January 14, 2011
How the right will lose the war
The “Tragedy in Tucson”, as it was hyped by my local Fox 5 as if it is the next Hollywood blockbuster to be released this Friday in a theater near you, has been one of the most infuriating tragedies I have lived through. The slaughter of those people is depressing, to say the least. The rabid attacks from the left on conservatives, Tea Partiers and Sarah Palin (whom I’m not even sure I like and definitely don’t support as a presidential candidate) are irritating. But, what infuriates me the most is the right’s limp-wristed response. This is why the left always wins because the right just wants to be accepted by the cool kids and they see the left as the cool kids.
Jarred Loughner is a deranged lunatic. He went and shot people down because there is something wrong with his brain. Now, this is not to say that he shouldn’t be punished and locked up to never be released or put to death, because I think he should be, but this shooting is his fault. Well, some of the blame may rest with the sheriff who ignored numerous death threats from this madman, but the actual person responsible is Loughner himself.
Predictably, the left jumped on this like a crackhead on a crackrock. This deranged lunatic wasn’t responsible. Sarah Palin and the right was. Despicable, but predictable. Anyone who expects anything better or different from a class of people that fundamentally don’t believe in personal responsibility is naive, at best, intellectually disabled at worst. And, as I expect nothing better from liberals, I wasn’t surprised by this and didn’t care much what they had to say.
My problem comes in with the right and their reaction. It’s like they always want to be so classy and above the dirty tricks of the left. No wonder they’re always losing the battle when the majority of the country actually believes the same things they do. Whereas the left always claims the country isn’t behind them because they just haven’t explained themselves properly, the right is actually suffering from this problem not just imagining it as their problem. And, this is what annoys me. I can get almost anyone, no matter what they think they believe, to agree with me on some conservative point. Why? Because the conservative point of view is typically the common sense point of view and when explained in simple terms anyone can grasp it and almost no one, unless a hard core ideologue, can disagree. That is why this country remains a center-right country.
The only way the left wins is by smears, lies and intimidation. This is how the left has always won. Look at any socialist/communist country. This is why the suppression of dissent and freedom of expression is vital for communism to succeed because that’s the only way to hide the truth and force the people to have nothing but the smears and lies to believe. And so, I am not surprised that the left has reacted to this tragedy in this way and, to be quite honest, I don’t blame them. There is a war raging in this country (No, that is not an incitement to violence or a call to arms in the literal sense. I am talking about a war of ideas between the left and right about past, present and future of our country) and the left more than understands it. They may be playing dirty, but all is fair and love and war, as they say. The left started this war and the right seems to be in a perpetual state of retreat. We might win a battle now and again (although, I would argue any compromise is not a win for the right and, so, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a “win” for the right in my lifetime), but we are losing the war.
And, why are we losing this war when we know it’s our ideas that the majority of the people actually agree with? It’s because too many on the right buy into the “liberals/Democrats are the hip, trendy, cool-kid party” and too many Republicans/conservatives just want to be one of the cool-kids. And, in order to be considered one of the cool-kids and fawned over by our shallow, thinking their cool-kid media, they sell-out their fellow Republican and conservatives just for one moment of cool-kid glory, but the moment and glory are fleeting because they are Republicans/conservatives and the cool-kid left will turn on them in a second when they don’t agree with them anymore.
The funniest part to me is that none of these people are cool kids in any sense or considered cool kids by anyone. Meghan McCain nad John McCain are the epitome of this. They both look at the other side as the in-crowd and they just want to get in. So, whenever they can, they throw themselves on the left side of the debate in order to ingratiate themselves with the left. Just this week Meghan wrote her Daily Beast blog about the civility of political discourse, even though the Tucson shooting had nothing to do with civility in political discourse. She knows this (Well, as intellectually disabled as she is she probably doesn’t, but I’m not let’s not get into insulting Meghan McCain right now. That’s just too easy.), but she wants to score another guest spot on The View, so she argues the left’s point for them. She agrees with them because she believes it’s the cool thing to do. But, does anyone on the right or left really think Meghan McCain is cool? Not anyone I’ve ever met and I know a lot of people on both sides!
Gov. Tim Pawlenty did the same thing. I know he’s eyeing a presidential run at some point in the future and he calculated that by targeting Sarah Palin for her targeting of congressional districts with her rifle graphic thingy (I clearly don’t know much about guns), falling right in line with those lefties who blamed the shooting on this graphic specifically and Sarah Palin and conservatives in general, he could be one of the cool kids for just one moment. This one time he could get the spot talking on the TV shows because he was one of them, now. For this one instant and on this one issue he got to be a member of the cool kids’ in-crowd. But, maybe he should look back at our boy Johnny Mac for how that’s going to play out. They might like Pawlenty today, because he’s helping bash Sarah Palin, but they will just as swiftly bask him if he ever got the Republican presidential nomination.
We’ve seen this growing up. The dork who throws away all of his dorky best friends for one night at a cool kid party. That is what too many of the right have become. The dorky kid who just follows the cool kid crowd, which cements their dork-status instead of erasing it, in order to get invited to the party. What they fail to realize is that the followers are never cool kids. It’s the rebels that are idolized. Just look at James Dean! But, dorks don’t understand cool. That’s why they’re dorks. So, they continue to believe that if they just agree with and act like the cool kids enough they’ll become a cool kid, too. But, that’s never how it works. The cool kids know how to play this game and they play it better than the dork. They get the dorks to be their designated drivers, do their homework for them and pay for their pizzas, just to make fun of the kids once they have served their purpose.
The left dominates American culture and they think they’re the cool kids, but they’re not. They’re a bunch of non-thinking followers. Useful idiots, as the term goes. And, too many on the right play along. They join this conversation about civil discourse and commend Barack Obama for his “great speech” at the memorial and all I can think is what a bunch of stooges. They condemn their conservative friends and colleagues because, well, because that’s what the left has told them to do in order to fit in. What a bunch of insecure pansies! And, once they have served the left’s purpose, they will be tossed aside like the dork whose parents took away his car.
The left never cedes an inch to the right. Yet, after all is said and done, the right has ceded this fight about civility to the left. Polling may show that at this moment most Americans don’t blame politics/politicians/lack of civility for the shooting, but what will happen ten years down the road? Obama gave a great speech! So what? As the leader of his party and this country he should have come out and denounced the baseless attacks against millions of Americans as having blood on their hands long before the memorial service. Why are people on the right giving him credit for not throwing more fuel on the fire? He is supposed to be our leader. He should have acted days before to put the fire out. Is that how low the bar has been set for the President of the United States?
The accusations have been hurled so often against the right that over time, as the left continues to repeat them, they will become accepted truth. The left pundits will continue to repeat them. The left politicians will continue to talk about civil discourse, which naturally implies the right isn’t civil and their discourse leads to mass murder. Hollywood will make a movie about it with all of the coolest actors! And, the media will replay all of this until everyone believes the original accusations launched at the right. Then the left will use the positive statements made by the right to bolster their argument against conservatives and buoy their failed, hypocritical, liberal savior, Barack Obama. It appears the problem with the right is too many of them take every chance they get to volunteer to be a useful idiot, too.
The right doesn’t have to play dirty like the left in order to succeed, but they have to play. As our president said, if we bring a knife to the fight, they’ll bring a gun. Well, I say to that, if they bring a gun then we’ll bring a flame thrower or a tank (Once again, let me reiterate, this is not an incitement to violence. Please, do not try to kill liberals with knives, guns, flame throwers, tanks or any other weapon. Please, don’t try killing people. Period.) If they want to keep ranting that this is about civil discourse, then we need to keep reminding them which side is uncivil. I don’t see Tea Parties burning Obama in effigy like we saw “peace activists” do to Bush for eight years.
It is the left that time and again projects their sins onto the right and the media and celebrities reinforce all of this. Too many members of the right are too scared to stand up and be made fun of because of what we believe. I would take it as a badge of honor to have the likes of Jon Stewart and other liberals hate me and try to marginalize me. That would mean I’m doing something right. Too bad too many on the right just don’t get this. Eff being invited to the cool kid party! There are always more dorks than cool kids. I would rather gather up my fellow “dorks” and have my own party that the co-called cool kids aren’t invited to. I guess that’s the difference between a leader and a follower. I guess I’m just disappointed to realize that we have become a nation of followers.
UPDATE: This mixed seating for the State of the Union address is so stupid I can’t even barely come up with the words to express how dumb I think it is. Once again, let me repeat, Loghner did NOT shoot people because of partisanship, partisan attacks/discourse, or politicians inability to get along. He shot people because he’s a deranged lunatic. Having our elected officials sit Dem-Rep-Dem like it’s a kindergarten birthday party where the children are forced to sit boy-girl-boy is so juvenile and meaningless is the height of our elected officials stupidity.
Republicans who agree to this and/or promote this are once again ceding the ground that they are partly responsible for this tragedy and so they must take this steps to fix it and prevent it from happening, again. There are always going to be crazy people and there are always going to be evil people. These are the facts of life. I do realize our political class thinks they know all and have the all of the answers to fix all the problems and solve all of the world’s ills, but they don’t. They need to stop this nonsense. Republican politicians need to stop playing nicely with their political enemies.
December 17, 2010
Why is the world hatin’ on McDonalds?
Doug Powers, over at Michelle Malkin’s website, blogged about some woman who is suing McDonald’s because the toy in their Happy Meals entices her kid to want Happy Meals. It’s funny because Happy Meals were around when I was growing up and they had toys in them back then, yet we didn’t have the obesity problem we do now.
The same thing with school lunches. If anything, they have gotten healthier and more nutritious over the years, yet the kids keep getting fatter. Now, Michelle Obama tells us that her and Congress need to be making the decisions about what our kids eat because, clearly, the parents can’t. And, one part of that I agree with. I have a problem with most parents. It’s their fault their kids are fat. I just don’t agree that Happy Meals should be banned, McDonalds should be sued or that Michelle Obama and Congress should be using my money to force your kids on a diet. I have one question for those who voted for the bill: Where in the Constitution did you find the authority to regulate that?
What is wrong with parents these days that they just can’t say no? When did parents stop being parents? I see this all of the time. Kids running around, doing whatever they feel like, talking back, no manners and parents just let it go. In the grocery store I see a father pleading with his two boys to stop running around and touching things. What kind of garbage is that?
I just can’t imagine. When I was growing up I wouldn’t have dared act out in private like that, never mind in public. My mom had quite the knack for throwing the back of her hand into my face before I even knew it was coming. If we were in public and I did something to embarrass her, we would take a quick trip to the bathroom, which meant I was in for a beating. My niece, as a result of this same treatment at the hands of my mother, has a very real fear of going to the bathroom in public. We were about to leave a restaurant one time and I asked if she needed to go to the bathroom, with fear in hers eyes she looked at me and said, “But, Aunt Monique, I didn’t do anything.” I knew exactly what she was thinking and had to reassure her that’s not what I mean and that wasn’t what this was about.
It just seems to me that parents quit doing their jobs. Your a parent, not a friend. When did we forget that? Your kid is obese because you refuse to tell him no and keep feeding him McDonalds and not forcing him to get off his bum and go outside and play. Not that this woman who is suing feeds her kids McDonalds. She’s a child nutrition advocate. That’s what she gets paid to do. This is just her in to file a lawsuit and attack McDonalds to enforce her ideas about child nutrition on other parents. It’s just not good enough for her to stop her own child from eating McDonalds. This lawsuit opens the doorway for her to remove the option for other parents to allow their children to eat McDonalds.
The children of this nation are out of control. Parents are failing to do their job as parents. Kids should not be making the decisions and calling the shots. They are children. So what if they want McDonalds? You don’t have to give it to them. And, if some other parent wants to fail to do their job and feed their kid a Happy Meal on a daily basis that should be up to them. It’s their kid. It’s their parental right to make that decision, even if I think it’s a bad one.
Stop hatin’ on McDonalds! I, for one, love McDonalds. And, I have a regrettable habit of stopping by there on my way home from the bar and snatching up a McDouble. I love me some McDoubles! Now, does part of me wish that McDonalds didn’t exist so that in my moment of weakness I didn’t make this poor decision? Sure, but it’s not McDonalds fault that sometimes I lack self-control after I’ve had a couple of drinks. They’re not forcing me to come inside and place an order. And, my lack of self-control shouldn’t be used as an instrument to punish McDonalds and my fellow citizens who might want to partake in this deliciously guilty pleasure.
It’s amazing. These parents file lawsuits and try to ban McDonalds from selling toys and Happy Meals because they can’t be parents and just say no to their own kids, which by doing so they are acting as if they are the parents of McDonalds and everyone else. Mind your own business. Stop hatin’, haters!
December 14, 2010
As a government employee, I say shut us down.
Those of you who know me may know that I work for the federal government, although I am always hesitant to divulge this fact or in what capacity. While on the treadmill at the gym, today, I was watching Neil Cavuto. That is when I learned of the $1.1 trillion spending bill the Dems just dropped…that they want to vote on in three days threatening the government will shut down come Saturday if it’s not voted on, and implicit in that threat is that it better be passed or we’ll have the same result.
There are over 20,000 earmarks in the bill and the bill itself is almost 2,000 pages, ensuring that no member of Congress will have enough time to read it, never mind the tax bill they’re still working out and that the Dems want to sneak in another vote on the DREAM Act and DADT. They heard the message from the American people loud and clear on November 2, 2010. They just don’t care. And, why should they? Although both parties suck, notorious Dems responsible for cramming the health care bill down are throat were voted right back into office. The architects of the housing boom and bust resulting in the financial meltdown were voted back in, after they were allowed to write the recent financial overhaul bill!
They are elitists who think that we owe them the power that they have been granted and will continue to take more power, as long as our fellow citizens keep voting them in and allowing them to. Well, this is garbage. The government doesn’t need to shut down come Saturday and if that’s the ultimatum the Democrats want to give Republicans I think they should let it. I mean, it will hurt Republicans in the most with government employees, but most of them are already Democrat voting union members, so who cares?
The Republicans should force the Democrats to vote on a continuing resolution, which is what we are currently operating under and have been operating under since the start of this fiscal year on October 1, 2010. All that means is that government operates at the same spending levels as it did last year. Government can still operate and function. The world won’t end.
But, if Democrats refuse this option, Republicans should vote NO on their “omnibus” spending proposal they just dropped. No compromises. No deal. No bipartisan resolution. If the Democrats really cared about this they would have put together this bill a long time ago instead of waiting until now. The Republican Party needs to grow a pair and explain this to the American public and refuse to budge.
This is exactly what the people voted against. We get what is going on here. We understand what is at stake. Now, it’s time for the Republicans to prove to us that they get it, too. Because, after the “deal” they cut on this tax situation, I get the feeling they don’t get it at all. I get the feeling that the majority of them, especially these establishment types, think more in line with the Democrat Party than they do with us or the Constitution.
There should have been no compromise on the tax rates. It is the Republicans who won the historic election, why are they negotiating as if from a position of defeat? The Republicans should be giving ultimatums: either extend the current tax rates or the Democrats can explain to the American public why they allowed taxes to go up on all Americans. Either pass a continuing resolution or let the Democrats explain to the American people why government had to shut down in order for them to continue to give away our hard-earned and stolen money to their special interests.
Republicans need to stop acting like they’re smarter than us and we’re too dumb to understand their actions. The American people liked you best and voted you into power in record numbers while you were being obstructionists and “The Party of No.” I realize that I get screwed if taxes go up. I realize that I get screwed if the government shuts down, since I won’t have any work or a paycheck coming in. I also understand that our whole nation gets screwed if we don’t extend the current tax rates, and preferably permanently, and if a responsible spending bill isn’t passed. Mainly, my message to those who we have granted the conditional power to make these decisions is that, I understand it is the Democrats who are putting us in this impossible situation. I know the rest of my fellow citizenry can be made to understand this, too. It just needs to be properly explained to them.
And, John Boehner, Barack Obama is no where near as popular or likable as Bill Clinton. The press might try to spin a government shutdown as the fault of those greedy, big-business bought Republicans, but I don’t think it will go over as well this time around. And, so what? Even if it does. Would you rather serve your last term as a principled leader of your party or as a pawn of your opponents? Because, you screw this up and you won’t win your primary next time around. You’re only chance at political survival is trying your damnedest to be the former because I will personally work to ensure your defeat if I see you working as the latter.
Republicans: Are you deaf, dumb or a combination of the two?
It hasn’t even been two months since the election and either the Republicans have forgotten the message the electorate tried to send or they never understood it in the first place, unfortunately, they probably never understood it in the first place. I am no fan of the Republican Party, I admit. I believe, for the most part, the party is just made up of a bunch of self-interested politicians looking to hold onto the power they have and expand it even further.
Now, let’s look at the tax deal. They have effed us once again and I hope the voters don’t forget this in the next election, which even if they try to forget they’ll be forced to be reminded because this extension of current tax rates will expire in two years meaning that our elected representatives will be “fighting” about it, again. Do you ever get the feeling that their “fighting” is staged, the deals have been worked out when we couldn’t hear them, and now we’re all going to be screwed? That’s the feeling I get, especially with this most recent “debate.”
Jimmie, who I realize I agree with more than I agree with most other bloggers I read, points out how the Republicans squandered their momentum in their haste to make this illogical non-deal:
Consider. Before today, Republicans in Congress held all the political momentum and were poised to make real inroads on both the deficit and the economy, thanks to a historic election. All they had to do was show a little backbone and some media savvy to delay any tax deal until they took over the House next month. The message was sitting right in front of them — Democrats had years to do something about the tax rates but they dithered and delayed in a crass attempt to score political points at our expense — but they were too eager to cut a deal to see it.
I just may be a little more cynical than Jimmie. Who says the Republicans really wanted a better deal? Are we taking their word for it? I mean, who says Republicans don’t want all of the pork that was stuffed in? Some of the Republicans did. But, why should we believe them? We shouldn’t and I don’t. They’re all just grimy politicians looking to enrich themselves and their campaign accounts in order to secure enough votes to win the next election. Screw the grassroots, the American people and America in general. What do they care? They can all afford fancy lawyers and tax accountants. None of these tax rules mean anything to them. Look at Charlie Rangel. His case proves that there are no consequences for our elected officials when they deliberately don’t pay the taxes they voted to put into place.
This was the Republicans first chance to prove themselves to the American people. To prove that they’re different from the Democrats and that they are the party of the smaller government, lower taxes and fiscal responsibility. Instead, they used this golden opportunity to prove once again that it is not Democrats versus Republicans, but the politicians versus us. Merry effing Christmas!
December 10, 2010
As Jimmie said, Reps need to vote tax deal down or kiss 2012 good-bye.
The Republicans seem to be dead set on reminding the public why they were voted out in the first place, two years ago. They are deaf or too stupid to understand the public doesn’t want pork bills passed. Or, if they get it, here’s is their opportunity to prove it. I wasn’t a fan of the tax “deal” made with Obama, in the first place. Now, after it has been loaded with a bunch of special-interest rewarding pork, I’m even more against it.
My boy Jimmie Bise, who showed me some linky love earlier, is telling the Republicans exactly what’s up:
It’s time to end the tradition of rewarding certain industries because Congress thinks they are more deserving than another. It’s time to end the practice of giving “credits” to some companies and not others based on their ability to lobby a few key members of Congress. If the GOP wants to keep taxes low, then lower taxes on everyone. Enough silly games. Enough 74-page “framework” documents that hide the political shenanigans and waste our money hand over fist. Enough of Congress putting political and career considerations over the welfare of the people they work for. Enough.
The GOP needs to kill this deal. If that means that taxes go up in January and stay there for a couple months while the new Congress comes up with a real tax plan, then so be it. Yes, the President might veto it. Yes, the Democrats will throw a few hissy fits. But unless something drastically changed while I was asleep last night, Republicans can still talk directly to the American people. They can explain exactly what they are doing, without nonsense and obfuscation, and why they are doing it. They can spell out exactly why this deal won’t help our economy one whit and why it’s loaded with treats for favored campaign contributors. They can push back against the inevitable pro-Democrat stories that will come from the MSM.
They can, and must, do things right because if they can’t, their historic victory last November is going to evaporate before their very eyes in 2012. The clock is ticking, Republicans. Get it right. Dump the deal. Trash the pork.
I agree with Jimmie. This is Republicans problem: they’re just as elitist as the Dems. See, Republicans pass crappy bills the public doesn’t like because they think we’re too stupid to understand why they would vote against this bill. They know the MSM and Dems will frame this as the Republicans raising taxes on the never defined “middle-class” and they think that we’re too stupid to understand that they didn’t vote against maintaining current tax rates but that they voted against the pork and unemployment benefits, etc., that are harmful and we simply cannot afford.
This really doesn’t have to be as difficult as these elected elite are making it. Someone needs to draft a simple bill that says, “Whereas on January 1, 2011 the current tax rates are due to expire raising taxes on all Americans this Congress therefore resolves to maintain the current tax rates forever and ever.” Or something like that. Then, make everyone vote on it. Yes or no. Maintain current tax rates? Yes or no.
Why do politicians have to make everything so difficult? This is the problem with these idiots. They think they’re so smart so they have to make everything so complicated to show us how smart they are, but how smart is it to unnecessarily over-complicate everything?
Social security problem? Solved. I’m a genius. Where’s my drink?
I was recently having a discussion with a liberal friend of mine about politics. OK, maybe we were having a friendly argument, but that’s what we do. We hang out, drink a ridiculous amount of beer, smoke a ridiculous amount of cigarettes and fight about every political issue under the sun, and to us every issue is a political issue. No one can stand to hang out with us when we get together because they know how it always ends up.
Amazingly, though, there are some things we agree on. Last weekend we got to talking about this financial mess we are in and what our generation is facing, as both of us are about to turn 30. Of course, no discussion of this country’s financial mess is complete without a discussion of entitlements and so we started talking about the Ponzi scheme that is social security and the cowardice of our elected officials who refuse to actually do something about this impending financial disaster.
Here’s the thing, politicians won’t touch the issue because old people, the elderl–or whatever the politically correct term is for grandma and grandpa–vote in larger numbers than any other age group and they will destroy any politician who votes to take away their social security check. And, as opposed as I am to any form of welfare, I can kind of understand where they are coming from.
In their mind they worked hard all of their life and paid this tax into social security that was supposed to guarantee they were taken care of when it came time for them to retire. So, they aren’t collecting welfare as much as they are withdrawing money they paid into the system. Psychologically, that is how this particular form of welfare is set up in peoples’ minds. It’s not welfare to them. It’s just the government giving them the money back that they earned and the government has been holding onto them. Never mind most get back way more than they paid in. Whatevs. For purposes of this particular discussion, that doesn’t matter here.
So, anyway, I say all of this just to put it out there that I understand we can’t just end social security right this very second because a) it’s politically not feasible and, b) what would all of the old people who currently depend on social security for survival do? Exactly. In addition to that, there are people who are not on social security, yet, but have been working and paying into the system with the same expectation as their parents that social security will be there to take care of them when the time comes. But, then you have my generation. And, no, I don’t know who exactly is considered “my generation.”
Now, I’m not going to be like that moron Meghan McCain and presume to speak for my entire generation, either. With that said, I would think that most people under the age of 40 don’t expect to get much out of social security, if they expect to get anything at all. I’m not depending on that for my retirement and neither is my sister who is 37, my brother who is 35 or anyone else I know in the under 40 age group. According to Wikipedia, I think all of us fall into Generation X, defined as generally including “people born in the 1960s and 70s, ending in the late 1970s to early 80s, usually not later than 1982.”
Not only am I not planning on having social security available to me, because at some point it will be insolvent and I figure we’re going to hit that point before I reach old age, I don’t want it even if it is available. I don’t want to live in retirement at the expense of a younger generation and I don’t want to be dependent on our government (taxpayers) for support. And, as for the other Generation X’ers I have spoken to about this, they’re all basically in agreement about my first point. There will be no money left in social security by the time we are old enough to collect. My evidence may be anecdotal, but I think Generation X has, for the most part, accepted that we are paying into a system that won’t be able to pay us back and that is why most of us have some sort of private retirement account: 401K, Thrift Savings Plan, IRA, etc.
Are you ready for the big climax? Because, I’m about to make my point. And, by point, I mean I am going to propose a resolution to our social security problem that will address and nullify the two reasons I listed above of why we can’t end social security and at the same time map out a way to eventually end social security. Yo, tha’s wassup!
Old people, calm down. We won’t take anything from you. For people currently retired or about to retire, you’re straight. We will support you. Generation X and–and whatever the other generations after that are called–will continue to pay into the system at the current rates, until the system is no longer needed because Generation X is going into retirement and they don’t expect to get it anyway.
The trickiest group is those not yet in retirement but getting close enough. My proposal would be that those who are currently, or whenever the bill that puts this plan into action gets passed, between the ages of 60-64 will be grandfathered in and receive the benefit(s) they’ve come to expect under the current system. They can still retire at 65 if they want, etc.
People who are between the ages of 40-59 should a) start saving their own money and, b) get ready to work a couple of extra years. We all have to make sacrifices, here. It is not fair that the younger generations should have to completely take on the burden that is social security. For this age group, the retirement age to receive their benefit should be pushed up to 70-75 and the benefit(s) should be lessened, especially for those at the lower end of this age group. They still have time to start putting money away, if they haven’t already started to do so.
And, finally, the younger generations, those 39 and under will save for their own retirement and be responsible for themselves. We will continue to pay into this system and have a big party the day the final social security check is sent. Yay! See problem solved. I told you I’m a genius. You can tell by how much I drink!
Now, I know, there are many people in all age groups affected by this who will be opposed and I know that there are many special interests that will fight this to the death, but we shouldn’t let them win. Social security is going to break this country. People think we’re broke now? They have no clue the reality for what we are in for if we don’t do something about the big three entitlement programs: social security, medicare and medicaid. Let’s tackle this social security thing, first, then we can start chipping away at the other two.
I know there are people in my own generation, even on the conservative side, who support reforming social security in order to ensure it stays solvent. There is no reform that can solve the inherent problem of social security: it’s an unconstitutional government wealth redistribution program that is built on a Ponzi scheme that is destined to fail. And when it fails our country fails with it.
They talk about “The Greatest Generation.” Yeah, the one that has left this country, for the first time in history, worse off. What’s so great about that? Our generation, my generation, has an opportunity to bring this country back to the greatness that it was once and, I believe, is till destined to be, but it’s not going to be easy. We will have to be selfless and sacrifice, but it can be done and it is morally incomprehensible for us to just keep passing the buck on down the line. I may not have children yet, and maybe I never will, but I still refuse to leave following generations in the mess that our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents have gotten us into financially. We can and will do better.
Yup, tha’s wassup!
December 9, 2010
Really, the left wants to start talking media bias? Let’s talk about projection, first.
Ben Dimiero over at Media Matters of America is huffing and puffing about Bill Sammon supposedly slanting the news during the healthcare debate. But, I am forced to ask, is it biased and slanting if it is true? Admittedly, I remember Bill Sammon from my short summer interning at the Washington Times. I think I even sat at his desk, because as a White House Correspondent he wasn’t around very much. But, that’s about the extent of our relationship. Just wanted full disclosure before I go ahead and defend his actions.
Apparently, according to Dimiero, Sammon had told reporters at Fox News Channel to refer to the “public-option” of the government health care takeover bill as the “government-option.” How is that biased when it is so clearly true? I mean, yeah sure, it didn’t poll well with the public, but the truth is the public option is a government run and paid for option. In this case, quite clearly, it is the term “public option” that is the biased word choice because it implies that it’s some free giveaway not being managed and paid for by the government.
When you call it a public option it implies the public has some say and control over it. But, the public doesn’t have any say or control over it. The government does. Obamacare does aim to implement a government run health care system and insurance industry. Therefore, it is the MSM, liberals and Democrat politicians who are misleading the public with their biased word choice.
It’s the same way that this whole tax debate has been framed by the MSM, liberals and Democrat politicians as a debate about tax cuts when in reality this is a debate about a tax increase. The tax cuts happened years ago. Let those cuts expire will mean rates will go up. Extending those cuts will just maintain our current rates; it won’t actually cut rates. Yet, we here about how the Republicans are trying to give tax cuts to the wealthy. No, they’re trying to prevent tax increases on everybody.
The left should be careful about falsely accusing those on the right of media bias. It can too easily be turned right back on them and their projection used to expose their own bias in their media coverage of any political issue and debate.
The left is notorious for changing language in order to sugar coat or cover up what they really mean. A few examples, a baby inside the womb is not a baby, but a fetus. Late-term abortion versus partial-birth abortion (a framing war the anti-abortion side actually won, but not because the left didn’t try), the left prefers the former to hide the truth from the American public. Terrorist attack? Oh no, that’s just a man-made disaster. Islamic terrorist? Just a common criminal. What about welfare? No, that’s just temporary assistance for needy families. Illegal Immigrant? No such thing! Those are undocumented workers. No, updated: de facto Americans. Shall I continue or are you starting to get my point?
The left has playing a war with words for decades. They have to paint the right as biased and as if they are the people manipulating the words in order to manipulate the public reaction to the debate. The truth is it is the left who has been manipulating the words, the people and the debate in order to achieve their own political and cultural goals. The right is only at fault for sitting back for too long and playing on their terms.
The “public option” in the health care deform law is the government option. The left just doesn’t want that to be exposed because they know it is inherently un-American and that the American people will revolt against it. Just like they continue to call them “public schools” when they are nothing more than government schools. I’m all for honesty in reporting no matter what side you’re on. I just wish the left felt the same instead of spouting out this fake outrage over the truth being told. There is bias in the media and it is on both sides, this just isn’t a good example of it.
(h/t: memeorandum)
December 8, 2010
CNN and their continued biased reporting on illegal immigration
There are some things I do in life just to upset myself, I think. Like, every morning I watch The Today Show, which never fails to get me worked up before I even leave the house. Why don’t I just watch a different show in the morning? Why not listen to music and keep the TV off? I don’t know. It must be because I like to get worked up first thing. It’s better than a cup of coffee!
Which, is probably the same reason I insist on reading CNN.com and anything they write about illegal immigration. Every illegal immigration story they print starts with some sad story of an illegal immigrant, typically brought here as a child, who just wants to “give something back to the country that has given them so much,” miraculously, even when that story is about greedy illegal immigrants standing in open defiance of our nation’s immigration laws and demanding a hand out. Remember that hospital down in Hotlanta that they sued because the hospital couldn’t afford to continue giving them free treatment?
Well, on their reporting about the DREAM Act, today, they are at it again:
A soon-to-be law school graduate with a 3.8 average, Cesar Vargas wants to serve in the U.S. military.
But under the law Vargas won’t even be able to hold a job after he graduates, much less enlist. He is in the country illegally after being brought to New York from Mexico as a child.
“All I want is the opportunity to serve my country and to give back to the country that has given me so much,” Vargas said. “… We’re not a problem. We’re the solution.”
First, to be clear, America is not his country. The funny part is, if Vargas went back to Mexico he could achieve both of his goals: he could serve his country and give back to America.
Contrary to popular opinion, the military is not hurting for recruits, at the moment. In fact, with the economic downturn and military budget cutbacks, some services are actually forcing members out and not recruiting anywhere near as much as they used to. Colleges, as well, have more than enough applicants and not enough financial aid to go around. Do we really want to add illegal immigrants to the number of people fighting over these slots? With that said, anyone who thinks we should does realize that this will, inevitably, cost actual American citizesn these spots, right? I just want to make sure we all understand what we’re talking about. If Liberals want to sacrifice American citizens for the benefit of illegal immigrants let them stand up and say that.
It’s not even like these kids have been denied anything, other than legal citizenship. Did their illegal status prevent them from attending America’s public schools? Did it prevent them from going to college? Vargas is in law school! Hasn’t this country given them enough? They have already benefited too much from our lax immigration law and now they demand more. Like we owe them?
I have said this before, but it is worth repeating. I did not make the choice to sneak these children over the border illegally; their parents did. This country has already given them more than they deserved and we do not owe them anything more. The cost of this bill will be paid by American citizens and that is not right nor is it fair. It is also not fair to all of those legal immigrants who didn’t subvert our laws and sneak themselves and their children into our country.
And, does this really need to be pushed right now? Will passage of this act in any way alleviate or resolve any of the issues at the top of the list of voters’ concerns? Will it help the economy? No, it will hurt it. Will it help unemployment numbers? No, it will hurt it. Will help the budget and deficit problems this nation faces? No, it will hurt them.
Have the Democrats learned nothing from November 2, 2010? I think they need a serious time out to reflect on their behavior and what they have done wrong and then come back with an apology to the American people in the form of legislation and a legislative agenda that proves they understand the current problems facing America and are going to correct their mistakes in order to fix those problems.
Our elected representatives were not elected to serve the interests of illegal immigrants and their illegal immigrant children they have snuck over our borders. Interestingly, they were also not elected to steal from me to give to you, but they were elected to maintain a tax policy that allows me to keep as much of my hard earned money as possible.
With all of that said, let’s stop talk of this DREAM Act nonsense and extending unemployment benefits for 13 months and, instead, let’s get back to extending those Bush tax cuts in order to prevent a massive tax increase come January 1, 2011. I know Democrat leaders want nothing more than tax increases to ring in the New Year, but that would not be a very happy New Year for the rest of us. Come on Congress, get to work!
December 7, 2010
Tax Deal is Lose-Lose for Nation; Win-Win for Dems and Repubs. Isn’t it funny how that always works?
I’m not sold on the new tax deal reached between President Obama and the Republicans on Capitol Hill. I have said before, bipartisanship is just code speak for the elected elite working together to screw us. Unfortunately, this seems truer now more than ever. It was refreshing to see my boy Jimme agrees:
I regret to say that I don’t agree with my conservative friends. I don’t think this was all that good a deal and, contra my friend Lance, don’t see there this the compromise will help get us out of a recession. It certainly won’t bring employment back down for any significant length of time. It was a bad deal made by a group of politicians desperate to get out of a fight that might have marred their reputations as bipartisan good guys.
It’s funny because it’s the Democrats who always blame their public opinion and support failures on messaging and ineffective communications, when it’s really the GOP that suffers from this problem. They have played this particular issue wrong from the start by letting the Democrats and the press portray this as an issue of tax cuts when what really is at stake here is our taxes being raised. We already had the fight over tax cuts back when these tax rates were originally lowered. This debate was about the fact that letting these tax rates expire would have raised taxes on all Americans, which exposes their failure in communication from that first debate: they weren’t just tax cuts for the rich! So, let us revisit that for just one moment.
This little hole in the Democrats argument that the Bush tax cuts were just a tax cut for the wealthy should have been exposed for the fallacy it so clearly was and now has been revealed as. If it were truly a tax cut for the rich then why are the Democrats so worried about protecting the tax cuts from expiring on the middle class? Because, obviously, they weren’t a tax cut for the rich. Republicans should have attacked them on that in order to destroy their credibility in this current tax debate.
But, more to the point, here is why we have all lost–and, by all, I mean the American tax payers, especially those of us not rich enough to buy influence in Washington or pay lawyers to find tax loopholes to shelter our money from government confiscation–they extended those stupid unemployment benefits. Way to create more of an incentive for people to not return to work or even try.
My friend at work today got mad at me for making the statement that less people will look for work if they are still able to receive unemployment benefits. He asked if I have really lost that much faith in the American people. It’s not that I’ve lost faith in the American people. It’s not that I think people are lazy and just don’t want to work and are just trying to game the system, although there are some of those people out there. It’s that, if you can only get a job that pays you a little bit more than what you make in unemployment and/or it’s not the job you used to do or want to be doing, then you will be less likely to go out and get a job and more likely to turn down a job that doesn’t pay you what you used to make or enough to compensate you for the benefits you lose once you come off unemployment.
The tax cuts were good for the economy when they were passed, they are vital to our failing economy now. How could Republicans even let the other side argue that it will ever be a good idea to let them expire? Good policy is good policy. If they’re good for the economy now, they’ll be good for the economy in two years, and two years after that, and two years after that.
The American people are not as stupid as ALL of our politicians seem to think we are. Democrats lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. Republicans treat us like we’re too stupid to understand. Either way, Washington, DC is a town filled with elitists who continually cut deals with each other in order to retain their own power to the detriment of us and our country. Apparently the Republicans have learned nothing from the last election. How is more spending on a welfare benefit that will encourage more people to stay out of work help our failing economy and staggering unemployment rate?
The American people get it. There is only one way to get us out of the current economic mess our elected, elitist officials in DC have gotten us into and that is to cut spending, not raise taxes or commit to more spending–especially on policies that will encourage more and longer unemployment. Time and again lower tax rates and tax cuts have proven to spur economic growth. Why do the Republicans think the American public is too stupid to understand that? Since they’re all rich on the Hill, why don’t they forgo their own salaries for a couple of years in order to pay for this? How many years of my salary will be wasted paying for their irresponsible spending? Why don’t they share some of the hurt?
I repeat, bipartisanship is just when both parties agree how to spend our money. It is not something the American electorate should hope for because in the fine print of everyone of their agreements is we who are getting screwed.
Why doesn’t the Republican Party go back to what it’s supposed to stand for rather than what the likes of John and Meghan McCain claim it should? Compassionate Conservatism is a bust. How is it compassionate to steal from me in order to buy votes for you to get reelected? That’s all that is being done here. Big government doesn’t work and any politician who was voted in on the promise to shrink government back down to its rightful size should be on notice: The Tea Party does NOT belong to the Republican Party. The American people belong to know party and the government belongs to us. You continue to abuse the LIMITED power we have given you and we will not hesitate to take it back. Ignore this warning at your own peril. As far as I’m concerned, I would love to see the whole lot of you thrown out.
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin’s column today exposes how extending unemployment benefits is destroying small businesses:
Who pays? Dentists, tavern owners, maid services, mom-and-pop shops — small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy. In my home state of Colorado, small and mid-size firms have been saddled with eye-popping unemployment insurance bills that have doubled, tripled and more in the past year. The businesses that have the lowest claims histories are getting punished the most to make up the jobless benefits fund deficit.
Greg Howard, owner of McCabe’s Tavern in Colorado Springs, told the Colorado Springs Gazette his bill spiked a whopping 600 percent. “It’s enough to T you off a little bit,” Howard told the newspaper. “The dollar amount isn’t tremendous, but it’s going up six times.”
A small commercial painting contractor told me this week that her nine-person company’s 1st quarter UI bill has gone from $1,000 to more than $6,500 over the past three years. “It’s killing us!” she told me. “How can we hire additional employees? This is a big increase in addition to the health insurance annual increases, etc. We had to reduce our employees’ wages by 10 percent this year, and who knows when we will be able to bump them back up?”
As I said yesterday, this deal is a lose-lose for the nation. Nothing is free and it is small businesses that must carry the burden for these unemployment benefits that our elected officials so “generously” want to give away. And, as more small businesses buckle to the crushing financial pressures and go under, we will having rising unemployment and more people demanding unemployment benefits and for longer and longer periods of time.
Republicans don’t need to cut a deal on the tax raises; they just need to keep reminding the public that if the Democrats don’t vote to extend the current tax rates their paychecks will shrink, come January 1, 2011, as a result. Look, I don’t want to pay higher taxes, either, but if that is what it takes to get the Dems to give in or be voted out, I’m willing to take a temporary pay-cut. This is one game of the chicken the American people want to see the Republicans win. They just need to man up, stick to the principles their party is supposed to stand for, and stop cutting deals with the Devil. When has that ever worked out?
December 6, 2010
Dear Mark Halperin, Obama cannot rebuild his alliance for 2012. Large scale Republican failure is Dems only hope.
Mark Halperin is busy wondering what Obama will need to win in 2012. Once again, it is suggested that he needs something in the way of the Oklahoma City Bombing or 9/11, because we can all see how they so clearly boosted the presidencies of Clinton and Bush Jr. He opens with this:
The coalition that got Barack Obama elected President just two years ago has been shattered. Gaming out the trajectory of the next two years can be done any number of ways, but Obama’s efforts to rebuild a politically robust alliance will be the most telling. It may be the biggest challenge of his career — and he will need happenstance along with skill if he is going to get it done.
The alliance has been shattered by Obama himself and his unpopular policies and outright lies to the American people about said policies. Obama cannot rebuild the political alliance that he had built when he ran back in 2008. Back then, he was an unknown. People believed what he said and the press reiterated for him. They bought the promise of hope and change and a different way of doing business in Washington that candidate Obama was selling. Over the past two years he has been revealed to be exactly the politician his opponents portrayed him to be. He can no longer convince people by telling them what they want to hear because all of his actions thus far stands in stark contradiction to what the people want to see and hear.
Even my 6-year-old niece who voted for him in her school election told me while I was in CT for Thanksgiving that she wished she voted for John McCain. This is coming from a 6-year-old who lives with one of Obama’s number one supporters: my mother (who will never turn on Obama, never!). She lives in a town and a house with no conservative or Republican influences, and even she regrets the choice. She can see through his always thinning façade.
He can’t rebuild any alliance because he has lost his credibility. Even his lap dogs in the press have lost the tingle up their legs and look at him with disbelief. God forbid there be a “man-made disaster” like the OKC bombing or 9/11. That wouldn’t help his presidency or chances of reelection, but destroy them. What crisis or emergency has he handled well? Any national emergency or crisis like either of these will just remind the American public, once again, why you don’t elect an amateur with no experience in leadership or governing, other than campaigning, to the White House just because he speaks well.