In The Spirit of Reagan

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job.

A depression is when you lose your job.

A recovery is when Mr Obama loses his job.

Sharks Under the Bus

Have you ever noticed that when conservatives stick to their fundamental principles, (and when liberals break from theirs) the country prospers, and vice versa?


It's been fun watching the liberal pack fall on each other like a bunch of blood-smelling sharks. Surprisingly, the Republicans in Congress have stuck to their guns, forcing a weak president to cave and agree to a compromise. Mr Obama isn't good at much, but he is very good at throwing people under the bus at the first sign of trouble. Mr Obama realized that he's lost the rubber-stamp congress that he had for two years (during which time he failed to show any positive results from his socialist playbook), so he's suddenly decided that he has no choice but to cave. (Just like Mayor Quimby from the Simpsons "I have decided... to waffle!") He agrees to a compromise with the Republicans and expects his liberal friends to follow along. Surprise, he suddenly meets something none of us expected, liberals with principles. And what does he do? He shows his true colors and throws them under the bus, but not without calling the Republicans hostage-takers first.

Okay, Mr Obama. I understand that you lectured constitutional law when you realized what a failure you were at community organizing (still haven't gotten that right, have you?), but did you happen to read the document at the time? Because amongst everything else, it says nothing about the president having a vote in Congress. In case that isn't clear, sir, you aren't in a position to compromise on a funding bill. You could try to negotiate a position that Democratic leaders have put forth, but you have no say over what gets written in those hallowed halls built so appropriately on a swamp. In case that whole constitution thing is a little confusing, talk to Mr Reid. He told us on Thursday that the constitution is their rule book. Who knew?

And something else. All this talk about 'paying for tax cuts' is missing a few vital facts (just like most things that come from the liberals and their Newspeak Thought Police drive-by media... I know it sounds dramatic, but really, they are in the business of telling us what to think, aren't they?). I'll put it simply. You don't have to pay for tax cuts. They pay for themselves. Look at it this way. Say I'm managing a household budget (something your average community organizer apparently never does), and I'm making two kinds of purchases. Buying groceries to eat tonight, but also buying seeds to plant a vegetable garden. I might spend a dollar on a packet of, say carrot seeds, but spend a dollar on a one pound bag of carrots. It might take a dollar out of the budget to buy seeds that won't give me carrots to eat for a couple of months, but eventually they'll give me much more than a pound. Wealth works the same way. If people are allowed to keep more of the money that they've earned, they will put it back into the economy. Businesses will boom, and not only pay more taxes, but eventually hire more people, who will pay more tax and spend more money. And of course, those businesses are owned by people who will buy more houses and cars, hire more domestic workers, and maybe even expand their businesses. And as an added bonus, the ranks of the unemployed and welfare dependent will shrink, and the government will have more money to blow. That is simple proven economics that worked before. (Remember when they stopped calling it Reaganomics? When it started working.) The only problem is that a prosperous independent people don't need Uncle Sam to dictate and provide their needs. And liberals, for some reason, don't do well in those circumstances.

At the same time, some Republican senators have already started to add earmarks to this monster spending bill that our Prime Minister... er, President has negotiated, after campaigning on a "no Earmarks" platform. Keep that up and we'll throw you under the bus.

Burning Issue

Pastor Terry Jones, like so many extremists, just doesn't get it, and he is likely to get a good talking to from God some day. As many people have said, just because you have a right to do something, that doesn't make it right. (Imam Rauf, you listening?) You don't make the world a better place by burning books. You don't do it by encouraging hate and ignorance. Read the book. Read the bible. Talk to the Lord about what you should be teaching your flock. Then apologize. You will be forgiven.

"The Real Racist"

Dr Martin Luther King Jr spoke quite eloquently about the need for us to stop seeing and judging each other, not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character. I think he would be greatly disappointed that the Reverend Al Sharpton has claimed the 28th of August and the Lincoln Memorial, for 'us'. For 'our day'. How is it, Reverend, that your shouted words are not racism? How do you honor the memory of Dr King by closing off the date, the historic place, the celebration of that date and speech and the ideas of Dr King to all but you? The rally wasn't political, as reported even by the leftwing media. It wasn't racially motivated, as evidenced by the presence of Dr King's niece. For that matter, the Tea Party itself, which was a force behind the event, has many many African Americans. I'd say they are doing a better job handling (or tossing out) the race issue than you are. Be honest with yourself. When you are, you'll realize that the problem in this situation is in fact you. You are displaying racism and spreading hate. You are willing to ignore the spirit of a great man and his great work to satisfy your own agenda. At that point, maybe you'll see the light. If you are truly serving the Lord, that should be your only interest.


The dilemma of the Reverend Al Sharpton in fact reminds me of a very sad thing that happened to someone in my apartment complex. This man is an African American who, though he is obviously quite healthy and competent, manages to live his entire life on disability benefits. This has enabled him to life rent-free (the money is given to him), sit around all day long smoking pot, drinking beer, and barbecuing steaks. That is his life. Or rather, that was his life. He apparently could no longer stand the stress and strain of his difficult life, because a few days ago, he grabbed a knife and started running around, spouting the "N -word" more times that Dr Laura ever tried, looking for someone to kill. First off, wrong for me is wrong for you. Stop saying it or stop being offended by it. If you want to be treated with respect, you have to treat others with respect. And maybe, just maybe, despite everything that Big Brother... oh, excuse me, I mean Mr Obama says, you won't feel any sense of satisfaction or self respect without earning your keep. Eventually, 'empty' won't sustain you, and dependency will let you down. And Reverend Sharpton, eventually racism and lies will come home to roost.

Headlines From the Edge: "Obama Issues Primary Challenge to Self"

Finally winding up the last few stops of the campaign that landed him in office almost two years ago, President Obama has already started setting his sights on the 2012 election.
He didn't let his vacation, (now in its sixth week), stop him from making carefully choreographed surprise stops. In one, the President took time out to address the nation. "If the previous administration thinks they're going to get away with pulling the wool over the eyes of the American people, they've got another thing coming," Obama said. "Are you better off than you were when I walked in here? Heck no! What you really need is for me to come in and fix this mess we've inherited. And how many times are we going to hear 'hope and change' before it becomes 'hope things change'? You can go back to the failed policies of the past, or you can stick with me." The unscripted tirade which capped off the rare Obama press conference lasted more than ten minutes before the broadcast was cut and replaced with a rerun of "I Love Lucy". TOTUS, the official Presidential Teleprompter Of The United States could not be reached for comment.

A Letter to the President

Sir:
I would like to speak to you as a fellow American citizen. As a conservative. As someone who didn't vote for you, and as someone gravely distressed with the job you have done as President of the United States. I would like to speak to you, at the same time, as someone who respects the office of the president.

I wonder, sir, if you truly understand why it is that so many people disapprove of what you have done since taking office. I cannot speak for the people who once supported you but don't anymore, but I can speak for myself. I think it likely that what troubles me about your job performance also troubles many others.

Firstly, sir, I don't care about your race. That doesn't come into it, but people who call me a racist because i disagree with you are in fact racist themselves. I'm not a racist, and I greatly resent being called one. As a white male, I have been subject to both racism and gender discrimination. They are both evil practices, and none of us are immune from them. Don't allow yourself the luxury of thinking that people who disagree with you must be racist.

Before I talk about your work, I'd like to briefly talk about the previous administration. As president, you certainly inherited big problems. That is obvious. But I'd like to simply point out that you have been president for almost two years. Whether you've had sufficient time to fix those problems or not, there does come a time when you should stop blaming others. Whether or not you have a valid point, I feel that you should stop telling us why we still have a crisis and start telling us exactly what's being done to solve it. And to be fair, sir, the democratic Congress that we have now was in power for the last two of the eight years of the Bush administration. Indeed, sir, you were part of that Congress. So it begs the question, sir. What were you doing then, as a member of the majority in the branch of government that held the nation's purse strings?

One of the major focuses of your term has been the stimulus. Granted, there was a previous stimulus package that didn't seem to do much. But that was another president. The same Congress, but a different president. Now we have another president and another stimulus. The same Congress, incidentally. But, sir, despite everything we hear about so many millions of jobs 'saved or created', there doesn't seem to have been any improvement. By the way, that expression 'saved or created' sounds disingenous. 'Saved or created' honestly sounds like a hypothetical accomplishment that someone might use to pad a resume. It is too non-specific to be impressive. 'Jobs created' is unverifiable, and therefore meaningless. We hear that things would have been so much worse. But after nearly two years and a stimulus of some 800 billion dollars, we should be hearing that things are better. Not that they could be worse. For all of the jobs 'saved or created', the jobless numbers are not improving. To sum it up, the results have matched neither the cost nor the promise.

Health Care reform has been a major initiative of your administration. I admire bold initiatives, and I don't think that anyone disputes the need to reform our health care system, and while the specifics (and indeed, the legality of it within the constraints of the Constitution) are obviously a subject of great dispute, people generally believe and fear that the Federal Government will control their health care. Is that true? Unfortunately, the law is so long and so shrouded in secrecy that most people don't know. And when information is kept from people, they fear the worst. You might say that the details were available online, but not everyone has time to read a two thousand page legal document, or has, for that matter, internet access. People felt like they were sold a very expensive mystery package, and they resented the backroom deals that were necessary to pass it. And speaking just for myself, while I need the health coverage, I honestly resent paying to care for someone who is unwilling to work or support themselves. And there are too many of them. Heatlh Care coverage should be no more than, say, ten dollars taken out my paycheck weekly to cover my family. What we have is a law that I fear will cost more than we can afford and not substantially change anything.

The biggesr thing, with these issues is their expense, and what seems a casual throwing around of billions of dollars. Speaking for myself, sir, I simply cannot see any result from the massive expense incurred so far, nor does it seem like anyone responsible for spending all of this money has any real appreciation for just how much has gone into accomplishing so little. Almost a trillion dollars and no change to the jobless rate. When you're talking that much money, 'saved or created' just doesn't impress. What we need is a program to create permanent jobs.

Some in conservative talk radio have said that they hoped that your programs fail. I don't think anyone truly wants our economy to get any worse, or for our country to be less secure than it is now. We can't afford to put partisan politics above the interests of our country, sir. So as a conservative, do I hope to see a democratic president succeed? As long as I believe you are helping the country, yes. But I can honestly say (and I don't think I'm alone), that based on your performance so far, I don't always believe that.

Headlines From the Edge: "Obama Pushes Reset Button on First Term: "The Next Four Years Are Going to be Great ""

In his latest plan to succeed at fundamentally changing the country, the President returned to the site where some say his presidency was born, the Illinois State House, where he was greeted a cheering crowd. In prepared remarks, the president acknowledged difficulty in communicating his agenda to the majority of Americans, based on historically low poll numbers. "It's obvious, from the millions of jobs saved or created, that we've been successful. But it's just as obvious that a majority of Americans, many of them in the employ of the insurance companies and the Tea Party, simply don't understand. So rather than try to explain it to more than half the country, I'm going to use the same method that has been so successful in thawing relations with the Russians. I'm hereby officially, under my absolute authority as President, pushing the reset button on this term. The gulf oil spill? Shame on the previous administration. Record deficits and unemployment? Shame on the previous administration. Starting right now," he paused to push a large plastic red button, "it's the start of Obama, First Term, 2.0. And the next four years are going to be great!"

Being Honest With Yourself

When a person is confronted by a choice, the opportunity to do something right or wrong, is their decision based upon the chance of getting caught, or if they are thinking about taking something that is not theirs, maybe they think they 'deserve' whatever it is, or they think the owner won't miss it. It's not a rare thing, especially in these days that see all of us struggle to get by, and most might casually take something without wanting to think of that ugly 'thief' word.




Let's just imagine you are at a laundromat, and you find a cold can of soda, left unopened by a family that you've seen leave. Imagine further that this family is obviously traveling through, and will most likely not come back looking for it. Would you feel that it was acceptable to drink the soda? You aren't really stealing it, are you? They left it behind, maybe on purpose. What you are judging at this point is really the relationship, if you will, between the soda and its owner. Based just on that, you could make the case that there is no harm in taking the soda. But really, that relationship is not your concern. Not your business. It's not what you need to think about. What you need to think about and really use as the baseline for your decision is your relationship to the soda, because that's really all that counts. First and foremost, did you buy it? Did you earn it? No. And really, that should be all that it comes down to. But you can also consider that the traveling family could conceivably come back looking for their soda. What will they think? But again, that shouldn't matter. All that should matter to you is your relationship to the soda. And the simple question and simple answer. Did you buy it? Do you own it? No. That simple idea can apply to many situations. Any time you find yourself in the position of taking something that in fact isn't yours, even a snack left unclaimed in the breakroom at work, don't think about whether or not the owner might miss it, or whether or not you might get caught. Just think about whether or not you have any right to it. If you're honest with yourself (and if you're lying to yourself, you're lying to the whole world), you'll know the simple answer, and do the right thing.