Ready to Tighten Our Belts

Image via WikipediaTo use a sports metaphor, barring a last second Hail Mary, it looks like most of us will start the New Year off a  little lighter in our wallets thanks to the idiots in DC.  I am not signalling out either side in this fiasco, as all parties involved deserve to get a lump of coal in their stockings.  Perhaps they should be sent to their rooms without supper. At the very least they should be whipped 100 times with a wet noodle.

Last year at about this same time, Congress and Obama concluded a deal that extended the Bush era tax rates.  Along with that, Obama asked for, and received, a 2% payroll tax holiday for 2011.  That  payroll tax break along with keeping the income tax rates steady came at a most opportune time for me personally.  My health insurance premiums, like a lot of folks, went up significantly.  The 2% tax break just about covered the increase in my share of my health insurance.

Now, I am all for keeping more of the money that I earn in my pocket as opposed to sending any more to the government, though I have to say I wonder about the practical aspect of cutting the tax that funds social security.  We keep hearing about how social security is in trouble because we are spending more than we are taking in.  It doesn't seem logical to cut the payroll tax if that is the case.  Of course, with 47% of people not paying income taxes, the only thing left for Obama to cut for those folks is the payroll tax so that he can keep buying those votes for the Democrats.

Originally, Barack Obama called for Congress to extend the payroll tax holiday for another 12 months through 2012.  Both the Senate, controlled by Democrats, and the House, controlled by Republicans, stated that they wanted to extend the tax break.  Unfortunately, neither side could agree on how to pay for it.  Once again, they wait until the very last second to try to address the issue.  Obama called for Congress to put off their Christmas break until after an agreement was reached.

The Senate proposed a total of three bills that included a 12 month extension, two from Democrats and one from Republicans.  All of them failed to pass in the Senate.  For their part, the House of Representatives did pass a 12 month extension which Harry Reid and the Senate promptly killed.  The Senate then passed a bipartisan bill that only extended the tax break for two months.  That bill was voted down by the House which is where we stand today.

After the House passed their bill with a 12 month extension, Boehner took the President's admonition to delay the Christmas break until a deal was reached to heart and kept the House in session, or at the very least on call in case there was a need for a vote on a bill.  Harry Reid and the Senate, bolted town as soon as they passed their two month extension.  Boehner is calling for the Senate to come back to work things out, but now Obama and Reid are basically saying, "screw you!"

Even though the House passed a 12 month extension, albeit with conditions the Democrats found unpalatable, it will end up being the Republican House that takes the brunt of the negative PR.  The Republicans are correct in that a two month extension really doesn't do any good for anybody.  The reality is that with a two month extension, we will find ourselves in the same spot in February.  It is the Democrat controlled Senate, and supported by Obama, who refuse to come back to work on an agreement.  Still, the news media will report it was the Republicans who are responsible for the failure of extending the tax break.

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Cowboy Poetry

Thomas Jefferson said in his inaugural address that the purpose of government was fivefold:

1. Acknowledge and adore God
2. Exercise frugality
3. Restrain the infliction of injury (keep people safe)
4. Encourage entrepreneurship and free enterprise
5. Protect property, earnings of the citizens

Currently, our government is running a deficit of $1.5 trillion, so it is obviously not exercising frugality.  With the possible exception of #3, you could easily make the argument that they aren't performing any of their primary roles effectively.

The deficit is the object of much of the current debate in DC these days.  Rightfully so.  Sadly, the Republicans proposed cuts are merely a drop in the proverbial bucket.  Worse, the Democrats think that even that small percentage of the budget should be untouchable and is too draconian.

Nobody better exemplifies the lunacy of the budget debate than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  (Hat tip to Jason Mattera at Human Events for posting this on their site.)  Reid has called the Republicans "mean spirited" in their attempts to cut funding for the National Endowment of Humanities which helps fund Nevada's annual Cowboy Poetry Festival.




Now I have nothing against cowboys, unless they are Dallas Cowboys.  Nor do I have anything against poetry.  The fact that cowboys write poetry would be a good thing in my mind.  However, government funding  of poetry festivals do not seem to fit in the role of government as defined by Thomas Jefferson, especially when the government is operating at such a godawful deficit.

Now, while this seems to be like a perfectly lovely event, and I am sure that a splendid time is had by all that attend, is this really what are tax dollars should be going towards?

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Tragedy in Arizona

I debated on whether or not to post anything regarding the senseless tragedy that resulted in the death of six people including a nine year old girl, Federal Judge John Roll, and left Arizona Congresswoman Gabriella Giffords in critical condition.  After observing comments and posts on various websites, I feel compelled to do so.

I happened to be on Facebook when I first saw the news yesterday regarding the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords in my News Feed.  I do not recall the first person who posted something about it, though it may have been Congresswoman Michele Bachmann posting her shock at the news.  I visited several different sites over the next couple of hours trying to keep up with the news.

Now, I do not mean for this to be an indictment against all of those who are to the left on the political spectrum, but I was dismayed by the things that I saw.  Every conservative commentator that I saw asked for the prayers and well wishes for Congresswoman Giffords and the other victims.  Sadly, there were those on the left who immediately began placing the blame on the shootings on people like Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and the TEA Party in general.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident that I have observed.  When Rush Limbaugh was hospitalized with chest pains or whenever Dick Chaney went into the hospitalized with heart problems, the left was quick to demonize and wish ill upon their health.  The same when Glenn Beck announced he had macular dystrophy and could lose his sight.

I remember when the news broke that Harry Reid's wife and daughter were involved in a serious automobile accident.  While Reid is the source of a great deal of angst and anger for conservatives, all of the conservatives commentators and politicians were quick to offer their wishes for a speedy recovery for the Reid family.   We may loathe their actions and policies, but we do not wish ill will on those we disagree with.

Conservatives, in general, believe that the children of politicians should be off limits.  They respect the Obama's wishes to leave Malia and Sasha out of political commentary.  It is a shame that the left can not show the same respect to the kids of Sarah Palin, though since Bristol has put herself out there as a commentator on teen pregnancy and "Dancing with the Stars," that makes her fair game.

I do not own a handgun.  Quite frankly they bother me.  However, I fully support the right of law abiding citizens to own a handgun.  My feeling, and I am sure the feeling of the vast majority of responsible gun owners, is that a weapon should never be pointed towards somebody unless that person has put you in immediate jeopardy of harming you.

There is no way to condone the actions of the shooter in this case.  To say that he was motivated by the current political rhetoric is irresponsible to say the least.  Rhetoric has never led me nor any sane person to take up arms and murder those we disagree with.  This person was a tormented and demented soul who likely would have acted in some sort of irrational way regardless of political rhetoric.

It is easy to try to blame his actions on the right.  I will leave it to Michelle Malkin and others to point out all of the incidents where the left had posted their issues with Congresswoman Giffords.  It has been reported that the gunman had listed Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto as among his favorite books.  Hardly the type of literature that your typical conservative would be reading.

My point is this, the left typically tries to paint conservatives as mean spirited and uncaring.  This is hardly the case.  When an incident like this occurs, conservatives are quick to offer their support and well wishes to those involved, including those they disagree with.  We do not wish continued ill will.  Some on the left however are quick to cast accusations and continued ill wishes on those they disagree with.

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• Boehner on Giffords: "Attack on All who Serve" (cbsnews.com)
• Factbox: Reaction to shooting of congresswoman Giffords (reuters.com)
• Arizona shootings: Will Barack Obama stand up to the Left's shameful exploitation of a national tragedy? (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)

Harry Reid and Jobs

I know what Harry Reid was trying to say, but my goodness, what an idiot.  The job report came out today, and was a bit better than expected.  Unfortunately, the country still lost jobs; 36000 of them.  But in Harry Reid's world that is a "big day in America," and is "really good."  Reid's comments reminded me of an event that occurred several years ago in one of my positions.

Several years ago, I worked in the division office of a grocery store chain here in the DC area.  We had all heard rumors about impending layoffs, and centralizing several positions to the corporate office. The big day came when the company held a meeting.  In the meeting, one of the company VP's announced that most of the people in the room would be losing their jobs.  Then, as everyone sat there in a bit of shock, the VP went on to talk about how much stronger the company was going to be in the long run.

The last thing anybody in that meeting room wanted to hear after being told they were losing their jobs was how much better off the company was going to be without them.  They wanted to know how they were going to pay their bills.  If you were one of the 36000 who lost your job, the last thing you want to hear is what great news it is that only 36000 people lost their jobs.  My reaction to Harry Reid's comments are pretty much the same as my reaction to our VP during that meeting.  "What an ass!"

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Harry Reid Losing Ground

Image via Wikipedia

I am home after my three day business trip to Vegas. These trade shows are a lot of work, but very important to the company I work for.  There is a lot of walking and standing over the course of the show, and my feet and back just don't hold up like they used to. My dogs are barking and it sure is good to be back home to relax for the weekend

We also don't get a lot of time to ourselves while on these trips. After spending the normal workday hours walking the trade show floor, we usually get about an hour break before going out to a business dinner.  By the time that ends it is pretty much time for bed.  When in my hotel room, I usually have the television on for some background noise.  This brings me to main point of the post.

Harry Reid is really in trouble in Nevada.  Here it is, still more than a year before the next election for his Nevada Senate seat, and what do I see on the tube?  A Harry Reid campaign commercial touting all of the great things he had done for the state of Nevada. 

A recent poll of registered voters in Nevada shows Reid with a 38% approval rating.  We don't even know who his opponent is going to be yet, but polls currently show that Reid would lose to either of the two likely Republican opponents.  There is nothing I would like more than to see that twit lose next year.  Well, maybe if the Republican take back the House and knock Pelosi off of her high horse.

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Democrats, The Media, and The Health Care Debate

Image by genetew via Flickr

President Obama and his fellow Democrat leaders, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, et al are quick to declare that the Republican Party are absent in the health care reform debate. According to them, they are the "party of no" or they bring no ideas to the table. The mainstream news media, which can no longer be referred to as "journalists," continue to sound forth the propaganda.

This morning, on my commute into the office, RNC Chairman Michael Steele was on the Grandy and Andy show on WMAL radio. Chairman Steele pointed out that Republicans had proposed some 800 amendments to the various bills working their way through the House and Senate. Not one has come close to being approved, including my personal favorite proposal that would require any member of the House or Senate to go on the government run health plan if it was part of the bill.

In addition to the proposed ammendments, there have been at least three Republican bills that have been presented. In May, a group of House and Senate Republicans presented the "Patients Choice Act of 2009. Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina presented the Health Care Freedom Plan in June. Lastly, Representative Tom Price of Georgia proposed the Empowering Patients First Act in July. Price just happens to also be a practicing physician, so he actually has some experience in the arena.

Among the various provisions in these proposals are investing in preventative care, reducing fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, tax credits for purchasing private insurance, and tort reform. Yet the Democrats say there are no ideas on the Republican side. The problem isn't a lack of ideas from the GOP, but the fact that they aren't the ideas the Democrats want. The other problem is that the media no longer reports the facts, but pushes the liberal agenda.

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John Conyers On Health Bill

You have to love Democrats. First we have Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying he has not read any of Sonja Sotomayor's legal opinions and hoped he would not have to before voting for her as a Supreme Court Justice. Then my Congressman, Steny Hoyer, laughs at the notion that members of the House would actually want to read a bill before voting on it. Now we have Congressman John Conyers of Michigan speaking at the National Press Club about the concept of reading a bill before voting for it.

To quote the Congressman, "I love these members who get up and say 'Read the bill.' What good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages long and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?"

With all due respect, Congressman, isn't that the point you DUMBASS??!! Isn't this what the people of Michigan elected you to do? You are supposed to understand what it is you are voting for. Otherwise, how in good conscience can you vote for it? What a fucking moron!

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