: Congress and all government employees should be subject to the same rules and access as the rest of us relating to their health care plan. Costs and benefits should not exceed those of the average American citizen.

3) Salaries: Salaries for all government workers, including member of Congress, should be based on the average salary of the American worker…no more and no less. Increases in salary should be pegged to inflation, and not be subject to Congressional whims of fancy and self grandeur.

4) Perks: No excessive perks. Nancy Pelosi did not need her own government jet. I hope she enjoys flying Coach…and getting the TSA pat down.

5) Disclosure of Net Worth: If the net worth of any member of Congress increases more than 10% over the course of his/her term, it should be disclosed. Have you ever seen a Congressman leave office poor…on a civil servants salary….serving the public?

When will America say enough? Now is the time.

Will the Real President of the United States Please Stand Up!!

2010-12-11T04:51:00.000-08:00

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s President Obama. No…wait!! It’s President Clinton. No…it’s President Obama. Will the real President of the United States please stand up?

I came home early from work yesterday and turned on the television. What to my wandering eyes did appear but a news conference featuring Barack Obama and Bill Clinton trying to do a hard sell job to the hard Democratic left wing whack-a-doodles on why they should approve the Obama deal with Republicans extending the Bush tax cuts another two years.

I thought how nice. I am a believer that ex-presidents should serve some function in their post presidential lives. After all, we pay them beaucoup bucks. First Obama talked. Then Clinton talked. Such kum bah yah moments are few and far between. But then…in a twinkling…Obama said Michelle has been waiting for a half hour and he had to go. He basically told Bill Clinton to stay and handle it. Off Barry goes to a Christmas party, leaving the former President to stave off those wishing to derail legislation preventing the most massive tax hike in American history.

Watching the news this morning, I am still trying to process this picture. There was Bill Clinton standing in front of the Presidential Seal doing what Barack Obama should be doing. I understand that nobody can do a snow…I mean sales…job like Bill Clinton. But Barry, you are the President. You are the Commander in Chief, not the partier in chief.

This only goes to confirm what I heard a White House insider say a few weeks ago. He said Barack Obama is a slacker, who really dislikes the mundane workings of government preferring a game of basketball or watching ESPN. He takes delegating to a new level, believing he is too intellectually superior to have to deal with the boring tasks of governing. He would rather pontificate grand ideas while letting the minions, including a former president, do the scut work.

Now we know why Obama was so angry about at his angry news conference last week. He actually had to do something presidential. He can’t delegate to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid when they are the object of his ire. So he found someone else…Bill Clinton. More troubling is that this isn't the first time. Everytime the going gets tough, the tough get going; except it is never Obama. It is always Clinton. This is getting to be a bad, and somewhat disturbing, habit. People talked about the lack of experience of Sarah Palin. Obama had even less when he was elected, and it is beginning show big time.

Talk radio will debate this debacle for the next few weeks. But at the end of the day, it makes Barack Obama look weak. He’s partying while Clinton is taking care of business. It’s going to be a long two years until the 2012 election. By the way, my wife made a comment while watching the news reports. Where is Hillary in all of this? Mmmmmm? Just sayin'!!!

Political Chaos

2010-12-08T12:05:00.001-08:00

Each week it becomes more apparent that the United States is becoming a nation in chaos. It is adrift with a captain with little experience, minimal knowledge, and no inclination to fix what needs to be fixed. The latest example is handling of the looming tax increase after January 1 if the Bush era tax cuts aren’t restored. It will be a financial disaster for the country, but the Democrats in charge…even against the advice of many in their party…have taken an ideological, class warfare position, the consequences be damned. Obama’s tirade of a news conference on Tuesday afternoon shows that although he understands the problem, his political acumen in resolving the issue is non-existent. Who’d of thought?

But it just isn’t the tax thing. Our country’s foreign policy and relationships with the rest of the world is in shambles after the WikiLeaks revelations. Obama has been immobilized. He still can’t figure out how to vote present on this one. Julian Assange belongs in jail for espionage, but he and Eric Holder just bring themselves to do it.

Chaos is growing along the Mexican border as the drug cartels take control of the country. A fourteen year old boy has been arrested for beheading three or four people over the past year. Maybe it hasn’t crossed over to the United States yet, but it is only a matter of time. Obama needs to address the illegals question now…and he ideologically can’t bring himself to do it.

Rather than deal with the tax issue, or the WikiLeaks issue, or the illegal issue, the Democratic Congress is tra-la-la-ing its way through things like the Dream Act, which gives resident status to children of illegal immigrants who have gone to school here in the states for a certain period of time. It is concerned with Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. It is concerned with the Start Treaty...ideological issues all. But those things don’t do a thing for you and for me.

I am still hoping that Barack Obama can live up to his promise of being a uniter instead of divider; of being a post partisan President. Calling Republicans “hostage takers” in a press conference more geared to the deterioration within his own party is not a good start. My hope is fading. But this is just the beginning of the new political reality in Washington. We will see what happens.

Nooks and Crannies

2010-12-01T20:58:00.001-08:00

This past week I paid a visit to Barnes and Nobel to buy a Christmas present for a family member who was visiting from out of town. I do most of my shopping online these days, and it had been over a year since I had been there.

The first thing that greeted me when I walked through the door was a massive display for the Nook. For those of you who belong to the technological unintelligensia, a Nook is the B&N equivalent to the Amazon Kindle, which is a poor man’s version of the IPad and the newly released Samsung Galaxy. All of these are different grades of a new computing class of machines called e-readers or pads. These are thin, hand held devices that are cross between a computer and a smart phone.

The low end Kindle and Nook are primarily used to buy and download books from either Amazon or B&N, along with newspapers and magazines. Most cost under $200.00. I know people who absolutely love them.

At the other end are the spectrum is Apple’s I-Pad and Samsung’s Droid based Galaxy. These are much more sophisticated and can almost do anything a computer can do, but in a hand held configuration. They are amazing machines. Prices for these: $300.00 ranging up to $900.00. The Nook has a new color version out that is closer to the upper end devices, but only has a wifi connection…no G connection. Keeps the cost right around $280.00.

All of these devices connect to the internet either through a wifi connection (you need a hot spot) or through a 3 or 4 G connection, which means you can access the internet from anywhere. Kindle and Nook connects you to a 3G connection for free. The limited purpose of their product allows them to do that. They are used primarily to download books and newspapers which involves minimum data flow.

The I-Pad and Galaxy, on the other hand, use the connections much more, and will charge a monthly fee for the G connection based on usage. These units also have a wifi card to allow the user to use the G connection only when necessary, like if you were stuck in a car in the middle of the Sahara and wanted to download Madame Bovary, thus keeping down the cost. You can adjust your G access cost from nothing to maximum by the month, depending on how you intend to use the device during that month.

It is complicated, and that is exactly the point. B&N used to be a refuge. People would go there to browse the books, get a cup of coffee, or go back to the CD room and listen to music samples to see if you wanted to spring the fifteen bucks for the tunes. Now…well it’s not really like Best Buy, but I hate to see books reduced to a computer screen. It almost seems like they are using the store to sell the gizmo that will put the store out of business. And instead of relaxing, you have to figure out more of that technology stuff.

Which one should you buy? More than ever, you need to know what you want to use it for. If you don’t, you will end up buying way more machine than you need, or under buy after you get the hang of it and wish it could do more.

If your intent is to buy books at discounted rates on line, download them at home onto your device, then go to the beach to read them…the Kindle or Nook are for you. The screen looks like a page of the book, and shows up well in direct sunlight as well as being easy on the eyes. No color here. The screens are top lit black and white and work well in the daylight. Access to your email account and limited internet usage is included.

If, on the other hand, you like color razzle/dazzle and like to watch videos and play games and look at colorful magazines in addition to downloading books, then look into I-Pad or Galaxy. They do amazing things, but if you don’t need those amazing things, save your money. I use the amazing things, and am leaning toward the Galaxy for a whole lot of reasons. But it is pricey and has only been on the market for a few weeks. I am going to wait until next year for the next generation after they get the bugs out. These screens are backlit, like a computer screen, and tend to be difficult to read in the sunshine. Such are the tradeoffs.

I felt bad when I left the store today. On the plus side, progress is great. I have downloaded the Kindle program onto my mini net book computer at home to get me through until I decide on which pad to buy. It works great, and beats paying thirty bucks for the book itself. I downloaded George Bush’s book and have enjoyed reading it.

On the other hand, it just isn’t the same. They were playing the soundtrack from A Charlie Brown Christmas over the store sound system. The world has changed a lot since Charlie Brown first set out to find the needy Christmas tree and discover the true meaning of the holiday. Are the new pad devices technological marvels making our lives better; or would we be better off keeping the lowly Christmas tree? That's a call for you to make. Nevertheless, it makes me sad...and makes me rant.

TSA: Genitals on Parade

2010-11-25T02:32:00.000-08:00

I think the safest way for all Americans to fly would be to strip before entering the plane, and wear TSA robes…after a full body cavity search. Folks, that is about where we are at. Just because the technology exists to take graphic x-rays of your body doesn’t make it right. When Barack Obama got elected, I wondered just how much freedom America would be willing to give up in the grandiose government controlled scheme of things. Now we know that a good portion of Americans don’t mind being seen naked in a picture. By the way, the picture to the left is what they see. If it makes you uncomfortable, then you know what I mean.

I wouldn’t mind it so much if there weren’t other means available to do what needs to be done…like profiling. Every one brushes aside the example of the insanity of searching an African from Nigeria while looking for Irish Republican Army terrorists. But this is exactly what this is. In some bizarre twist of logic, we are willing to show the genitals of ourselves, our family, our parents, our children…in order not to hurt the feelings of young Muslim males with one way tickets flying from Yemen!!

Liberals pontificate that profiling doesn’t work, like it is the 11th commandment. Everybody knows that. It’s a given. No, I don’t think so. Just look the Israelis who haven’t had a plane hijacked in years and years. Feeling up a blond haired, blue eyed Scandinavian five year old little girl does not increase our security one bit, and I defy anyone to tell me how it does.

Over the years we have subjected ourselves to cameras everywhere, drunk driving checks, and GPS systems installed on our car. Our internet activities are categorized and traced. Our telephones and credit cards are available for the world to see. Our health care records are being compiled and stored. And now we are allowing ourselves to be photographed naked in an airport; all in the name of security based on political correctness rather than common sense necessity.

In all of this, our constitution is lost. Whatever happened to unreasonable search and seizure? And while we are being groped and patted down and ogled at the airports, illegals are streaming across the border by the thousands, attending our schools, getting instate tuition…but they aren’t a threat. No, not at all! Worse, the government is suing the states trying to stop it.

Just for the record. Profiling is absolutely justifiable under the constitution. Courts continuously weigh competing rights to develope a legal basis for compelling public policy. Think shouting fire in a crowded theater. No rights are absolute. It depends on how the argument is framed.

So I ask you, pit my right to privacy and protections against unreasonable search and seizure (having my genitals displayed on a screen in an airport) against those opposing criminal profiling because someone's feelings might get hurt. Which is the better public policy position? Does the governmnet really have a compelling interest to feel up someone with an artificial knee?

If we continue down this absurd path instead of using common sense…we can tear up the Constitution. This is the face of illogical, bureaucratic, big brother liberalism. It is an ugly face, a dehumanizing face. The searches they are doing now would not have stopped 9/11, and most experts say would not have stopped the underwear bomber...who was a young muslim male, not granny in a wheelchair. Wake up America.

Quantitative Easing Explained - The Video

2010-11-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Just a fast comment on the TSA: name just one incident that TSA has stopped with pat downs or the invasive xrays. There aren't any. All of the near misses that were caught these past two years were based in intelligence, and the perp bypassed all screening. These intrusive, and unconstitutional invasions of our privacy are rooted in political correctness, not in any proof they do any good, or they actually work. No one should be subject to what is, for all intents and purposes, a stip search before boarding a plane, when more sensible and effective means are available to solve the problem. Grandma in a wheelchair won't have bomb. Once again, liberalism leads to slavery.

Sometimes a picture or video can do the job better than any written explanation. A friend of mine sent me this explanation of Quantitative Easing. It nails it.

The Letter the Vindicator Wouldn't Print

2010-11-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

The Vindicator
Letters to the Editor

Sir:

Once again, Bertram De Souza’s ramble on the state of politics in Mahoning County can’t abide without comment. In his column “What Are Voters Thinking?” he once again attacks the quality of Republican Party candidates specifically referencing the Republican candidate for Auditor, Tracey Winbush. He should be ashamed of himself.

1) In what way was Tracey Winbush unqualified to be Auditor? In a previous column, he made much of her not having a college degree in accounting or law. As a lawyer, I can tell you my most successful clients don’t have college degrees, graduating instead from the School of Hard Knocks. Perhaps Bertram should do us a favor and review which of our elected public officials do or don’t have college degrees, and amend previous Vindicator endorsements accordingly. As Chairman Munroe so aptly pointed out in his letter after De Souza’s last rant, the prisons are littered with “qualified” college graduates from this area. Tracey is a business woman, has actually taken numerous college level courses, is an active Rotarian, sits on numerous area boards, is a community activist, a hard worker, a fast learner, and honest. What do you see in her, Bertram, that makes her unqualified?

2) The local Republican Party fielded some great candidates this past election, and the Vindicator chose to ignore all of them. Matt Lewis and Mike Pestian ran outstanding campaigns for State Senator and the 59th State Rep District with little resources against all odds. I was close to the Pestian campaign. He knocked on over 10,500 doors meeting the constituents. He is a successful businessman, a good family man with a great personality, and a relentless campaigner. He reached out to local teacher unions and attended other local union events not normally frequented by Republicans. Both of these campaigns were managed by a group of Young Republicans who spent countless hours doing the drudge work to make them viable. Yet the Vindicator gave absolutely NO coverage to these guys notwithstanding numerous attempts to bring attention to their efforts, qualifications and issues…not five words. So Bertram, don’t you and your paper dare complain about the lack of qualified Republican candidates and the lack of new young local political activists when they are right there in front of your face and you deliberately choose not to see them. How about getting up from your desk, talk to some of these folks about what is going on in this area, and do some actual reporting instead of pontificating?

3) Finally, a word to those Republicans at all levels of the party, who donate money on a regular basis to Democratic candidates and not the Republican candidates. Stop it. Come home. If you want Mahoning County to have a viable two party system, now is the time to re-examine what we have to offer and work with us to further develop a viable alternative to one party county rule. There is a new wave sweeping the nation and state. It is now here in Mahoning County. We would be glad to have you join the ride.

Mark G. Mangie
Attorney at Law
Finance Chairman, Mahoning
County Republican Party

Quantitative Easing - $5.00 Bread and $5.00 Gas

2010-11-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

The Federal Reserve System was set up in 1913 by the government in order to help quell a series of financial panics. It is quasi-independent, which means it is a creature of the United States government, but acts independently and without review of the government. Among its many purposes is to act as a central bank, regulate other banks, and establish the country’s monetary policy which, prior to 1913, was subject to the political whims of Congress.

How does it do it? It can raise and lower interest rates on loans from one bank to another. It can establish the amount of reserves banks must have to back up outstanding loans. It can put money into the economy, or take money out of the economy. All of these things are supposed to keep our financial system stable. How’s that working out for you?

Over this past week, you may have heard about the Fed doing “quantitative easing.” That means the Federal Reserve is pushing cash into the economy. They are literally printing money, and putting it into circulation. How do they do that? The United States government owes a lot of people a lot of money. They borrow the money by issuing bonds to folks like you and me, corporations, investors, and other countries. If the Fed wants to add money to the system, the Federal Reserve buys up those bonds that are being issued by the government, and pays for them with money that is literally printed up. In other words, the government buys back its own bonds.

In this second quantitative easing done over the past several months, the Fed is buying back $600 billion worth of bonds…or it is simply putting an extra $600 billion worth of currency into the world financial system. This “easy money” policy is directed at flooding the system with so much money, that the banks will start to lend money to businesses…which the banks can’t do because the FDIC, another arm of the government, has tightened the lending standards for the banks. Does it sound confusing? It is, and you wonder why things are FUBAR!!

The immediate effect of this much money pouring into the system is a devaluation of the currency…an old trick of debtor nations. That's us!!! Experts believe this quantitative easing will devalue the dollar by 20%. So the government will pay back a $100.00 debt with money that is only worth $80.00! Neat trick! But there’s a catch.

When the major currency of the world is being devalued, investors look for places to put money that will protect it from the devaluation…usually hard assets. You, as a consumer will get the double whammy. Let’s say you wanted to buy a pound of widgets for $100.00. But the currency is being devalued. Speculators start to buy up widgets driving the price up to $120.00. As the currency is devalued, your money is now worth less…only $80.00. So what would have cost you $100.00 last month, will now cost you $140.00 in devalued currency…the speculators drive up the price, and your money is worth less. That is called inflation.

And you are seeing it right now. There is already a rapid rise in all commodity based goods. That includes not only gold, silver and oil…but also food….including sugar, corn (at an all time high), wheat, coffee…you get the picture. There is a real possibility that you will be paying $5.00 for a loaf of bread...and just as much for a gallon of gas within a year.

But even as prices begin to skyrocket, the government will tell you there is no inflation, because it figures inflation by a formula that leaves all of these things out…seriously. The inflation figure will be “ex food and energy.” So there you have it. All is right with the world. Such are wages of government borrowing and spending. Quantitative easing is a way the government can tax you without taxing you. And it is only going to get worse.

This is what the Tea Party movement is all about; and why these folks are so upset.

Leave the Chamber Alone / It Ain't Over Yet - Financial Meltdown Part Deux

2010-10-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

LEAVE THE CHAMBER ALONE

It’s time for Dave Betras and Bob Hagan and Barack Obama to shut up about the Chamber of Commerce. It almost seems like Betras and Hagan have taken up their attacks on Tom Humphries and the Regional Chamber right out of the Democratic playbook from Washington, which claims the national Chamber is spending foreign money on various election campaigns. When asked to provide proof that this is happening, Obama’s spokesperson told CBS News to prove that it isn’t. Even the New York Times and Washington Post didn’t buy that one.

On the local level, Chamber President Tom Humphries is not a public employee. He is employed by a private organization and is entitled to his political views. If he wanted to co-sponsor a fund raiser for John Kasich, that is his business. He is not one of the local Democratic officeholders and/or employees who pay tribute to the local Democratic Party for its political support.

The Democratic Party should be ashamed of itself with these kinds of juvenile antics against the organization representing those who create jobs in America. Keep it up boys. You are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Go look for another bogeyman.

IT AIN’T OVER YET - THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN PART DEUX

Folks, you may think the financial crisis over…but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!! Recent announcements by major banks about a mortgage foreclosure moratorium may sound good on its face, but it is bad news. The amount of pending of mortgage defaults is so big, the banks can’t process the paperwork. Our local courts are clogged with foreclosure cases. I personally have three clients living in foreclosed homes, making no mortgage payments, and the banks are happy to have them there.

Banks aren’t lending money to small business for a reason. They know that as we move into 2011, they may have to write down further amounts to compensate for these mortgage foreclosures being held in abeyance. Even scarier, the fraud lawsuits are just now beginning against those financial institutions who sold those whacky derivative instruments to unsuspecting bondholders. All that money being held in the banks right now will be needed to maintain FDIC required reserve requirements.

Nobody knows how much is involved here. Fair warning, the billions upon billions spent in the TARP program may have been grossly insufficient to fix the problem. This may spell years of stagnation for the American economy, with no job creation. Couple that with Obama’s anti-business policies…you should be concerned.

No Sugar Tonight

2010-10-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

As election time approaches, there are lots of things to rant about!! Here are two more:

1) No Sugar Tonight: Mayor Michael (I know what’s good for you) Bloomberg once again is trying to stick his nose into your smoking and eating habits. After imposing trans-fat requirements on New York Restaurants; attempting to ban smoking in all public spaces; trying to set limits to salt used in restaurant cooking and banning salt shakers from restaurant tables; requiring restaurants to post calorie information next to the menu items….he now wants to ban food stamp recipients from using food stamps to buy “sugary drinks,” soda to New Yorkers; pop to you and me! It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Do-gooders have no end to making you comply to what their idea of what is good for you. Well, you might say, they are taking government money, so they should expect restrictions based on government rules. Here’s the rub!! If they can do it here, just wait until you see what they will try to do when you are on government health care…or just breathing. This is dangerous stuff, folks. Freedom loss creep alert. Mr. Bloomberg…from me to you…why don’t you mind your own “frickin” business!!!!

2) No Justice Tonight: Who is Ahmed Kahlfan Ghailani? He is the dude who killed 240 people (including numerous Americans) and injured an additional 3000 in the East Africa Embassy bombings several years ago. He was being held in that hell hole at Gitmo. In an effort to prove how wonderful American civilian courts can handle Gitmo prisoner trials, the Justice Department decided to use this trial as a model. Eric Holder and his cronies had it shoved right up their corpus delecti by the judge in the case. Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan barred the testimony of the government’s main witness stating that the name of the main witness was obtained in a secret prison where there have been allegations of the use of coercive methods for information. In other words, the government’s case is screwed. Eric Holder’s response: “We are talking about one ruling, in one case by one judge.” I guess we’ll go with that. So much for Obama’s academic idealism! They should have taken these guys and hanged them in the public square.

With the election three weeks away, I can’t wait to see what I will rant about next week!!!

Three Mini-Rants: Congress Moves on Chinese Currency; St. Dominic's Shootings; Are These Obama's Friends?

2010-09-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes events happen so fast, you have to address all of them. Here are three mini-rants.

1) Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: While there has been plenty of duly earned criticism of Congress for leaving Washington without resolving the tax cut expiration issue, not much attention was given to a truly bi-partisan measure passed overwhelmingly today by Congress laying the groundwork for resolution of the China currency issue. As I understand it, unless China allows its currency to float rather than keeping it pegged artificially low to the dollar, Congress will enact a sweeping 25% tariff against all Chinese goods entering into the United States. Glenn Beck doesn’t like it, and ranted on his radio program this morning. But on this issue, both Dems and Republicans are stunningly united, and I say “huzza!” Now if they only have the courage of their convictions to enforce it. Outside of energy independence, resolution of the China currency issue is the single biggest thing that can be done to give a boost to the American economy.

2) The senseless shooting last Saturday afternoon of an elderly couple leaving St. Dominic’s Church, resulting in the husband’s death and the wife with an amputated leg, is the single most disturbing news story I have seen in a long time. In a case of mistaken identity, two men shot up the couple’s car, in broad daylight, on the busiest part the major north/south road in the city. Caught up in a drug/turf war, these poor seniors didn’t know what hit them. The car was pelted with at least 12 rounds of ammunition. This came several months after another incident at St. Dominic’s where another elderly woman was shot in the parking lot while entering her car after Mass in an attempted robbery. After the arrest of the perpetrator, his family tried to kill the witnesses. Both of these incidents were black on white crime. Black on white and black on black crime, already a major problem, is on the rise. It is deteriorating fast. Northern Boardman Township and the historic Forest Glen is in jeopardy as thugs from Youngstown’s southside attack people in their driveways or while walking down the sidewalk. City law enforcement needs to wake up before things get totally out of control. But it can only do so much. The violence in the black community has to be addressed from within, and unfortunately, I don’t think there is any solution.

3) Advice to President Obama: Dude, get some new advance people. In a staged CNBC Town Hall meeting, President Obama was berated by one of his “supporters” about the “new normal” of high unemployment, shaky medical insurance, and lack of confidence in the government. In an Iowa backyard picnic meeting, he was attacked again by those afraid of Obamacare. Both of these venues had an handpicked audience and question reviews. If these are Obama's friends, what about his enemies! What is really scary is that these were the toughest questions posed to him by anyone since before the 2008 election up until now. If Obama citizen supporters can ask the questions, why can’t the press?

The Heart of the Recession: China's Currency

2010-09-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

You can have a political debate from now to the cows come home on some sort of domestic policy that will solve the current economic malaise. The fact of the matter, the source of the problems lies overseas in two places: China (manufacturing) and Saudi Arabia (energy). This essay is about the problem with China.

We have lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs to China. Some of the blame lies right here in the United States in the form of draconian environmental rules, high corporate taxes, minimum wage requirements, and unions. The other part of the equation is the deliberate attempt by China to bankrupt the world. I have been writing this blog for five years now, and I have been saying, over and over and over again, unless China lets its currency float like the other currencies in the world, things will only get worse, not better.

While most major currencies float allowing adjustments to imports and exports if an imbalance develops, the Chinese currency does not. It is tagged to the dollar at a 30% discount. No matter how far the dollar may fall in value to the Euro, for example, boosting US exports to Europe, the Chinese currency will always be 30% cheaper than the dollar, keeping its exported goods at a strong competitive advantage to anything made in the United States. Couple that with an artificially low Chinese wage structure, of course companies will move entire factories to China.

China has done this deliberately. It is a predatory exporter. The result is the massive buildup of currency reserves…the largest in the world. The United States has paid lip service to resolving the problem. Every six months or so a trade delegation heads of to Beijing and does the dog and pony show thing. The Chinese have said for years they will take care of the problem. The make a few cosmetic adjustments, and six months later the cycle is repeated.

Why does the United States allow this to happen? Because major US corporations have historically dreamed of a billion Chinese consumers market, which is ignored by China in favor of exports! Corporations like IBM, GM, GE all have major markets in China for goods they produce here, but mostly make in China. That does nothing for the American worker. Add in Walmart, which has built its business around Chinese imports, you have the perfect storm.

The reality is that China guards its markets carefully. American business will never realize its dream of open and free Chinese markets. China is slowly but steadily developing the technology to rival what we have here. What it can’t develop it steals. China has decided not to conquer the world, but to buy it.

China is buying up Australia wholesale. It is THE major political issue down under. Now it has its eye on the United States, and has put out feelers to become a major stockholder in General Motors when the new GM does its initial IPO. The Chinese partner would be GM’s current partner in its China operations, the state backed SAIC. Because SAIC is state controlled, it has unlimited access to Chinese government capital.

State capitalism is a new concept to the United States, part of Barack Obama’s fundamental change to America. Up until his election, we were probably the only country in the world that didn’t have some form of state capitalism in which the country has only a quasi-free market with government hybrid corporations calling the shots. These corporations are driven only partially by market forces. In exchange for government financing and capital, these companies are also directed by government policy, both domestic and foreign.

The issue we currently face is way beyond tweak fixes to our economy. The United States has moved headlong towards state capitalism in its financial markets and in the automotive industry. Some people say a purely capitalistic society can’t compete in a world where the other major competitors practice State Capitalism. That is the debate. I believe free markets can win out, but only if the playing field is leveled. If a country wants to do business in the United States, it must play by the same rules as everyone else.

Until the Chinese currency issue is resolved, we are just spinning our wheels.

Sucking at the Public Tit

2010-09-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

My wife hates that phrase. She always goes “eeewww” when I start on one of my rants. But tonight she said she finally got it. Once public employees start to suck at the public tit, it takes the Jaws of Life to pull them off. Several recent events demonstrate my point.

Chris O’Donnell beat Mike Castle for the Republican nominee for Senate in Delaware. She was a Palin supported candidate who dislikes masturbation, as has been repeatedly reported on the news over and over and over again. It was “assumed” that Mike Castle, a long time member of the House and former Delaware Governor, would breeze into the Republican nomination, and blow his way into the Senate. In fact, so sure were the politicos that he was going to win, VP Biden’s son dropped out of the Senate race as a Democrat because Castle would have beaten him. The press did a hatchet job on O’Donnell this past week that made their treatment of Palin look like a walk in the park.

Silly politicos!! Chris O’Donnell, an attractive Palin like woman public relations person, who has had some personal financial reversals, and of course dislikes masturbation, wins the nomination with TEA party support. The press went nuts. She is crazy. She is a nut. She is a right wing whacko. Castle went into a frenzy releasing statements that O’Donnell is undeserving of the victory. President Obama and VP Biden called him to offer their condolences reinforcing the campaign allegation that Castle would switch parties after being elected. Even Karl Rove went nuts. How dare someone beat Castle in a primary election! It was pitiful. Never mind Castle voted for Cap and Trade…the ultimate conservative no-no.

So now there is speculation Castle will run as an independent or in a write in campaign. That is already being done in Alaska, where the current Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski lost the Republican primary to another TEA party supported candidate Joe Brown, and is announcing she will run a write-in campaign. How dare someone beat her in a primary election!! That seat belongs to her!!!!!

She is following in the steps of another whiney baby loser, Charlie Crist, current Governor of Florida who dropped out of the Republican primary for Senate because he was going to lose to TEA party supported candidate Marco Rubio. Now he is running as an independent, and has switched policy positions from abortion to immigration to move to the left, and has consulted with the Democratic Party…most likely because he would caucus with the Democrats if he wins. Of course, the poor Democratic Party candidate, a black guy who has a lot going for him, has been hung out to dry by the Dems who are having a love fest with Crist.

Like I said…it takes the Jaws of Life. Rubio will do okay and most likely win in Florida. Murkowski in Alaska has some current polling that shows she beats Brown by 4 points in a three way…but the situation is fluid and people don’t like sore losers. Castle hasn’t given any definite indication he might try an independent run…but he should take note that O’Donnell garnered as many votes in this primary as showed up to vote in Republican primary the last time one was held.

This election, people are fed up and are going to throw the bums out. The bums would be wise to get out of the way, be they Republican or Democratic bums. Of course one way to solve this would be term limits…that way all of the bums would have only a limited time at the public tit. Eeewwww!!!!!

Godspell: WOW WOW WOW

2010-09-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

Usually I get to rant about something outrageous. But tonight, thanks to Marlene Strollo, I get to rant about Move Over Broadway’s boffo version of Godspell playing this weekend at St. Michael’s Church in Canfield. The only bad thing I can say about it is you better see it tonight (Saturday) or tomorrow night. It’s a shame it is only running for one weekend. Word of mouth could keep this going for a month.

Godspell is a 1970’s Broadway musical based on the Gospel of Matthew. There are widely known songs: Prepare Ye The Way (new to me) and, of course, Day by Day. I've never seen Godspell. I had some general knowledge as to the type of play it was. I am friends with a number of the cast members and had some concerns. It is a youth oriented hippie type musical. Is the cast too old? Is the play too dated? Is there too much choreography (think Sister Act and Sister Act 2, especially the Joyful Joyful sequence)? I even joked with one cast member about renaming this production Geriatric Godspell!!!

I was wrong. What the audience got was WOW-WOW-WOW!!! Ms. Strollo put together an eclectic, extremely talented cast of all ages, some of whom cartwheeled down the center aisle at the end of the show. These are superb amateur musicians who turned on the energy from the very first note and kept it going as it greeted the audience going out the door at the end of the performance. It was infectious. It was fun. It was inspiring.

No, the cast wasn’t too old. No, the play wasn’t too dated…it was as fresh as when it was written. No, the cast handled complicated, non-stop choreography with ease. The visuals on stage were terrific. Choreographer Nick Opritza outdid himself on this one.

It's hard to name standout cast members when it's pretty much all of them, but I'll try. If I leave someone out, please forgive me because they were all so good.

The lead (Jesus) is played by Mark Samuel. His history wasn't in the program notes, but I understand he came late to the cast. I had my doubts at the beginning of the show, but he made me a believer by the end. His humor and confidence fit the role to a tee, and the Passion scenes, particularly the Last Supper, gave me chills. His outstanding falsetto at the end of the program shows this guy knows what he is doing.

Tom Gent, a perennial local favorite, showed his talents again in a dual role of Judas and John the Baptist. His solid voice adds gravitas to any show he is in. Mr. Gent and Mr. Samuel stopped the show with their tap dancing/singing duet All for the Best.

Showstopper #2 was By My Side performed by Sarah Sobota and Brooke Fusco, both students at South Range High School…lucky South Range. We can only hope that they both decide to stay in the area so we can enjoy their talents in the years to come.

The same can be said about Hogan Russell whose All Good Gifts shows he ready for Broadway now. Another South Range student…I can hardly wait for their school play.

The same can be said about Tim Harkleroad and his version of We Beseech Thee…another South Range High School student…what are they putting in the food out there? They must grow talent by the bushel in the hinterland.

JoAnne Santagata shocked the house with her Sophie Tucker/Mae West bump and grind Jesus seduction song Turn Back, Oh Man. What a hoot. I didn’t know she had it in her…but she does in spades.

And Grace Vouvalis brightened the stage with her winning smile and rock the house number Bless the Lord. She’s a grown up!!! And doesn’t go to South Range, but we can forgive her for that!

One of the biggest treats of the night was Nikita Jones’ version of Day by Day. It brought a tear to my eye. She is a real talent and her rendition was stunning. I am really looking forward to seeing her in other productions.

The balance of this ensemble cast gave a strong choral and dance performance way beyond what anyone should expect in this type of production. Music Director Jodine Pilmer always does a great job in getting the amateur MVOB chorus to sound like pros, not to mention the accompanying musicians. This was no exception. It was like listening to the cast recording…which I did when I got home.

And here’s the secret…this was better. One of the ironies of Community Theater is that when it is good, the intimate setting and the enthusiasm of the cast always pushes it from good to way, way beyond real good. In this case, short of Broadway itself, I doubt if you would find a better version of Godspell anywhere.

It was a real treat for me to set aside the worries of the world and be inspired by this great show. Thank you to Marlene Strollo and her Move Over Broadway associates. Do more stuff like this!!!!

A DYSFUNCTIONAL BIG TEN

2010-09-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

All of us Big Ten fans were abuzz when Nebraska announced its jump to our then eleven and now twelve team conference. The Big Ten brand of hard hitting, old fashioned football is legendary; and as of late, has come back favor notwithstanding the Southeastern Conference style of razzle dazzle.

But now that the afterglow of the announcement has faded, what are we left with? Once again the Big Ten is showing an appetite for money instead of sports, and that college football at that level is no longer amateur, but a multi-billion dollar business built on the backs of unpaid players and frustrated fans. What is it doing, and why?

This past week the Big Ten announced how the expanded conference is going to operate. It will be divided into two yet to be named divisions: Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue and Wisconsin are in one division. Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern will be in the other. Each team will play all of the other teams in its division, plus three cross divisional games, several of which are mandated.

Of immediate concern is the traditional Ohio State/Michigan matchup at the end of November. Fans in each of the states plan their lives around the game. In my case, my wedding day was determined by the OSU/Michigan game…and reminds me each year it’s time to buy my wife and anniversary card and present.

Winning coaches at Ohio State and Michigan have lost their jobs over losing streaks in the rivalry, especially at Ohio State where the game can determine million dollar bonuses for the coach. When Bo Schembeckler died on the eve of the big game a few years ago, it raised the game almost to a mystical religion. This is a big deal to the schools and to the conference.

So…the Big Ten was faced with a dilemma. How to keep the tradition alive that is the lifeblood of the Big Ten conference and its rabid fans…and how to make more money!!! What a dilemma. And guess what…the money won out.

Here is what they came up with. Ohio State/Michigan is a mandated cross divisional game to be played at the end of the season…just because!!! The big finale will be the divisional playoff game in December at a neutral domed stadium somewhere in the Midwest (it will be in Indianapolis in 2011). Given that the Big Ten Championship has historically been tied to the Ohio State/Michigan game, the question then arises as to what happens if both teams have won their respective divisions…and then play the “just because” mandatory cross over game in November which will have NO conference significance, only to have to play another game two weeks later to determine the Big Ten Championship.

The Big Ten commissioner said the fans would love it. Really? What I see is a disaster waiting to happen. This is not fair to the players who have to get ginned up twice for the “big game(s),” it is not fair to the fans who now faced a diminished importance of a traditional rivalry game, and probably isn’t fair to the other teams in the Big Ten notwithstanding, because the possibility exists that the team with the best win/loss record in the conference would not represent the Big Ten in a national championship game because of “division” win-loss issues.

This is a really dumb idea based solely on a Big Ten Conference dream of money and more money and more money flowing from a Conference championship game. That is all that matters to them.

Here is a better idea. Eliminate some of the warm up games. Ohio State doesn’t really have to play Marshall. Add a week to the season and have the teams play as many conference games as possible, even if they don’t play all of the teams all of the years…just like now. The team with the best conference win/loss record, wins the championship.

I think this system will flop and cause frustration and anger across the board. We will see!

Feel Me....Touch Me

2010-08-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

Some people are touched by other people. Other people are touched by angels. Still some people are touched by the Lord. Now the Government Accountability Office has come out with a metric to justify Obama’s stimulus package called “lives touched” by the stimulus! Has your life been touched by the stimulus? I know mine has. Let me bend over and show you where.

Please tell me they are kidding. They couldn’t show how many jobs the stimulus created. They can’t figure out how many jobs have been “saved”. So now they are counting jobs created to include “lives touched” by the stimulus…seriously. The metric popped up in a report by the GAO justifying money spent by the DOE. “LBJ took the IRT down to 4th Street USA. When he got there what did he see? The youth of America on LSD!”

I digress. This metric is not used as jobs saved…it is used to determine jobs created. And it is cumulative, to show the jobs number, which really isn’t a jobs number but a lives touched number, is ever increasing. Where is George Orwell when you need him?

This is pitiful, but what do you expect from a self perpetuating bureaucratic behemoth struggling to justify what is happening in the country? It is so outrageous, one is almost speechless. What can one say about the government, and the omniscient Barack Obama, touching our lives?

I suppose "lives touched" can be argued to be a legitimate metric. If you have lost your job, your life is touched. If your home is foreclosed on, your life is touched. If violence is erupting in your school system, your life is touched. If your retirement has been lost or your stock market portfolio has tanked while your taxes are going up, your life has been touched. And I guess all those people on Martha’s Vineyard are having their lives touched by Obama’s sixth or seventh vacation this year.

How has your life been touched? I think the GAO should have a website where all Americans can post how their lives have been touched by the stimulus.

Sounds a tad pornographic, doesn’t it? IT IS!!!! Hey Mr. President! Stimulate……nevermind.

Economic Rage

2010-08-19T07:28:00.001-07:00

If it weren’t so sad, it would be funny. Day after day I continually hear reports about what is wrong with the American economy. Political pundits and economic pundits and business channel pundits talk about stimulus, the lack of stimulus, monetary policy, fiscal policy, monetizing the debt, inflation, deflation, stagflation…talk is cheap!!!

It’s no great mystery why the economy is in the crapper. This President has stuck it to small businessman, and created an atmosphere of mistrust, fear and instability while exhibiting nothing but anger and revenge towards business. What do you think these folks are going to do?

So Obama wants small business to hire. Let’s see how this works. He has changed health care to such a point the business owner doesn’t know who is entitled and who is not entitled to health benefits, or what it is going to cost. He is told that his taxes are going up after the first of the year with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. The minimum wage has gone up, and will continue to go up periodically over the next few years. He is told to expand his factory, but then told don’t do this. Do that. You need that permit. You need that study. Get an EPA review. Make sure to unionize your work force. Watch for those carbon emissions. They are going to cost you. To finance it, you have to mortgage your first born child. And oh ya! If you are successful in actually getting something off the ground and operating, we will take it from you when you die with a confiscatory estate tax of 55%. Now there’s a deal. Sign me up for that.

What world do these people live in? Nothing is going to happen to help the economy until this jack ass is out of office, and some sanity comes into government. The proverbial ivory tower is not a myth. It is a reality. At the end of the day, Obama and his entire group of advisors are liberal, progressive left wing academics who know NOTHING about business, and what makes this country run. While boo-hooing over the minorities and the illegal immigrants and the Muslims and the Mexicans, all the while paying the government employees implementing these plans a full 30 -50% more than their private employee counterparts, they have forgotten the number one rule. DON’T BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU.

Obama does a lot of biting. The very people he denigrates and demonizes are the ones who are picking up the tab for his utopian programs…and they are not happy. Now he’s worried, or so he says, that the private sector isn’t “growing” jobs? Really? He’s lucky that more people aren’t being laid off.

Under Barack Obama, what side of the economic line would you like to be on? Those busting their ass trying to pay the bills, or those on the receiving end of Obama largesse? Folks, this guy is bad news. It is time for a change. It is time to change now.

To Mosque or Not To Mosque

2010-08-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

The tone deaf president strikes again. For reasons known only to him and to God, President Obama came out yesterday in support of the proposed controversial mosque at Ground Zero. He didn’t have to say anything, but he once again had to open his big mouth. 64% of Americans believe the proponents of the mosque have the constitutional right to build it there. However 64% of Americans believe it is wrong to build it there, and oppose its construction. So once again, Obama is sticking his finger in the eye of Americans.

From what I read, there are numerous unanswered questions about what this Islamic Center is, who is funding it, what are the beliefs of those behind it, yada yada yada. To me, it looks like a shrine to the Muslim martyrs. I agree with the commentator that said the mosque should be built at Ground Zero when Saudi Arabia allows the construction of a Christian Church within its borders.

What the freedom of religion crowd is running into is the sense in America that Islam is more than a religion. For many, not all, it is a political movement as well as a religion. There are certainly religion tolerant modern Moslem countries; Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq to name a few. But the radical Moslems are something else. Saudi Arabia and Iran are theocracies which have melted the political and the religious aspects of Islam together.

That brand of Islam is NOT a religion. It is a movement of male domination and female subjugation coupled with a brutal legal code and an intolerance which is beyond the understanding of most Americans. It is racist, and would practice genocide in a heartbeat. That should not be tolerated in America anymore than the KKK, which was a hate based political movement clothed in religion. Freedom of religion is not anymore absolute than freedom of speech…the proverbial you can’t yell fire in a theater.

What disturbs me about the proposed mosque is that the government officials are refusing to investigate what this is. Where is the money coming from? Who will have access? What are the ground rules for its operation? Will it practice tolerance or intolerance? MOST IMPORTANTLY, DOES IT ADVOCATE POLITICAL GOALS…LIKE IMPLEMENTATION OF SHARIA LAW IN THE UNITED STATES? Does it advocate the overthrow of our system of government?

Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama are wrong. This is sacred ground. 9-11 cost this country 3400 lives and billions of dollars directly…and has resulted in the cost of blood and treasure in two subsequent wars.

Build the mosque somewhere else. Sanctimonious political correctness doesn’t cut it. Bloomberg and Obama should be ashamed of themselves.

Can't We Just All Get Along?

2010-08-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

Newsweek Magazine is a liberal publication on life support courtesy of the Washington Post. It is up for sale, but the WP is being a tad choosey as to whom it sells this venerable American rag. (UPDATE: SOLD YESTERDAY FOR $1.00) Nevertheless, I enjoy reading the magazine, and its new format is not too bad. The front part of the mag is heavy on editorial opinion, including some conservative articles. The back of the mag is dedicated to life style stories…way too much on movie stories, but interesting none-the-less.

But a particular in this past week’s edition earned a MKIA raised eyebrow, given its usual intellectually elite tenor. It was written by its editor, Jon Meacham, entitled When the Facts Get in the Way. Making reference to the Shirley Sherrod story, Mr. Meacham writes: “The seasonal issue is one particular to the age of Obama, if universal to American politics: the underlying role that white prejudice against blacks plays in our national life”. Huh???

Mr. Meacham, are you tone deaf? In the media’s continual pursuit of looking for white racism, it has completely ignored time and time again racism rooted the black community. Ms. Sherrod’s experience is the perfect storm showing of white racism, and black racism, wrapping themselves up into one big surprise package that has exploded in this administrations face. I haven’t seen a whites on television calling for the killing of black babies. I haven’t seen white media list serve groups plotting to call black commentators and politicians racists. And I haven’t seen any white screaming ministers on television calling for the destruction of black America.

Minimally, Mr. Meacham, racism is something experienced across all swaths of American society: white, black, brown and red. President Obama has called for a national dialogue on racism. I agree. Mr. Meacham and President Obama, why don’t we start with both of you coming to Youngstown, and accompanying me to Southern Park Mall on Friday night…or riding up Market Street…or talking to the folks who live in Forest Glen. Then let’s sit and talk about racism.

The issue isn’t white racism in America. The issue is “racism” in America. It comes in all forms and colors. Until the liberal media is willing to accept that, nothing will get better. It’s time for an honest dialogue…but I can assure you under this post racial president, it ain’t going to happen. Race baiting is one of his political tools. Rodney King may have been right…”Can’t we just all get along?” We can only hope.

How's Post Racial America Working Out for Ya?

2010-07-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

Obama and the press have learned a hard lesson. They played the race card, and lost. For the past 1 ½ years, the left wing press, the progressive Democrats and Obama himself have accused everyone and everything that has opposed Obama’s political agenda a racist. Fox News is racist. The Tea Party is racist. Your Aunt Tilly is racist. Never mind that the only racism that I have seen has come from the people screaming race the loudest. Thugs can intimidate voters. Black Panthers can talk about killing white babies. Illegal drug lords can sneak across the border and kill policemen. But it is the Tea Party that is racist.

Now it has bitten Obama on the ass. And I hope that it hurts. After a week of racial vitriol from the NAACP, Andrew Breitbart posted an edited version of a canned speech given by one Shirley Sherrod, an underling employee of the Department of Agriculture. In her speech, she tells of her redemption in attempting to deal with her own prejudices 24 years ago when she was called on to help a white farmer save his farm in Georgia. She goes on to say that she had difficulty in dealing with her personal feelings of race, but concluded through the process that it is not a white/ black issue, but a have/have not issue.

The White House found out that Fox News had this piece of video tape without really knowing the content of the tape. One of the mucky mucks then decided they better get Ms. Sherrod’s resignation prior to this tape being aired on television, and forced her to email in her resignation while she was driving her car from Georgia to Washington. They actually made her pull over to the side of the road to email her resignation. We are getting conflicting stories as to who forced whom to what, and who knew what when. One thing is clear. The edited version of the tape eventually shown on Fox News did not tell the whole story, and portrayed her as being a flaming racist. The administration tried to say it was the tape played on Fox News that made them fire Ms. Sherrod…but in reality, the poor woman was fired prior to anything being aired on television. The joke was on them.

Add to the mix the racially charged atmosphere created by an NAACP trying to recapture its glory days; then add a report about something called “Journolist”, you have a media feeding frenzy.

What was Journolist? This was a group of 400 mainstream media types and journalism professors who conspired to portray any conservative as racist during the 2008 election. What is scary is that the professors were from the most elite of the elite schools, and many of the journalists were mainstream reporters for the big three networks as well as smaller networks like Bloomberg television.

The discovered emails show a deliberate attempt to portray those who opposed Obama as racist.They also display a hatred of conservatives beyond any rational basis, including comments that people like Rush Limbaugh should die horrific deaths while others watch in glee. Some of this stuff is almost sickening…and scary.

I don’t think America understands the hatred that comes from the left. Racism is a cancer in our society that should be cured, not exploited. Obama was supposed to be the post racial President and help heal the wounds. Looking at the Black Panther wanting to kill white babies; a group of media types purposely destroying individuals by calling them racist; and President who got it wrong a year ago with his Harvard professor thing and now with Ms. Sherrod…how’s that post racial thing working out for ya?

Uncle Sam Wants to Know: How Much Do You Weigh?

2010-07-16T07:46:00.001-07:00

Folks…it is getting scary out there. I told you this was coming, and here it is. Buried in the mass of stimulus legislation is a new regulation requiring every American have a BMI (Body Mass Index) rating by 2014. This number must be entered into a national data base, and be available on an electronic “national exchange” along with your height and weight.

The government spin on this states that BMI is the most important indicator of health issues, and that all the health care professionals taking care of you should know what it is. Your health care providers are required to make “meaningful use” of the Electronic Health Records (HERs) or face substantial fines and/or penalties.

On the surface, nothing is wrong with that. We all want to stay healthy. But you're dealing with the government here, and that type of information floating around is dangerous. Since the government is now taking an active role in health care with all sorts of insurance regs, exchanges, policy boards (re: Death Panels) determining how much treatment you can get at what age…it seems only fair that the government be able to dictate not only how much you should weigh, but also what you BMI should be. Afterall, since the taxpayer must foot the bill, it is in the public interest to make sure you are fit as a fiddle, or be denied coverage or taxed for the extra weight. Seems far fetched? It's already happening in Britain! What about weekly weigh ins? Now there's the ticket.

And with Michelle Obama going around screaming about obesity…child obesity…look for the health police to monitor what is in your refrigerator and what you serve at dinner. Listen up, folks, there is no end to how much good these people want to do.

Like I preach every week, this “good” generally goes counter to normal human behavior, and has to be “enforced”, or as they would say – “encouraged.” With do-gooder agencies going after McDonalds and Kellogg’s and other food businesses, they will see a source of infinite revenue and infinite regulations…all because they know what is good for you.

And all of that information will be swirling around the internet. Freedom loss creep is alive and well under Barack Obama, and his band of merry, progressive do-gooders. Watch out. It’s your freedom. PS: The picture at the top of the page is Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. Looks like she needs a little BMI work herself.

Obama's Hope and Change War on America

2010-07-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

President Obama has implemented some interesting policy initiatives over the past several weeks. Is this the hope and change you voted for?

1) The administrator of NASA, soon to be supervising a space program with no space program once the Shuttle program ends this year, now says he has been advised that the number one priority of NASA is outreach to Muslim nations to make them feel good about their contribution to science and math. On the other hand, maybe the Muslim nations can get us back into space. Iran has a pretty active missile program.

2) The lead lawyer in the dismissed Philadelphia Black Panther voter intimidation case…dismissed after the government won it…claimed rampant racism against whites in the Justice Department. The orders to ignore black on white racism came are not only understood, but articulated in a public way by the Justice Department higher ups. Of course, three big black brothers with billy clubs standing in front of a polling place telling white people they will just have to get used to a black man in the White House...cracker...doesn’t sound like racism to me. Maybe Obama can have another beer summit like the one he did for the abusive Harvard professor.

3) While illegals are crossing the borders in droves making Phoenix the second largest kidnapping center on North America right behind Mexico City, the Obama administration decides to sue Arizona for passing a law that mirrors Federal law relating to identification when an individual stopped while committing another crime. I have to produce ID if I am caught speeding, or doing anything else for that matter. Why should illegals be exempt? After all, maybe they just scaled the fence and wall to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo on this side of the border. Must be all of the Taco Bells over here!

It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. While unemployment remains high; while terrorists are trying to blow up plains with crotch bombs; while the Russians have sleeper spies are walking among us; while the oil well keeps gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; while Iran is building nuclear bombs...Barack Obama is going golfing; taking vacations; and making a four day campaign swing to Nevada to raise money for Harry Reid. He does that while he wakes up in the morning and goes to bed night focusing on unemployment and the BP oil spill.

Like I said, is the hope and change you voted for?

McDonald v. Chicago: Guns, Obama, and the Supreme Court

2010-06-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that gun ownership is a fundamental right of Americans. Contrary to National Rifle Association press releases and conventional wisdom, it was never a settled issue. In overturning Chicago’s ban on hand guns within its city limits, the Supremes dropped the other shoe. The first shoe was finding a similar law in Washington D.C., a federal jurisdiction, also unconstitutional. McDonald v. Chicago now extends that ruling to all cities and states.

While the ruling of this case gets the headlines, it is the dicta of the case that is absolutely stunning, and will have liberal legal eagles flapping their wings furiously for years. The S.C. could have determined this case in 10 pages or less. Instead, it has provided the country with a 207 page treatise on Constitutional law. It is brilliant. It is historical. And its conclusions should be a warning to any President or political party that is willing to play fast and loose with the Constitution in order to achieve social utopian dreams. This is the Supreme Court reasserting the rights of citizens to defend themselves against tyranny, and re-examining the compact between citizens and the state.

I am no constitutional scholar, and I found reading the opinion tedious. But the message and logic are clear. Up until the Civil War, the court stated that the rights granted citizens in the Constitution only related to laws passed by the Federal government. States could pretty much do as they pleased. It had to be that way because of slavery.

After the Civil War, the Court had a problem. The country passed the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution ending slavery and granting citizenship to African Americans. But in order to enforce it, the courts had to re-examine the relationship between constitutionally guaranteed rights, the federal government, and the state governments. In a series of cases, it changed its approach, and ruled states could not abrogate fundamental constitutionally guaranteed rights. This particularly related to the rights of former slaves to own guns. To allow southern states to outlaw former slaves from owning guns would deprive them of their right to protect themselves from not only other citizens…but also local and state governments.

Wow!! And the court goes onto to reiterate that position in this ruling. The right of Americans to bear arms is fundamental to our system and is part of the fabric of our checks and balances protection between the government and its citizens. In our American psyche, the mistrust of strong, centralized government still rings loud and true.

While the ruling of the case settles a long standing dispute, the dicta is a clear shot across the bow of Obama’s utopian vision of the world based on social justice rather than the rule of law and the Constitution. It raises the hue and cry against rampant and relentless expansion and centralization of power in Washington and into the White House itself. The progressives should take note. “Don’t tread on me” is alive and well.

This 207 page decision will be the foundational document studies in all future Constitutional law classes…and should be a primer for our politicians. It should be required reading.