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February 10, 2009

Well, the honeymoon is over…

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 2:32 am

Watching president Obama during his press conference, I see alot of change … Change in Obama’s outlook on what should be done regarding those things he railed against while campaigning against the Bush administration. Change in his speaking prowess. Change in his attitude. When he first took office, he said he was welcome to any and all ideas on what to do about the economy. Tonight, he SAYS he’ll welcome input, but then proceeded to smack down any ideas other than passing the stimulus package as either only idealistic or just plain wrong. He is convinced that the government MUST do something, and anyone who feels otherwise is wrong.

When asked about overspending getting us into this mess, he corrected the reporter, saying that Banks, taking on excessive risk, is what got us into this mess … Well, he’s right, but so is the reporter. Banks loaned money to people they either KNEW or SHOULD HAVE KNOWN would have no ability to repay. Mortgage lenders had terms like NINJA loans … that they approved… (NINJA = No Income No Job Applicants)

He did alot of stammering. He did alot of tap dancing around some issues, almost to the point where I couldn’t follow what he said (his answer regarding nuclear weapons in the middle east, for example).

We’ll see how things pan out …

January 27, 2009

Voluntary Opinion Polls

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 1:04 am

I was listening to the morning news, as usual, on my way into work this morning. At the end of the newscast, the local station gives preliminary results of their online opinion poll question of the day. This morning’s poll had to do with the Obama stimulus package, and whether we thought it would be effective or not. The fact that they run these polls in the first place is not at issue. What I found astonishing, however, were the results. 30 something percent thought it WOULD work, 60 something percent thought it would NOT work, and about 6 percent didn’t know. 6 percent DIDN’T KNOW!!!

Now, I’m not omniscient, so I don’t know whether the package will or won’t work. I have an OPINION, that it WON’T work, but I don’t know for sure. If I logged in and registered my opinion, I’d be with the 60 something percent. Remember, folks, this is a VOLUNTARY poll. You have to take the time to go to the website, and weigh in on the issue du-jour. So … what that means is that 6 percent of those respondents were people who took the time to go to their computers, go to the website, and read the question, then actually check the “I don’t know” button.

IT’S A VOLUNTARY POLL, PEOPLE. IF YOU DON’T KNOW, OR HAVE NO OPINION, STFU AND DON’T REGISTER YOUR IGNORANCE OR APATHY WITH THE POLLSTERS!!!

January 9, 2009

Bailout, Part Deux

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 4:10 am

So, from all that I have heard, everyone is awaiting the economic stimulus package that President-elect Obama is going to propose. Many media types are praising his promise that this bill will contain no pork. The Democrats will not allow any earmarks. No Pork … ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????????

Why the hell is everyone so in awe of this man that they can’t see the forest for the trees??? His proposal is for, at a MINIMUM, 775 BILLION (WITH A B) DOLLARS. That is 775 THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS. $775,000,000,000.00. What is the money going for?

Well, it’s likely going to various places … possibly another stimulus check for the general populace. Yeah, send me another 1200, and then bill me for it over the next 30 years, over and over and over again. Some is supposed to go to “building the infrastructure to support job growth in the civilian sector for the future.” Whatever the hell that means… and some of it is going to increasing the federal payroll by some 600,000 jobs. There will be some for health care and other areas …There is no pork? COME ON!!!! The whole friggin package is pork. No pork, my friggin ass.

My favorite part of the bailout saga, however, is the most recent development. It seems that the adult entertainment industry has been hit pretty hard by the recent financial “crisis”, and they are seeking assistance from the Feds. They, specifically, are Larry Flynt and Joe Francis. Now, anyone who’s been around the block more than a couple of times will know that Larry Flynt is the publisher of Hustler magazine, and is no stranger to the courts OR to constitutional issues such as the freedom of the press. Joe Francis, however may be a relative unknown to most. He was to me until he was identified as “the Girls Gone Wild guy”.

I laughed when I first heard that they were asking for a bailout. But the more I thought about it, the more I said to myself, “you go Larry” I know that they don’t expect to get the money. However, they are trying to make a point. I don’t know how big of a civil libertarian Joe Francis is, but Larry Flynt is pretty big on individual liberties.

I don’t expect that their request will get much attention, but it’s a shame, because it points out the complete illegality of the bailouts, PERIOD. My guess is that if it gets any print space at all, it will probably be on the third page of the second section of the local paper.

January 6, 2009

New Year, New Attitude

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 4:29 am

This post is kind of an Andy Rooney type rambling post.

I have a hard time of late listening to talk radio. I haven’t even listened much to Dave Ramsey. All of the “conservatives” are sounding a bit shrill as they rail against all things democrat.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our good governor, who ran on the promise of no tax increases or new taxes (ala GHWB), has yet again proposed a hike in the state cigarette tax to help with a budget shortfall of approx 450 million smackers. Of course, he only proposed the hike after the house and senate nixed the idea of allowing casino gambling.

In New York some businessman was convicted of running the largest ponzi scheme in history. Well, the SECOND largest one. The Federal Government runs the largest one. They don’t call it a ponzi scheme, though, they call it Social Security. The problems, however, are the same. sooner or later, when you rob Peter to pay Paul, either Peter runs out of money, or you run out of Peters to rob. I guess you could say that the money “peters out”.

December 13, 2008

“Principled” Republicans and Other Musings

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 4:28 am

I know, I know … I haven’t written too much opinion lately. Quite frankly, I haven’t had much worth saying … just little bits here and there. Well, now, I actually have something to say.

It seems as if the Senate Republicans are taking a stand. What I don’t understand, however, is how can they possibly imagine, in their wildest dreams, they they should be taken seriously.

Ol’ Mitch McConnell almost sounded libertarian today when he talked about the government and it’s role vis a’ vis corporate America. I wish I could remember the exact quote.

Others were just as pious in their sound bites, but we ALL know the real reason that they voted against the paltry 14 billion dollar bailout for big auto … they were all pissed off at the UAW for spending big money on the Democratic candidates and helping them lose even more seats.

If they were so principled, they wouldn’t have passed the 700 billion dollar bailout of the banking industry. Actually it was more like 850 after the Senate filled it with pork. “Principled” … my ass.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that they voted against it, but only a few were principled enough to actually mean it. Senator Bunning was one. He railed against the financial industry bailout, and voted against it, and did the same with the current handout proposal. I may vote for him when he comes up for reelection.

I was SHOCKED …. STUNNED … FLABBERGASTED … to learn that the governor of Illinois was arrested on corruption charges. This is TRULY a black eye on the upstanding political arena of Illinois, and especially on the face of Chicago politics. < /sarcasm >

November 23, 2008

The President-Elect

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 3:09 pm

OK, I’m all for the president-elect getting alot of attention. The last time this kind of attention was paid to the “yet to be” president was when Ronnie Reagan got elected. He scared the Iranians into releasing the hostages with just the IMAGE of not being a wishy-washy hand-wringing liberal.

So I said I’m all for the new president getting alot of attention, even before he takes the oath of office, but come on, folks. He is merely a man, not a religion, not a religious leader, just a man. No, he doesn’t walk on water. He’s not going to save us from ourselves. His version of the “new deal” will not save us from a long depression, it will just tax us into one and put more government into our lives. We willl then be LIVING in 1984 (no, not the year, either).

The late night comedians … well, I’m pretty well disgusted with ALL of them for the time being. It seems they’re pretty much afraid to make jokes about the new president, and it seems like all of the guests are gaga over Obama. What took the cake, however, was when Bill Mahr was on the Tonight Show. He was, as most of the hollywood left are, ecstatic over Obama’s election, saying stuff like finally the white house will be occupied again, and we’re finally going to get to take the country in a new direction and see the change that we were promised etc. (you know, the buzzwords from the campaign that don’t really reveal anything) and then he said something that REALLY ticked me off.

He asked Jay Leno “Do you remember back in the days just after 911 when we had to fake being behind the president? Because people were scared enough and we didn’t want to scare them any more…” And Jay went right along with him, chuckling about “those days” and that he wanted to make sure he waited long enough before making jokes about the president again …

Now. First of all, I DO know that Bill Mahr is a far left liberal. I did not, however, realize just how much he hated this country, or how little he thinks about the American people … Come on Bill Mahr … did you have to FAKE being patriotic, too? Methinks you did. If this country is so screwed up, then why are you STILL HERE???? Oh, That’s right … This is one of the few places in the world where your lazy ass can sit there in front of millions of people and take potshots at the government, bash all of the people in government who don’t agree with your socialistic holier-than-thou ass and not get thrown in some dank concrete cube never to see the light of day again…

Jay Leno … I’m ashamed of you, too for one of two reasons. Either you also faked it (which is possible) or you didn’t fake it, but you weren’t man enough to call Bill Mahr out on his “faking it” comments on national television. I think I’ll watch Letterman for a while …

November 19, 2008

I Thought I had heard it all …

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 2:23 am

Then I realized how much I didn’t know.

According to Rush (and, apparently Sean Hannity), Obama is responsible for the stock market plunge. It doesn’t matter that the market has been all over the map this year, and that it was plunging long before the election. All that matters is that we have a new president-elect and the market has gone down since the election

Also, Rush was discussing with a caller (hey, if my blog can be show prep for him, I can use him for some kibbles and bits, too) the idea that “someone” , possibly George Soros, was “behind” Obama’s meteoric rise in the public eye, and that Obama is beholden to whomever funded his rise to prominence.

Basically it is a big conspiracy theory intimating that the only way Barack Obama could have possibly won the democratic nomination AND the general election was that “someone” was “pulling the strings” and this “someone” or these “someones” hand picked him because he’s African-American, and that because of that, the Republicans would be in a no-win situation, because all attacks on him could be construed as racism. And people BELIEVE this crap. I guess it’s easier for some to believe that their destiny is in the hands of some elite, secret fraternity. This way, when things don’t go their way, they can always blame it on “The Secret Society of Jughead“, and go on about their business, until the next time “The Jugheads” interfere …

The sad thing is, this theory will gain a life of its own, thanks to the millions of mindless rushbots who only believe what Rush tells them, and take all that he says as the honest-to-God truth. So now we’ll have at least 4 years of this idiot conspiracy theory and all of its offspring…

AHEM …. How soon we forget, elRushbo, Operation Chaos … you know, the one where you encouraged your rushbots to register as Democrats for the primaries to VOTE AGAINST HILLARY CLINTON (and therefore, FOR BARACK OBAMA). Yes, Operation Chaos was a RESOUNDING SUCCESS … All I can say is be careful what you wish for, Rush, because you JUST GOT IT!!!

November 16, 2008

Just Plain Rambling Thoughts

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 8:03 pm

I was watching Wolf Blitzer this morning on CNN, and a few things came to mind:

What does Mary Matalin see in James Carville???? I mean, really.

Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State????? ACK! THPPTTT!!! … on CNN, of course, Wolf thought it was Brilliant, as did James Carville, as did Ed Rollins! Ed Rollins? Oh Yeah, he’s one of those “New Republicans” You know, the non-conservative, Big Government, Reach across the aisle and capitulate until we can all “come together” and sing kumbaya, and stick to NONE of your principles type of republicans. The kind that make me want to puke. He, and people like him (GHWB, GWB, McCain etc) are why i can’t stand what the republican party has come to represent. The republican party is now the NEAR left, while the democratic party is the far left. They are, however, all one party in my mind. I call them republicrats.

They were talking about Sarah Palin, and whether or not she should run in 2012 for president, and one guy (Rollins) said she should shut up and go back to Alaska and finish out her term as Governor, instead of doing all these interviews, etc. Ummmm Helloooo!!!! McRollins???? anybody home???? it’s the MEDIA following HER around and ASKING for the interviews, not the other way around you DOOFUS!

Personally I’m not worried about 2012 yet. I’m worried about 2009 and what’s going to happen to my wallet when the new congress gets their mitts on it, and how badly they’re going to obliterate the constitution.

The ABC’s of Government (Abuse of Authority, Bailouts, and Congress)

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 7:42 pm

As our misguided federal government considers yet ANOTHER bailout, this time the auto industry, I can’t help but wonder what industry will come next with their hand out.

My question is this: Why should WE (the taxpayers) allow our representatives to bail out an industry that has not followed sound business practices. If we do so, we are, in effect, rewarding bad behavior. There is alot of talk that if the big three fail, we will see 1 in 10 jobs evaporate. Folks, that is just not so.

The plants will still be there, the workers will still be there, and some enterprising individuals will buy those resources at a good price and create a NEW auto company. You CAN’T use static analysis on our economy.

I voted against our republican senator (McConnell) precisely because he voted FOR the financial industry bailout. I will vote AGAINST any of my representatives who support any bailout of any industry. I think that not only is it a GROSS misuse of taxpayer funds, it is FLAT-OUT ILLEGAL and a VIOLATION OF THE AUTHORITY of congress under the articles of the United States Constitution

Here is the authority of congress per Article I, section 8 of the U. S. Constitution:

“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;–And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof. “

and here is the kicker that caps it off and LIMITS what congress CAN do, the ninth and tenth amendments to the constitution, the last two in the bill of rights:

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Nowhere in that list does it enumerate that Congress can use our money to help private industry. In fact, section 9 even goes so far as to say that congress can’t pass any appropriation or tax that would favor one port over another. If congress directs revenue to an industry that is concentrated in only a few areas, isn’t that showing preference of some ports over others?????

“No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time. “

This, to me, is a no-brainer, folks. Now, it does NOT prevent the states from doing so, and if the states affected wish to do so, then more power to them, but the lawmakers in those states should be FOREWARNED that to do so might just affect their imagined job security.

It is my never to be humble opinion that congress overstepped their bounds with the first 700 BILLION (with a capital B) dollar giveaway to the financial sector, not to mention the previous airline bailouts and the loan to Chrysler Corp way back when.

It is ALSO my opinion that those “representatives” who voted for any of these misappropriations of funds should be voted out of office at their next election, if not brought up on charges of malfeasance.

I wonder how many of you out there share my opinion on this? I’d be willing to bet there are quite a few. I’m probably one of the few actually dumb enough to publish my views so that the whole world can see them.

As far as Chrysler goes, did they learn their lesson??? HELL NO! They continue to make overpriced unreliable junk and are again on the verge of bankruptcy. The only way they’ll survive is if GM can buy them out with OUR MONEY. Yes, folks, just like PNC bought National City Bank with OUR MONEY. Chrysler made some REALLY STOOPID business decisions, like buying ill-fated American Motors Corporation /Jeep-Eagle, and didn’t pay attention to quality. They have the style aspect down for sure, but style only gets you so far.

I think the ideal venture would be to have a car styled by Chrysler, engineered by BMW, powered by AMG or GM, and built by Honda.

November 6, 2008

Voting 101 …

Filed under: Political Rants — admin @ 6:45 am

So, the voter turnout was almost as high percentage-wise as the 2004 election. WTF? I think I heard something like 60 percent or so. OK, people, let’s put on our thinking caps…

We’ll state some assumptions:
60 percent of registered voters voted this election.
Barack Obama got just about 64 million votes.
John McCain got about 56.5 million votes
That means that about 120.5 million people voted.
That also means that there are just shy of 201 million people who are registered to vote in this country.
There are about 301 million people in this country.

Now, here’s where it gets good. That means that about 80 million of you couldn’t be bothered to get up off of your ass and get to your polling place to cast a ballot.

That also means that Barack Obama (and just about every president in my lifetime) was elected by a MINORITY of the people of this country. Yes, folks, less than 32 percent of the registered voters picked Obama to be our president.

LESS THAN 32 PERCENT OF THE REGISTERED VOTERS PICKED BARACK OBAMA.

That number is astounding. I don’t know what percentage of ELIGIBLE voters are actually REGISTERED, but even if it’s 100 percent, that number is STILL astounding. Why, you ask? Well, if you MUST ask, you probably didn’t vote, or you don’t understand the implications and shouldn’t be eligible to vote.

Imagine, for example, that just 20 percent of those eligible voters actually made it to the polls and cast a ballot for John McCain. That would give him a majority by approximately 8 million votes.
Or, imagine that all 80 million of you lazy farts went out and cast your ballot for Bob Barr. That would make him president, and THEN we’d be set up for REAL change, not just bumper-sticker change.

Voting isn’t JUST a right. It’s a RESPONSIBILITY. Apparently, there are 80 million people out there who think their ONE vote won’t make a difference. Maybe that is true, that one vote won’t make a difference … but that one vote, multiplied by 80 million SURE AS HELL DOES make a difference.

Here’s a bit of fodder for you: In 1960, if Nixon had received just ONE MORE VOTE per precinct in Illinois, He would have been elected president, not Kennedy. That is one person in each polling district who can’t seem to get up off of their duff to go vote. WAS THAT YOU? (No, not in 1960, but in 2008) Were YOU the one who sat at home because you didn’t like either of the two major party candidates? Did you sit at home because Hillary didn’t get the nod from the Democratic party, or from Obama as a running mate? Or did you sit at home because “that political stuff just doesn’t interest me”?

Well, I have news for you. We live in a Republic. Look it up. If we vote, and vote our conscience (rather than the lesser of two evile), this republic shall remain strong. If we DON’T vote, this republic WILL WITHER AND DIE!!!

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