About Moe

Based in Washington, DC, I'm either hotness or a hotmess. You be the judge. More about me.

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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!

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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.

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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!

Comments (3)

December 10, 2010
As Jimmie said, Reps need to vote tax deal down or kiss 2012 good-bye.
Posted at 4:19 pm, in: Taxes
Tags: , , , , , ,

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?

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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!

Comments (1)

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)

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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!

Comments (2)

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?

Comments (2)

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.

Comments (1)

December 2, 2010
Do the Dems DREAM Of Political Suicide?

I think it’s time someone had an intervention with the Democrats on Capitol Hill because they keep engaging in very risky behavior that will inevitably lead to the death of their political careers and their political party. It’s one thing to piss off self-identified Republican voters, but these politicians are going out of their way to piss off Independents and self-identified Democrat voters, too. And, I’m not complaining about their insistence on political suicide out a sense of altruism but because the bills they are pushing to inflict the mortal wound on themselves happens to affect my world, too.

The majority of the American public does not want an amnesty. The majority of legal immigrants do not want an amnesty. Yet, here they go shoving an amnesty down all of our throats. I’m so upset with the voters of Nevada, right now, for reelecting Harry Reid that I’m thinking about launching my own boycott against that state, which normally wouldn’t matter since I’ve never been there but I’ve been planning on going to Vegas for my 30th birthday since I was 27 years old. I’m sure that’ll make a dent!

Maybe I should spend it in Arizona where the people seem to get it a little bit more. Maybe I can stay with the McCain’s? I mean, I am friends with their crazy cousin Stacy. But, I’m not sure Meghan would want me around. Maybe she could teach me how to skeet shoot? Oh, but I digress.

The DREAM Act is a terrible idea for numerous reasons. Illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents have gotten a raw deal and should be angry, but they shouldn’t misplace their anger and blame America or the American people. It is their parents who broke the law and disrespected America. It is their parents who put them in the horrible position of having to live here illegally and in secret, denied access to our facilities of higher learning. It is their parents they should be angry with for raising them with a sense of entitlement so bold that they honestly think they deserve anything from the American people as a reward for their parents breaking our laws.

We, the American people, do not owe these “children” anything. And, by the way, this law does not just apply just to children, but to adults who were brought over here as children. All this law will do is create another incentive for even more illegal immigrants to cross our border with their illegal immigrant children in order to raise them, put them into college or military service so that they can become legal citizens and then “bring over” their parents legally–the same parents who are already here illegally.

Democrats are only pushing this bill because they have screwed up so badly with the American electorate that the only way for them to grow their base is to import a new one or legalize the base they have here illegally. It’s the same reason they want to let felons vote, as well. This is not governing; this is politicking. And, it’s disgusting. It is unfair to American citizens who are not granted in-state tuition rates at out-of-state schools. It is unfair to the American citizens who will be denied entry to the school of their choice because an illegal immigrant has taken their spot and who will then take their job upon graduation in a job market that barely exists. It is unfair to the American citizens who pay taxes and will be paying for this financially, all while their standard of living diminishes and opportunities are taken from them and their own children by government force and handed to the children of those who snuck into our country like thieves in the night.

I am all for limited and LEGAL immigration. This open borders garbage is, well, just that: garbage! I’m sorry that Mexico and various other countries are terrible places to live, but that’s not my fault and it shouldn’t be my problem. If their home countries are so bad they should stay there and try to fix them from within, instead of abandoning their families and fellow-countrymen to come here. If they insist upon coming to America, they should do it legally, just like my mother and her parents did.

As an aside, how much time do you think is wasted on the Hill thinking up names for bills that will make a good acronym? Clearly, this bill didn’t coincidentally spell dream. How much are people getting paid up there to sit around and think this stuff up? And, how do I get in on that action?

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