What's The Word?

Let's Do It Again!

2011-03-09T01:05:00.005-05:00

The start of President Obama's third year is barely under way and he is off doing what he has done for the first two years; and that is campaigning. He is hoping that we will forget that the country is still mired in a recession, that unemployment is still hovering around 9% and that he has committed to spend more of your tax dollars than any other President in U.S. history. And like his predecessor he now owns the title of high gasoline prices (albeit neither President can control oil prices thus the price of gasoline).

He wants to tout his accomplishments: "Because of your help...we yanked this economy out of what could have been a Great Depression. We passed the historic health care bill. We ended don't ask don't tell." And he is calling all of this his accomplishments.

It's obvious that the President has been watching old 1970's movies like the Bill Cosby, Sidney Poitier film "Let's Do It Again." A movie where Clyde Williams (Poitier) and Billy Foster (Cosby), in an effort to raise money for their social organization travel to New Orleans and hypnotize Bootney Farnsworth (Jimmy "J.J." Walker) into becoming an over confident fighting machine and he ultimately wins a boxing match that they had bet against the odds and won a big return. And when they return to Atlanta a group of hoods who lost money on that fight want them to rig another fight so that they can win their money back.

Now the President wants to tout his accomplishments and hypnotize us into believing that 9% unemployment is the new norm. That spending close to 1 trillion tax dollars to ensure that every American will have health coverage, whether they want it or not, is alright. And now because gay and lesbian service men can openly serve will somehow cause terrorist to stop wanting to kill us. All I can say to this is oooooh the horror!

It's funny to see that Obama has abandoned his other "successes" such as successfully taking over two thirds of the American automobile industry. Another success in getting his henchmen Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to pass the biggest porkulus spending bill in history that did not lower unemployment and did nothing to keep the economy from tanking even further. How he successfully flew to foreign nation after foreign nation apologizing for our decades of economic and social successes.

I guess the President has been hypnotized because he forgot that he went against the will of the people and that we do not deserve another four years of his kind of successes. Will we be able to survive should this country make the same "Let's Do It Again" mistake and allow this President to serve again? Are you better off than you were three years ago?

Just remember that elections have consequences and this is ours. Now let's see if we can get it right this time. Choose your candidates carefully.

These are my words! Please post yours!

Unlawful Search and Yet No Seizure!

2010-11-18T18:34:00.013-05:00

I haven't been posting over the past several months but that does not mean that I have been absent over the governmental intrusions into our lives. Much has been written and said over the past several weeks with regards to the TSA's full body scans and "pat downs."

The fourth amendment to our Constitution grants us protection from unlawful search and seizure. This right has been upheld on several court challenges to prevent the policing forces of this country from unlawfully obtaining incriminating information and evidence against its citizens without due process.

Warrantless searches are legal if the police witness a suspect commit a misdemeanor or has reasonable cause to believe that the suspect has committed a specific felony. So how does that entitle the TSA to search a law abiding citizen without reasonable suspicion? Unless they are saying that every American is suspect and may have committed a felony prior to arriving at the airport!

And because an idiot terrorist boarded a plane on Christmas Day, 2009 and tried to detonate an underwear bomb we are all suspects? Enter Janet "neapolitan ice cream" Napolitano and the goose stepping security forces of the Transportation Security Administration. Seeking to detain Grandma Faye at the gate should she not want to be scanned with radioactive particles and frisk her as if she had just shot a Kennedy.

The TSA should be ashamed and the "ice cream lady" should be even more embarrassed. If she only could enforce the same policies at the borders of the state that she once governed along with the other states which border Mexico to prevent the entry of those who seek to do us harm; both economically as well as physically. Yet our imperial federal government seeks to sue Arizona for enforcing the same law that the Feds have already sworn to uphold.

I have not read or seen publicized that any of the full body scan or pat down methods have produced one single terrorist plot break up. Mainly because we are so arrogant as to think that the terrorist will try to board an airplane in this country using the same methods that have already been tried. These people are ever evolving and probing. The underwear bomber, the toner bombers and the shoe bomber were probing for our strengths, not our weaknesses. The underwear bomber almost succeeded but took a beat down from an alert passenger.

There are too many problems with the Department of Homeland Security as it relates to the personal freedoms of Americans. Often over reaching and over reacting we end up with full body scans or invasions of our personal space with a full body pat down. Tapping the phone conversations of a suspected terrorist and patting down my mother is two separate and distinct differences.

I propose that we let the TSA set up at our border states and pat down every person seeking to enter this country. And since this agency has so much zeal in protecting the citizens we station them at illegal entry points to arrest and detain the same illegals that want to come here. I am sure that they will find all kinds of illegal contraband on these illegal invaders than what has been found on any passenger that is looking to board a flight from New York to Los Angeles. Then and only then will they prove to me that it is worth the money we spend on airport security when we all know that the next attack will probably not be an airplane.

Why are we not profiling those who have shown a propensity to harm Americans instead of delaying my mother or older sister at the gate; both of whom have nothing more than a speeding ticket as their only criminal offense? Because someone might get offended? Yet we let the masses suffer for the few? All the while slowing air travel and jeopardizing part of the American economy. Pretty soon those who regularly fly will opt to drive then where will we be? Bailing out the airlines I think!

Mr. President, eliminate these intrusions at the airport. We already had to remove our belts, shoes and open our laptop bags and turn on cameras and phones. I can't bring more than a mouthful of Listerine in a clear bottle, a days worth of shampoo or body lotion onto the plane. What else do we law abiding citizens of this country have to do in order to get on an airplane? Walk naked through the gates? I implore you to pull in the reins on this intrusion. And do it now!

These are my words! Please post yours!

Random Thoughts and Stuff

2010-07-02T11:14:00.006-04:00

Happy Fourth of July...
As we approach the celebration of the Independence of this country I decided to give a quick read to the Declaration of Independence. I was amazed at how quickly it was written and finally approved, published and distributed to the people. Now contrast the 2nd Continental Congress with our current legislative body and I wonder if we could ever do the same thing in such a short span of time even with all of the technology we have today......
...the long answer would be Hell No!

Comprehensive Immigration Reform...
President Obama keeps speaching (giving speeches and preaching) about how the GOP should sit down and come up with "comprehensive immigration reform." I was just pondering that statement and it came to me that we already have comprehensive immigration reform. It is wrapped up in these words; "The Rule of Law." We currently have system by which citizens of other nations can immigrate to this country legally. Any thing other than that is a violation of the law and should be pursued as such. No need to waste money, time and for you eco-warriors, thousands of pieces of paper on any legislation. Just enforce the laws.

BP and The Gulf Coast Communities...
I returned from Pensacola, Florida this past weekend and witnessed first hand the clean up efforts of the shores of Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key Beach. Two things came to mind while watching these people toil in the 100 degree heat of the Florida Panhandle:

First, I was amazed at the amount of water bottles they were collecting (from staying hydrated) I was even more perplexed as to why none of America's Green Eco-knuckleheads were not protesting the amount of trash these people are creating just from trying to clean up the beaches as a result of their forcing legislation to protect sea turtles. You see, the state of Alabama wanted to use bigger, deeper and stronger booms to protect their 200 miles of shore line but were stymied by the Fish and Wildlife Administration. The use of these booms would cause sea turtles to get trapped and they are a protected class of people,... umm I mean animal. Humans are less important than a turtle.

Finally, If these people and BP moved at any slower rate of pace then those same sea turtles would appear to be as fast as Usain Bolt.

Clean it up BP! President Obama and congress please remove all bureaucratic obstacles out of their way. This is a national emergency.

These are just some of my random thoughts and words. Please post yours!

Don't Lie to Me! Just Give Me My White Beaches!

2010-06-17T00:30:00.007-04:00

Who's fooling who? Or is it who's fooling whom?

The President announced today that he has asked and BP executives have agreed to set aside $20 billion for the reimbursement of damages and compensation for our citizens in the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Florida and Alabama. The problem is that BP does not have $20 billion in cash to set aside.

They will need to cut spending and sell billions in assets to raise the necessary cash to fund this compensation fund by 2013. They are also going to suspend dividend payments for the next 3 quarters and possibly for the foreseeable future until such time that the Gulf Coast is cleaned up.

Sounds simple huh? Until you figure that BP still needs to continue operations to deliver revenue and the likelihood of doing this in America will be hampered since there will be no offshore drilling for the next 6 or more months. They will need to increase production in the oil exploration efforts around the world.

They obviously cannot raise this money by selling stock as their stock price is in a free fall and issuing bonds is not likely either. Who is going to buy BP stock or bonds? Not anyone who is looking for growth especially since BP stock has lost half of its value since this accident.

The suspension of dividends will affect numerous pension funds around the globe that hold BP stock and had come to rely on these quarterly dividends to help pay their pensioners. This will have far reaching economic consequences right away since we already have many municipalities on the brink of bankruptcy because of burgeoning pension benefits that need to be paid against reduced tax revenue.

Why BP would ever agree to anything like this is amazing to me. The reason, but not their fault, is that under current Federal law BP is only liable for $75 million in damages. BP has decided to waive this limit. However, why let a U.S. President demand what a foreign corporation has to do? Is it the right thing, but of course! Is it what the shareholders would want, No! I can understand the quandary that BP is now faced with from a public relations standing and a business standing.

B-Rock has decided that the Pay Czar, Kenneth Feinberg, will administer the claims against this fund. This is the same guy that helped to decide how much an executive should earn at any financial institution that took TARP funds. He also administered the claims for the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. Because of this federal bureaucratic process there will be many claims that are not paid timely. Also, who is to decide how quick is timely?

Do not get me wrong. I want BP to get the Gulf Coast cleaned up. I grew up in Pensacola, Florida; my parents still reside there and I will be vacationing there next week. I like my beaches white and my water clear. I just think that BP should have allowed the courts in America help them work through this financial mess.

BP does not have $20 billion and they do not have to have it all until 2013. I guess we were all hoodwinked by the President's announcement today. I see no timely financial payments coming for our friends in Gulf Coast. People are going to be hurting. We are going to need timely prayer to help these residents.

These are my words! Please post yours!

Rocks, Rifles and Illegal Immigration

2010-06-08T23:42:00.010-04:00

With all the uproar of the Israeli commandos killing pro-Palestinian activist off the coast of Gaza I wonder how soon will our media along with world opinion start to protest the killing of a Mexican invader by our Border Patrol agents.

One thing is for certain, Mexicans have learned the fine art of throwing rocks at armed militia from the Palestinians. For years I often wondered why any half intelligent human being would stand in front of a group of men armed with assault rifles, shields and riot gear and throw rocks at them. Unless you are a baseball player the accuracy of throwing a rock pales in comparison to a highly trained marksman with a rifle.

A group of Mexican invaders were stopped while trying to enter this country without proper documentation by U.S. Border agents and obviously illegally. But in a move more likened by the Palestinians, these Mexicans start throwing rocks.

Rocks versus guns and you can guess who wins this one! A Mexican teen aged invader is killed after being ordered to stop throwing rocks. Instead of the Mexican government supporting our agents for defending themselves and the laws of this nation they are trying to make this some sort of international incident, a la Israeli commando killing of Turkish activist.

The great thing about both these incidents is that there is video to support the defense of what actually occurred. And both groups were forced to use lethal force to defend themselves.

Crossing the border without permission is a crime. Intentionally assaulting a U.S. citizen and law enforcement agent is a dangerous crime. We do not want to import crime. We already have enough of our own. So if you want to come here, use the proper channels and enter our land legally.

I have one suggestion for other potential Mexican violators; "Sticks and Stones may break our bones but if your choose to throw stones our Border Agents may shoot to kill!" Graveyard dead!

These are my words! Please post yours!

Update.....Update......

The teen that was killed is a known human smuggler and was on the "most wanted" list of juvenile smugglers. Mexican security forces have trained their weapons on the FBI agents investigating the Border agent shooting. Like I said above, the Mexicans are trying to make this into an international incident which it is not when their citizens continue to violate our laws and enter our country illegally.

Leggo My Eggo!

2010-05-12T00:32:00.006-04:00

Michelle Obama has finally decided what role she would take in her husband's administration and it is to be the voice of obese children across the country. And what better way for Michelle Obama to do this than to use the power of the federal government to attempt to force proper diet in American households.

I cannot get past the idea that the Obama's have the gall to think that they are the only ones that know what is best for everyone. B-Rock decided that we needed $800 billion in no job creating stimulus, $80 billion and growing "investment" in the American automobile industry and finally the $1.0 Trillion health care reform.

Now Michelle wants to put the junk food marketers on an advertising diet. She wants the makers of "unhealthy" foods to not use popular media characters to promote their wares but to only promote "healthy" alternatives. The administration indicated that they would not use any new federal mandates to push these healthy alternatives but would use the "bully-pulpit" to advance changes even though I am skeptical. Personally I feel Sponge Bob Square Pants could probably move a lot of Toyota Camry's based upon Michelle's premise of the strong influence of these characters.

Once again the Obama's get to decide who wins and loses in American business. Marketing is how products are sold. Threatening to use the Federal Communications Commission to change the rules on commercials in children programming goes against the guideline of no new federal mandates previously mentioned. While children are highly influenced by many of these commercial images; from my estimation 99% of American households children don't work and definitely do not drive themselves to the grocery store or fast food restaurant to make the buying decisions. Although weak-kneed parents of today often succumb to their children's whining by indulging them and buying whatever the child wants.

My children always wanted things that I either did not want to buy or felt was not needed and I usually pursed my lips and pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth and pushed out the best word ever uttered by a parent; NOOOOOOOOO! While I would have to endure some heart ache and as they got older some spirited debate on how little they ever got and how I did not love them. I always won because I am the Daddy!

Michelle is using the office of the President, like First-Lady's before her, to push a social agenda. I am glad she now has something to do because I was beginning to think that she was busy being a mom to her two beautiful children. Now I know better. But I do think that Michelle should change the focus of the agenda she wants to accomplish from telling food manufacturers not to market to children but to focus on Parenting and how to deal with self-indulgent spoiled brats to show them who runs the household.

The more important push to defeat obesity in children will be for those same weak-kneed parents to turn off the children's programming, hide the Xbox and PS3 controllers, shut down the Facebook and MySpace pages, pull the ear buds from the MP3 players and go outside and toss a football, baseball or kick the soccer ball for a few hours a day. Children can eat whatever their bodies will allow but if they do not burn those calories off then they will become fat. Get them involved in something other than computer screen watching. Playing Wii games is not enough activity for a 5-17 year old. They need hardcore muscle moving, deep breathing exercise.

I wish I could appreciate the effort of this First Lady but she is helping to perpetuate the Nanny State of the country. With all of the information available to Americans about the products that they buy parents can make better choices but choose not to. We do not need federal oversight nor FCC or FTC interference in the promotion of healthy choices. Some school systems have already taken "unhealthy" food out of the cafeteria and both Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola have decided to remove their high calorie drink machines and replace with diet drinks and other alternatives. Removing the choices and decision making from parents and children resulting in Nannyism!

Obesity in children as well as adults is a problem in this country. We have liberty and freedom to choose how we live and raise our children. We do not need the Federal government interfering anymore than they already do. Foods are already labeled with the necessary information to help make informed choices. At many restaurants you can request the calorie count on the menu items. We can choose. Let us choose. Don't take away a parents right to choose.

In the meantime Michelle; Leggo My Eggo!

These are my words! Please post yours!

When We Were American!

2010-05-07T00:29:00.004-04:00

Years ago 56 Patriots sat around and crafted a document that would become the catalyst for "Hope and Change" in this country. They wrote some of these words, "...all men are created equally"...along with "unalienable rights." This was a document to proclaim the independence of a few British Colonies from one of the most powerful nations in the world at that time.

The country later endured the internal strife of slavery and states rights. Millions of men were killed in pursuit of proving which side was right. Those who were brought here against their will were eventually freed through a proclamation of a U.S. President and later the surrender of the Confederate States. Yet the country survived and these citizens were called Americans.

Through the years people migrated to this country to pursue their dreams. They left behind homelands that were in degrade and despair. Leaving home with little in their pockets and nothing to look forward to except their dreams of a better life. They arrived on these shores penniless, yet they found a way to overcome. They asked for nothing from others other than respect. They grew, they raised their families and they learned to prosper. The young republic of the United States of America provided them nothing other than safety and sanctuary. Yet the country survived and these citizens became Americans

Years later, the sons and grandsons of those freed slaves sought the civil rights that the Declaration of Independence said they would have. They protested, bled and in some cases lost their lives in this pursuit but they perservered. Yet the country survived and these citizens were called Americans.

Now we come to present day and wearing an American Flag on your T-Shirt gets you removed from school on Cinco de Mayo. In essence not allowing an American citizen to be American. Why did we stop recognizing that this is America. Why can't we celebrate being an American without offending some immigrant both legal and illegal? If they are not here to embrace our culture, our way of life then why leave home and travel to this mighty nation. Oh. I forgot, it is to get on the dole of the American taxpayer and live for free! Will the country survive and these citizens are called hyphenated-Americans!

We are now supporting immigrants that once only came here to build a better way of life. They now come here seeking American welfare and benefits. Our border states are being overrun with these invaders and they are on the verge of bankruptcy. One state decides it is time to enforce the laws that the Federal government says it would enforce and our illegal immigrants and hyphenated-Americans get angry. Will the country survive?

We need to stand up for American principles. Stop trying to placate every immigrant who now lives on these shores. They should embrace our culture, ideals, values and laws. I am not asking you to deny your culture but do not force me to recognize your culture that you decided was not appealing enough for you in your homeland that you fled to come here to America. Otherwise, why leave? I also applaud Arizona as a state that is willing to decide that if you are not here legally then we will deal with you as the criminal you are! Will the country survive?

Rome was once a powerful empire at one time. They allowed other cultures to assimilate into their world. They tried to embrace those cultures and they lost their identity and focus. The Roman empire eventually fell. Are we ready to see our nation fall? If we are then keep trying to be an inclusive society instead of an American society. We have to recognize who we are not who is now living here from wherever. We are created equally! We have certain unalienable rights...life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But we are not obligated to change our ways for a few immigrants.

I want Americans to be happy. I want hyphenated-Americans to be uncomfortable until they realize what real Americans are!

These are my words! Please post yours!

How Do You Like Your Tea?

2010-04-14T00:21:00.007-04:00

As we approach another Tax Day the country readies for another big protest of Government spending and intrusion run-a-muck. Tea Party protests are scheduled around the country to bring some heat, light and focus on our current fiscal and financial woes of the country.

It amazes me that this same group of protesters were not long ago called "irrelevant", "astro-turf", "tea baggers" and made fun of not only by the members of the main stream media but by the Speaker of the House herself. Laughing at them as if their opinions did not matter and that the voice of the people should not be heard.

Now a year later, the Tea Party movement has become more relevant than either the press or the White House could have imagined. They have energized hundreds of thousands voters and tax payers to raise their voices and concerns to the point that the Democratically controlled Congress recognizes that they are in a position to lose House and Senate seats. It has become so relevant that there have been attempts by a web site to infiltrate the movement and utilize offensive signs and totally disrupt organized protests as to make the movement look bad. So much for irrelevance!

From irrelevance to political powerhouse. The Tea Party movement does not have a true leadership group and is comprised of not only conservatives but some liberals and independents as well who all oppose the run away spending in Washington. There is no official logo or permanent head quarters address and no press team. They have come to symbolize what has been for too long ignored, the tax revolt of the people.

My biggest concern is that the Tea Party Movement has become associated too closely with the GOP (and has been embraced by some of the same individuals that should be voted out) and that the left has found another way to demonize the people by calling the protest movement violent racists. But what else can the call what opposes them but racists.

So as many Americans write their checks, seal their I.R.S. addressed envelopes, and mail their hard earned tax dollars off to Washington, remember that you still have a voice and if you are tired of wasteful spending along with taxation without representation, then throw the Tea into the bay.

These are my words! Please post yours!

How A Bill Becomes Law!

2010-03-12T23:38:00.006-05:00

I remember growing up learning from the Schoolhouse Rock cartoons every Saturday morning. Kids today would not understand waiting for each Saturday to watch cartoons with the advent of Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network. Who can forget singing along with Zero My Hero or Conjuction Junction all the while hooking up words and phrases and clauses .

This cartoon from the Schoolhouse Rock illustrates, rather simplistically, how a bill becomes a law. Even though it is rather simple it does the job on civics that is no longer taught in most of our schools today. However this whole idea of creating a law has been lost on Cruella D'Pelosi and the rest of B-Rock's band of merry men.

Somehow they think that they can take the Senate version of the Health Care Reform Bill and make it law by saying that they have voted on it without really voting on it. Add some amendments and Hocus Pokus! New laws being created without due process and without regard for a representative style of governing and without regard for the Constitution.

If they could get the Health Care bill passed through the normal means then I have no problem with the process but when they decide that they can pass a bill, call it reconciliation, add some amendments and then say they voted on it without ever holding a vote is tyrannical style of governing.

We have to stand up to this tyranny! Even this cartoon tells you how a bill becomes law and it does not say at any point the bill does not get voted on by the House of Representatives.

Long live Schoolhouse Rock!

These are my words! Please post yours!

No Saturday Mail!

2010-03-02T23:54:00.008-05:00

In the movie, The Postman, Kevin Costner played an post-apocalyptic letter carrier who conned people into believing that the government was still delivering mail. The movie was ironically set in 2013 which is only a few years from now. The new Postal Service had no money and no government yet they decided to resume delivering mail which ultimately led to the restoration of the United States.

Now in our current economic climate with revenue declining and losses mounting, the U.S. Postal Service wants to end Saturday deliveries in order to save $3.3 billion a year. In most free market business decisions this would be a done deal. However because the postal service is a quasi-government (so it says it is a independent entity of the executive branch) it will require Congressional approval and a change in law to do so. Which means this is only a pipe dream.

The Postal Service continues to borrow from the Federal Treasury each year to fund its deficit operations. Most businesses would have already sought bankruptcy protection to keep afloat. Raising postal rates does little to grow revenue as most free market establishments would not always seek to raise prices alone but would seek to cut costs and improve service first. But since it lacks competition in the delivery of mail there is little incentive to provide better service.

We have all waited in long lines for a postal worker to treat our presence as if we were interrupting their work. Also, to be left waiting while each of the union workers take their breaks during peak hours leaving customers frustrated and angry. Yet we wait.

What the U.S. Postal Service should do is focus on improving customer service. Turn each post office into self-sustaining profit centers. If it does not make money then close it and let another office handle those customers. It is apparent that many of the things we once used the Postal Service for are no longer needed or can be achieved by utilizing UPS or FedEX. Who both have far superior service and reliability even though their rates can sometimes be higher.

Maybe we should just allow mail delivery competition. This would force the Postal Service to improve its service levels. The Postal Service is the second largest employer in the country. It has a $1.0 billion payroll budget weekly. Yet there has not been any talk of reducing headcount to help hold down expenses. This would be silly talk because the workers are union workers and no union worker should never lose his job, not ever.

The talk of stopping Saturday delivery is a good start but the real issues are starring the postal service square in the face. With the advent of email, e-cards and more reliable delivery services, the U.S. Postal Service role has diminished. Now it is time for it to get in line with their new reality and face the paradigm shift that has already occurred. Improve customer service levels and overall satisfaction rates among consumers. Close some of the 36,000 branch offices and make them self sustaining. Either improve or go out of business. I am sure there are plenty of businesses that could be started to replace this inefficient business.

These are my words! Please post yours!

2010-01-30T22:34:00.004-05:00

Truth be told, I want a college football playoff system. Just like is done with March Madness for basketball. But the reality is that this will probably not happen unless the Obama administration has its way.

These guys which will not prosecute voter intimidating New Black Panther Party members will now open investigations into whether the Bowl Championship Series violates antitrust laws. This coming on the heels of granting the "underwear bomber" Miranda rights instead of sending his butt off to a military tribunal somewhere.

The BCS agreement is a contractual agreement with the schools and conferences involved. Professor Obama should know that a contract is binding if there was no evidence of fraud and if both parties involved have a meeting of the minds. Every school that has signed up to play in a conference knows what is involved and they understand what the benefits and pitfalls are by joining. But these guys want to go after antitrust violations for the BCS and force the nations colleges and universities into a bowl playoff system.

The BCS pays out close to $150 million dollars to the nations colleges and universities for having a top performing college football program. Are all conferences created equally? Hell to the naw! Just because Boise State or TCU can go undefeated in a season does not put them on the same footing or T.V. draw of a one loss University of Florida team or even a two loss Georgia Tech team. You see, its all about the money.

The major conferences get huge chunks of funds when their teams qualify for a BCS bowl game. The T.V. network benefits by broadcasting the best teams to the American public. Most of the major conferences share the money generated equally among their members. So the more teams that make it from each conference the better for the conference financially.

I do not see this as an issue that the Justice Department should be taking up considering the cases it has before it right now. Using valuable legal time trying to determine if a binding contract violates antitrust laws while at the same time granting a known terrorist full legal rights in the U.S. court system clearly shows that this administration is still out of touch with what it should be doing for the American people.

Open note to the president. Get out of the private matters of the American business and institutions. Refocus the Justice Department on legal matters that need addressing not the vagueness of how we decide who is the best college football program in the nation.

Back in the day when the college coaches voted in one poll and the sports writers voted in another we seemed to come to a conclusion of sorts and people were somewhat happy. But now that the BCS is in effect I am good with this process as well because in the end every college football fan knows that his or her school is number 1. Go 'Noles. I still love the Garnett and Gold. Enjoy your retirement Coach Bowden!

These are my words! Please post yours!

Supreme Delight

2010-01-28T23:37:00.006-05:00

For a Harvard trained lawyer who has not stood before a judge and tried cases it was amazing to hear our Supreme Potentate B-Rock Obama chastise the Supreme Court Justices during his State of the Union speech on a recent ruling that overturned some of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act.

This coming from a man that called himself a Constitutional Law Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Even though the school listed him only as a senior lecturer. Yet I wonder what Constitution he lectured about.

According to Obama's fomer boss, Judson Miner, of the Miner, Barnhill & Galland law firm, B-Rock "wrote lots of substantial memos but did not try any cases." B-Rock himself admitted that he regretted that he did not do more trial work. Now because he lectured on the country's Constitution he considers himself more knowledgeable than the nine men and women who wear the robe. All the while never really working as a trial lawyer. Well Mr. President that s why we sit nine members and not one. And that is why as you indicted there is a separation of powers.

Our form of government is the best form of governing in the world because of the separation of powers. The Executive branch does not interpret law, nor does the Legislative branch which writes the laws that may end up needing interpretation as it pertains to our Constitution. The nine member panel did their jobs of taking a law and interpreting it as it pertains to the Constitution and more importantly the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I am not opposed to the President expressing his opinion but to call the Supreme Court out as if they were an ignorant group of morons was appalling. B-Rock owes these men and women an apology and just maybe they can have a beer on the White House lawn to iron out their differences with the good professor.

These are my words! Please post yours!

Happy Anniversary Mr. President

2010-01-19T23:26:00.008-05:00

A year ago today this country ushered in a new era of extremism. Extreme in the way that Liberals took over the White House and months later (thanks Al Franken) the Senate. They already had control over the House of Representatives. They had everything that a fat kid in a candy store could want except self-control.

B-Rock had it made with this spending bus driving down a mountain road with two accelerators, no brakes and no steering wheel. As soon as B-Rock took his seat as our leader he immediately reminded republicans, "I won!" He went on to issue executive orders, push through trillion dollar deficit spending and had asked for and was beginning to get his beloved health care reform.

Americans were not having it. We threw tea parties, organized grass root protests at town hall meetings and made a huge amount of noise in protest of this spending bus and liberal government intrusion into our lives.

Since I did not get you a present or a cake from my favorite bakery; I hope you can find solace in the present the people of Massachusetts gave you. I am sure that you were terribly disappointed that your personal appearance alone could not guarantee a win for Ms. Coakley. But you should not have over estimated your personal appeal after the Olympic debacle even though you did receive a Nobel Peace Prize for your potential all while you escalated the War in Afghanistan. I guess the gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey were not enough of a wake up call for you.

Consider this election of a Republican to a historically held Democratic senate seat your anniversary present. Congratulations to Scott Brown! Remember that this is a referendum to your policies, agenda and leadership this past year. Your transparency and open governing never happened and Americans are saying we want less government and less spending. We want more of our hard earned dollars in our pockets not being spread around.

So all I can say is Happy Anniversary Mr. President! I hope you learned a lot about the American people over this past year!

These are my words! Please post yours!

Blame No One. There Will Be Finger Pointing, "...I will not tolerate it"

2010-01-05T20:56:00.008-05:00

Does this mean that the B-Rock administration will stop pointing their middle finger at the American people that they have been so prone to use since he made the statement, "I won!" All the while using that same middle finger against the will of the people on health care reform as well as federal spending. Will he take his own advice and stop pointing fingers at the previous administration for the "financial mess" he was left with. Because this president has been the master of blame since his inauguration close to a year ago.

An American airliner was almost destroyed in flight by a terrorist on Christmas Day. How this guy was allowed on a U.S. bound plane is going to be debated for the next 9-10 months it will take to have congressional hearings and play the blame game. Were we lucky or was it because of some quick thinking American heroic passengers who put a beat-down on this knucklehead? Who knows but the president's personal apologetic tours around the globe have not given us any favors from those who continue to try to kill Americans.

The Obama administration has asked our friends around the world to conduct nationality-based security frisks on travelers from twelve nations that have potential terrorist aims. This flies in the face of the ridiculous security checks Americans go through at our own airports around the country. Little old ladies from Kalamazoo are being striped searched because we cannot or will not just single out those who have been profiled as potential threats. We won't do it for fear of "offending" some Muslim group. I know that all Muslims are not terrorists but almost all terrorists have been Muslim.

I was glad to see his anger with the intelligence breakdown. Hopefully reality will set in for him that even his charisma will not save us from these threats. Someone failed us. I will not speak about the Homeland Security Secretary, Janet "Ice Cream" Napolitano.

By the way, why are we medically treating this terrorist. He wanted to kill himself and others so let this bonehead suffer. No treatment, no pain killers, just food and water. And find him 72 hookers to substitute for the virgins he was expecting to get in hell!

My advice to this president is to heed your own words. Stop blaming others because now as President of these United States, the buck stops with you. Find the problems, fix them and do something that will show that this country is still strong!

These are my words! Please post yours!

Proud Papa 4.0

2009-12-15T21:30:00.005-05:00

With all the news about health care reform, unemployment, upside-down economy I kind of got my mind off all things important to me. My son Terron.

While the world is in turmoil and the country is trying to recover from a devastating recession my son was toiling away at Florida A&M University taking 15 semester credit hours as a college freshman. We talked several times a week. I asked how things were going. He always said fine but his voice always said something different. I always tried to pry but he kept to things were going o.k. He would often call to ask for technical help on his laptop or how to locate something but never did he say anything was going bad, so I did not worry to deeply. He only asked for money twice during the semester and those requests came late in the semester. I had not seen him since I dropped him off in August. He decided to go to my former in-laws for Thanksgiving and I did not get to see him until this week.

Well, yesterday while I was at work my phone alerted me to a call coming in from him. I answered and he politely told me of his final grades this semester. As he talked my smiled widened so big that I could not even hold my phone. You see he told me that his final grades in all of his classes were A's. A perfect 4.0 GPA as a college freshman. While others were partying and getting their fill of personal freedoms my son figured that the time was right to laser focus on his education.

My hat is off to this fine young man and all my love to my youngest child and only son for doing not only what he was charged to do but doing it despite the fears that came from his father.

You go Terron! Dad will always worry but he will always love you!

No Wins, No Victory, Just Retreat

2009-12-02T23:05:00.004-05:00

I am thinking that General George A. Custer would be proud. He would be witnessing a greater tactical error than his fight at Little Big Horn. Our president has just informed our enemies that we will send more troops to fight them but we will withdraw those same troops in 18 months and end our hostilities. Ironically this time line coincides with the proposed withdrawal of forces in Iraq and during the 2012 presidential hunt.

In his speech to the Cadets at West Point, B-Rock spewed over 4,600 words about what he wanted to do in Afghanistan, how the previous administration did not place emphasis on this war and how we need to forge greater alliances with the Muslim world. But not once did he speak of victory. Nor did he mention that the ultimate goal is to win.

All of this reminds me of the liberal families that send their little ones to play soccer or T-Ball but refuse to keep score for fear of winning all the while claiming that having winners and losers will hurt the little screamers esteem.

How do you speak in front of America's future military leaders and never mention victory nor winning? I truly hope that Malia and Sasha never have their dad speak at their soccer rally. He could be a real buzz kill at inspiration for a win.

Next time you want to rally the troops Mr. President, please have a Knute Rockne moment and talk about winning! In America we play to win. Victory is the result of our pain and efforts. Please remind those who will be leading our troops of that in your next speech to them.

These are my words! Please post yours!

Jedi Warriors and Military Strategist

2009-11-20T11:07:00.006-05:00

B-Rock Obama has rejected seven, count them, seven proposals on success in Afghanistan. He has decided that he is the best Jedi Warrior in the solar system and that he knows best on how to win this conflict.

I thought that he hand picked General Stanley McChrystal as his guy to run the Afghanistan theater of war on "man-made-disasters." Yet this General still waits while American servicemen bleed and wait for support and assistance to finish their mission. General McChrystal had to go rouge to get his request ultimately heard. B-Rock thought more of the Olympic quests of the city of Chicago than the men and women of America's fighting forces to hear the General out. But that may be that B-Rock is the head Jedi and lives like a Nija and knows what all great warriors know.

To compound this the Attorney "General", Eric Holder thinks that trying enemy combatants in civilian courts is how we deal with those that are at war with this country. I cannot believe that Holder ever tried a case when he was not prepared for Senator Lindsey Graham's questions about this endeavor. Yet the Obama administration thinks that trying terrorist in civilian court is the answer to our problems.

They will be granted American Constitutional rights to representation in our court system down the street from their destruction.

May God Help Us!

These are my Words! Please post yours!

U.S. Guilty of Summary Executions!

2009-10-28T11:18:00.006-04:00

While the president will not be rushed into a decision about whether to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the military continues the use of predator drones to target and kill enemies of this country. Now U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, Philip Alston, says the use of these remote controlled killing machines may violate international humanitarian law and international civil rights law.

He wants the Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense to be more forthcoming when they intend to use these machines. I guess we should also invite the Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces to let the C.I.A. know of their movements too! What a buffoon? He also thinks that they should explain what steps are being taken to prevent civilian casualties.

Had this guy been the special rapporteur during WWII then that war would have been lost. Can you imagine the U.S. military having to explain how they were going to prevent civilian deaths during their carpet bombing air raids over Germany. Civil War General William Sherman said it best..."war is hell."

Alston claims that because of the number of civilian deaths that have resulted from some of these attacks the U.S. is not holding itself nor the C.I.A accountable. I offer that if those civilians would just turn the terrorist in or stop harboring them amongst their villages and towns then these accidental deaths would not occur. He also wants to know who is running the program and by what legal basis does it exist. Listen up Mr. Alston, the U.S. Congress which gave then President Bush the authority to invade Afghanistan and rid the country of its terrorist training camps and the Taliban. We are still in the process of eliminating these knuckleheads from the DNA pool.

Because the Taliban and Al-Qaeda enemies hide in mostly unreachable areas of the countryside and since Mr. B-Rock cannot be rushed into committing 40,000 more troops to this action then we have to use unmanned aircraft to locate and kill our enemies. Obama will probably kowtow to the whims of the U.N. being that he believes that their governance supersedes that of our Constitution. We already have released the details of interrogation techniques that the C.I.A. and military uses in the field so why not let the U.N. know every time we are going to use a drone to attack some unsuspecting terrorist. Giving them a heads up that they are being watched and that an attack is eminent.

This country cannot allow our government to be questioned by those within the U.N. that are usually the one's who oppose anything that we do as a sovereign nation to protect our interest and citizens. We must shut this kind of opposition down and remind those countries of the United Nations that we are the largest dues paying member and membership has privileges. Unless you would like to be meeting in Haiti going forward, be thankful for the United States of America for its hospitality and tolerance.

These are my words. Please post yours!

Prophetic: Maximum Wage

2009-10-22T21:54:00.004-04:00

In a country that is based upon the rule of law how is it that President B-Rock and his ilk can come up with a plan to cut compensation for executives that work for companies that have received federal bailout monies.

I wrote about a maximum wage initiative in January, February and April. Now it has come that it will probably happen. A clear assault on success and capitalism.

B-Rock's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, indicates that he will propose cutting the contractual salaries and total compensation for these executives. If the tax payers are to ever be paid back for the money given to these companies, General Motors, AIG, Citigroup, Chrysler and others then you will want the most successful business leaders leading these companies. But that will never happen if any executive and for that matter any employee has fear of their compensation being regulated by a government bureaucrat.

Because of these regulations and interference all of these companies will have leaders running them that are not focused on increasing shareholder value but on doing whatever they can to stay off a government noncompliance list. No business leader or executive will want to go to work for a company where their hands are tied behind their back and asked to brush their teeth. These companies will not succeed and the taxpayers will never be paid back. All because of government interference and regulation.

While some Americans support this policy because of class warfare these are some of the same people that never say a word about the money that Brad Pitt, Madonna, LeBron James or Tom Brady and other athletes and entertainers earn from their work. The reason I listed entertainers and athletes is because they are not responsible for creating jobs and contributing to the overall health of the economy yet they make millions of dollars for their work.

If we are a country based upon the rule of law then the Obama administration is seeking to be above that law. They are seeking to void contracts that are negotiated in good faith and agreed to by both the executive and the executive compensation committee at those companies. All because of government intervention into free market and the assault on capitalism.

Based upon the reasoning of receiving government bailout money how soon will it extend to companies that will have their compensation regulated because they do contract work or business with the federal government. What is preventing the administration from extending this regulation to the hourly employee with the reasoning that you may be making more per hour than a comparable government employee? Look out it is coming to your company!

If we are going to continue as a republic then we have to rein in our government. Enough of the attacks on success. Enough of governing by polls and public opinion. Whatever happened to common sense?

These are my words! Please post yours!

Tree Huggers, Healthcare and Hypocrisy

2009-10-20T09:23:00.007-04:00

The Senate Finance Committee has finally completed and submitted their version of health care reform bill. It amazes me how our elected officials continue to write and sponsor legislation that is written in verbiage that the average American will not want to read nor will they be able to understand. But here is a piece of legislation that is over 1,500 pages and if printed will use over 3 reams of paper. I will not spend time discussing what's in or not in this bill as I like your Senator have not read or even attempted to read it yet.

That brings me to the eCo-Terrorist Tree Hugging Moonbats in this country. Where is their outrage over their government burning through this much paper to get a piece of legislation passed? If you figure that each Senator will need a copy to read(maybe), at least four of their aides will also need a copy (to brief their bosses, maybe) and then the press corps will get their copy as well then this one piece of legislation will produce millions of pages of paper by the time it is marked up, amended and finally voted on.

In this Green environment we live I know that some of you will say that the Senate is probably using recycled paper. But as we know, our government has always used a "do as I say not as I do" mentality toward the American people. They are above the rules and try to be above the law in some cases. And considering how the government contracts for the pricing of supplies they are probably overpaying for the paper since the contract is old and the vendor cannot lower the price because it is under contract to sell the paper for the cost of the GSA contract. But this lends itself to another government takeover of an American industry. They could just takeover paper companies like Georgia Pacific, Boise Cascade or Weyerhaeuser because they are too big to fail and the government must have that paper to print out those millions of pages of waste.

Then we have the toner involved in running these printing presses. What about the energy utilized to operate those presses. Where is Al Gore on getting the Senate to buy their carbon offsets for all of this energy being used? Do as I say not as I do! But what am I thinking. Toner is made from carbon black and other magnetic compounds and resins. As the printers run they give of some of these chemicals as residual byproduct of printing thus destroying the environment along the way. I hope that those government employees in the printing house are getting their lungs checked at their annual checkup since they have medical care coverage.

To help you wrap your arms around my point. In order to pass health care reform to cover the 15% of Americans that are presently not covered we will destroy a part of our environment to get there. But I believe Liberals find this as a means to an end. I personally find drilling for American oil in Anwar and off the shores of Florida and California a means to an end but I digress. Liberals think all Americans must have health care coverage by any means necessary. And putting additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is just alrighty in this instance. We will have to put up with that additional degree of temperature in our climate because the cause of 15% is greater than the 85% who already have some form of health care coverage.

If any of you have ever read any of my post previously you know that I do not believe in man-made global warming and I am not supporting this fallacy just making fun of those who express outrage over some of the silliest things but are not protesting and ranting about the abuse of the paper products in our government.

These are my words! Please post yours!

Tragedy Strikes In Georgia

2009-09-30T00:57:00.004-04:00

The reason that I have not posted recently is that I have become frustrated with the ability of our nations leaders to really represent the people from their respective districts and how those leaders have allowed this great nation to become weakened by their socialist leaning politics. Failing to listen with both ears and speaking with only one mouth!

If that was not enough, the sweetest woman that I love became a victim of the floods in Georgia. With God's love and blessing he allowed both she and her daughter to be away from the house when the Sweetwater Creek decided to flood her two year old subdivision with over 10 feet of water. The picture posted (green house) is of her house and the water level as of Tuesday, September 22nd. The window you see is her second floor. This area was not considered to be in a flood plain.

We have started to recover but we will require your prayers to make certain that God's will, will be done with replacement or rebuilding of this once beautiful home. And that she and her daughter will be able to have a wonderful house again. Rebuilding their life will be difficult but she remains dedicated to her faith in God and her love of Jesus Christ.

These are my words!

Enough Said

2009-09-09T00:18:00.002-04:00

Makes stupid sense to me! Punish 85% to appease 15%. Excellent points by this representative. H/T to my buddy Joe for directing this video to me.

Please post your words!

"Judged By The Content Of My Character"

2009-08-30T12:36:00.005-04:00

"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963

It has been 46 years since Dr. King uttered those words to America. It was a historic and momentous occasion that still reverberates throughout the world. Yet as much as we (Blacks) have worked to be judged by our character and not our skin tone we are constantly being held back by our very own people.

Congresswoman Diane Watson made the following comment during a town hall discussion over health care reform in this country; "They are spreading fear and they are trying to see that the first president that looks like me, fail." These are some very damning words when you think about how long we have tried to distance ourselves from being looked at from a "skin tone" perspective but from a "character of works" perspective. Never mind that she went on to praise Fidel Castro and the Cuban government's health system. If Cubans are so happy with Fidel then why do they risk their lives and the lives of their children to set sail for the U.S.? But I digress.

I wrote my thoughts before the election about what I felt would occur should Obama get elected and many of those thoughts are being played out daily. The biggest being that any opposition to this president would be met with the big trump card of RACE. Since when did it become racism to disagree with the disastrous and ruinous financial policies of a sitting president. How would it have looked if white people would have screamed reverse racism after Kanye West made his "George Bush don't like Black people" remark. Sounds silly doesn't it. Then so does Ms. Watson's comments about a "president that looks like me."

"...In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds...We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plain of dignity and discipline...The marvelous new militancy that has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone..." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963

I know many of us have heard the " I have a Dream Speech" but I don't think many of us have read it and understood what Dr. King was speaking to us about. At least many of our black leaders need to heed his words. Stop blaming the man. Stop using the race card and start self examination of our deeds and actions when it comes to being Black and in America.

Some reading this may refer to me as an Uncle Tom. A characterization that has be inaccurately used for many years. My blog friend Digital Publius posted a piece about this topic last week. Others will say that I am a hater of all things black. Those are typical responses from blacks who support liberal philosophies even though many blacks on most topics are conservative in thoughts.

Black people when are we going to stop being victims and start being owners of our destination. You can no longer say that the "man" is holding you down because the "man" is now Black or in Obama's case semi-black. Above all stop looking to the government to fix your situation. It cannot and will not without making you a slave to their rules of living. If you want to be free then be free...of a tyrannical federal government.

To quote a Clinton..."Free your mind and your ass will follow" George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic circa 1972

Some of these are my words (credit given where necessary)! Please post yours!

Pull 'Em Up And Show Some Respect To Yourself

2009-08-20T23:08:00.004-04:00

As I attended my youngest child's college orientation this past weekend it occurred to me that I had done alright as a parent. When I say alright I am speaking about the way in which both my children have shown great respect for their parents, themselves and the adults that surround them. While they may have strong opinions, neither of them are disrespectful even as young adults themselves.

I write this because as I walked the campus of an institution of higher learning, I witnessed the results of poor parenting. An orientation letter that was sent to all incoming freshmen indicated that 'while there are many articles of clothing that may be fashionable today please refrain from wearing these articles as you would be making your first impressions with members of the faculty and administrators of the university.'

Yet I saw scores of young men with their pants completely off their asses and belted off at the knee. Good parenting would have prevented the rest of us from seeing this underwear display. If one father or mother would have said to their young son, "pull 'em up!" And now!

And the young ladies were not left out. Many wore some of the gaudiest outfits and skimpy articles of clothing on the planet. I asked myself where are these girls' mothers and not to my surprise I often saw the mother dressed just like the child. C'mon can't we stop trying to be our child's friend and be their parent. Cover it up young ladies! You can be sexy and appealing without showing all of your private parts.

It became obvious to me that many of these children have never really been parented once they made it to puberty. The parents decided to become the child's best friend and encouraged them in their manner of dress and actions. Trying to emulate the child to the tune of getting tacky tattoo's and piercings to show how cool they can be as an adult.

There are no schools or licensing for being a parent. But let's show some decorum and respect parents. Start telling your boys that they cannot wear their pants off their waist. Remind your little girls that they should cover up. If your child is under the age of 17 why are you allowing them to mark up their bodies with tattoos and piercing. You are the parent and can demand that they comply.

A belt is for holding your pants around your waist not your knees! I am sad to see that some municipalities have decided to legislate how to wear your pants. This is a waste of time for those cities. Better parenting goes along way. Start being a parent and stop being a friend. Pull 'em up!

These are my words! Please post yours!

It's "Un-American Behavior" to Protest Your Displeasure With Your Government

2009-08-10T18:44:00.006-04:00

"That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." Declaration of Independence

Within the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers indicated that whenever government becomes destructive with regards to the rights of the governed that it should be abolished, altered and a new government instituted. I guess you could say that the Townsend Acts, the Stamp Act or the Intolerable Acts would have been totally permissible if the Colonist would have just paid their taxes and not protested their unfair taxation without representation within the British Parliament. There would not have been a Boston Tea Party or a Boston Massacre which ultimately helped to usher in the Colonial uprising that later became the American Revolution. But these people were fed up and acted out to protest an ever increasing governmental intrusion into their lives. I am sure that there was someone in the British Parliament or even King George himself that called their actions not British-like!

Now along comes Cruella D'Pelosi and announces that Americans that protest the ever increasing governmental intrusion into their lives as Un-American behavior. Maybe they didn't teach American history at Trinity College or maybe considering the age of Cruella the history of the American uprising in the 18th century had not been committed to book form yet. At any rate if she had half a clue she would realize that what the American people are doing is very American. In other countries the consequences are much worse as in civil uprising and coup d'etat.

But as the founding of this country has shown us we only needed one civil uprising to start this nation. All other governmental changes have been peaceable and without bloodshed. Every two years we have the opportunity to change our government through the ballot even though elections can have dire consequences, ala President B-Rock and his Band of Merry Men.

Americans are just trying to utilize the Constitutional rights of assembly and protest to voice their total disapproval of a health care initiative that has been proposed with little debate and with very few Congressmen ever reading it in its entirety.

Now the Congressional Democrat leadership is running scared of a few vocal voters. They have decided to stage a protest of their own and not hold town hall style meetings as to keep the 'angry mobs' away. They would rather control the meetings via conference calls and staged question and answer sessions much like President B-Rock monthly pressers.

Let me get this right. You are elected by the people in your district to serve them, yet because you cannot handle personal conflict you choose to not meet your electorate face to face thus you are not available and are seen as hiding from the public. Hmmmm. If I did that in my job with the customers that help to pay my salary then I would be one of the millions looking for a job. I guess the writers of the Declaration of Independence were right....time to abolish and institute a new government, peaceably in 2010. These Congressmen should be voted out of office if for nothing more than cowardice. How can you vote to send our troops to war around the globe but cannot stomach the few hours spent with the people you represent and pay your salary?

And Ms. D'Pelosi. She has gotta go! She has insulted the American people for the very last time. The ignorant voters of California have been sending this clown to Washington since 1987. It is time for a wake up for the left coast. Remember elections do have consequences!

These are my words! Please post yours!

Cash For Clunkers, Converter Box Coupons and KFC Grilled Chicken

2009-07-31T00:11:00.005-04:00

Once again the Obama administration has found a way to showcase government's inability to play in the free market. The government's $1 billion "Cash For Clunkers" program has been suspended after already spending close to $150 million in a week on 22,000 vehicles with reserves of $850 million for pending applications. You can bet that their will be a bill down the road to add more taxpayer funding to this program because it was not fair that everyone could not participate.

The program that is officially called Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), was designed to help jump start auto sales by offering consumers $3,500 or $4,500 rebate if they trade in a used vehicle that gets 18 mpg or less and buy a new car that is more fuel efficient. But just like the digital t.v. conversion box coupon program the government under estimated the consumer response.

The digital t.v. conversion had budgeted $1.3 billion to assist consumers with their conversion to digital broadcast on older television sets. But the money ran out and consumers were still waiting for their $40 coupons to purchase the set top boxes. The official conversion date was then extended from February to June to allow for additional $650 million in funding from Obama's "stimulus package" and to get more coupons in the hands of the populace.

Both these programs have the same thing in common. Government bureaucrats are not the best people at forecasting expenses. Although the DTV conversion coupons were redeemed at about 55% the money has been allocated and you can best believe that it will not be reallocated back to the treasurey once the final coupons have reached expiration.

With the CARS program the dealers are the ones that may be on the hook. They have to give the consumer the rebate off the vehicle price up front and wait for the government to approve their application for reimbursement on the vehicle but not until they have proven that they have chemically destroyed the engine and rendered the car unsaleable. Thus if the bureaucrats decline an application the dealership does not get reimbursed and will have to eat the loss because they will have a car that cannot operate.

What does all of this have to do with KFC Grilled chicken? Nothing and everthing; except that even private enterprise can sometimes underestimate consumer demand. KFC chose the queen of daytime talk, Oprah Winfrey, to help launch a free grilled chicken dinner promotion and were innundated with angry customers who were being turned away at stores after they begin to run out of chicken. The difference is that KFC realized that they had a problem on their hands and still promised free chicken and a Pepsi as a raincheck to those who did not get their meal on the day the promotion ran. KFC did not use taxpayer money to fund this obviously expensive product launch promotion but paid for it from the ordinary running of their business. KFC's president, Roger Eaton, apologized and made good on his company's plan to offer a free trial of their latest product.

Once again the government has under projected demand and expenses for another government program. Yet they think that we will take their word at how much health care reform will pay for itself when these two programs indicate that they have no clue as to consumer demand or how to fund it. Every program the government has ever launched has cost more than what has been budgeted but now health care will pay for itself and possibly provide a savings to the government. Ha Ha.

These are my words. Please post yours!

Healthcare Reform or Overhaul...Still No Plan

2009-07-23T14:33:00.006-04:00

After listening to B-Rock Opompus on last night I had the sinking feeling that we have been here before. It all sounded too familiar. It all sounded like the pressure that B-Rock put on Congress and the American public for his stimulus plan.

Take these words from an op-ed piece that the president wrote on February 5, 2009:

"Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse."

Now compare those words to these words uttered last night:

"So let me be clear: If we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit. If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we don't act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction. These are the stakes of the debate that we're having right now."

If any of you really listened to the president you all would have heard what I have been hearing from him since last August. Plenty of ideas and no true plan to get these ideas working. If you recall he once thought about taxing the benefits of the those wage earners who make over $350k annually but now has support for creating a surtax for those Americans who earn $1M annually.

When asked if he and Congress would abide by the same plan that he is proposing, Opompus made the mistake of telling Americans that he wanted them to have the same plan that Congress currently has. O.K. They pay about 25% of the premiums and the taxpayers pick up the rest of the tab. In short, the taxpayers will pay for the plan. The other problem with this is that members of Congress have no waiting period to enroll and they are offered a myriad of plans to choose from which are through private carriers and provide for no pre-existing conditions clauses. Plus Congress has its own doctors, nurses and technicians standing by. They don't even have to leave work to get a physical exam or x-rays. Unless we work in healthcare field we gotta go to the doctor's office.

What is wrong with this idea? First, the government subsidizing 75% of premiums already indicates that companies will choose to drop coverage for their employees and turn them over to the government plan because not many companies choose to pay 75% of their employee premiums without tax incentives. Secondly, no private insurer can compete with the government when it comes to the ability to impose taxes and penalities on the populace to keep their premiums low thus eliminating competition.

To further bolster the presidents take over of healtcare was hidden in his response to a question posed by Steve Koff, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"But having a public plan out there that also shows that maybe if you take some of the profit motive out, maybe if you are reducing some of the administrative costs, that you can get an even better deal, that's going to incentivize the private sector to do even better."

He seeks to remove the profit motive from private health insurers. Then there will be no private health insurers if they cannot make a profit. No one will be in the business of assuming risk without rewards. I know that health care costs have continued to rise but so have the cost associated with the advancements in treatment. Companies and researchers that come up with new and innovative ways to fix our ailments have to be compensated for their research and development. I really don't think we can wait on Pakistan to come up with a new treatment for any new malady that exists. Most money is recouped in the early stages of use.

I don't hear an outcry about how much money Microsoft makes off of its suites of Office 2007 or Windows Vista software. They are still charging the same rate that they did when the products launched 3 years ago and by now I am sure that they have recouped all of their research and development costs for that product launch( and you can bet that Windows 7 will be launched with the same pricing structure). And take a look at the Apple iPod. The prices never really go down. You get some new features, first color, then video, then smaller size, then touch and wi-fi capabilities but the prices remains constant within a few dollars. But I digress.

As I mentioned earlier, the president is full of ideas and no plans. His ideas are disguised as plans but if you examine closely you will see that there is no substance to grab hold to. Contrary to what he says, B-Rock wants to nationalize healthcare. He wants a complete overhaul of our healthcare system without looking to see what is broken and needs fixing. If my car were to run out of gas while driving; I would not rebuild the engine to fix the problem. I would call the motor club to bring me gasoline or tow me to a gas station. Let's remind our elected knuckleheads in Congress that overhaul means tearing down to rebuild. Do we need to rebuild or just fix what is broken and remove what is not working?

These are my words! Please post yours!

Obama Getting Snubbed by FOX Again...

2009-07-20T22:29:00.006-04:00

President B-Rock Opompus is so in love with himself and his voice that for the fourth time in his six months in office he is appearing on prime time television to read to us from his teleprompters.

This president keeps telling us that we are living in 'tough economic times' and these times also extend to businesses from large to small. Yet once again he finds it necessary to interrupt business as usual for television broadcasters by preempting a prime revenue time slot to deliver to the American people more of his dribble.

Broadcast networks have continued to see their revenues decline during this recession and would much rather dumb us down with their "piss-poor" programming versus delivering 'revenue negative' Obama dribble. FOX has once again decided to forgo this loss in revenue altogether while NBC only decided to carry this broadcast after the White House decided to change the start time to 8 p.m. If I were Obama I would find it disturbing that his favorite network, NBC, had to think about whether to carry his broadcast. CBS decided to carry the broadcast early on because it was already running repeats and probably won the lottery to lob the first softball question at a future presser. ABC had to move two of its silly shows to an hour later to make certain that they get a seat at the alter. FOX will refer you to its news channel for their coverage but will not lose money on this sputum.

So what could he possibly have to say to us this time? I predict he will try to sound like the late Billy Mays and pitch us of the merits of his trillion dollar Obamacare plan. On how we must act quickly to head off a crisis (sounding like the stimulus speech in January). Using snake oil salesman tactics along with the demeanor of a used car salesman he will go on to tell us about the failing state of the economy but how his 'stick-it-to-us package' is creating and saving jobs even though less than 10% has been spent. He will tell us that he does not want the 'guberment' to run the automotive industry but will sell us on the speed in which both automotive companies have emerged from bankruptcy. How his policies helped to create a stronger automotive industry and saved jobs.

After his last prime time broadcast there was a major drop in viewers watching the president address the people. I can't wait for the viewer numbers after this fiasco.

These are my words. Please post yours!

$12 Billion For Training People For Jobs Of The Future

2009-07-14T21:58:00.005-04:00

I have been away from writing and commenting for a couple of weeks. That does not mean I have not been been watching, reading, waiting and reacting to what has been going on in our nation. In the interim, Farrah Fawcet, Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon, and Billy Mays all passed away. But B-Rock marches on toward world domination.

When you get a chance try to add additional water to your toilet bowl by pouring a gallon of water into it. What you will find is that even though you are pouring more water than your bowl can hold the water level never rises as it is siphoned off to keep the water level constant. That is how I feel about the money our president continues to pledge to spend to the American people and to other nations around the world.

President B-Rock is proposing spending $12B on the nations community colleges in an effort to reach, teach and train more people for "the jobs of the future." That is all fine and dandy but the future is now. With unemployment sitting at 9.5% and the president himself stating that it will rise over the next several months, committing money toward training for jobs that have yet to be created will be a total waste of tax payer money. Pouring additional water into the toilet to keep it level!

But wait, we have already been there and done that with the $787B stimulus package that has yet to stimulate anything as only $60B of it has been actually spent. That is less than 10% of the total. But this president had to have a spending bill on his desk immediately after taking the oath of office. He had to be able to review it for five days(we all would have liked to have seen it for five days) before signing it and the American people were suppose to be able to view it for themselves. The water level is still the same but the results are getting worse!

B-Rock spoke today in Warren, Michigan, a state that has been hardest hit by this backwards running economy. The president told the citizens there that many of the jobs lost in the auto industry will not be coming back. Duh! A large dose of reality for those who are already figuring this out since the guberment owns and operates two of the biggest American car makers. But yet we still hold out for the 2 million, no I mean 3 million, oh wait I think the final number was 4.1 million jobs to be created or saved by this administration. Yet his proclamation was that his stimulus has created 150,000 jobs.

But back to the 'jobs of the future' training that the Nations community colleges are suppose to be gearing up to teach. Is the president putting the cart before the horse in this instance? I don't mean because he is anticipating creating new jobs but because he thinks these new jobs are going to come from new energy sources.

First he will need to get his 'Cap N Trade' cereal bill through the Senate and onto his desk in order to move this country toward Obama "energy independence." Then we need to figure out which former GM and Chrysler plants will be able to build wind turbines efficiently with union labor and where will these people get their training to build said turbines. Finally, and this is where the cart gets ahead of the horse, only some of the money he is proposing will not be allocated until the next fiscal year. As with the case of the stimulus money being less than 10% spent in six months time we could possibly have these people educated and ready to work by 2015. But the recession should be over by then, right? Still trying to change that toilet water level by adding more water to the bowl!

Here is the rub. B-Rock Obama has done little to improve this nation's economy. He is not the guy you want speaking about the economy or tinkering with it as his only ideas come in the form of pouring more water into the toilet only to see the water level never change. Some would wonder where he gets these ideas and how late he stays up formulating this stuff. Obama thinks an associates degree will be necessary for the 'jobs of the future.' So once again he wants to reform something, and that is the nation's community colleges but I have to ask, where does he get these silly ideas? Could the short answer to that question be, V.P. Joe Biden?

These are my words! Please post yours.

Perez Hilton Takes A Beat Down....Well Sort Of!

2009-06-23T02:00:00.009-04:00

I really could care less about this overly obnoxious blow hard but I could hardly contain myself when I viewed his recent video blog of his alleged attack by the manager of the pop group, Black Eyed Peas.

In view of the trashy statements that this idiot made about the former Ms. California, Carrie Prejean, I could care less about this piece of human trash. I watched the video of him telling his side of the story to the assault and all I could do was laugh. He launched into a tirade about group member, will. i. am, only to say that it was the manager that hit him.

My favorite line in the post was, "I like writing about other people's drama. I don't want drama in my life." So much for keeping drama out of your life huh Mario. Perez makes a bold assertion that he does not need additional press because he has 10 million visitors to his web site daily. Oooooh! 10 million idiots or maybe 200,000 that visit so frequently that it adds up to 10 million! Either way this guy gets no sympathy from me or should he get any from anyone. He only reaped what he has sown.

He insulted Ms. Prejean because her views are different from his. He hangs around with the celebrity elite, and I don't know why, but thinks that we should pity him because he got knocked on his ass for calling will. i. am a faggot. You can see this idiot make a fool of himself by following this link!

Well Ms. Perez welcome to the real world. I guess you thought that the body guard for Lady GaGa was your body guard. Obviously not, he did what he should have done and that was protect his paying client not your stupid behind. I am not advocating violence against anyone but this idiot got out of his sandbox when he decided to mess with members of the Black Eyed Peas. You see Perez, Ms. Prejean could not come out at you. Many bloggers did but she could not for public relations reasons. So you got a little smack upside the head. Get over yourself. You are one big dramatic martyr and no one cares. No Pity Party for you young lady!

For the record I hope whomever smacked you is found guilty of assault. But you need to stop whining about "they followed me to the hotel" where you stated they were also staying thus they were not following you. Stop being a wuss and crawl back into your hole for another 30 or 40 years.

And your effing tirade toward the Black Eyed Peas at the end of the video was not necessary and to call Fergie "fugly" really riles me up. She did nothing to your disgusting butt. You got embarrassed and only wanted to get your face in front of the public with your martyred tale of whoa!

For the readers that normally visit my blog you know that this is off base for my commentary but I needed a little therapy and this guy gave it to me.

Maybe this will force Perez or Mario whatever his name is to just quietly go away.

Those are my words! Please post yours!

Jobs Saved or Created...I Am Still Dazed and Confused!

2009-06-09T00:42:00.005-04:00

Every time President B-Rock announces that his "stimulus plan" will 'save or create' jobs I keep asking which is it Mr. President; 'save or create.' I think we all know the answer. It is neither.

This president who has a fascination with hearing himself speak and seeing himself on T.V. has once again trotted out the 'saved or created' statistic. He claimed yesterday and had done so earlier this year during one of his many prime time addresses that his stimulus plan has created or saved 150,000 American Jobs. And I thought that you could get a top notch education at Harvard. It is obvious that they do not teach mathematics or even rudimentary arithmetic at this institution of higher learning.

But now the biggest lie is that he is now claiming that his stimulus plan will 'save or create' over 600,000 jobs. That is an additional 450,000 ficticious jobs added.

Close to 2 million Americans have lost their jobs since B-Rock took over as our leader. He claimed during the campaign that his economic policies would create 2 million, then 3 million and finally 4 million jobs. Yet when we do the basic arithmetic on any of these projections and with the number of Americans on unemployment he has not even scratched the surface of job creation.

This president has bit off more than he can chew. The government does not creates jobs. The market does that. But when you have government intervention in the free market you have job losses. Secondly, even the Department of Labor will tell him there is no way to track or find out if any jobs were "saved." This is a fictitious claim that Obama keeps touting with no evidence to back it up. Yet no one in the media stands up to challenge these assertions of "saved" jobs. He is using estimates to come up with these numbers. So his figures go unchallenged. The bottom line is that there is no way to track the number of jobs "saved."

Let's for the sake of humor give Mr. Obama the 150,000 jobs he has claimed that his administration has "saved or created." Let's deduct the approximately 27,000 Chrysler will have to let go because of its recent bankruptcy filing and add to it the approximately 20,000 that General Motors will be furloughing now he is on the downward slide of losing 47,000 jobs from the supposedly 150,000 that was created. The net effect is only 103,000 jobs "saved or created." This does not include the number of layoffs as a result of the 1,800 dealership closings of both automakers.

With the national unemployment rate at 9.4%, I have a plea for the president. Please allow me to send you my slightly used HP-12C calculator. It is still functioning from when I received my college education and I am sure it can be of some use to you as well. It not only does basic math but you can even use it to calculate the amount of interest we are paying on your stimulus plan daily. Or just use the built in calculator in your Blackberry. The people need facts not boastful unsubstatiated claims of phoney pie in the sky jobs numbers.

That's my word! Please post yours!

The Nutty Professor

2009-05-27T14:41:00.006-04:00

It doesn't get any better than this. Obama's Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, has suggested that we paint our roof tops white to control global warming. He hypothesizes that lighter colored roofs would reflect heat into space rather than having it absorbed by darker surfaces thus cutting down on the use of air conditioning and saving money on energy usage.

Dr. Chu is a Nobel Prize Physicist who is known for his research on laser cooling. He is from a family of scientist that have excelled at their craft. He, however, must be riding the loony bus now. Proposing that hotter countries paint their roofs in order to save on air conditioning is akin to blowing on fire to cool it off. At least this cabinet secretary did not have a tax problem to go along with his 'white roof theory'!

Even if global warmist were truly correct, this kind of stupidity would bring their cause down. These guys would have you believe that man is causing this gigantic planet to warm up thus eventually causing the polar ice caps to melt, even though science has already proven that the world has actually cooled over the past several years. It is obvious that the theories behind global warming are incorrect or we would not have such lame ideas coming about. He is also suggesting that roads be more of a concrete color and that this would also help.

Since I am not a scientist and have never played one on T.V. I have a couple of questions:
If we paint our roofs so that we reflect heat into outer space, what happens on those cloudy days when the heat is being reflected back by the cloud cover? Will the heat then bounce around like the ball in the old pong video game? Why not just build several million giant mirrors to reflect the sunlight back to the sun!?

With trillions of dollars of debt, how are we to pay for this painting program in the U.S.? I am certain that we will need to use an eco-green paint to not place any unnecessary chemicals or carbon release into the atmosphere. The poor will not be able to afford to have their roofs painted so I guess we could create jobs for painting roofs. To cover a typical roof would require over 5 gallons of paint. Buying 5 gallons of paint from an online site for green paints would cost upwards of $260.

I think about the reflective qualities of concrete and white in general and I believe that it would cause major disruptions in air travel. We would have all of this reflective material bouncing heat and light back into the air and pilots from airlines as well as the space shuttle would have difficulty seeing. I say this because on a recent trip to Florida, driving down I-75 with its concrete color and the sun at high noon, I had to put my sunglasses on to keep the highway from blinding me.

This whole idea just stinks of lunacy and further weakens the cause of Global Warming. I am not a conservationist nor eco-terrorist. I use fossil fuels, electricity and water because it is there. I depend on it to be there. I do not recycle because I will not sort my trash unless there is something in it for me. Trying to decide if certain plastics are recyclable or not is just too much for me to fathom at this time. Having multiple trash receptacles is a waste of space in my garage. My car belongs there not my trash.

However, I am not opposed to finding alternative energy sources. But I am opposed to trying to rescue the economy by creating jobs around energy sources such as wind, thermal, hydro or solar. These ideas have merit but not on a grand scale except for maybe hydro power. We are a nation that depends on flicking the light switch in the up position and having the lights come on. Go green if you want to but just don't go goofy trying to do it. And definitely do not force it upon so many just to support a weak theory surrounding Global Warming.

These are my words! Please post yours!

Away for A While

2009-05-19T07:18:00.013-04:00

I will not be blogging much this week as I am off to Florida for my baby boy's high school graduation exercises and small family reunion. He has done a marvelous job of studying and readying himself for college. So if you don't hear from me the remainder of the week it is because I am with him, my brother, sister and parents as well as my former in-laws. Since I don't get to see my brother and sister as much as I'd like this will be a good time to catch up with them and my parents. If I find a topic that really strikes my nerve I will pull out the laptop and type away otherwise my voice will be a little silent this week.

Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is Back!

2009-05-14T16:18:00.007-04:00

"Easy Button" Hillary Clinton once claimed that there was a 'vast right wing conspiracy' out to get her husband, Bill Clinton. They were supposedly behind all of the problems that plagued Clinton's presidency. If he did not do enough all by himself.

Now Cruella De Pelosi is poised to make a similar claim but she is kinda off base. Pelosi is claiming that the CIA lied to her. That they and the Bush administration misled congress about what was happening to the detainees. She insists that the C.I.A. release the memos of the briefings knowing that they cannot possibly do that. Looks like Cruella is between a rock and a water board. One thing is certain Pelosi has pulled a page from the Obama method of operation; blame Bush!

The very people we are to entrust our intelligence and secrecy to, along with stern congressional oversight are liars! Puhleaze! Pelosi knows that she has made a major error in judgement and condemnation and now the reverse bells are ringing like a dump truck while backing up as she tries to remember or make up from memory what fits her story. Ms. Pelosi I find that you are lying!

The only thing now is when do we get to the truth. When will documents surface that indicate that she did know and was briefed on water boarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques. I'll wait. In the meantime Cruella wants us to believe that the 'vast right wing conspiracy' is back!

You can bet the farm on this. She will ride under the Obama bus in the end. He cannot come to her defense. He has already flip flopped on releasing photos of detainees and not because of what it will do to the safety of our troops but somehow, somewhere there is another potentially damaging outcome if they were released. So, Ms. Pelosi take your seat underneath the Obama bus and feel the rubber meet your face. You are on your own! This may cost you your Speaker's position.

Just remember if you live in a glass house don't throw stones!

These are my words! Please post yours!

Flaunting Success in "These Tough Economic Times"

2009-05-13T09:48:00.008-04:00

"It's great to have nice homes! It's great to have a private jet! Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn't great is lying to you." Oprah Winfrey

The queen of daytime talk has more viewers than all competitors. Looked up to by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Revered as a television diva. Creator of best selling authors. Charitable giver of gifts and money. Career builder for regular contributors (Dr.'s Phil and Oz)! Millionaire creator! But cannot read the memos published by her boy, B-Rock.

Maybe Oprah didn't get the memo from B-Rock concerning flaunting your wealth and success. He has assailed success and wealth as a bad thing from the campaign trail and from the White House. But the other Big O, Oprah, flaunted her success and wealth at the graduation ceremony of Duke University.

Under this current administration it is against American values to have wealth because others are less fortunate. Obama told corporate leaders that they should not be getting in their corporate jets and going down to Las Vegas or to the Super Bowl. But Oprah says it is great to have your own private jet and nice homes and now Obama is heading to Vegas on his corporate jet to stump for political donations for Harry Reid. I guess it is o.k. to go to Vegas on jets now because B-Rock says so!

Has Oprah broken with Obama on his assaults on wealth and class warfare. Probably not. She may have just had a mental lapse as to what the talking points are suppose to be. Or is it that Oprah is getting ready to give away a few jets on an upcoming episode. She has already given away cars so jets and yachts are the next level. She even helped KFC give away millions of free meals last week in one of the biggest chicken runs ever!

Marketers know that Oprah has the Midas Touch when it comes to public opinion and perception. If you want your book to sell, your product to sell or your idea to become mainstream, get it in front of Oprah and her producers and have it lauded on her program. Presto, chango, abracadabra....instant success. Even for frauds like James Frey and Herman Rosenblat.

Now I have no axe to grind with Oprah. I actually like her even though I don't like her politics. I just thought that it is odd that she would get off the plantation with Obama and his assault on wealth and success. I guess if you support him its o.k. to have wealth. And if you don't your wealth came by way of greed and corruption not by hard work and determination and you are not entitled to it.

I want to be in the audience when Oprah gives away a jet or a nice home!

These are my words! Please post yours!

Obama To Decide Who Is Too Big To Fail!

2009-05-11T11:18:00.011-04:00

We heard during the financial meltdown in September 2008 that some companies were too big to fail. Among these companies were many of our banking institutions and later our automotive manufacturers. But I am still perplexed as to what is the measure to determine which companies are too big and which ones should fail. More importantly why should the government get to choose which companies are to be saved and which ones go away.

I bring this up because our president,B-Rock Obama, listening to his now to be known incompetent economic advisers, has decided that the Federal Reserve should be the policer of which companies are to be saved. And we have those out there who do not think that this president harbors a socialist agenda.

The Fed was created and chartered to prevent banking panics, regulate the money supply and to supervise and regulate some banking practices in the U.S. not to act as a governmental bureaucracy to decide which industries and companies get to survive. We already see how government has been able to chose those industries thus far.

First we said that the Big Three automakers could not fail. They could not be allowed to go into bankruptcy. Too many jobs are in jeopardy. They must have a financial bailout even though all these companies really wanted was a government backed loan. Many business pundits and politicians openly discussed a controlled bankruptcy for Chrysler and General Motors but the government determined that they were "too big to fail" and bailed them out any way. Fast forward four months into the Obama reign and Chrysler was forced to file for bankruptcy protection even though they were "too big to fail."

Gone are the $8 billion that was already given to Chrysler. Now because General Motors has not come up with a viable business plan they too are being told to plan for a bankruptcy filing. Now the taxpayers will be on the hook for $15.4 billion that GM has received. But the Fed is being proposed as the group who will decide going forward which companies will get federal dollars for their survival even in the face of some of the obvious things that should occur when a company is not able to meet its obligations. Bankruptcy.

Americans should be outraged that Obama is proposing more of this sort of government interference in American business. Government, not George Bush, was the reason for the financial problems we currently have. The bureaucrats (government) that were charged with regulating and watch-dogging these institutions were not able to perform. The government, not George Bush, was heavily involved in the mortgage crisis. The government, not George Bush, is just "too big to fail" at its responsibilities yet B-Rock expects this same government to decide who the winners and losers are. Some say that we had a lack of oversight and regulations under George Bush.

I know that it has become popular to blame George Bush for our current economic crisis and everything that is bad or deteriorating in this country even though millions of Americans successfully prospered under the first 6 years of Bush. But for the current president to propose "more of the same government" oversight will only lead to industries that are politically connected being allowed to survive, i.e. newspapers! Bureaucrats only create bureaucracy not efficiency. By the time the Fed were to figure out that a company was in dire straits it would take 5 months to come up with a plan to save them only to tell them to file for bankruptcy two months later.

The government is not suppose to chose winners and losers. It is not suppose to determine when a company goes into receivership or bankruptcy. It is not suppose to be above the law and decide which creditors of a failed company gets paid first. It is not to be a representative or stockholder in a company. The government should be a caretaker of our tax dollars. We have too quickly become a country of government interference. The tide must recede and it must recede now.

These are my words! Please post yours!

Press 1 For English!

2009-05-05T23:26:00.007-04:00

Now we know why we have multiple languages on the phone systems in this country. When off the teleprompter, our esteemed President has a tough time speaking Spanish.

Yesterday he wanted to celebrate Cinco de Mayo early but called it Cinco de Cuatro. Which in English is five of four. Advice from the peanut gallery B-Rock, no habla espanol! It was his attempt to say that they were celebrating the Mexican holiday early but once again when there is no teleprompter, pop goes the weasle and the weasle went POP!

However, no late night comedy routines on this screw up. I guess the writers wore themselves out on all the material that George W. Bush gave them. Now the stand up guys can't get any good jokes on Obama even though he keeps giving them plenty of umms and aahhs to work with. Remember that during the campaign he visited 57 states and he doesn't speak Austrian.

Just a few words! Please post yours!

Is Obama Above The Law?

2009-05-04T11:26:00.014-04:00

Liberals have said over and over that former President George W. Bush acted above and beyond the scope of law. Being mindful that they have yet to say what laws Mr. Bush may have violated. But along comes the rock star president, B-Rock Obama and his band of merry men and laws just don't seem to matter. The point I am speaking to is the recent filing of bankruptcy of Chrysler, LLC. I wrote about the government allowing both Chrysler and General Motors to ease into bankruptcy in November. Back then it was said that these companies were too big to fail. I guess it depends on too big for whom! The taxpayers would have been on the hook for a lot less if they had gone into bankruptcy then instead of five months later. Now comes our president to tell us that it's gonna be o.k. because I have everything under control.

B-Rock has decided that it is in the best interest of everyone that he be able to spin the bankruptcy laws to once again choose winners and losers. I wonder what sort of law he studied, practiced and taught in his lifetime. He has decided that equity holders in this bankruptcy should get preference over secured creditors or bond holders. The bankruptcy laws already have a pecking order with regards to who gets paid first and it ain't the U.A.W. The bond holders are the first since they have secured debt. That debt is secured by the assets of the company. Stock holders have to get in line as their debt is unsecured. They were pledged nothing in return for their investment yet the bond holders were.

These bond holders were demagogue by B-Rock for not agreeing to accept about 5 cent for every dollar they are owed which is close to $7 billion. They would fair better in bankruptcy since they are the creditors that would receive any monies from the filing first. They could possibly get somewhere nearer to 40 cents or more on the dollar for their debt. Which chance would you take?

This is an attempt to prop up the United Auto Workers who in this scenario will be the largest shareholder in Chrysler with 55%. FIAT will be at 35% and the Federal Government at 8%. So the union would be deciding how to manage the company. Something about inmates and taking over asylums comes to mind here.

With the federal government involved you can bet there will be no more Chrysler 300's, Dodge Challengers or Dodge Chargers. We will see more lower horse powered 'green' cars. Cars that the American people have decided that at this time they do not want. Hybrids had a peak during last summers gasoline price spike but have seen even lower demands since gasoline prices stabilized.

Yet B-Rock said this, "While many stakeholders made sacrifices and worked constructively, I have to tell you some did not. In particular, a group of investment firms and hedge funds decided to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout. They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none. Some demanded twice the return that other lenders were getting. I don’t stand with them. I stand with Chrysler’s employees and their families and communities. I stand with Chrysler’s management, its dealers, and its suppliers. I stand with the millions of Americans who own and want to buy Chrysler cars. I don’t stand with those who held out when everybody else is making sacrifices."

These investment firms and hedge funds could not be deterred because they recognize that they have a fiduciary responsibility to their investors to not sign onto a deal that would result in a huge loss to their portfolios. You may think that you have no interest in this filing and are not a bond holder but if you have a pension or retirement fund that may invest with one of these investment firms then you may have some financial exposure to this. If your investment firm decided to agree to these kinds of terms with the Obama administration then they could be certainly sued by their investors for failing to protect the investors from this huge loss in value. Your pension fund managers would be all over this loss because it would affect how much value your pension itself maintained.

These investment firms were also non TARP recipients and could not be bullied by the prospect of being blackmailed by Obama's Automotive Task Force. I say good for them. This bankruptcy filing is not their fault and for Obama to think he can dictate what happens in bankruptcy court rises to being 'above the law.' Bankruptcy law is already written and is followed by a federal judge who does not have to deal with the wranglings of politicians since they were not elected but appointed.

Since B-Rock once lectured as a professor at the University of Chicago, he should know that. But since his professional resume is thin it is possible that he spent this time writing books in preparation for running for president some day. Not studying or practicing law.

Finally when did we elect Obama as the CEO of Chrysler or any other corporation? I thought that Robert Nardelli should have been the one announcing the Fiat partnership along with the bankruptcy filing. But B-Rock, never one to be upstaged, took the reins and announced it to the American people. I don't recall George W. Bush announcing the United Airlines, US Airways, Northwest Airlines or the Delta Airlines filings. Shoot I don't remember him trying to tell those companies what to produce and how to run their business.

President Obama has blurred the line between the public sector and the private sector. If he wants to run a business then start with the one the federal government has owned for decades and continues to lose money; AMTRAK! Build that entity into a successful organization then just maybe many Americans will be willing to listen to you about running Chrysler, General Motors, or even America.

These are my words! Please post yours!

Hurry Up And Say You're Sorry!

2009-04-29T17:50:00.014-04:00

We have to kiss and make up!

The little North Korean munchkin, Kim Jung-il, has decided that if he does not get an apology from the United Nations that he will go forward with his weapons test and nuclear arms development. Now why does this not strike me as being odd. First Lil Kim tells the U.N. and the U.S. to 'f' off when it came to the launching of his failed satellite. Now he wants the same group to apologize for issuing non-enforceable security council sanctions against his country. Does this boy have a mental problem or what?

Obama's big test came on April 5th, when North Korea not only defied the U.N. but the mighty U.S. and launched its missile test over the Pacific. Kim Jung-il said that his country was launching a satellite into orbit. I guess he wanted it to orbit the bottom of the Pacific ocean as that is where it splashed down. Looky at the all the pretty fishy! Obama failed his first tactical test and went running to the U.N. Security Council which could not come to any conclusion at that time. President B-Rock was on his European Tour at the time and issued this statement:

"With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored it's international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations."

Harsh words coming from the leader of the Free World. But empty words all the same. North Korea held up its open hand with all five fingers and folded down two fingers on each side to show the world what it thought of the U.S. and the U.N. But now he wants an apology from the U.N. I can't figure it out. His only reason would be to get in on B-Rock's apologetic tour and get him to issue said apology to the people of North Korea. Since the United States was arrogant in trying to keep nuclear weapons and long-range missiles away from a despot like Kim Jung-il. Hmmm go figure.

This knucklehead conducted an atomic-test blast in 2006. Our military thinks he has enough plutonium to produce about six nuclear bombs but has not figured out how to make a warhead small enough to place on a missile. Unless we have bad intelligence I think they need to reassess that notion. Why the long-range missile test earlier this month? Gotta see if it can fly the distance before placing its true payload on it.

This is a situation that our President should be all over. Not outsourcing it to the United Nations. We see all too well what happens when we get this America hating group involved in policing despots. Just look at Dafur, Somalia, Rwanda, Iraq (under Hussein), Iran's nuclear quest and the plight of Islamic women in Islamic and Arabic countries. They are powerless yet the only countries that insist on abiding by its rules are Western nations which include the United States.

So I would assume that Kim Jung-il will get his apology. But it will not be from the United Nations but from President B-Rock. He has to make certain that we are weakened and apologetic to every nation that we have offended over the years. Never mind that our soldiers have sacrificed and died for many of these same countries. So go ahead Barack. Issue another apology. You can do it on your 4th prime time broadcast tonight.

That's my word! Please post yours!

Here We Go Again. This Time It's Citigroup

2009-04-29T15:59:00.008-04:00

The last time I blogged about bonuses it was in defense of those being paid to the employees and managers of American International Group, AIG. Now Citigroup, which is a holding company as well, is now going to ask Big Daddy if they can pay out bonuses to keep some key personnel. Big Daddy owns a 36% stake in Citigroup. So he can decide if Citigroup can pay any additional money out to key people.

Get ready for some hand wrangling and teeth gnashing from congress and the white house on this. The problem is that Citigroup needs to keep its key people in its energy-trading unit, Phibro, to continue to go forward and emerge from their current fiscal problems. The employees in this unit are threatening to leave because of the paycaps that were instituted under the bailout rules. Phibro has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to the bank.

The CEO of Citi, Vikram Pandit, should have sounded the alarm early on and not sat idly by while he was forced to agree to the government terms of operations to accept bailout funding. He was not alone in this. All of the chief executives of the banks should have been more vocal in their demands. But I guess beggars can't be choosers! All the banks knew that they would have a brain drain of their key people if they could not pay them market rates and bonuses. Now Pandit wants to provide stock-based bonuses for these people to keep them from jumping ship. This stock will vest over three years. Well, I say good luck to that. With your stock price hovering around $3 per share and losing over 95% of its value since 2007 I would rather you pay me with Mega Millions Lottery game tickets.

Citigroup has been operating like germs in a petri dish. Under the microscope and constant observation. These bonuses are needed to raise the morale of a group that are being demoralized by working for the government. When you work for the government you are told that you will toil all day and all night for pittance. You will like it and you will not ask for more because you have a job, be thankful. But for the employees that must work under these conditions if you see the light, go into it. Leave on your terms. Do not bank on the idea that Citigroup can change the mind of the Treasury Department or the President.

The government should help but Obama is a man of polling approval. The vast populace of the country often does not understand bonuses and how they are achieved or paid. They have wealth envy and think that these guys make enough already. The polls will say that Americans are opposed to paying any bonuses and Obama will force Geithner to tell Citigroup, No go!

Bonuses are always a good thing when paid for the right reasons. Have key levers attached and measurements to show that they were achieved and the company does what it is suppose to do and that is pay them when they are achieved. Our banks are becoming Nationalized and the brain drain will continue. The best and the brightest will go work somewhere else but not for these U.S. Banks.

Those are my Words! Please post Yours!

"Lie To Me" and "American Idol" Trump Obama 100 Days

2009-04-28T00:01:00.009-04:00

Our distinguished president thinks so highly of himself that he continues to find it necessary to interrupt our regularly schedule television broadcasts to see and hear him speak. Fox network was forced to alter its airing of American Idol several weeks ago in order that the president's prime time news conference be televised. They did this with great reservations. As you know all the networks carry a presidential address and there are no commercial interruptions thus no revenue generated. So airing these pressers cost the networks valuable time and money.

Now it is happening again but the line in the sand has been drawn. According to Yahoo News, Fox will not televise the president's news conference on Wednesday. Fox will instead go ahead with its normal broadcast of "Lie To Me" and "American Idol." The news conference, ironically, coincides with the first 100 days of Obamanation. Boy does this guy love to see and hear himself speak! This is part of sweeps week and ratings are everything for broadcasters. Fox will alert viewers looking for this 4th prime time address to Fox News Channel and Fox Business News.

Could there be some chinks in the armor of the Obama mass hysteria media team? One would like to think so. But ABC, NBC and CBS will air it as per the request but they can't compete against "American Idol" anyway. The question has to be asked though. Why does this president find it necessary to keep giving press conferences as frequently as he does? I have not researched it but I just do not remember any other president appearing this often on television as much as this guy has.

Here's what you can expect from this Wednesday's presser from Big "O". More of the same. More of the blame. We should all get our "bulls*@t bingo" cards ready to play. Here are just a few key words for the cards that will be read from the teleprompter:

Transparency, fairness, tough economic times, 8 years of failed...,shovel ready jobs, green jobs, renewable energy, our first 100 days, tax cut for 95%, crushing health care costs, bi-partisanship, wasteful, prosperity, create jobs. I think you get the picture!

Hopefully his speech will go better than the one today when he got ahead of the teleprompter and asked for a roll up. He could have easily made himself look sincere by adding his usual dramatic pauses, uhm and ahh. But that would not be great speech reading.

So get ready for your monthly dose of Big"O" on prime time television. I wonder if any of the other networks are ready to say, "its tough out here and we need every bit of revenue we can get during these hours and I would prefer not to air your non money making dribble." This is your 4th prime time address. We heard you the first three times. It is always the same. Give us something new.

We will have to wait and see if there is any backlash at Fox for not bringing this address during prime time as requested.

That's my Word! Please post yours!

Where Is Our National Security Rent-A-Cop?

2009-04-25T09:26:00.007-04:00

We are under attack again. But the person that is in charge of protecting our nation's homeland is asleep at the wheel. Between changing what a terrorist act is, now a 'man-made disaster', and labeling returning troops a threat of becoming 'right-winged extremist', Janet "The Ice Cream" Napolitano has allowed our security to become even weaker.

If you were not aware the latest threat comes not from a possible 'man-made disaster' but from a lowly pig virus out of Mexico designated as H1N1, swine influenza. The Center for Disease Control initially thought that the virus was most likely a swine virus. However the DNA of this flu virus has a 'never-before-seen' combination of avian, swine and human viral components. In Mexico there have been 20 confirmed deaths, a possible 40 more deaths and over 1,000 people infected. Humans have been known to contract swine flu from pigs but have never been able to pass it to other humans, that is until now. Yet our borders have not been closed to travel from this country. This virus that is now easily passed from human to human is a threat to our national security. Why is this point so important? Because this virus is new and can be passed from human to human it meets two criteria for a possible pandemic crisis that could spread around the world.

Mexico has taken some drastic steps to ward off further passing of this virus. They have closed schools, museums, cancelled government sponsored gatherings, telling their populace to avoid crowded places such as movie theaters and the subway as well as handing out free face masks. Yet not a word from the Department of Homeland Security Chief, "Ice Cream" Napolitano on what the U.S. will do. We should shutter our borders. Restrict travel to that area of the world. Contain the crisis where it is but this may all be too late. The CDC reports that there have been eight confirmed cases in border states Texas(2) and California(6). But in the mean time wash your hands!

We already have the Mexican drug wars spilling over into our border states with nothing in place to stop or repel it. Who is to say that this variant of the flu is not the creation of some Al-Qaeda bioweapons plot. They know that our borders are as hole-filled as a slice of swiss cheese. They know that we no longer quarantine and detain people who are infected with diseases. They know a lot about our weaknesses but we have become noticeably weaker with this latest presidential administration.

Who is Janet "The Ice Cream" Napolitano? How is it that a former U.S. Attorney and former Attorney General for the state of Arizona not get it about law enforcement? Her claim to fame was that she was the governor of a border state. Then she should know the perils we face with the Mexican invasion now combined with an influenza strain that has mutated and is being ferretted across our borders in human cargo. This is another Obama appointment that is lacking in substance and ability. But just like his resume is thin on achievement so too are his appointments.

We have to protect our borders. We have to protect our populace. But with a government that is lax on law enforcement how can we? We should bring our DHS up on charges if we are not protected siting dereliction of duty. Otherwise disband this cabinet level position and go back to where we were pre-9/11. We are just as safe now as we were then.

Those are my Words! Please post yours!

Renewable Energy An Oxymoron?!

2009-04-22T13:36:00.013-04:00

Scientist define energy as the ability to do work. There are principally two categories of energy; kinetic and potential. Energy makes changes; it does things for us. It lights our homes, powers our cars and reheats our left over meatloaf. When we use energy it doesn’t disappear it becomes another form of energy but the total amount of energy in the universe remains the same. Explain to me how we have renewable energy when it never changes in the amount available to use? Why do the president and other eco-terrorist think that this country can quickly and economically switch to some form of a renewable energy source? And thereby create millions of “Green” jobs?

During the campaign of 2008, Big "O" indicated that he wanted 10% of electricity to come from clean renewable energy sources by 2012 and 25% by 2025. This would include producing electricity from wind. Iowa governor, Chet Culver, says that a whopping 2,300 'Green Jobs' have been created in Iowa over the past two years. I guess the governor was chumming up to the then presidential candidate Obama and learning how to speak Obama and mislead with job creation numbers.

Turbines for the wind towers are being built by Trinity Tower Structures in Newton, IA that once housed a Maytag manufacturing facility. Let me do the math for you. At it's height the Maytag facility employed over 4,000 people but by the time it closed in 2007 there were only 1,800 employees left. That was a net 2,200 jobs lost prior to the closing. Add the final 1,800 and you have a complete 4,000 person job loss. Now add to that the 2,300 jobs created by the wind industry and you have a net job loss (not creation) of -1,700. This was not job creation but job transference since many of the employees were former Maytag employees. Obama math on job creation. Yet I still wait for the 4.1 million jobs that he (Obama) will create in the U.S.

Wind energy only accounted for .3% of the energy sources in the U.S. in 2007. Renewable energy accounted for 7% of total energy consumption in this same period. And I as I pointed out in the beginning, energy never disappears and remains constant in the universe. Yet we are going to force ourselves off of coal, petroleum, natural gas and nuclear energy in just 16 years and onto biomass, hydropower, geothermal and solar.

Of these 'renewable' sources I prefer hydropower. Hydropower could be a savior for producing what our “Green” friends want; clean electricity produced without burning coal or nuclear fission. However, hydropower will never come to fruition because of those same Eco-terrorist. The first time some power company would seek permits and permission to build dams to harness this water power along come the environmental protectionist to save some obscure snail, tiny fish or plant. These guys would have these organisms declared endangered species and no dams would be built to harness hydropower. Pretty much why we can't drill in Anwar.

Even the most energy rich device in the solar system, the sun, will someday be extinguished. Thus it will not be renewed. If these so-called renewable energy sources had so much to offer then why has solar never taken off. It has been around since I was a little boy yet it trails all energy sources as a useful force. Go ahead and give me the “Big Oil” arguments and conspiracies. Yet with the entire planet yammering for a renewable source some other society could have easily harnessed and commercialized solar energy conversion. But it has not happened because it is not economically feasible and on cloudy days you can’t harness what you cannot see!

Now our Congress seeks to impose a 'cap and trade' upon industries in the U.S. In essence taxing companies for using more than their allotted carbon emissions. Who pays for these increases in production because of these trade measures. We all do! That includes the 95% of us that were to get no tax increases from the Obama presidency. Contrary to what we all believe, corporations do not pay taxes. They collect taxes as part of the cost of selling and pass them along to the consumer. Cost accountants understand what the total cost of sales will be and how much their tax liability will be on those sales and will figure what cost they need to include in the final price of the product to cover for those taxes.

According to the "Global Warming" theorist and Eco-Terrorist, carbon emissions specifically carbon dioxide is causing the planet to warm, via green house effect. Although there is evidence pointing to a more contrary and realistic point of view. As I learned in sixth grade science, carbon dioxide was needed for photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis is the process where carbon dioxide is converted into organic compounds using sunlight. All life on earth depends upon photosynthesis to occur because plants using the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into energy and expelling oxygen that humans and other mammals need. My point is why stop the release of carbon dioxide when plants need it and we need the plants. Instead how about planting more trees!?

Did I over simplify renewable energy? Am I off-base on the green house or global warming point? Probably but that is what the left does to convince you about their point. We do need energy independence and an energy revolution in this country. Our foreign oil and natural gas dependence can be changed by drilling on our own soil and off-shore. Forcing automobile manufacturers to build small horse-powered hybrid vehicles that are not selling as well as trying to build unreliable wind farms and expensive solar and geothermal sources will not work either. And when a job is created lets be certain that it is a new job not a transferred job. The country needs job creation not creative math in saving and transferring jobs.

These are my Words! Please post yours!

Pirates Are Testing My Patience...

2009-04-16T02:00:00.006-04:00

Up until a few months ago, we sort of romanticized Pirates and their sailing the seven seas. We pictured them with a peg leg, patched eye and parrot on shoulder. Swinging from ropes onto ships they were about to loot for the booty. Their ship sailing a black skull and cross bones flag. You know the Pirates of the Caribbean kind of pirate.

Now we have a group of lawless Somali thugs sailing the Gulf of Aden and Indian ocean while illegally boarding and ransoming maritime shipping. These Somali nutcases currently hold 17 ships and over 300 hostages. Most of the shipping companies are willing to pay the ransoms to free their ships. That was until this past Sunday, when our Navy S.E.A.L snipers ended a week-long standoff with three dead, one captured and one in custody. I don't think that we should bring this degenerate back to the U.S. to be tried. If they did this more pirates would want to be captured for a free trip to the states for the benefits of food, clothing and shelter while awaiting trial. And in some cases may even be released to become government dependents.

Killing the three emboldened the rest of the pirate community. They indicated that they would kill any American that they take captive. They attempted to board another U.S. flagged ship today. So far only the French and the U.S. have taken the bold steps of using force against this lawlessness. Results are 5 dead hijackers and unfortunately one French hostage as well as 12 taken into custody.

It is estimated that the Somali pirates have raked in over $150 million since beginning operation in November of last year. That is pretty good as a start up enterprise. Now "Easy Button" Hillary Clinton had some tough words for the pirates. "These pirates are criminals, they are armed gangs on the sea. And those plotting attacks must be stopped." Now those are some fighting words and I am shaking in my shorts. All the while these fools have attempted to hijack another U.S. flagged ship. I guess they were not listening to the Easy Button.

Now for the whopper coming from Obama's Secretary of Status Now. We are going to seek 'diplomatic efforts to freeze the assets' of these pirates. Now what kind of stupid do they take us for? These are just rhetorical words. Last I checked Captain Jack Sparrow buried his booty in the ground not in the Bank of London. So what assets does she seek to freeze? While she did not commit to military action she did mention that we may go after their bases. My problem with this statement is the word "may". That is just a "NO" in lay-a-way. It took her boss several days to give the rules of engagement and authorization of force against those who held Captain Phillips hostage. She also wants to call for immediate meetings of international counterpiracy task force to expand naval coordination. More words that mean hurry up and wait.

I realize the Gulf of Aden as well as the Indian Ocean is a vast area to cover with our blue water navy but don't we track Al Quaeda terrorist with predator drones. Flying is faster than sailing. Put eyes in the sky and be ready to shoot the boats out of the water upon any threat of piracy. Clean up the seas by force. Soon these delays and shipping stoppages will affect our way of life on goods that travel on these ships coming to America.

End it now. Not with words but with definitive action. Capture, destruction or death!

That's my Word! Please post yours!

CNN...The Crazy News Network.

2009-04-16T01:03:00.005-04:00

When Ted Turner first launched CNN over 28 years ago it was unthinkable that a television network dedicated only to broadcasting the news would develop into a success. I remember as a young college student knowing that network news channels would not be able to get me the information I wanted but CNN had the coverage. CNN brought us round the clock live coverage of the 1991 Gulf War. Watching the anti-aircraft tracers being fired at our warplanes was not only amazing but brought the realities of war into my living room. I tuned in daily as I had several college classmates that were military officers serving in the Saudi desert as well as my brother-in-law. My favorite part of CNN was the deep bass voice of James Earl Jones saying, "This is CNN." But that was then this is now. No longer do I watch CNN on a regular basis but only when waiting in the doctor or dentist office or some other public place.

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But my has the great star fallen, fizzled and is being swept out with the trash. Not only has CNN become the editorial broadcast for the left it does not even hide it now. Watching what occurred at a Chicago area Tax Day Tea Party is just another low point for this once renowned network. CNN reporter (script reader), Susan Roesgen, not happy that she could not brow beat a protester into listening to her seemed to try to shout him down and interrupted him several times while he was attempting to answer her question. She later said that the general tenor of the protest were "anti-government, anti-CNN since it was highly promoted by the right wing conservative network, FOX." No Ms. Roesgen, it was anti-YOU.

Her premise was the Tea Party was only about taxes. She tried to tell the interviewee that he would be receiving a $400 credit. The overall point about the Tea Parties is about something that I never hear Big "O" nor anyone in his administration talk about and that is LIBERTY! Freedom is great but freedom without Liberty is nothing. And spending trillions of tax dollars on "pie in the sky" economic plans is destroying our Liberty. Our representatives do not represent us, they represent themselves and the Tea Party strategy is the same as it was in 1773. Taxation without representation.

Prior to this clip she tried to engage a nutty fellow dressed as Obama as Hitler in a discussion of whether Obama is a fascist. All I can say is what a loon this reporter made herself out to be. Being disrespectful to a group of protesters is not taught in any journalism school in the nation. But reporting the facts is obviously not being taught either.

Ms. Roesgen is the same reporter who said to Wolf Blitzer, another CNN script reader, that she cannot believe that the Catholics at the University of Notre Dame were going to pray that God would change the heart and mind of Big "O" to become pro-life. What a Loon!

Parents don't let your babies grow up to be reporters.

That's my Word! Please post yours!

Obama's Big Test

2009-04-06T00:32:00.011-04:00

"Six Gun Joe" said that this president would be tested within six months of taking office. He has been tested and he failed miserably. North Korea launched its test of an intercontinental ballistic missile today and where was the Big"O"; talking about getting rid of our 'nukes' and issuing statements.

"With this provacative act, North Korea has ignored it's international obligations, rejected unequivical calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations," President Barack Obama said.

Obama's State Department along with Japan, went running to the United Nations Security Council to 'ask' for some resolutions against this defiant regime in North Korea. Just like Sadam Hussein before him, Kim Jung-il has thumbed his nose at the United Nations and most importantly the United States and President B-Rock. He knew that this president would follow whatever the body-politic of the United Nations would say and do, which was nothing. The security council was divided as to what it should do. Both China and Russia called for 'calm and restraint.' Hmmmm I wonder why. However, no statement was issued by the U.N. security council.

The North Koreans understand something that the current administration does not, and that is they are a sovereign nation and are not governed by the U.N. thus anything the U.N. proposes or imposes will not affect them. Kim Jung-il's government is practically an isolated country and their only trade with the rest of the world is militarily and in the form of weapons. So would you impose economic sanctions against a nation that does not trade with most other nations? Hurry up I'll wait for your answer.... Since the missile did get off the launch pad I am certain that some Islamic Terrorist are lining up to place their order for this device.

North Korea says they launched a satellite into orbit but our military says that the missile ended up in the Pacific ocean. Whatever it did the North Koreans starred into the eyes of the biggest, baddest nation on the planet and the big, bad U.S. blinked. This will only embolden other nations, including terrorist, to step up their efforts to destroy this country. They now know that we are governed by the U.N. where as they are not. We will take every decision to protect our interest to the governing body of those who already despise us and let them tell us how to respond. Remember Sadam Hussein was given a cease fire at the end of the 1991 Gulf War and it required that the U.N. weapons inspectors be allowed to search his country for the now infamous WMD's. Iraq under Hussein violated 16 different U.N. security council resolutions in direct violation of the 1991 cease fire agreement. Kim Jung-il knows that those resolutions are not worth the paper that they are written on because the U.S. government will keep going to get them while he builds his military capabilities.

North Korean is now driving the bus and it does not have a break or a steering wheel. They will ride this lack of true diplomacy until it runs out of gas. Other nations are watching and waiting for their opportunity to do the same. And you can guess where North Korean will not be next week....sitting at the table discussing ending it's nuclear weapons program. In the batters box is Iran. On deck is Russia with Cuba slated to pinch hit.

B-Rock better figure this thing out soon because his V.P. was right about the test and it is not a multiple choice one.

That's my word. Please post yours!

Pay For Performance; Maximum Wages Are Here!

2009-04-02T01:00:00.017-04:00

Pay For Performance Act of 2009
"To Prohibit Unreasonable and Excessive Compensation and Compensation Not Based on Performance Standards"

Back in January and early February I railed about a Maximum Wage Initiative that was coming to America. Am I prophetic? I would like to think so, but in reality with our Democratically controlled Congress and President I felt that it would be easy to predict. Now Barney "Sylvester Da Fat Cat" Frank (he sounds like the cartoon cat) and his ilk have passed a bill that would set pay for performance standards in companies receiving bailout monies for ALL employees not just executives (yes it would include the janitor and secretary too). And we know that it won't stop there. The next extension will be any company with a federal government contract then ALL companies in America. It will spread because of the sheep that constantly attack achievement and success of others. Always looking at their neighbors and saying that they don't deserve that boat, that car, that house nor that salary saying "something ought to be done."

This bill will be applied retroactively to compensation that is already in place and once again seeks to punish rather than encourage. It would give Turbo Tax Tim the authority to determine pay and to decide what is 'excessive' and 'unreasonable.' He that was tripped up by tax software that is almost idiot proof, will also come up with the method to evaluate the performance of the executive or employee receiving payments.

This comes on the heels of the failed attempt to retroactively legislate 90% taxes on the AIG executive bonuses. Since when has our federal government been able to tell any company what performance is. The government does not even know what the concept of performance looks like nor can it be able to determine how to measure it. "Sylvester" Frank wants to be able to recover money from ANY worker that he deems has not been worthy of taxpayer supported wages. In other words did not meet the performance standards set by Congress or Turbo Tax Tim. And you and I know that these standards will be a moving target and random in enforcement. This bill passed with 247 in favor and 171 in opposition with 12 abstaining. See how your congressional representative voted.

If you cannot recognize that our Congress is seeking to place a Maximum Wage for all workers in this country then you have fallen asleep and should not be shocked when your pay is adjusted down because you have not met performance standards. American business has always had a performance standard. If you do a good job you get to keep your job and you receive a modest pay increase. If you do a great job, you get to keep your job and you get a great pay increase or promotion. If you do a lousy job then you get promoted to customer except if you are a member of a repressive union.

O.K. Mr Frank all I did was give a rant but where is the solution. Here is the beginning.

Let's start with you and the rest of Congress. Your performance has not been up to standard (my measures) for quite some time and you are not worthy of your taxpayer supported salary. You work a relatively part-time job with vacation perks, meals, parking, expenses, office staff and allowance, etc. yet you get paid a healthy salary for this work. You are a public servant and should serve the public. All of you should work for $51, 000 per year. Because of all the perks you get in D.C. you really would not need any more than that. Giving back the $123, 000 to the taxpayers would go a long way to feeling the pain and spreading the wealth. Kruella D' Pelosi would be harder hit with a return of $173,000 to the taxpayers. This would also cut down on the professional politician if they knew that their salary would be equal to the average guy they claim to represent.

How did I come to the $51,000 amount? Brain fart! Just the same way the President and Congress has said that no executive should earn more than $500,000 annually. No rhyme, no reason just plain brain fart! Barney Frank and Congress put your money where your mouth is. Lower your salary, since my expectations are higher and you have not met them thus you are not worthy of your $174,000 annual salary. Give it back or go get a private sector job. The closest you have come to running one is when your lover was running a prostitution ring out of your D.C. apartment.

The 2010 elections must usher in some immediate changes in our country or this country that we have loved and lived in will disappear. People you have to be afraid. Be very afraid. This is going to doom our competitive spirit and destroy our country.

That's my word. Please post yours!

I Agree With Obama...

2009-03-31T15:11:00.008-04:00

...that the automotive industry plans from Chrysler and General Motors were not acceptable.
But that is where I stop agreeing with him and his administration over this fiasco.

Finally someone in Washington has taken it upon themselves to read a document that has been placed in front of them. I posted a month ago that these plans were lacking in substance and direction. Now Obama says that these companies can no longer receive any more of your money to survive. Wait, that is for at least another 60 days for GM and 30 days for Chrysler to fix their plans. Once you receive government welfare you are not allowed to get off that welfare until the government has tried to find ways to keep you on it. I will wager that at the end of these time frames both companies will be given another 30 days as an appeal and an appeal to the appeal if it does not turn out in their favor.

Big "O" has finally used the "B" word (bankruptcy) with regards to the automotive industry. Although his administration is calling it a 'court supervised' process. I believe that the Obama's minions have finally wised up that they can save face and let a judge be in charge of the automotive problems thus removing Obama from any possible UAW showdown. Obama is a big union supporter and he keeps stating that all 'stakeholders' must come to the sacrificial table in order for these companies to survive. In other words you gotta give up something to get something. By letting a judge decide who gives up something he can lay the blame anywhere but at the Oval Office door.

Obama has clearly decided that Washington knows how to run the automotive industry better than those "wily veterans" that have been doing it for sometime now. He asked for the immediate resignation of the GM CEO, Rick Wagoner while leaving Chrysler CEO, Bob Nardelli in position. The automotive task force has concluded that GM is still relying to much on the sales of 'high margin' trucks and SUV's (profit is not allowed by Washington) and that Chrysler's best hope is to merge with another company, Italian automaker Fiat (will that make Chrysler an Italian automaker and ineligible for bailout money?). Obama has indicated that automotive companies must "thrive by building cars of tomorrow." Yet those same hybrid green vehicles are tough to sell these days. When gas prices were above $4 per gallon these cars were hot items. Now that the price of gasoline is hovering around $2 per gallon hybrid cars are clogging up dealer inventories.

The government has long insisted upon automobiles meeting certain MPG standards but they now are telling automakers exactly what kind of vehicles to make. In short consumers focus on present day realities not carbon emission fallacies. Gasoline prices will dictate what people buy not Washington, unless they force all of the automakers to only produce green vehicles. The good news is that if you purchase a green vehicle you can get a tax credit and a deduction of the new-car sales tax. The sales tax deduction is part of the $787-billion stimulus bill. But at present day gasoline prices you must be willing to wait for sometime to offset the additional cost of these green vehicles versus the amount of money you will save on fuel.

Maybe the Obama administration will create artificial demand for these products by temporarily drying up the gasoline supply thus causing gasoline prices to rise and the fair weather moonbats to go searching for hybrid cars again. Remember that when W. left office gasoline prices had dropped to their lowest level in 4 years. So if they rise again it will be Obama's fault not Bush's.

That's my word! Please post yours!

Eliminate Your Job Hunting Competition

2009-03-27T14:55:00.004-04:00

This is for some Friday fun. I don't drink Pepsi but you gotta love this ad!

Here Comes The Test

2009-03-26T16:32:00.008-04:00

And we're not talking about the S.A.T.

"Six-gun Joe" said it would happen within six months of Obama's presidency. Here it is. Coming to you straight from North Korea, his majesty Kim Jung-Il, has stated that should the U.S. interfere or shoot down their 'satellite test' it would be considered an act of war. North Korea really does not want to push the U.S. into war but it does have to rattle it's saber just the same.

What should scare the bejezzus out of you is that Hillary Clinton is the point person on this "crisis". She has already accused the U.S. of creating the Mexican drug violence, implied that we are responsible for Israel destroying parts of Gaza by offering $900 million to help rebuild parts of a country that we did not destroy and wanted to reset U.S.-Russian relations by giving them an "reset" button with the Russian word for overcharge on it. Your government foreign policy in full effect.

This administration has shown that it lacks strong foreign policy experience and will seek sanctions from the United Nations if North Korea launches it's 'satellite test.' We see how that worked with Sadam Hussein over a 10 year period. Is the U.S. the only country that seeks to follow the agenda and rules of the U.N.? Most of the dictators of the world have continued to thumb their noses at the mandates of U.N. Here is a short list: Congo, Rwanda, Iran, Iraq, North Korea.

Let's play this out like school kids do. North Korea says, we will launch a satellite test. We say you'd better not. We will shoot it down. North Korea says, that will be an act of war. We say, I'm gonna tell Big Daddy on you and we move some ships to the area that can shoot it down if necessary. We conclude that our gonads are not big enough to take on North Korea yet, so we go ahead and tell Big Daddy. Big Daddy says that if North Korea test fires the missile then they will break off talks and issue sanctions. North Korea says that if Big Daddy issues sanctions then they will proceed their nuclear program. Fast forward to April 8th. Parts of Alaska are sitting in ruins under a radioactive cloud of ash and dust......

Trusting this administration to man up will not happen when you govern from the polls. Also, trying to get every rouge nation and terrorist organization to like us is not foreign policy it is lunacy. Let's face it. There are countries and factions that are not our friends, who seek to destroy us and could care less about who is in the White House. Their aims and goals are clear. The U.S. must go and must go now. They are looking for a hero nation to follow. North Korea may be just that nation. Stand up to the U.S. and make them dance.

That's my word. Please post yours!

Pop Goes The Hillary

2009-03-26T15:00:00.011-04:00

"You have the right to remain silent..."

Then why not just shut up? Our illustrious Secretary of State just announced to the people of Mexico and the United States, that you and I are responsible for much of the violence in Mexico between rival drug cartels. 6,300 Mexicans were killed last year because of drug violence. Officials from both our nations feel that this violence will eventually, and in some cases already has, spill over into our border states.

"...Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the death of police officers, soldiers and civilians."(Hillary Clinton)

I am not a legal scholar or attorney, however when a senior representative of the United States government announces to the world that we are responsible for an act, doesn't that make us liable for those acts? Coming to a courtroom near you. Law suits for wrongful death and willful neglect of duties to protect our Mexican neighbors because some of our citizens love to get high. Somewhere a lawyer, probably ACLU, is thinking now that Hillary has said that the U.S. is responsible how can I ride this gravy train to economic prosperity for the poor, disenfranchised and make a name for myself as well. Americans who has lost a family member at any time because of the drug trade will also now have someone to blame and sue. We are going to need a bailout for the drug trade lawsuits.

"You have the right to an attorney..."

Well she is an attorney. One of the best that lived and worked in Arkansas. Her boss is an attorney although I can't tell from his resume if he ever actually appeared in a courtroom. He has indicated that we would spend $275M to modernize border crossings and provide $80M of your tax dollars to help Mexico purchase Black Hawk helicopters. Economic stimulus at its best. Let me set something straight Washington. It's not coming through the manned checkpoints geniuses. We have too much under patrolled landscape that allows the entry of these drugs. What you catch at the manned border crossings is the setup or distraction for the bigger prize.

"...do you understand your rights?"

Hell yeah I do. We are sovereign nation. We have a right to protect ourselves. We have a border with Mexico that is extremely porous and it allows anything through it that our overworked border agents can't get to. We are being invaded daily by the country to our south. This could be defined as an act of war. We have a right to defend this border, not with security guards, which is how we treat our border agents(because they are afraid that they may be prosecuted for doing their jobs) but with the full force of our military. Senator Joseph Lieberman said, "the danger here is clear and present. It threatens to get worse."

George W. Bush signed into law a bill that authorized the expenditure of $1.2 billion for 700 miles of fence to slow the flow of illegals into this country. Since we did not build the fences we should send more national guard units to the border to assist. Entry into this country even for peaceable humanitarian purposes without authorization should be thwarted. Our military is trained to fight. If the violence spills over then turn the forces loose to defend our nation and do so without diplomacy. Let the Mexican government know that we will do our best to help them but they have to rid themselves of corruption in order for anything to work. They must warn their citizens that coming into the U.S. illegally is a crime and could be considered an act of aggression. Many of those illegals come here to escape poverty but do so illegally and thus are considered invaders not immigrants.

Yes we can do more to assist our neighbors to the south but it starts with tougher border laws. Better yet enforcement of our laws. We are still a country based upon the rule of law for now. Arrest, deport and if necessary shoot any invaders that are breaking the law. We do allow immigration through legal means. Some of the same invaders are the ones that are here not to work but to commit crimes and further the advancement of the drug trade.

I can spend another 2000 words talking about how to cure our appetite for drugs in this country but our first solution is to fix and defend our borders. If not now then when.

That's my word. Please post yours!

A Letter From Da Boss...

2009-03-23T14:08:00.004-04:00

...to those employees that do not understand who created and own the job that they currently hold.

To All My Valued Employees;

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don't see is the back story.

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.

Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes, federal taxes, property taxes, sales and use taxes, payroll taxes, workers compensation taxes and unemployment taxes, Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero! Nada! Zilch!

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, is it the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this?

It's quite simple.

If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....

Signed,

Your boss

These are not my words. But they are my sentiments. I have posted it as a response to the continued attack on those who create jobs in this country but are being told by our representatives and other wealth envy citizens that they do not pay enough and are too "greedy". Our government does not create jobs and cannot create 4.1M, 3.0M or 2.5M whatever number Obama thinks he can create in jobs. Government creates taxes and that is all. The federal government is the largest employer in the country with 1.8 million bureaucrats not including the quasi government postal service. So if getting a federal job is your goal then you can get a government created job.

Please post your words before it is too late!

More Due Diligence...AIG Bonuses

2009-03-18T10:19:00.006-04:00

Even a dog knows better than to bite the hand that feeds him. But I guess that does not apply to congressional leaders that received donations in 2008 from their arch-enemy, the "greedy American International Group- AIG."

Heading the list was none other than the Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and then Senator and presidential campaigner Barack Obama. But then this is Washington politics. Here is a short list of some of the recipients of AIG political contributions:

Chris Dodd $103,100
Barack Obama $101,332
John McCain $59,499
Hillary Clinton $35,965
Max Baucus $24,750
Mitt Romney* $20,850
Joe Biden $19,975
John Larson $19,750
Rudy Giuliani* $13,200
Dick Durbin $11,000

*presidential campaign contribution

During this 2008 cycle 55 House members and 33 Senators received these payouts. I don't hear any of them rushing to give the donations back. Democrats were the chief recipients with $442,996 while Republicans received $142,792. So where is the American public outrage. I'll wait....

The "Blame Somebody" Obama Administration claims that Senator Dodd included in the $787B stimulus bill an amendment that provided exemption for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on or before February 11, 2009 which exempted these AIG bonuses paid this week. Dodd has denied inserting the "Dodd Amendment". He claims that he did not include those dates and that when the legislation left the Senate it did not contain that language but when it returned those dates were inserted. Fine Mr. Dodd but congressional record shows that you still voted in favor of the bill. If you were so outraged by the amendment then why the yea vote? I'll wait....

Now Dodd seeks to tax the bonus recipients so that the government can recoup some of the $165M that AIG is paying out. So the politicians seek to specifically craft a bill to only tax AIG managers and executives that received these bonus payouts. This is ludicrous since the bill would only be targeted at a handfull of individuals! So you know that the actual language of the bill will target all bonuses paid to managers and executives of any company in the United States. And if any of you have ever received a management bonus then you would know that it has almost 40% Federal withholding taken out prior to you getting your money. Yet these same congress members and president signed a omnibus spending bill that had over $8 billion of earmarks ala pork and that's o.k.? On a percentage basis this is more than the 1/10th of 1% that the AIG bonuses represent.

What is not being told is that some of these financial service executives agreed to take $1 salaries for 2009 in exchange for receiving their retention bonuses. These were deals that were struck with "Turbo Tax" Timothy Geithner when he was the head of the New York Federal Reserve and arranging for the AIG bailout. So he knew that they were in there. These retention payments range from $1,000 to $6.5 Million. So the worker getting $1,000 would be ostracized by American society for receiving such a pittance of a bonus.

America please wake up before it is too late. I'll wait....

That's my word! Please post yours!

Doing Due Diligence and AIG

2009-03-16T13:27:00.012-04:00

When buying a company you should always conduct your due diligence in examining how that company operates, is financed and what ongoing contracts or obligations it has. In other words you ask for their financial books and you begin your due diligence discovery. On May 1, 2008, Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines agreed to create the world's largest airline through a merger of the two companies. At some point prior to this announcement they both had to open their books for financial review to see if this potential marriage would work.

Along comes our Federal Government with its gotta get something done now mentality and buys $170 billion of American International Group, Inc. better known as AIG. Former Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, called the Wall Street company to Washington D.C. to iron out a proposed bailout of AIG which had gotten into deep money troubles with the collapse of our financial industry. What Paulson and the rest of the Washington knuckleheads did not do was ask all of the banks that were being bailed out to allow the government to examine their financial books thoroughly. $170 billion dollars later everyone is an uproar about $165 million in bonuses being paid out by AIG. In other words all of these intellectual dimwits did not do their due diligence for the American taxpayer. You and I spend more time reading our escape clause in our cell phone contracts than what was done here.

If this had occured just maybe someone would have seen the contracts for these bonuses. Because we are a country based upon the rule of law there is nothing anyone from Barney Franks, to Chris Dodd, to Nancy Pelosi or even Barack Obama can do. These bonuses are contractual and were already in place prior to the sky falling in for AIG. One way that these bonuses could have been eliminated is to have allowed AIG to go into a controlled bankruptcy and then the people who were slated to be paid bonuses for 2008 would have to get in line with the rest of the creditors as AIG tried to emerge from bankruptcy. Another way would have been to ask that the bonuses be deferred as long as the company was in trouble and owed the taxpayers.

Now that everyone on Capitol Hill is ranting about the timing of these payouts; they should look in the mirror. They are responsible for this not AIG. Had they taken the necessary time instead of rushing to the rescue there would have been better opportunity to review all of the operations of AIG and others. Paulson also set up the bailout so that these companies did not have to report how they planned to spend the monies lent to them. No court in this land will override the decision of AIG to pay these bonuses. Contracts are binding unless there was fraud by one party and since the recipients are getting what they expected and AIG indicates these bonuses are due then who was defrauded? Not the Federal Government. They never did their due diligence.

AIG is a holding company for many different companies. AIG has businesses in general insurance, financial services, asset management and life insurance & retirement services. And because we do not know who exactly will receive these bonuses and how each of the many companies under the AIG umbrella performed; it is not prudent to assume that someone is not deserving of their bonus. Nor do we know how each of the many companies performed individually. Some divisions of this organization may have been performing well above expectations and that is what helped trigger their contractual bonus payout. If it turns out that AIG is just paying bonuses to pay bonuses without the necessary performance triggers then shame on them and they deserve the intense scrutiny they are receiving. But our government set it up that they did not have to report as to how they are spending your money. Due Diligence not done! Necessary precautions not taken! No common or business sense. Government at its very best! You see what happens when Congress does things in haste. The good thing is that Obama and his team did not set these arrangements up but he did vote yes to the $750 billion bailout as Senator and Presidential candidate.

I am not opposed to anyone at AIG or any other bailout company receiving bonus payouts that were agreed to as long as the terms of the performance were met. Mr. Obama issued more of his rhetoric today, that Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner would be using any legal means necessary to stop or reverse these payments. This is the same Mr. Geithner that has yet to produce the plan for shoring up our financial and banking industry. The same Treasury Department that has yet to get a Deputy Treasury Secretary to assist Mr. Geithner. When is he going to have the time for this assignment? I'll wait......

That's my word! Please post yours!

Cuban Missile Crisis, Part Deux

2009-03-16T00:45:00.015-04:00

Think back to yesterday, well O.K., back to October when Sheriff Joseph Biden shot off his six gun mouth while on the campaign trail and said the following:

"Mark my words, It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

Coming on the heels of the Hillary Overcharge Button gaffe, the Russian government says that it may deploy strategic bombers in Cuba and Venezuela. So much for the reset of relations, huh Hillary! Now as Secretary of State what will you do? Looks like the Sheriff was right. Obama's mettle will be tested within six months of taking office.

In my estimation, Russia is no longer content to watch as the United States flexes its muscle and power around the world. How dare we have the "audacity" to be the most powerful nation on the planet. Now Russia wants to check us on this. Being numero uno has its consequences wouldn't you say. Just like the Pittsburgh Steelers will find at the start of next football season, everyone wants to knock you off your perch. Russia is a proud former super power and they want to regain that honor at our expense.

How will Obama handle this crisis? Remember that his administration's mantra is "not to let a good crisis go to waste." Trying to pretend to be a world leader will not work. He will have to tackle this one head on. Just like JFK, will he be able to stare into the eyes of an enemy and get him to blink. This crisis will require that he and his State Department bring their "A" game. That is if they have an "A" game to bring. Our country has recently shown that we have no idea how to deal effectively anymore on the world stage. Snubbing the British Prime Minister, presenting Russia with the Easy Button and promising $900M to help rebuild Hamas controlled Gaza even though we did not destroy it. Since he is still in the early days of his administration he can just claim that he inherited this mess too.

Cuba already has the long landing strips necessary for these bombers to land and take off. With Cuba being only 90 miles from Florida you can easily see why this is a potential problem and embarrassment for the administration. I guess Hillary wanted to reset the Russian-U.S. relationship back to 1962. With everything else going on in this country will the Obama administration, more importantly the State Department, be able to navigate this crisis. I think not. Let's just Hope that they do not have 14 days in October to deal with it.

Sheriff Joe, you called it and here it is. Have your boss answer the test. Deal with it now before we have Russian and Cuban paratroopers landing in our backyards ala the movie "Red Dawn". And we do not need another trillion dollars spent on this crisis. Maybe once again we will remove our missile defenses out of Turkey or some other place to close this out. We will wait!

That's my word! Please post yours!

It's Over Now! "The Economy is Sound..."

2009-03-15T19:13:00.008-04:00

...despite the temporary "mess" it's in, so says the White House economic adviser, Christina Romer.

Is this deja vu? Did I hear this somewhere before? Did someone get ridiculed for making this statement some time ago? Short answer is yes.

Then Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain made these statements on Monday, September 15, 2008: "the fundamentals of our economy are strong"even though as he described "tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street." Although at the time the U.S. economy was experiencing relatively low unemployment (6.1%) and had seen some modest growth. On this same day the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by 498 points or 4.4%. Barack Obama's campaign issued this statement to those comments:

"Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going on in the lives of ordinary Americans...apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis."

Now the Obama administration would have you believe that the economy is sound? We have lost over 12% off the DJIA since January 20, 2009. Unemployment currently sits at 8.1% and we are to believe that the economy is sound! This from the same president who wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post that the "recession could linger for years and our economy could lose 5 million jobs." Did something happen this week that I missed? Was it because we had the best week in many months on Wall Street they came to this conclusion? That I doubt since our President told us to not look at the "gyrations" of Wall Street as a measuring stick. I can't understand it. What a difference a day makes.

There is a silver lining is this announcement though. And that is finally this President and his team of "know-it-all's" have finally wised up and ceased with the FEAR tactics. I blogged about Obama's Hope over Fear a month ago. But it seems as though someone somewhere finally got to them and gave them a clue. If you keep saying its bad then it will continue to be bad. They may be trying a little psychology here with this sound economy strategy. Let's see, it just might work. I want to think that he is now trying to lead instead of scaring us into believing that it will get better even though he has now used FEAR on our food supply, but that's a story for another day. And maybe Santa Claus will come down my chimmney on April 15th too!

That's my word! Please post yours!

Presidents Only: New Employee Orientation

2009-03-08T23:18:00.019-04:00

In order for a new employee to get off to a successful start they are usually required to attend "New Employee Orientation." This is necessary for several reasons. It first allows the new employee to understand what their role is and what opportunities are available for them within the company. It also allows for the organization to indoctrinate the new employee into the different cultures and history of the company. The new employee is usually given a handbook, benefit summary and code of conduct material.

Even the National Football League offers a rookie symposium to all newly drafted and free agent employees. The purpose is to make certain that their new crop of millionaire players learn how to make the right choices in business, money, conduct and women. The NFL even requires rookies to tour the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH to learn about the roots of the league and the players that came before them.

Then why does the President of the United States not attend a similar orientation or seminar. Mr. Obama has made several mistakes as the neophyte leader of the country. You would think that the President would have surrounded himself with adequate advisers that would be able to ward off these missteps early into his presidency since he is the "smartest person in the room." His latest flap was the snub of a long time ally, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Big "O" showed little interest in this visit, declined to do a joint press conference and extend the visiting leader a state dinner at the White House. A part of the President's duties include entertaining heads of state and ambassadors. I checked and the Prime Minister of Great Britain is a head of state as well as a longtime ally!

Better to Receive Than to Give!
The Big "O" made another mistake with the Prime Minister by presenting him with a gift of 25 DVD's of classic American movies. This is after Mr. Brown gave the President a pen holder that was crafted out of oak from the HMS Gannet, a naval vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off the coast of Africa. He was also presented with the framed commissioning papers of the HMS Resolute, the sister ship to the Gannet and a ship that was rescued by the U.S. and given to Queen Victoria. Obama also received the seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill. Mrs. Brown presented the First Children with outfits from Topshop, a British chain of clothing stores. She also gave them several books from British authors that have yet to be published in the United States. Mrs. Obama gave the Prime Minister's boys toy replicas of Marine One. Orientation classes on gift giving and reciprocity would have been ideal here. The DVD's may not even play in Great Britain as they were probably in NTSC format not the PAL fortmat for most of Europe. Even the smartest person in the room could gain some insight from new employee orientation.

I'm So Tired
Sources in the White House say that the Big "O" and his staff have been "overwhelmed" by the economic meltdown and that the president is not getting enough rest which is why he did not give Mr. Brown the time a visiting head of state would normally get. This is where that new employee orientation would have been useful. Mr. Obama would have been told that the job is 24/7, the worries are 24/7, the responsibilities are 24/7. He would have had the option to decide if this was a job that he truly wanted to do and would he be up for the challenge. Yet there was no orientation and less than 60 days into the new administration there is a sense that the president is already tired. Well partner you signed on for at least 4 years of this.

Even if his staffers did not know protocol there is always someone the new employee could have called upon for guidance. Mr. Obama has four predecessors that he could have called upon for help. I am sure that Slick Willie(Clinton) or Skippy(Carter) would have been eager to offer advice.

Aging Already!
We all know that when a president enters office he has a optimistic outlook and demeanor about himself. Years later they look ravaged and haggard. Does the new employee look tired already to you? The US News did a piece on the aging of presidents but what should concern most of you are the messianic comments of the readers as to why Big "O" will not age like previous presidents. I think his lifestyle of smoking and the stresses of the job will cause him to age more quickly than even he would have thought. But an orientation that included age enhanced photos of himself as well as pictures of previous Presidents, before and after serving, would have been worthwhile. Maybe he would have just said "this is too much to take and I respectfully tender my resignation. My health is more important than the job." Big "O" would do well to put the Blackberry down and get on the patch. Aging is a process but lifestyle and stress does accelerate it.

Thats my word! Please post yours!

Boycotting Barnes & Noble?

2009-03-06T12:20:00.014-05:00

The beauty of the internet and the digital world is that we can get information at a moments notice. No longer are we confined to wait for the local nightly news to bring us what we need to know. With that, the dangerous side of the internet and the digital world is that we can get information at a moments notice. Erroneous or inflammatory information can be disseminated instantaneously. The current Barnes and Noble flap is what brings this to mind.

Below is a copy of an email that has been circulating and sent to my email inbox several times this week along with the picture of what the email is explaining. Some of you may have it already.

FW: Barnes & Noble - Racism???

Subject: Racism still exists obviously Let us not be lulled into a sense of complacency, due to the recent political success of President Obama. Racism still exists in this country. Like all things, nothing is perfect on this planet, in this world. We have an obligation to be active on issues that simply cannot be ignored. Along these lines we should all actively spread the word of how Barnes and Noble apparently feels about black people or at least our President. Please forward this to as many people you think should be aware of this and would be offended by this. Boycotting Barnes and Noble will show the economic effect of people who will not tolerate racism. Barnes and Noble had this as their store front display in Coral Gables FL in the Miracle Mile Mall. I am totally disgusted and I think it is important that we all find a different place to buy our books. Obviously this is a place of extreme ignorance. How far have we really come? God bless.

Barnes & Noble does acknowledge that this event did occur, albeit not by their store staff but by a customer who was probably still upset over the election. I even go so far as to speculate that it was someone who got tired of the race baiting regarding the N.Y. Post editorial cartoon that depicted a dead monkey who had wrote the stimulus package. Barnes & Noble even expressed outrage over the character reference to the President. Liberals often have "knee-jerk" reactions to anything that "offends" them and often calls it racism. Racism can exist if you have been harmed by a "racist" act. So who was harmed by this display?

Many of the threads of emails that I received called for an immediate boycott of Barnes & Noble bookstores. "Knee-jerk" reaction. Please explain to me why Barnes & Noble should be penalized for something that they indicated was not of their doing and have issued an open apology for it. [Then why apologize? Because some of you will not let it go at all.] Please explain why any of the cashiers at the Barnes & Noble in Atlanta or any other city have to suffer because of something that occurred in Coral Gables, Florida.

How you ask? Let's say that the boycott is successful and it results in a 30% decline in total revenue for Barnes & Nobel as a company. Successful boycott you would say! Management's reaction is to pare down expenses to offset the resulting losses in sales. So the company starts to manage is biggest expense of operation; that is payroll. That is the human side of your supposed boycott. Now the company decides that it no longer needs to employee 45 people per store but will make do with only 25 - 30. So at max 15 people go to the unemployment lines and that is just the stores. But your boycott was successful. Now multiply that number by the 799 stores that Barnes & Noble operates plus add in the distribution centers and joila! Now you see the total human toll. The young worker that utilizes this job to pay his college tuition, the warehouse associate that feeds his family, the stock associate that supplements her income are now for the worse. But you were successful because of a book about monkeys.

In these "tough economic times" Barnes & Noble seems to performing well. You race baiters should do some thinking before sending email chains to your friends and relatives. Barnes & Noble just declared a quarterly cash dividend for it's stockholders, yet you seek to punish them. If you own 1000 shares of their stock you would see a $250 check coming your way by the end of March of this year. You may not own any Barnes & Noble stock outright but your 401K or mutual fund may as part of its mix. The Chairman of Barnes & Noble, Leonard Riggio, currently serves as the Finance Chairman of the Host Committee of the NAACP's Centenial Convention slated for New York City. His family is still helping to build homes for Hurricane Katrina victims (17,000 New Orleans evacuees are still living in hotels at taxpayer expense). If you want these things being done by this company to stop then go ahead with your boycott and I wish you all the best. By the way Barnes & Noble is not seeking any government bailout money and in my opinion tends to lean to the left for its political views. Conservative thought books are often hard to find and are not displayed as prominently as those of more liberal authors.

Barnes & Noble has not offended me and if the store associates were responsible for the display then I am still not offended because, I am not a Monkey neither is the President. Get over yourselves already. Every criticism of Obama is not racist.

That's my word! Post yours!

28th Amendment: Housing Is A Right!

2009-02-25T09:10:00.006-05:00

Stuart Varney vs. ACORN

Bertha Lewis, Executive Director of the New York branch of ACORN. She obviously never read the Constitution and firmly believes in what she is espousing. Interesting conversation with Fox Business News, Stuart Varney.

Not my words but the words of ACORN. Post yours.

Pimp My Ride: Presidential Task Force On The Auto Industry

2009-02-24T12:08:00.022-05:00

What if Chrysler and GM built a car and no one wanted to buy it? What if our federal government employees charged with overseeing their return to competitiveness refused to own it? Would you feel comfortable loaning them money as a part of a bailout?

The Big "O" formed a task force, Presidential Task Force On the Auto Industry, to tackle the process of monitoring Chrysler and GM and determining if they can get more of your money to stay in business. The task force will be co-chaired by Timothy "TurboTax" Geithner and Lawrence Summers, the White House National Economic Council Director. There are 6 other members on this task force along with 10 senior policy aides. There are two openings on the committee but they have not been named as they would be the secretaries of Labor and Commerce, who have not been appointed by the Big "O" yet. Initially the Big "O" promised that he would appoint a Car Czar to oversee the auto industry but that was scrapped in favor of a committee. You see Democrats believe in Mob Rule. Let's get a group of experts together and vote on how to run a company.

According to the Detroit News, both of these gentlemen own foreign automobiles. Geithner, a 2008 Acura TSX and Summers a 1995 Mazda Protege. Of the entire group, two do not own an automobile and only two own American models. Now you wonder why the automobile industry is in such dire straits. Americans always vote with their wallets. We want value, reliability and great looks in our cars. Yet Detroit automakers continue to lag behind their Japanese counterparts in providing these things. I am not saying that American automobiles are far less reliable but their is a perceived unreliability that goes back over 25 years on American cars.

Our Democratic controlled congress would have all corporate CEO's make a maximum wage of $500K but overlook the fact that the people chartered with oversight of bailout money to GM and Chrysler be allowed to own foreign vehicles. Because Obama believes in fairness then make these overseers divest themselves of their foreign automobile and buy a new Dodge Challenger or a Chevrolet Malibu. C'mon, its only fair. They get to tell Chrysler and GM how much and what they need to do but they don't support buying American. For them to drive foreign automobiles to work daily would be the same as a Coke employee bringing a Pepsi Cola to drink during their lunch break. I am not opposed to Americans owning foreign cars as this is a free market place, I am just putting the hypocrisy back at the Obama administration and the Democrats who think that they should always tell others what to do with their money.

Both Chrysler and General Motors presented their business plans to the White House as part of the terms of the agreement from December. Chrysler's plan consists of 177 pages (mostly fluff) little in the way of planing and GM's plan has a total of 117 pages which will include focusing on its core brands, GMC, Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet. The Task Force on Auto Industry will have until the end of March to review and decide whether to grant further government aid to these failing behemoths or to structure a controlled bankruptcy filing.

Will these automakers survive? Not if they are not allowed to fail. They must fail in order to fix their cost structure and focus on efficient manufacturing and assembly of cars that Americans want to buy. Failure is an option and should be explored.

Car selling should be simple. Make what people want to buy. Price it where people are willing to pay(successful market research and branding). If they buy it make more of it and make improvements to it. If they don't buy it stop making it and mark it down to liquidate immediately. Automakers sometimes stay with a model too long before discontinuing it. I like what Detroit used to make. Maybe I will see more of these on the street really soon!

That's my word! Post yours!

It's Just A Game Folks!

2009-02-18T17:34:00.002-05:00

Will someone please remind these "students" that basketball is just a game. There was no need for this all out brawl. The disturbing part is that early on you can see several young "ladies" enter into the fracas.

This fight broke out after a foul. It later spilled over into the stands with some spectators.

The Alabama High School Athletic Association acted swiftly and decisively. The final out come is that both teams forfeited the game and were eliminated from the playoffs. I am not sorry for either team. Someone could have been severely hurt or even killed.

The Boogey Man is Coming, It's Friday the 13th

2009-02-13T08:51:00.019-05:00

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear..." President Barack Obama inauguration address.

President Barack Obama's inaugural speech included choosing hope over fear. Yet every time he addresses the American people he tries his best to scare us. It reminds me of when as a kid, my parents would say that if I did not behave Santa Claus would not bring me any toys. Scare the people into following your directions. Since I have already wrote about Hope, here is your dose of Fear.

The Boogey Man

He tells us that we are entering "the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression." Yet the facts do no bear this out. The unemployment rate during the 1981-82 recession reached 10.8% versus the 7.6% that Mr. Obama inherited. During the Depression unemployment peaked at 23.6%. A far cry from where it is today. Inflation was at 13.5% at the beginning of the Reagan years yet you come in with an average from 2008 of 3.5%. Prime interest rates at the end of Carter's presidency stood at 20.5% while that same measure was 3.25% at the end of 2008. So if this is the most profound economic emergency then did he miss the early '80's that was caused by Jimmy Carter. Oooooh! The Boogey Man is Here! Maybe that was when he was toking on the Chronic.

Reagan pulled this country out of the doldrums by cutting taxes and reducing spending not by claiming that the Boogey Man was coming.

Here is more Hope Over Fear from Mr. Obama's op-ed piece in the Washington Post.

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people will lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, then this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

It is the responsibility of the President to present to the American people the state of affairs of the country in a Presidential manner. Not scaring the "bejeezus" out of us, but by instilling calm leadership. Let us know what the problems are and how you propose to fix them instead of bringing on the fear of the Boogey Man. I guess it goes along with the long list of campaign promises broken already i.e. no lobbyists, 5 days before signing any bill, transparency in government with even more to come because of over promising and under delivering. Hope Over Fear!

Unlike Henrietta Hughes, I am asking only two things of the President. That is to stop campaigning because "you won" and to lead like a President should without bringing up the Boogey Man.

It's Friday the 13th

That's my word! Post yours!

Where is The Outrage?

2009-02-12T08:42:00.008-05:00

Congratulations to Stump the Sussex spaniel: Best of Show Winner.

In protesting the 133rd Annual Westminster Dog Show, members of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, donned Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods to pass out pamphlets titled "The KKK and AKC: BFF?". This was done in plan view of the public and in front of the Madison Square Garden. PETA attempts to draw the comparison between the KKK and the AKC, American Kennel Club, for wanting "pure bloodlines" and a desire to create a master race.

Where was the Reverend Al Sharpton and his legions of protestors? Did Jesse Jackson not get an email of a Klan rally in New York? Where were the Black New Yorkers who so often jump on any chance to cry racism against anyone who dares to insult a Black man? Well, you were insulted by PETA in their satirical attempt compare the two groups on creating pure bloodlines. They compared suffering at the hands of the KKK to that of a dog being bred to create what Darwin would call "artifical selection." Some reports indicated that most onlookers were more puzzled than offended.

Here is an excerpt from the pamphlet:
Like the Klan, dog breeders who subscribe to the AKC standards are all about the sanctity of "pure bloodlines." So what if beagles have epileptic seizures, Dalmatians are deaf, and pugs can barely breathe because of how they are purposely bred to look a certain way? Looks are everything

As my memory serves me, I don't ever recall a single instance where the AKC hung a Black man from a tree, drug him behind their car, or beat him to death all because he was Black. I have yet to hear of a story of terrorism perpetrated by the AKC on Blacks.

So where is the outrage and the protest of PETA?

That's my word. Post yours!

Watch this!
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"Hope Is Not A Strategy....

2009-02-11T00:29:00.018-05:00

...nor is it a goal."

I recall several years ago I was giving a quarterly presentation in front of my colleagues, Regional Manager, Regional V.P. and Division President on my business plan for my branch. Things were going well until I received a challenging question on my estimated sales growth. I begin the answer with "I hope to be able to..." then it went down hill. These words resonate with me until this very day from my Regional V.P. "Hope is not a strategy and definitely should not be your goal." I spent the next 30 minutes defending every aspect of my quarterly business review while my colleagues grimaced and some snickered(better you than me). I survived and learned a valuable lesson and so did they. Never use Hope as part of an answer. Yet we have allowed ourselves to believe that Hope is the panacea for our ailing economy.

Americans voted for Hope on November 4, 2008. And Hope is what everyone keeps talking about when it comes to our economy. Here is how Barack Obama defined Hope during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last January; “Hope is not blind optimism. Hope is not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside of us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that there is something greater inside of us.” That was then this is now!

I waited patiently for Timothy Geithner to bring forth his plan to spend the balance of the TARP funds in Hope of shoring up our financial institutions. Yet I am still waiting. He detailed a plan of still planning. I watched his boss, President Obama, tell us on Monday evening that "my Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, will present to you on tomorrow the plan..." Geithner did say that it would be costly, "This strategy will cost money, it will involve risk and it will take time." We Hope that all of this works!

Attacking the financial collapse on three fronts:

1.) Working to restart the flow of credit. I don't hear a detailed plan in this. Must be Hope.
2.) Removing bad debt from the books of troubled banks. He did give greater details on this front.
3.) Providing assistance for ordinary Americans and small businesses. I'll wait for the plan.

Hoping for the best is the same as not having a strategy. It is dangerous if you do not take into consideration that the worst could happen and act from that standpoint. The Obama administration along with our congressional leaders are not acting rationally. We are in for a tough and long haul. It is going to cost trillions to put this Hope into action.

The final stimulus package that will go to the president will be about $790 billion. It will include lots of spending that should be part of the normal budgetary process but because Obama believes he has to do something now it got rushed to completion. Yes, something had to be done but why did it have to be done so quickly without much thought and oversight? Why was Kruella D'Pelosi given so much latitude with which to comprise such a bill? Why did the entire Republican delegation vote against it in the House? Why did all but 3 Republicans not vote for it in the Senate? Mr. Obama insists that he has to do something. But things done in haste always end up with waste. Since I have no idea what the compromise package is I will reserve criticism until it is presented. But remember that if you borrow from the economy then put it back as spending you haven't added anything except debt. But remember this: Hope is not a strategy!

Yet the American people hold out for Hope! Its what keeps some us going each day.

Thats my word. Post yours!

The Maximum Wage II

2009-02-05T10:47:00.004-05:00

“For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis is not only in bad taste, it’s a bad strategy, and I will not tolerate it as president.” President Barack Obama

Will someone please inform the President that with great risk comes great responsibility, then comes great rewards. If you are challenged with performing a task and in the performance of that task you meet or exceed those expectations then there just might be some sort of reward in place. Bonuses are not just awarded because a corporation decides it wants to do so. The merits and the criteria are spelled out at the beginning of the fiscal year, quarter or month. If this then that. In many cases these rewards (bonuses) are contractual.

Let's use fictional company, IRun Enterprises, Inc. They have been losing money for the past 4 quarters and are projected to lose $6 million this fiscal year. The board of directors fire the current CEO, Imma Screwup. They initiate a CEO search for a true turn-around manager and find a candidate, Mr. Ican Dooit. Mr. Dooit studies the business of IRun Enterprises and presents a plan to the board of directors. The plan does not include returning to profitability this year but does show that he can reverse most losses and finish the year at a loss of $3 million dollars and return to profitability by end of year 2. The board prepares a hiring contract for Mr. Dooit. His representative negotiates that if he meets his target objective then he will be paid $500,000 base salary and a bonus 30% of the savings (That's $900K for the math challenged.) The board agrees and along comes Mr. Dooit and his plan. By the end of the first year, Mr. Dooit and his team of executives have not only met their plan but exceeded it and Irun Enterprises has only lost $1 million dollars. So Mr. Dooit's contract calls for a payout of 30% of savings as a bonus, which in this case would be $1.5 million dollars.

Now should you be outraged? Yes, if you are a wealth envy nut job. You see the stockholders would not have a problem with this because Mr. Dewit just increased their shareholder value by turning the company around. Many of the employees will not have a problem with this as because a worse case senario would have meant greater layoffs. The board of directors would be elated since they made a good decision and their shares of this company have been improved as well.

But Barack Obama would have you believe that any company which receives any "exceptional" assistance from the government then their executives should be paid a Maximum wage of $500,000 annually. While the average American is somewhere around $50K a year this does seem like a great amount of cash. Would any top notch CEO looking to advance his/her career want to do this job where there will be tons of government interference and oversight? Long answer is NO! So if he is successful in implementing this Maximum wage then companies that really need a top notch executive will end up with an mediocre CEO at the helm. The talent will go where they can be compensated on a comensurate scale with other CEO's and with no government intervention.

I commend Goldman Sach's and J.P. Morgan for initiating their own version of a poision pill. That pill is to pay back the TARP money early. Goldman Sachs indicated that their financial condition was sound. JP Morgan said they didn't need nor did they ask for any bailout.

"White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the rules weren’t intended to be “overly punitive,” while a senior administration officials said their primary goal is to align the interests of top executives at bailed-out firms with those of shareholders, who now include U.S. taxpayers.

I thought that the Treasury Department purchases preferred stock and warrants from these troubled financial institutions. That would ensure that the US Treasury would receive payment before common equity shareholders would. And since it is non-voting preferred stock how does the Treasury get to vote on how a company operates?

I hope that these financial institutions get back to the business of lending and freeing up credit so that they can began to pay back the American taxpayer quickly and get government out of of the business of running corporations. And for the rest of you.....Don't do it! Just Don't do it!

That's my word. Post yours.

Talking Out The Side of Her Neck

2009-02-04T15:16:00.006-05:00

Maybe it is just me or is this woman getting ready for the "Brainiac of the Year Award."

Nancy Pelosi stated that every month that the stimulus package isn't passed, 500 Million Americans will lose their jobs........errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

How can that be? Are we now to run deficit job losses? One of the latest estimates of the total number of Americans in July 2008 was 304 Million people. So According to Nancy the Great we are going to lose an additional 196 Million jobs thus putting unemployment at 164% of the American population. Never mind that the total US population is not employed or employable since we would include children and retirees in that number.

Our unborn children, grandchildren and possibly great grandchildren will be born into a nation of the unemployable since we will have to pay this job loss deficit back just to get to zero unemployment.

I didn't make it up. She said it. 500 Million Americans will lose their job each month.

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I Love This Baby

2009-01-30T16:54:00.003-05:00

This probably will not be shown during the Super Bowl, but you gotta love it.

Enjoy!

Let's Have Some Fun!

Not Time To Make Profits......

2009-01-30T11:50:00.004-05:00

"There will be time for them to make profits and time for them to make bonuses. Now is not that time." President Barack Obama

When is the right time to make a profit? Did he really say that? Listen to it up to the very end.

Yep! He said it. Now is not the time to make profits. I thought that profits were a good thing in a capitalist society. I thought that a positive profit and even a lesser loss than previous periods were a good thing! Hmmmm. Am I over thinking this? Maybe government issues legislation to tell all companies when the time will be right again to make a profit and pay bonuses.

I think it would have been a responsible thing for the President to contact those Wall Street executives by phone to find out what is really going on. These bonuses were probably part of a legal contract with the executives that received them. Whenever I have received a bonus from my job I always had to meet certain levers to activate them to get paid. Bonuses are not always paid because you made a profit. They can be paid to an executive to limit the losses otherwise the company may be in worst condition than when it started. In order for these bonuses to be "shameful" as Mr. Obama has stated then we definitely need to know what the parameters were to trigger their payout. Pick up the phone Mr. President. I am sure that Mr. Lewis (Bank of America) or Mr. Prince (Citi Group)or any of the other financial institution leaders will take your call. You are not campaigning anymore. You are the President. Remember: "I won!" They will take your call. No need for the soundbites.

Never mind that not all of these companies asked for nor wanted any government bailout. Mr. Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, pulled them into a room and basically told them that they could not leave until they signed away part ownership of their company to the Federal Government in exchange they were forced to take bailout money.

C'mon Mr. Obama. Make a call. Pick up the phone!

That's my word. What's yours. Post your comment.

Will We Have A Maximum Wage Initiative?

2009-01-28T10:08:00.006-05:00

Coming to a workplace near you…..

The Maximum Wage

On May 25, 2007, President George W. Bush, signed into law a bill that permitted the rise of the Federal Minimum Wage. This was historic because the minimum wage had not been increased in over 10 years. The AFL-CIO argued that the minimum wage earner had not had a raise for 10 years. Common sense would dispute that reasoning as no one would work for the same rate for 10 years at any job. The bill was hotly debated by our representatives and Mr. Bush signed this legislation partly because it included funding for the War on Terror in Iraq. The minimum wage was increased in .70¢ increases over three years. Currently the Federal Minimum Wage is $6.55 with another increase in July of this year to $7.25. We can debate the economic impact of the minimum wage some other time.

I bring this up because of all of the hoopla recently over executive compensation at corporations around the country. My thoughts are that if the Federal Government can set a lawfully mandated minimum wage then what is preventing it from setting a lawfully mandated maximum wage. Our economic life has been turned upside down over the past several months with a $700B bailout of our financial markets (and more to come), requests by the automotive industry for bailout money and now states and local municipalities readying to lobby Congress for their bailout.

The primary reason anyone is raising any ire on executive compensation is because of the amount of money the CEO’s received as their companies began to fail. When we hear that General Motors CEO, G. Richard Wagoner, Jr. received compensation of $10M, there is some sense of disgust. No one looks at the fact that Mr. Wagoner did not set his compensation, his bonuses nor his equity positions in General Motors. They were all determined by an executive compensation committee, approved by a board of directors and negotiated by Mr. Wagoner’s representative prior to taking the job. His actual salary is $1.6M along with $1.8M in bonuses and non-equity compensation making his total cash compensation at $3.4M. I am sure that in his bonus calculations there are certain levers that must be met to achieve different parts of that bonus. These were either negotiated or decided by the compensation team to incent the leader to perform. Bank of America’s Kenneth D. Lewis received $1.5M base salary, $4.3M bonus and non-equity for total cash compensation of $5.8M. He does have an equity position (options and stock awards) worth $15.6M. However, as the stock market goes so does the value of his stock awards. Of the mentioned CEO’s they both are contracted and are entitled to their compensation by contract or the company could be in for a legal battle which it would certainly lose unless they could prove blatant mismanagement.

Yet the Congress, President and the American public demand that Executive compensation be “brought into line”. In line with what I ask? These people are asked to run these companies and to take the necessary risk to build wealth for their investors (you and me as stock holders via our mutual funds, 401K and pension funds). To run a comparison on salaries lets see if you can attribute these salaries to the correct person:

a.) $8M Total compensation. $5M base with $3M bonus
b.) $27.7M Total compensation. $2.5M base with $25.2M bonus.
c.) $15.0M Total compensation. $1.0M base $10.4M bonus/non equity $3.6M equity.
d.) $10.0M Total compensation. $8.5M base $1.5M bonus.
e.) $1 Total compensation
f.) $21.7M Total compensation. $2.0M base $7.0M bonus/non equity $11.3 equity
g.) $14.0M Total compensation. $1.9M base $12.1M bonus.
h.) $23.4M Total compensation
i.) $28.0M Total compensation

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Answers to above:
a.) Tom Brady, Quarterback New England Patriots
b.) Ben Roethlisberger, Quarterback Pittsburg Steelers
c.) Charles O. Prince, CEO Citi Group, Inc.
d.) Eli Manning, Quarterback New York Giants
e.) Steve Jobs, CEO Apple (only $1 in compensation)
f.) Alan Mulally, CEO Ford Motor Company
g.) Randy Moss, Wide Receiver New England Patriots
h.) Jason Giambi, Designated Hitter New York Yankees
i.) Alex Rodriguez, Third Baseman New York Yankees

The reason that I have included the compensation of the professional athletes here is because I am not hearing a congressional outcry on their pay. Their compensation is negotiated by agents, agreed to by a team owner and may include bonuses (some guaranteed) and levers to achieve those bonuses. Some levers could be making the All-Star team or Pro-Bowl, becoming the rookie of the year or even leading the league in rushing yards or scoring. You see the market determines their pay and they get to keep it whether their team wins a championship or not. The Yankees have one of the highest payrolls in the professional sports but has not won a championship in eight years. Yet they pay two players over $51M and these guys get to keep it all. And all of these millionaire players are represented by a player union to ensure that they continue to get maximum pay. Yeah, I know that MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL have not asked for a bailout....yet! So why can’t CEO’s get their compensation negotiated and agreed to in advance. The difference is that if the board decides a CEO is not performing they let him go “pursue other interests”. Well it may also be that many of these same companies are asking the Imperial Federal Government for taxpayer relief to save their beleaguered asses. Are these executives paid more than their employees? Hell yeah they are. If the guy putting the wheels on the Chevy Tahoe could run the company, then promote him and pay him as well but he can’t and he does not have the fortitude nor the skill to lead a multi-national corporation. You pay for success or you wind up with mediocrity. Will salaries going forward be looked at more closely? You bet. With Congressional oversight executive pay will be challenged at every stage and many of America’s proud corporations will disappear with mediocre leadership. You get what you pay for.

Some will argue that if these men and women were so smart then why are their companies failing? Well, other than the U.S. Military, what part of Government is efficient yet we want these people to regulate salaries of the successful. Yes, it pains me to see a failed C-Level executive leave a company that he/she has failed to make into a success and go lead another company. Remember that he is not hiring himself. The new company saw something in this executive to want to have him to lead their company. That is the same for a professional quarterback. The Greenbay Packers have not been to the Super Bowl since 1998 yet they stuck with Bret Favre until 2008 where he was finally traded to the New York Jets and the Jets did not make the playoffs this year. So did the Jets hire a failure at quarterback? Was Bret Favre a failure? Do not give me 22 players on a football field argument. The same goes for a corporation.

So if we allow the Congress of the United States of America to set a minimum wage then what is preventing them from setting a maximum wage? Not a thing. And if you think that they will settle on executive salaries then you are dead wrong. In order to move to a more socialist society then wages have to be fair. And to be fair, your job and your salary may be set to a maximum so that you do not out earn those who are less educated, less motivated or less fortunate than yourself. Remember it is all about Fairness and Spreading the Wealth.

That’s my word but not the final word. Post your thoughts.

What is an African-American?

2009-01-20T23:40:00.008-05:00

I had a friend, years ago, when asked to identify his race on a job application or other school form he would always say that it was not there and would check other. He however would write in HUMAN.

So as I watched today’s inauguration of President Barack Obama, I couldn’t help but wonder aloud who or what is really an African-American. No matter what channel I switched to I kept hearing these words “first African-American President.” I have long been an opponent of the term that was coined in 1988. Jesse Jackson, who was never voted into any position of leadership by me, said that we should start calling ourselves this to identify with our heritage as a race. The media immediately ate it up and the new lexicon was born.

My long term thoughts have been that the term African-American was reserved for Black Americans who were descendants of slavery. And if that is the case then by definition Barack Obama is not an African-American. His father was a Kenyan immigrant, yeah I know Kenya is in Africa, and his mother a white American. The Black part of him was not a descendant of slavery in America, logic would say that Obama is not an African-American.

The term itself is so confusing that white people and the media try to apply it to all Black folk that they encounter or have any conversation about. Here is how it becomes confusing. Lenox Lewis has been regularly mislabeled by columnists as being African American. You see, Mr. Lewis is a black heavyweight boxer and if you saw him you would even say so too. Yet the moment he speaks you would clearly say that boy ain’t from around here is he? Lewis is British. The same has happened to Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. Who too looks like me, walks like me but speaks with a funny accent. He too is from Great Britain. He was given the distinct honor of being the first African-American to win a Formula One race. ESPN had to issue a retraction to that story. It’s not only athletes that have had to deal with this form of political correctness. Thandie Newton and Naomi Campbell have both been referred to as African-American.

So what do we say to our African immigrants who work hard to get here? Start living the “American Dream” and become naturalized citizens of this country. Now if you ask me they are African Americans. Born in Africa and became an American citizen. Yet we tell this group oooh nooo! You can’t be a part of this club because you have not had to struggle like our ancestors. Never mind that they only came here because of some struggle in their own country in the first place like genocide, lack of education, starvation or poverty. We have to assume that everyone on the continent of Africa is Black which is not the case. What about our cousins from the Caribbean countries? What do we call them?

The term is so politically correct that this headline appeared at www.physorg.com : African-American Canadians who receive kidney transplants fare better than those in US. OK so when did African-Americans start being Canadians? Hence the word American. See what happens when we try to make things so politically correct that we make it politically stupid. Please tell your white friends that it is OK to call us Black. I can identify with that, you don’t have to try to figure out if you used the term correctly and it doesn’t make you sound uppity. And tell your uppity Black ones that its OK for them too!

Urban Dictionary online has one definition as: What white people say when they’re afraid to say black especially when a black person is in the room.

So is Barack Obama the first African-American POTUS? You judge it. I prefer to say that he is the first Black President of the United States. Does this mean that Colin Powell was not the first African-American Secretary of State? Yup… His parents were immigrants from Jamaica. None of this discounts the history that was made by both men but it calls into question what is an African-American and who can lay claim to being one?

Keep your hyphenated labels off of me. In the words of James Brown, “…I’m Black and I’m proud.”

Standing in the Schoolhouse Door

2009-01-07T15:33:00.005-05:00

Flashback…June 11, 1963. Keeping a campaign promise, then Democratic Governor of Alabama, George C. Wallace “stood in the schoolhouse door” to block James A. Hood and Vivian J. Malone from registering at the University of Alabama. You see Hood and Malone did nothing wrong other than have the audacity to think that they could become students at the University of Alabama. Oh, did I forget to mention that they both are Black. How dare two Negroes [that is what they called us then] want to enter our prestigious institution of higher learning and sit in the same classroom with our white children. Wallace stood in the door until the federalized Alabama National Guard was called in by President John Kennedy to break up this “perception of freedom gone wild.”

Governor Wallace had been a staunch segregationist who was catering to his constituency. Wallace and Alabama had become the face of segregation and hate during the Civil Rights movement. I guess Mr. Wallace was getting back at the Blacks for supporting him in his first bid to become Governor in 1958. Wallace had refused the support of the Ku Klux Klan but accepted that of the NAACP and later lost his election bid in a runoff to John Patterson. This put him on his path of socio-political ideology of segregation. Remember that this Democrat made this statement as well “In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."

So much for the history lesson!

Let’s fast forward to December 30, 2008. Governor Rod Blagojevich named former Illinois Attorney General, Roland Burris, to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate. Why and who cares? Well most of Americans now know the names of the governors of Alaska and Illinois because of our mass media. Blagojevich is the Illinois governor who was recorded by the F. B. I. trying to sell or trade to the highest bidder the Senate seat vacated by the election of Obama to the Presidency. The Illinois state government is currently holding hearings on how they can impeach this governor and many have asked for his resignation (including Obama) which the governor has refused to do. Since he is still the governor of Illinois and he has the authority and power to appoint whomever he feels to the U.S. Senate seat that is now vacant. This power is granted him by the laws of the state of Illinois. Oh and did I fail to mention that Burris is Black!

Herein lays the rub!

Are the Democrats “standing in the schoolhouse door” again?
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has stated that he (the Senate) would not seat Mr. Burris. He indicated that Mr. Burris was “tainted” by Governor Blagojevich. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois also indicated that the U.S. Senate would not seat Mr. Burris even though the Illinois governor has the authority to appoint whomever yet the Senate has the right to determine if the person was chosen in a legal manner. Are the Democrats not seating Burris because of his skin color? There have only been three Black U.S. Senators in the modern era: Edward Brooke of Massachusetts (1967-1979), Carol Mosley Braun of Illinois (1993-1999) and Barack Obama of Illinois (2005-2008). Burris would represent the fourth.

I doubt that this is a racial issue although Mr. Reid is such a knucklehead and has backed off and now considers some form of negotiation to seat Mr. Burris. As for Mr. Burris his ego is so large that he did not think this thing out. I would not want the guilt by association tag. But I guess Mr. Burris wanted to be a Senator more than life itself, being that he has run for Mayor of Chicago, Senator and three times for governor and lost each time. Appointment is the next best thing for the resume. He was elected as the States first black executive as Comptroller and later as Attorney General. But where are his antennae? We do not convert to digital TV until February 19 so I know his TV is working. Good luck you Mr. Burris. You will be the next Senator from Illinois. Your appointment is legal and Harry Reid knows it.

U.S. Automotive Bailout

2008-11-20T10:23:00.002-05:00

Enough already!

The automotive industry should not expect a bailout package.

The American taxpayer is already on the hook for over $700 billion dollars in the current financial market meltdown. How much more can a man bear? The automotive industry should have foreseen their problems with soaring gasoline prices throughout the country. Demand for the vehicles that they were making started to dwindle yet they did nothing to improve their business model except bury their heads in the sand.

We have to step up our pressure on Congress to let them know that the US treasury cannot become the lender of last resort for failed business models. Congress approved $15 billion in bailout to the airline industry post September 11. This was money guaranteed to an industry where only a handful of players, Southwest and Continental to name two, had cash on hand to survive the downturn and passenger fear of flying prior to the terrorist acts. All the while not one dime was spent bailing out all of the dot com business failures in 2000 and 2001. I would have loved to see Web Van survive.

Should the auto industry be allowed to enter bankruptcy? Probably would be the best answer. For at least as an entity in bankruptcy they can continue to operate as a debtor in possession and restructure debt and contracts to allow for a stronger company post bankruptcy. Yeah, the shareholders of these organizations would lose out but the investors knew that going in. Buying stocks is a risky business and not all investments are good investments.

Who else would lose? The unions most certainly would stand to lose. Contracts could become void or re-negotiated to make for a more favorable business climate. Waste would be eliminated throughout but innovation would be increased. There would be the human toll of possible loss jobs.

Should retailers such as Linens n Things, Circuit City, Mervyns, and Tweeter ask for a bailout because of their inability to survive in a competitive yet challenging economy? Sure why not, these companies are no less important as the U.S. automakers. Should we bail this industry out we send another signal to all other industries that if you cannot succeed then the taxpayer has your back. This has to stop and has to stop now. .

Instead of interfering with the market forces, Congress must find a way for the automotive industry to fast track themselves through the bankruptcy and reorganization procedures.

What about Honda, BMW and Toyota? They too operate in the US. Yet they are not lining up to get their check. Hmmmmm, I wonder why?

We Now Return You To Your Regularily Scheduled Program...

2008-11-07T13:04:00.005-05:00

...already in progress.
Congratulations President-elect Obama! A historic election from the word go. Who thought that an upstart Black Senator from Illinois would unseat the more powerful "Clintonistas" for the Democratic party nomination? Who thought this same Senator would then beat out a more seasoned American Naval Aviation hero to become the nations first Black President.

Gone are the attack ads. Gone are the mind numbing lies and deceits. This has been a very trying election year. And guess what we do it all again all too soon. If this election taught us one thing; it is that there is no amount of money and energy that will be used to obtain the White House. Barack Obama proved that he could get millions excited to vote as well as upset the establishment to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to finance his campaign. Buying air time for a round the clock channel on Dish Network. Buying 30 minutes of air time on most major networks during prime time. Shoot we could have probably fixed this little financial mess we have if we would just let Barack turn his fundraising team on the American people.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Barack Obama raised over $639 million dollars and spent $573 million in pursuit for the highest office in the land. Of that he has $66 million dollars on hand with only $2 million dollars of debt. I got four words: Spread The Wealth Around. Let's level the playing field and float me a personal bailout Mr. President-elect! And in all fairness (Obama speak) John McCain has $67 million left over as of October 28th.

I will miss all of the ads that were a part of my Saturday and Sunday football rituals. This past Sunday was especially trying as at almost every break in play there was "Do You Want More of The Same" or "Even Joe Biden Does Not Believe In Barack Obama." Now that this is over; the ad agencies can focus their attention on creating some very entertaining beer commercials. I only wish the campaign ads were more like these.

...already in progress! Wow isn't this a great country?!

You Can Vote However You Like

2008-10-30T12:53:00.003-04:00

In the midst of the current election cycle there have been many angry words and actions bantered about. But we fail to remember one thing and that regardless of who the winners are we are still Americans and we are still friends. So the next time you think your friend is a sell out for not supporting Barack Obama or the next time you hear someone denigrating John McCain, just remember that we are all Americans and we live in the best country on the planet. Many countries would not even allow their citizens to have opposing views with regards to politics.

These kids are not old enough to vote yet they sing a song for Americans.

Mama, There Go That Man Again!

2008-10-30T12:43:00.003-04:00

This guy has a lot to say and he knows how to say it and keep you entertained.

An Ignorant Voter Is A Dangerous Voter

2008-10-30T12:34:00.003-04:00

For years Blacks have fought for the privilege to vote. Yet as far as we have come we have let the battle for equality and inclusion in the political process be destroyed because we have not educated our children to think and seek knowledge. I was listening to a radio show recently where radio shock jock, Howard Stern side kick Sal, did an on the street interview with three potential “voters” in next week’s presidential elections. These voters all said that they supported Barack Obama. Nothing wrong with that except when Sal flipped the script and asked questions that were part of the McCain platform yet he attributed them to Obama is where their ignorance shows.

I cannot fault one Black American for voting for Barack Obama because he is Black, as this is a historic feat in a country where men that looked like Barack were for decades treated less than human. Now, he can very well be the President of this country. But I can fault people for not having a stance in the political process and not understanding what the candidate stands for. Jim Crow laws to prevent us from voting were a mechanism created by Southern Democrats. Yet when I hear these three “voters” in Harlem not know that Sarah Palin is running with McCain not Obama. That leaving the troops in Iraq to finish their job is a McCain platform then we should erase these “voters” from the rolls. They are not alone in their ignorance. People have been led around for years by political parties by using race baiting, class warfare and ignorance of the issues to get them to vote for their candidate.

I can't make this stuff up so take a listen.

Just For The Funk Of It

2008-10-20T00:13:00.003-04:00

I have always been a George Clinton/Parliament-Funkadelic fan. So it was with great pleasure when I first saw this commercial, it stuck in my heart. But MasterCard pulled a coup by adding the three kids dancing. The final line of "being with people who understand you: Priceless" is befitting of this blogger.

Funkateers Unite!

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Do We Need Gun Control?

2008-10-15T12:49:00.002-04:00

The Second Amendment to our Constitution protects the individual right to carry and possess arms. There have been challenges to this right and states have imposed laws that try to restrict this individual right as defined by the Constitution of the United States of America.

I personally do not own nor carry any weapons (at this time) but if I chose to do so I should not have anyone telling me that I do not have the right to personal self defense. Arguments are abound about how guns kill. We rarely hear the stories of the many lives that are saved when an armed citizen takes the TRASH OUT!

I am pro-gun ownership. It is a right and it is guranteed by our Constitution. Now watch this quick video and think.......

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Can He Lose? Obama that is!

2008-10-15T12:37:00.000-04:00

Can Barack Obama Lose?

It is his election to lose! According to most of the media outlet polls, Obama has a double digit lead toward election in three weeks. But what if Obama experiences the Bradley effect? The Bradley effect is when people are polled about who they plan to vote for but actually vote for someone else. This term was coined after the 1982 California gubernatorial race where longtime Democratic Los Angeles Mayor, Tom Bradley who is black lost to his Republican contender, George Deukmjian, who is white, after being well ahead in the polls. Some think that there is a tendency among the polling public to give information that is inaccurate to be socially desirable. That a candidate can be leading in a poll and still lose an election calls into question the validity of the poll in the first place. All polls always show you a margin for error of +/- so many points. There are two independent polls that currently show Obama with only a 5 – 7 point lead: Rasmussen and Zogby. Yet most of the media outlet polls show a more commanding double digit lead for the Senator from Illinois. Although I took statistics and statistical analysis in college, I never could get past the idea that 1,200 people could speak for a population of 200,000,000. Makes you say Hmmmmmm!

So, if the polling public is doing the socially desirable thing of telling the pollsters what they think they want to hear then the race for the White House is still up for grabs. And any politician that runs his race based upon polls deserves to lose. We do not govern from polls nor should we. If we did things base upon polls then we would no longer be the Republic that this country was founded as and we become a country of Mob Rule. What do you think of polls and have you ever been polled? Let me know what you think.

5,000 Dead And No One Has Missed Them

2008-10-03T18:58:00.000-04:00

If former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney had her way we would be looking for the killers of 5,000 former prisoners and dumping their bodies in the Louisiana swamps. According to McKinney, she knows a woman, whose son said he was involved in a cover up of throwing 5,000 executed prisoner remains into the swaps during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I always knew this woman was crazy. First, telling us that President Bush knew in advance about the attack upon the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001. Then punching a Capitol Hill police officer as he tried to do his job of not allowing her admittance without a congressional lapel pin. Just to think, this woman once represented the district where I live in Georgia.

It is amazing that if 5,000 prisoners were executed it would stand to reason that someone, somewhere would be missing their dead or missing relative. If each one of those prisoners only had one relative then there would be 5,000 missing persons reports that would have to be systematically suppressed by a group of co-conspirators, since no one person could kill that many people at one time.

It's a wonder what lack of publicity and a few cameras can do for your judgement.

I have one message to Ms. McKinney...Please Take Your Med's!

Let me know what you think.

Did Pelosi Sabotage The Bail Out Plan?

2008-09-29T17:14:00.000-04:00

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, gave a scathing speech prior to the House vote on the proposed $700 billion dollar bail out plan. Was this a deliberate attempt to sabotage this bill? Was it a political ploy to help Barack Obama score points in the polls showing the Republicans as being callous about the economy. If Republicans were swayed by her speech then we have some weak leaders in Congress. Oh wait. We really do have some weak leaders in Congress. Always partisan never common sense or what is good for the country.

The House vote on the bill was 228 nay; 225 yea.
Democrats voted 140 to 95 in favor of the legislation, while just 65 Republicans backed the bill and 133 opposed it.

Old Fashioned American Justice

2008-09-29T14:36:00.001-04:00

What would you do if a convicted sex offender entered your home and was in your young daughters room? An Indianapolis father did what any American father should do. He gave this SOB (pictured right) a "FIST NECKLACE" and led him to his maker. So much for rehabilitation. Read more.

Bailout Crisis

2008-09-25T18:52:00.000-04:00

Just like Hurricane Katrina, there were warnings. Did anyone listen? We kept going on like nothing could or would happen. Proposed $700 billion to fix this mess and no one goes to jail!

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