Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
March 04, 2009
March 02, 2009
A Vintage Editorial Still Pertinent Today
This editorial by Charlie Reese in the Orlando Sentinal was published about a year ago. It certainly is a timeless topic since things never change in D.C.
545 PEOPLE
By Charley Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.
The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red .
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charley Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
545 PEOPLE
By Charley Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.
The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red .
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charley Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
November 18, 2008
Layout Tweak
I added the new Blogger "reaction" buttons to my posts. They are customizable so I chose my own text. This way you can share your reaction to the post without necessarily leaving a comment. Try it out!
October 23, 2008
October 16, 2008
Quote of the Day - "Senator Government"
It could be classified as a "gaffe" for Senator McCain in last nights debate but I see it literally as a Freudian slip. He was responding to one of Obama's acusations and he referred to him as Senator Government instead of Senator Obama. He is as he's being described. He wants government to take over the healthcare industry (boy, that would work really well!) and create a Nanny State where all American's could nurse at the federal government teat. He wants the sheeple to rely on government for all of their wants and needs because government knows best. Obama mocked McCain's healthcare plan saying healthcare costs are on average $12,000 a year and McCain will only be giving a tax credit of $5,000 towards that. Obama wants to foot the healthcare bill for everyone while giving 95% of the people a tax cut. What drug is he still smoking?? How are 95% of American's going to get a tax cut if 40% of Americans DON'T PAY ANY TAXES! Here's how...those 40% of Americans who don't pay taxes will receive a check, courtesy of the 60% of Americans who DO PAY TAXES!! Tell me that's not socialism and the redistribution of wealth. We don't pay taxes to fund a Marxist charity program, we pay them to fund the military, protect our borders and provide specific needed services (police, fire, etc).
October 01, 2008
It's All In The Accounting
I've been hearing more and more about how the impending "bailout" could be avoided by simply changing some of the regulatory language for the industry. Currently they are under Mark to Market rules (warning - possibility of article induced dizzyness after reading linked Wikipedia page). This article from the L.A. Times has more of a laymen's description. This one from the Phoenix Business Journal has detail about the current (Tuesday 9/29/08) talk of easing the mark to market rule. The Times Online piece has some good historical background on the current situation.
It seems to me (IMH-uneducated-O), that if this bailout can be accomplished without costing taxpayers a trillion dollars, that should be the course to take.
It seems to me (IMH-uneducated-O), that if this bailout can be accomplished without costing taxpayers a trillion dollars, that should be the course to take.
September 28, 2008
Newsweek Columnist Sam Harris Displays Sexism, Religious Bigotry
Elitist bigot Sam Harris believes Sarah Palin is not qualified to run as a candidate for VP because, in a nutshell, she is a regular person and has religious beliefs. Her beliefs are tantamount to lunacy.
He writes, " If anyone could make Christian theocracy smell like apple pie, Sarah Palin could."
Why is it whenever a candidate on the right has religious beliefs of any type they are steering our country towards a fanatical religious theocracy? I hear no fears from the left that Obama will do that. He supposedly has a twenty year association with a racist extremist pastor and nobody bats an eye. This pastor stands in the pulpit preaching "God Damn America" and no one on the left flinches. The reason? The left are in agreement. Obama only distanced himself from Pastor Wright when he absolutely had to because the story was mushrooming out of control. When he did finally speak out he made it sound like this was the first time Wright ever made any inflamatory remarks by saying, "Obviously, whatever relationship I had with Rev. Wright has changed as a consequence of this". What would "this" be? The exposure of Wright as a racist. You cannot attend a church for twenty years and not know something like this about your pastor. The left was defending Wright the entire time. In fact an editorial in the Kansas City Star calls the concern over Jeremiah Wright's racist sermon's a "made-up issue"
Harris deems Sarah Palin to be ignorant because she expresses confidence. Yet if an elitist, Harvard educated male unswervingly said, "I'm ready, willing and able", Harris would be seen cheering in the crowd. He would not be asking, "Why is he so willing to do the job?" Here he provides a ridiculous scenario as an example of his viewpoint.
Harris displays a frightening stance on Palin's minor daughter's pregnancy.
He espouses a position that a mother should not have any control of her minor daughter's unplanned teen pregnancy. The only topic he touches on is abortion. One track mind.
He goes on to explain that she is ignorant because she is a regular person.
Read the whole editorial by clicking here.
He writes, " If anyone could make Christian theocracy smell like apple pie, Sarah Palin could."
Why is it whenever a candidate on the right has religious beliefs of any type they are steering our country towards a fanatical religious theocracy? I hear no fears from the left that Obama will do that. He supposedly has a twenty year association with a racist extremist pastor and nobody bats an eye. This pastor stands in the pulpit preaching "God Damn America" and no one on the left flinches. The reason? The left are in agreement. Obama only distanced himself from Pastor Wright when he absolutely had to because the story was mushrooming out of control. When he did finally speak out he made it sound like this was the first time Wright ever made any inflamatory remarks by saying, "Obviously, whatever relationship I had with Rev. Wright has changed as a consequence of this". What would "this" be? The exposure of Wright as a racist. You cannot attend a church for twenty years and not know something like this about your pastor. The left was defending Wright the entire time. In fact an editorial in the Kansas City Star calls the concern over Jeremiah Wright's racist sermon's a "made-up issue"
Harris deems Sarah Palin to be ignorant because she expresses confidence. Yet if an elitist, Harvard educated male unswervingly said, "I'm ready, willing and able", Harris would be seen cheering in the crowd. He would not be asking, "Why is he so willing to do the job?" Here he provides a ridiculous scenario as an example of his viewpoint.
"What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents—and her supporters celebrate—the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth:
"Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?"
"Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter."
"But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind."
"That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink."
Harris displays a frightening stance on Palin's minor daughter's pregnancy.
He espouses a position that a mother should not have any control of her minor daughter's unplanned teen pregnancy. The only topic he touches on is abortion. One track mind.
"We know, therefore, that Palin believes that she should be the one to decide whether her daughter carries her baby to term. Based on her stated position, we know that she would deny her daughter an abortion even if she had been raped."
He goes on to explain that she is ignorant because she is a regular person.
"What doesn't she know about financial markets, Islam, the history of the Middle East, the cold war, modern weapons systems, medical research, environmental science or emerging technology? Her relative ignorance is guaranteed on these fronts and most others, not because she was put on the spot, or got nervous, or just happened to miss the newspaper on any given morning. Sarah Palin's ignorance is guaranteed because of how she has spent the past 44 years on earth."
Read the whole editorial by clicking here.
September 25, 2008
Information On Obama NOT in the Mainstream Media
The bias is dripping from the alphabet soup broadcast and cable networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc). My favorite derogatory network nickname comes from Libertarian talk show host Neil Boortz regarding CNN. He a calls it the Chicken Noodle Network. I love it.
Very few references to the connection between former Weather Underground terrorist and Obama can be found on network news sites. The articles that do appear usually make a faux argument that Obama was a child when Ayers was involved in the terrorist organization. The premise is he was loosely associated with Ayers.
Not according to Obama's own words.
In his 1995 autobiography, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritace", Obama says he deliberately chose who he would associate with. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew where he stood politically. So to say that Ayers was an "aquaintance" is intellectually untrue.
This article from the Chicago Sun Times has some excellent detailed information in the comment section. It gives a detailed list of the Weather Undergrounds terrorist activities. Ayers has never denounced or apologized for his actions. In fact, in a 1981 interview with David Horowitz, he said "Guilty as hell, free as a bird. America is a great country".
This article from Hugh Hewitt's Townhall.com blog is a guest posting by Bill Dyer who is making the point that Obama himself said he would align himself with extremists back in 1995 when he wrote his autobiography.
I'm sorry, but this is not the kind of "hope" and "change" that I want for my country.
Very few references to the connection between former Weather Underground terrorist and Obama can be found on network news sites. The articles that do appear usually make a faux argument that Obama was a child when Ayers was involved in the terrorist organization. The premise is he was loosely associated with Ayers.
Not according to Obama's own words.
In his 1995 autobiography, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritace", Obama says he deliberately chose who he would associate with. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew where he stood politically. So to say that Ayers was an "aquaintance" is intellectually untrue.
This article from the Chicago Sun Times has some excellent detailed information in the comment section. It gives a detailed list of the Weather Undergrounds terrorist activities. Ayers has never denounced or apologized for his actions. In fact, in a 1981 interview with David Horowitz, he said "Guilty as hell, free as a bird. America is a great country".
This article from Hugh Hewitt's Townhall.com blog is a guest posting by Bill Dyer who is making the point that Obama himself said he would align himself with extremists back in 1995 when he wrote his autobiography.
I'm sorry, but this is not the kind of "hope" and "change" that I want for my country.
August 16, 2008
RE: Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency
I saw the forum at Saddleback Church with Senator Obama and Senator McCain. I wasn't planning on watching it because I really don't care for either candidate. I suppose it's the "lesser of two evils" choice. Not that either one of them is evil, I just don't care for either one of them. If you missed it it's being rebroadcast again on CSPAN Saturday night and Sunday morning 8/17. It's worth catching if you didn't see it.
On a sidenote, in this blogger's humble opinion, McCain beat the snot out of Obama. What say you?
On a sidenote, in this blogger's humble opinion, McCain beat the snot out of Obama. What say you?
July 10, 2008
Political Compass Test
I followed a link from Joe's Big Blog to the Political Compass Test page and here are my results. I have to admit that some of the questions on the test I had never pondered so accuracy is relative. I was not necessarily surprised by my results. I think I would consider myself a bit more libertarian, however.
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