Friday, December 16, 2011

Mother Robinson

And here's to you, Mother Robinson
Barry loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
God bless you please, Mother Robinson
Hawaii holds a place for those who play, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files
We'd like to help you learn to help yourself
Look around you, all you see are secret service eyes
Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home

And here's to you, Mother Robinson
Barry loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
God bless you please, Mother Robinson
Hawaii holds a place for those who play, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes
It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair
Most of all you've got to hide it from the kids

Coo coo ca-choo, Mother Robinson
Barry loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
God bless you please, Mother Robinson
Hawaii holds a place for those who play, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
Going to the candidate's debate
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Every way you look at it you lose

Where have you gone, Joe Biden-o
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, woo woo woo
What's that you say, Mother Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Friday, October 21, 2011

Corporate Teambuilding Warning

At the Friday staff meeting the boss excitedly announces that in two weeks the department is going to take a day off-site for teambuilding activities.  The extroverts are jumping for joy inside, oh boy; a day of fun and games!  There is a collective internal groin from the introverts, crap; maybe I can call in sick that day.  The poor clueless boss has no idea what disaster is brewing.  He went to a conference or read a book or was advised by someone in HR that this would be a great thing for his group.  Just the thing to whip up morale and boost productivity.  So what’s the problem?
As best I can determine psychology tells us that your personality is pretty much established by the time you are five or six.  And it seems that most of this is hard-wired, not so much learned or influenced by the social environment.  Which means that it’s really not going to change, no matter how many books your read or seminars you sit through.  People can be taught to try to mask their personality or fake it, but that usually never actually works well.  They tend to overcompensate and it just comes out weird, everyone can tell.  There are many models for describing personality types, but I am just going to stick with simple, generic introvert and extrovert.  Just convert to whatever model you favor; the principles are pretty much the same. 
It seems clear to me that society is generally structured around extroverts.  That is held as the de facto normal or correct personality type.  Introverts are looked on as a bit weird, eccentric; not really conforming to the norms of most of society.  They are quiet and withdrawn and shun interpersonal interaction and relationships.  Why don’t these people like others?  There must be something wrong with them, maybe an abused or dysfunctional past or family life growing up.  The extroverts plot to fix them; we must help them come out of their shell into the bright light of day!  They obviously aren’t having fun (as defined by the extroverts, of course), and to extroverts having fun is always the ultimate goal.   How could anyone have fun all by themselves?  The solution?  Teambuilding!
I’m not here to bash all teambuilding, it’s not all bad and it does have a role in corporate America.  But only if crafted properly and presented in a way that takes into account the different personalities of the group and does not put undue pressure upon people to do or say things that are phony or threatening to them.  One problem I see is that bosses or hiring committees generally do not make a serious effort to understand the psychological profile of the job and match it to someone whose personality fits that profile.  So we wind up with introverts in jobs that are best suited to extroverts and vice versa.  Some workgroups are nearly solely introvert types, think software engineering while others are solely extrovert driven, think customer service representatives or sales.  And of course others are blends of both.  The savvy boss understands this before filling these positions and is careful to find people with the right personality for the job.  Ah, if only it were so.  Unfortunately, that’s probably not usually the case.  So now we have mismatched jobs and employees and we’re going to throw that mix into teambuilding activities.  Watch out!  A lot of these people are already stressed and professionally unhappy because they are in a job that their personality is not suited to.  They will try to succeed by faking it, conforming, putting on a mask, reading books, going to seminars or even employing coaches to try to be something they simply are not.  The solution is to try to find a better job fit.  But back to teambuilding.
I find that most teambuilding programs are written and facilitated by extroverts.  And, probably unintentionally and unaware; most are written for extroverts.  Well, think about it; who would write teambuilding for introverts?  That’s an oxymoron.  It would basically be, sit in your cube and read a book!  Sales teams love teambuilding games, the engineers will hide under their desks.  So why do we keep trying to put square pegs into round holes?  Because the extroverts over in HR tell us that we need to have these days for the good of the team and the organization.  After all, they heard it at a conference from some expert (extrovert) who wrote a book about it.  He has a consulting business and a website so he must be right.  Forcing the introverts in the workgroup to put on a smile and participate in all of these activities can lead to unwanted behaviors and comments as well as bad feelings and damaged relationships.  They may poison the activity, make rude comments about the stupidity of the activity or just throw up their hands and walk away, refusing to participate.  Bosses and facilitators may see this as childish, disruptive behavior and resort to coercion or threats of disciplinary action in an attempt to get them to ‘work together as part of the team.’  They may be shocked at this behavior in someone who has been a good employee and never acted like this before.  What they don’t realize is that the introvert is displaying an ego defense mechanism under extreme stress and anxiety to try to protect their psyche.  They are not being intentionally uncooperative or disruptive; they are trying to keep from blowing a gasket.  So the boss or facilitator must ask themselves what is really to be gained from forcing someone to do something they are really not suited for.  Is the employee and the group really better off?  Has morale and productivity improved?  Probably not, actually it may now be worse.  This can create a lot of confusion and misunderstanding amongst the members which wasn’t there before. 
So what to do?  Well, from the get-go try to hire the right person for the job.  This will go a long way to maintaining a productive, pleasant work environment.  Introverts can work with others effectively, even with extroverts; but they function best when not being expected to act and perform like an extrovert.  Subtle social pressures will certainly undermine this, as can calling them out in teambuilding activities.  When introverts are in introvert jobs and extroverts are in extrovert jobs the wheels will turn much more smoothly.  Let the extroverts gravitate to each other and let the introverts be loners.  Don’t take it personally, it’s not.  Remember, when it comes to extroverts and introverts it’s not a matter of good or bad, right or wrong; just different.  Use the differences to your benefit.  The extroverts are great at working with the public and cheerleading new products.  The introverts are great at getting the details done behind the scenes.  Just tell them what you want, what resources they have and when it’s due then get out of the way (as much as is possible), leave them alone and you’ll get the results you want.  The introverts and extroverts will collaborate when necessary, just as long as it’s on their terms, not artificially contrived.  And when it comes to teambuilding, remember some people like to be on the field under the lights competing to the cheers of the crowd, while others just like to sit in the stands and watch.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

2012 GOP Predictions

OK, here are my predictions for the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination.
Let the betting begin!:

Rick Perry:  Can be the nominee.
Mitt Romney:  Can be the nominee.
Michele Bachmann:  Will not be the nominee.
Rick Santorum:  Will not be the nominee.
Ron Paul:  Will not be the nominee.
Herman Cain:  Will not be the nominee.
Newt Gingrich:  Will not be the nominee.
Sarah Palin:  Probably will not get into the race; if she does she will not be the nominee.
Chris Christie:  Probably will not get into the race; if he does he could be the nominee.
Allen West:  Probably will not get into the race; if he does he will not be the nominee.
Paul Ryan:  Probably will not get into the race; if he does he will not be the nominee.

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Evil Among Us

Needless to say, we are all heartbroken about the tragedy in Norway.  As a parent hardly anything I can think of would exceed the sadness of losing a child.  The stories of the kids trying to escape the island are horrific.  What comes to mind is the question of why, apparently there was no armed security or anyone on the island carrying a weapon who might have been able to intervene sooner than the ninety minutes it took the police to get onto the island?  I know the whole idea of having armed security around, particularly around kids gives some people the heebie-jeebies, but how many kids might be alive today had there been armed guards on the island?  At my church, where we had fatal shootings several years ago we have armed police and armed plain-clothed security at all of our events.  Some people that it's horrible to have weapons and guards at a church service.  Some think it's non- or even anti-Christian.  They argue that it violates scriptures, that Jesus would never approve.  On the contrary, I believe that Jesus would encourage us to protect our women and children from the evil intents of bad people.  And as we have personally experienced, churches (and kids' camps and shopping malls) are not sacred ground; they are not safe from acts of violence.  To leave oneself and one's family unprotected simply because "it's church after all" is naive, irresponsible and frankly cowardly.  The simple fact is that law enforcement cannot protect people at the moment of crime.  That's not their primary responsibility and the resources do not exist to carry out such a monumental charge.  The presence of an effective police force to track down criminals and bring them to swift and certain justice can be a powerful deterrent, but will not stop all people with evil, violent intent from carrying out their crimes.  Some individuals are simply crazy and others have evil agendas and will stop at nothing to carry through with them.  Thus, individual citizens must be prepared, in many different ways to avoid and deal with crimes against their persons, families and property.  Yes, that may mean legally carrying a weapon, being trained in its proper use and being willing to use it if necessary to defend themselves and their family.  This is a mature understanding of the world we live in and the responsibility of defending what is yours.  There have always been evil people with violent criminal intent in the world, they exist today and will always be with us.  To naively think that we live in such enlightened times now that we can ignore these unsettling realities and eschew the messy business of defending ourselves is self-deceptive and dangerous.  Sadly, we can see the results in Norway.  Let this be, if anything good a wake-up call to dozing people and societies around the world to squarely face the realities of the modern world and take appropriate steps now to avoid another tragedy of this nature in the future.  Good bless the families and friends of the lost and my prayers for the injured for quick and complete recoveries.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Obama?


How Do You Solve A Problem Like Obama?

(The Sound of Music)

He hugs a tree and scrapes his knee
His lip has got a tear
He waltzes on his way to lunch
And whistles on the stair
And behind his devilish dimple
He puts his nose up in the air
I even heard him singing to the prompter

He never shows for chapel
Though his pastor’s full of zeal
He's always late for everything
Except for every meal
I hate to have to say it
But I very firmly feel
Obama's not an asset to the country

I'd like to say a word about his job
Obama makes me sob

How do you solve a problem like Obama?
How do you catch a clod and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Obama?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell him
Many a thing he ought to understand
But how do you make him stay?
And listen to all you say?
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?

Oh, how do you solve a problem like Obama?
How do you hold this moonbat in your hand?

When I'm with him I'm confused
Out of focus and bemused
And I never know exactly where I am

Unpredictable as weather
He's as flighty as a feather
He's a ding-dong! He's a demon! He's a ham!

He'd outpester any pest
Drive a hornet from its nest
He could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl
He is goofy! He is wild!
He's a riddle! He's a child!
He's a headache! He's a gremlin!
He's a scam!

How do you solve a problem like Obama?
How do you catch a clod and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Obama?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell him
Many a thing he ought to understand
But how do you make him stay?
And listen to all you say?
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?

Oh, how do you solve a problem like Obama?
How do you hold this moonbat in your hand?  


Thursday, July 07, 2011

We Are Keeping Score

Greetings Mr. Cantor,
It's not about keeping score, Democrats vs. Republicans.  It's not about who has compromised or given up or gotten more or less.  It's not about Congress or the Senate or the President.  It's not about you or Boehner or Reid or Pelosi or McConnell or Obama.  It's about the PEOPLE dammit!  And the DEBT, the SPENDING, the DEFICITS, the COUNTRY and the FUTURE!  And the CONSTITUTION!  It's time the federal government sacrifices.  Sacrifices it's sacred cow programs and profligate spending and reckless fiscal irresponsibility.  The people should not and will not sacrifice for mistakes not of our making, they are your mistakes.  You fix them.  Now.  Cut trillions this year and for every year as far as the eye can see and pay down and eliminate the monster debt that you all, Republican and Democrat alike created.  If you all don't and don't do it now and fast and fully, you are ALL out next election.  There is another American revolution brewing, mark my words.  Either get on board or get run over!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Absolute Power Corrupts

Proponents of a weak, 'living,' evolving Constitution love to reference the concept of the 'general welfare' which appears in a few locations in the Constitution as justification for such programs as MediCare, Social Security, a federal minimum wage and ObamaCare; for which otherwise there is no specific justification in the enumerated powers of Article 1, Section 8.  Firstly, it appears in the Preamble, which; any student of law should be able to tell you confers no power or authority.  Preambles are merely statements of intent not empowerment.  The phrase also appears in Article 1, Section 8 under the power to lay and collect taxes clause.  It is important to remember that in the late 18th century the word 'welfare' meant something different that what we generally use it for today.  Back then, 'welfare' meant a general state of well-being.  It certainly did not mean, as we regularly use it today to mean entitlement payment or transfer payment or other financial support given as a gift from the national treasury from tax revenue.  General welfare in 1787 referred to things that would benefit the country generally as a whole, such as the powers and duties enumerated in Article 1, Section 8 of common defense of our national borders against threats, the coining of money, the raising of armies and navies, the establishment of post offices and roads and the establishment of a system of federal courts; to name a few.  The concept of the general welfare as used by liberals today is meant to confer federal benefits on individuals for their personal welfare and financial support.  This is a very different concept indeed.  But it is this concept of the 'general welfare' that liberals use to justify these federal entitlement programs that otherwise do not appear in the list of enumerated powers.  In essence this is the golden net, the catch-all phrase to justify federal meddling (taxing and spending and regulating) in areas that really are not specified and authorized by the Constitution.  It really opens up the Pandora's box and permits the government to anything it darn well pleases.  (The Interstate Commerce Clause is the other part of this power grab, but that's a different topic for a different day.)  But that begs the question.  If the drafters had intended to give the new centralized federal government authority to do anything and tax and spend for virtually anything, why bother to write the list of enumerated powers in Article 1, Section 8 and why include Amendment 10 which grants powers not specifically delegated to the federal government by the Constitution to the States?  Under the liberals' twisted logic, nothing is prohibited of the federal government by the Constitution.  And to further clarify, the Necessary and Proper clause ONLY authorizes the Congress to make laws for the execution of the powers outlined in the Constitution (back to Article 1, Section8).  If the federal government were to be all powerful (as liberals seem to posit) the Constitution would have been a very much shorter document (We establish a federal government to do anything it wants).  This idea flies in the face of the beliefs and intents of the Founders as is clear in their writings preceding and surrounding the time of the writing of the Constitution.  They were supremely skeptical of a strong centralized government.   So they set out the specific enumerated powers, reserved the rest to the States and established a rather unwieldy process for making changes.  The Constitution evolves only when it is formerly amended.  The problem for liberals is that this process is long and hard and rarely succeeds.  As it should be.  Our fundamental framework of federal government should not be changed frequently and for dubious reasons.  It should not change with the whims and winds of the day.  If it were constantly changing, there would be no certainty for tomorrow on which to make plans today.  Of course this is the great impediment for progressives (like Obama) who want to make sweeping wholesale changes in our society and government and get it done yesterday.  Amendment just doesn't suit that plan.  So, they have used the courts to subvert (at least in their minds) the meaning of the Constitution, bending and twisting it to suit their needs.  Thus Justice Douglas found his mysterious penumbras and emanations.  Today this has been taken to new heights with President Obama and his administration and some in Congress simply ignoring the Constitution altogether, thus bypassing the judicial process and speeding up the transformation.  This bodes for dangerous and dire times ahead.  Who holds their feet to the Constitutional fire?

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Brother Can You Spare a Dime?

You know, when I was in high school and college studying hard there were a lot of kids cutting classes, smoking, drinking and carousing.  They partied every night and many dropped out.  I skipped a lot of the parties and got good grades.  I went on to medical school and became a doctor.  Now a lot of those people vote for Obama and demand that he take my money that I work hard for and give it to them.  They say that I have been lucky in life and that they have simply been unlucky.  Yeah, I've been lucky if luck is a four letter word spelled W-O-R-K.  And they are unlucky if that is a four letter word spelled L-A-Z-Y.  So there it is.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Someone PLEASE Turn ON the Lights!

A government that has the power to dictate your light bulb choices and to compel you to buy health insurance has the power to control, regulate and dictate every aspect of your life.  Is this what the Pilgrim’s loaded into the Mayflower, crossed a merciless sea and faced an unknown world of harsh conditions and menacing savages for?  Seriously, this is why they came to the New World?  Our Founders fought off the tyrannical yoke of King George just so that they could regulate trans-fats?  The men who wrote the Declaration of Independence, won a revolutionary war and then established a constitutional republic had a healthy distrust of strong centralized government power and an unwavering respect for religious freedom, personal property and individual liberty.  The current administration has demonstrated an insatiable appetite to regulate and dictate every aspect of our personal lives in direct violation of their responsibilities and constraints as clearly outlined in the Constitution.  They seek to circumvent the constitutional limits placed upon their power by imposing myriads of extra-legal rules and regulations and fines through bureaucracies and agencies which have no legislative authority.  They command people and businesses through intimidation, confusion, complexity, threats, fear and bluffs.  They demean and disparage people who cling to the actual wording and intent of the Constitution.  These people are called hicks and hayseeds and throwbacks and outdated anachronisms.  The Constitution is referred to as either a living, breathing document subject to endless reinterpretation by liberal, activist judges to mean whatever is expeditious to their cause at the moment; or an old, dead document written by dead white men in an old language that no one today can understand which might have meant something 200 years ago, but is without relevance today.  They completely ignore the fact that the framers understood this evolutionary reality and provided the amendment process just for this eventuality.  Wisely, the framers made this process just difficulty enough that it could not be employed for capricious, fleeting fads of the day.  But this is just too inconvenient for the libs.  Better and quicker to have judges impose dictates and legislate from the bench.  Let’s face it, to the Obama administration, the Constitution is nothing more than dirty, used toilet paper.  Such a rogue administration, in the interest of promoting ‘The General Welfare,’ will try to impose any and every possible progressive policy and program upon a nearly helpless populace.  Under this tyranny abortion is celebrated but you go to jail if you kill an endangered mouse or cut down a tree on your own property without a government permit.  Here’s what’s coming, mark my words.  You must drive a hybrid car and let us control the thermostat on your home furnace.  It’s now illegal to buy Edison’s light bulb, instead you must use the expensive one with the funny glow that blows up and spews mercury all over your kids.  If they can’t get Cap and Trade environmental legislation through Congress, no problem just instruct E.P.A. to enact it as a regulation and presto!, Al Gore’s carbon credit business takes off.  You can still buy cigarettes (they need the tax revenue, and hey, most libs smoke), but you can’t smoke anywhere, including your own car or house.  You can still buy booze (tax revenue again, and who can forget Ted Kennedy?) and now marijuana, but not trans-fats, Happy Meals or salt (unless you’re Barack and Michelle Obama, ribs anyone?).  Coke or Pepsi, we’ll decide for you.  If you’re a Christian (and yes, most of our Founders really were) keep it in the church and keep your mouth shut about it and keep your shirts and crosses out of the schools, work places, public parks, government buildings and proceedings and Friday night high school football games.  The government will dictate to G.M. (Government Motors) how many Volts to build and then when no one buys them they will regulate gasoline cars out of existence.  Oh you don’t have to give up your car, but they will just regulate the domestic oil industry out of existence and drive up the price of gasoline until no one can afford it.  They refuse to enforce our borders and sovereignty and then arrest our border agents when they shoot drug-running illegals in the butt.  We the people wind up paying for housing and transportation and food and medical care for illegals who break our immigration laws, come here and take our jobs.  Then, instead of prosecuting and deporting these illegal invaders, this administration wants to reward them with amnesty and a fast-track to citizenship (thereby guaranteeing a new voting block of entitlement-driven supporters).  This administration is printing and borrowing money, spending and racking up debt at a dizzying and unprecedented rate, almost certainly guaranteeing national insolvency, collapse of our currency and runaway inflation.  They are systematically taking over our health care system, thereby controlling one-sixth of our economy and having control over beginning and end-of-life issues for population control and meeting financial targets.  Is there any evidence that anyone in government knows more or is better at managing our health care industry that those people actually working in the industry every day?  No!  Where is the evidence, what is the track record?  Medicare is broke.  Medicaid is broke.  Social Security is broke.  They dictate to banks to make bad loans and then when the banks fail the feds step in, bail them out and take over the mortgage banks and the loans.  Guess what, the federal government now owns most loans (and homes) in America.  Gee that’s comforting.  There is no nook or cranny of your life safe from this marauding band of control freaks.  There is a word that describes this type of government-industry complex:  fascism.  Don’t flip out, I am not saying that Barack Obama is Adolph Hitler, but his policies are fascist pure and simple.  For some reason he hates the way this country is structured and is dead-set on ‘transforming’ America.  He has elevated class warfare and racism and religious intolerance to new levels.  He is the most un-American and anti-American President I believe that we have ever had in office.  Nobody had ever heard of this guy and he had never done or accomplished anything before George Soros catapulted him onto the national stage with all of that ‘Hope & Change’ and ‘Yes We Can’ baloney.  There is no substance there.  Just promise the masses bread and circuses.  We are at a crucial point in our nation’s history.  If this collective mind-set is allowed to continue running our government and our lives I sincerely believe that the United States of America is doomed.  We must dispatch this evil administration and all of its minions to the dustbin of history in the next election (sooner if we can get the Congress and Courts to do the right thing) or I fear we face some sort of civil war or see states begin to separate.  Good, hard-working Americans are not going to tolerate this foolishness and live under a boot of tyranny.  Enough is enough.  The line in the sand has been crossed.  May God have mercy upon us all and bless America once again.

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Capital Offense

I am just back from a visit to our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.  Walking around town it’s hard not to be struck by the sheer enormity, inertia and energy of the whole endeavor.  Having said that, I must also report that the city is a jumbled mess of contradictions, juxtapositions and hypocrisy; starting simply with the streets.  They must have been laid out by a drunken sailor.  Diagonal streets intersect square grids creating a dizzying mess for the accidental foot traveler.  Start out going straight up one street and you can suddenly find yourself on a completely different street without ever noticing a change in direction.  And don’t forget whether your hotel is in the NW, NE, SW or SE quadrant.  Geez.  Now, there are many parks, statues and memorials scattered all over town.  Study these memorials and you find that they are dedicated to the memory of many brave, courageous and wise founders and fighters for our country.  Strangely, there are no monuments to the ‘great’ compromisers and timid consensus builders; the whimps and wusses of our national heritage.  Wonder why that is?  One street is populated by foreign embassy after foreign embassy, another by every conceivable public interest and advocacy association and organization known to man.  And all of them clamoring for what?  Your federal tax dollars that’s what!  While you could say that the business of this town is government, and I guess that is technically true; today government is merely a euphemism for other people’s money.  When you look around this city and give it some thought, there really are no great leaders or visionaries here anymore.  Virtually everything done here really just comes down to moving money around; rewarding this group, punishing that one.  Administrations change and the direction of money movement changes course.  That’s all.  Different players, same song.  The role of Congress today sadly is to merely play elves to the President’s Santa Claus.  It’s Christmas every day here!  (Except that you can’t say ‘Christmas’ anymore)  You walk by these monstrous, gaudy, ostentatious federal office buildings and realize that they are just brimming over with bureaucrats whose only job is to find ways to make our lives more difficult and find creative ways to get at our money.  They don’t create anything, not wealth; they suck it out.  They don’t make things better or easier for people, they just make things worse.  I sincerely believe that we could level all of these boring, gray federal buildings and send all of these teeming masses of leeches out into the countryside to find real jobs and everything in our nation would instantly get better.  It is easy to see how someone could spend their entire life inside the beltway, as they say; never having to cross the Potomac and having no idea that there is anything of any importance beyond the district boundaries.  Some of them probably believe that there is nothing but wilderness and Indians from D.C. all the way to the Pacific!  They spend all of their time running around in circles in the city, talking to each other and telling each other how great and important they are.  Full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.  It is the most self-absorbed city and population one can imagine.  That and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee at Denny’s.  LOL!  And then you come to Fort White House.  Literally a fortress within the city.  How sad that our nation’s leader is virtually a prisoner inside a jail in the city that is our country’s capital.  How ironic, he is arguably the most un-free person in the land!  And right across the street from that jail are multitudes of homeless people sleeping in the gutters, literally a stone’s throw from the most powerful person in the world.  If he can’t do something about that (compassion?) should we expect him and his government to truly ‘help’ any of the rest of us? Umm, no.  The funny thing is that they will look you right in the eye and say that they can and will help you while carefully just outside the screen shot are testimonies to the fact that in reality he cannot and will not.  He is powerless.  The ultimate irony.  Nothing more than a straw man, a straw leader, a straw President.  But no one will tell him that he has no clothes.  His handlers constantly whisper in his ear how important and powerful he is.  You see, by building him up they keep their cushy jobs and coveted parking spots.  The simple reality is that I am not impressed by the people working in this town; Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Supreme Court Justices, Cabinet members or bureaucrats.  For the most part they are here just there promoting themselves and their personal agendas.  It’s not about the Constitution and the Republic, it’s only about them.  They will lie, steal and cheat to get what they want.  It is a town of outrageous irresponsibility gilded with soaring rhetorical crap.  I shudder at the prospects for the future of the Republic.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Protect Your Medical Information!

To Any and All Medical/Health Care Providers,

I hereby prohibit you from providing any medical and/or personal information about me and my family in any format to any entity not directly involved in participating in our medical care for a specific issue or to my personal medical insurance company.  No such information may be placed on and/or made available through the internet to anyone or any entity except those above.  No such information shall be made available to any entity of the State of (State) or the United States Federal Government.  Information shall not be made available even if stripped of any personally identifying information.  Any information in electronic format must be stored only on your local premise and computers.  It may not be stored or managed offsite and/or by another entity.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Bread & Circuses

"The FCC demanded that CenturyLink Inc. offer low-income households broadband for $10 per month and computers for $150, and double the number of homes and businesses that can get fast broadband, with speeds of 12 megabits per second or more." --Colorado Springs Gazette, Saturday, March 19, 2011
Just who the hell is the FCC?!  A bunch of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats acting unconstitutionally.  They don't have this power or authority, and frankly neither does the Congress.  And the Congress certainly can't delegate these kinds of powers.  What is the controlling legal authority here?  And please don't insult my intelligence by dragging out the Interstate Commerce Clause!  That is the most lame, pathetic and moronic justification you people always fall back on.  Give me a million breaks!
Secondly,  under the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause, if you are going to (for the sake of argument, even though it is actually unconstitutional) give some citizens certain benefits you must extend those same benefits to all U.S. citizens equally.  To not do so is to illegally create different classes of citizens with different rights and privileges, something that cannot occur under our constitution.
I am serious as a heart attack about all of this.  This is what the Tea Party is all about.  Returning to the legal, legitimate federal powers enumerated in the Constitution; and nothing more.  This would eliminate about 70% of federal spending immediately.  Good!  We will prevail, just you watch and see!

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Federal vs. Personal Spending

I just ran some quick numbers and was shocked to find that if
I use the 2011 federal budget numbers,

$2.2T Tax revenue (income)
$1.6T Deficit spending
$3.8T Total spending

it turns out that the deficit spending is 73% of tax revenue (income).

If a family makes $25K, they would be spending $43.25K using the federal budget percentages.
$50K income would be $86.5K in spending.
$75K income would be $129.75K in spending.
$100K income would be $173K in spending.

Sign me up!

We must return to the Constitution to dictate and limit federal spending.
We must also come to grips with the entitlement monster.  Now reports show that one-third of all wages paid in the United States are actually welfare payments!  Yikes!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Paying the Piper

Ah, to be in Washington when the President’s budget is released.  What better way to forget Valentine’s Day than by looking at barrels of red ink?  To sum up, it weighs in at about $3.73 trillion with a deficit of only a mere $1.65 trillion this year, more than a third of the budget.  It cuts nothing really and relies on many new taxes.  The projection is for nearly trillion dollar deficits for the next 10 years, bringing our national debt to $26 trillion then, up from $14 trillion now; of which Obama has added $4 trillion in the last two years.  The House Republicans talk of trying to pare anywhere from $35 billion, to $50 billion, to $100 billion in the best of scenarios.  That’s what, 1, 2, 3%?  WOW!  That sort of draconian slashing will right our sinking ship in no time, right?  NOT!  Who knows if cutting 40 or 50% now would even stop the inevitable?  Our current national debt is now more than our annual GDP and service on the national debt in ten years will be almost a trillion dollars a year.  You can’t just monetize that without triggering hyperinflation, you can’t tax people that much and you certainly won’t be able to borrow all of that from the Chinese.  After all, they own a big chunk of the debt to begin with.  And we haven’t even discussed the fact that in ten years we will be square within the throes of the baby boomers retiring and accessing MediCare.  That means that Social Security and MediCare are headed for certain insolvency.  Not to mention the big ObamaScare question mark.  Needless to say, this kind of social entitlement spending, these deficits and the ensuing national debt are simply unsustainable and intolerable.  They will undoubtedly lead to financial collapse and social chaos.  The dollar is already teetering today. Throw into that mix the uncertainty of events in the Middle East and the effects that could have on the price of oil, which ultimately affects the price of everything else and we have a recipe for disaster. 
So how have we come to this lowly state?  The answer is really quite simple but the ramifications are enormous.  The federal government has ventured into spending for things for which it has absolutely no constitutional authority.  Things such as MediCare, Social Security, farm subsidies, the Department of Energy, the Department of Education and ObamaScare, just to name a few.  So much of what the federal government spends trillions of dollars on has no legal basis in the constitution.  And the expenditures for these boondoggles grow exponentially far beyond their original projections.  Yet, with a lackey Supreme Court and neutered governors and state legislatures this federal juggernaut just careens on down the highway with a drunk at the wheel heading straight for a bridge abutment.   Wake up Ralph, because this is going to be quite a crash to see!  The only medicine for this ailment is to admit that these and other costly federal programs are constitutionally unauthorized and financially unsustainable.  The federal government must bow out of these programs as quickly and fairly as possible.  Many of the functions could, and should be assumed by the various state legislatures.  This would provide exactly what our founders intended, many state laboratories around the country trying different approaches to see what does and does not work.  Government solutions which are closer to the people.  And sometimes the solution might not be a government one at all.  The private sector is amazingly flexible when not fettered by onerous government regulation. 
Lying to the people and forestalling the inevitable reality of our situation does not solve anything.  The sooner we face the stark truths about where we are and what must be done the sooner we can take the medicine and get about the task of righting our ship.  The longer we wait the harder and more expensive it will be.  And we are rapidly approaching the point of no return.  Let’s pray that we can knock some sense into the collective heads of the Republicans and Democrats in Washington and the 50 state capitals before we see pitchforks in the streets.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Federal Spending is NOT the Problem...

This issue with our federal deficits and debt is not a result of federal government spending.  What?!  No, it's a result of UNCONSTITUTIONAL federal government spending.  The only big ticket item that the federal government is authorized to spend money for is defense.  Period.  Not Social Security nor welfare nor Medicare nor farm subsidies, etc.  I would wager that upwards of 75% of federal government spending is unconstitutional.  Prove me wrong!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Time to Set Our Compass

All of this talk by RINO's about repealing ObamaScare because it is bad economics or using it as 'foundation' for more tinkering with our health care system totally misses the point and sets us up to be used as 'useful/useless' idiots by the liberal progressives to further their heinous agenda.  ObamaScare must be repealed because it is simply UNCONSTITUTIONAL in toto.  The federal government has absolutely no constitutional authority or power in the arena of health care.  Period.  It's not really complicated.  At this point in time health care policy is strictly a State function.  As it should be.  If the other side wants federal power over health care policy the very first step must be a constitutional amendment.  Let's see them propose that.  And I would throw Medicare and Social Security into the same mix.  I know that the Supreme Court has ruled in that past on those programs, but the court is made of up fallible people, not gods.  And they DO have their own personal political agendas, all of the protestations about objectivity to the contrary not withstanding.  Courts have certainly been overturned by Congress and subsequent courts.  The basis for ruling that these programs are constitutional usually revolves around Congress' taxing authority.  As I have argued prior the power to tax is not synonymous with the power to spend.    The taxing authority is to support the legitimate, constitutional powers of the the federal government.  It is not carte blanche to spend money on anything they darn well desire.  If so, why have Article 1, Section 8 in the Constitution?  This reasoning defies logical thought.  What if Congress raised tax money from all of the citizens and then spent it to hire thugs to break the kneecaps of their political opponents?  They can't do that we would scream, breaking kneecaps is illegal!  Ah, they would reply, we are doing this under our taxing authority.  Say what?!
The Constitution is our fixed point of reference in law and government.  Without it we are not a nation of laws, but rather a nation governed by the whims of men.  This is a recipe for disaster.  And that is where we are headed, and have been for years.  Think of it this way.  In the Christian world the Holy Bible is the fixed point of reference.  It is considered the revealed, inerrant Word of God.  It is not changeable by men.  It is not subject to their interpretation.  If it were, Christianity would not be a religion of God, but rather of pastors.  And that would be a recipe for disasters.  If I can pick up my fixed point of reference and move it, then it's not really a fixed point of reference.  It's not really of much help in troubled times.  What if the North Star kept moving?  How would mariners navigate?  What if the lighthouse on the rocks kept moving?  How many ships would wreck?  When our Constitution is treated like Silly Putty we are adrift in a dangerous sea with no North Star and no lighthouse.  We are rapidly approaching the rocks and don't seem to realize it.
The ends do not justify the means.  We must follow our constitutional dictates if our republic is to survive.  The states are the great laboratories of freedom.  Let them deal with the health care questions and see what works best.  Then other states can duplicate the best programs.
Keep the feds out and freedom and diversity will solve our problems.