Train Wreck - 2013

So comes another year.  They just seem to go by faster and faster.  This one is going to be a challenge.  I have never been one to sit by and let life happen to me.  I have always tried to be pro-active and influence events.  Sometimes it's easier to stop the train wreck than try to clean up after it.  But the election in November has taken that choice from me and those like me.  As Jean Paul Sartre so aptly said: "Les Jeux Sont Faits" (The Dice are Cast).

All that's left is the waiting as the nation barrels down the track to an uncertain, debt laden future.  I have always had faith in the wisdom of the American Electorate.  This time I am not so sure.  In an age of unlimited information, the public seemed to have its head in the sand this time around.   The only question is how bad things will have to get before folks come to their senses, or has there been a seed change in the American way of thinking and all is lost?

I was with a group of folks last night who think like me.  We had a gathering at The Youngstown Club in downtown Youngstown.  New Year's Eve marks the closing of this 80 something year old institution that was originally made up of the local industrial barons.  It was a male centric private club that has had a long history of being...let's just say...less than open.  It was famous for employing only African Americans for its wait staff.  In a city of ethnicity, it was mostly White Anglo Saxon Protestant.  As time went on, the barriers came down.  As the steel mills closed, so did the ethnic and gender discrimination as the doors had to open for it to survive. 

It valiantly tried, but in the end the crisp white table cloths and beautiful surroundings just couldn't cut it in the modern age.   Private clubs were passe.  Couple that with four years of vilifying those who would join such an organization, the hateful 1%....or 20%...it finally had to close its doors.  God forbid those who were successful enjoying the fruits of their labor.  Afterall, they didn't build that. The villification in the VIndicator comment section was disturbing.  How much hate has been fostered in this country?

So now America is facing increased taxes that will effect everybody notwithstanding the rhetoric that surrounds the fiscal cliff.   Increased costs are going to touch everyone in one form or another.  Hidden taxes are everywhere.  Inflation is rearing its ugly head nothwithstanding what government officials are telling you.  They are lying. 

Regulations are flying out of Washington strangling growth like water over Niagara Falls.  I have personally experienced two instances of what these regulations can do to business and I can tell you it is not pretty.  It is downright scary.  I am blessed with a law degree and forty years experience which helps me navigate some of these artificial insane roadblocks.  The average guy doesn't stand a chance.

And in the background is the Affordable Care Act that will make any problems resulting from going over the fiscal cliff, or not, look like a walk in the park.  Therein lies the anchor around America's future.  It will strangle the future.  The more stories I hear, the more pessimistic I become.  Put together enough anecdotal stories and pretty soon you have the truth.

As I left the Youngstown Club the other night, and said goodbye to a place where in my earlier years I sat on the Board of Directors, I felt like I was saying goodbye to the America I knew a long time ago with the values that my parent instilled in me as a child.  Hard work, perseverance, responsibility, the importance of the individual, freedom, the sanctity of life have been replaced with Obama is giving me a phone.  No ma'am, Obama did not give you a phone. I and the other hardworking taxpaying Americans gave you a phone.  And I thank you not to shove it in our face. 

And if things keep going the way they are, pretty soon there won't be too many people left willing to work to give you another one.  It won't be worth the effort.  We are all aboard the coming train wreck.

Musings on the Fiscal Cliff

The fiscal cliff is looming in front of us getting ever so closer. It is a disaster waiting to happen. Coupled with the upcoming “Affordable” Health Care Act taxes the country is in for a rocky ride. There is plenty of blame to go around…but most of it lies with the American press which for all intents and purposes is more interested in celebrity than facts. In my entire lifetime I don’t ever remember the body politic being so uninformed, especially in an era in which we are being crushed with available information.

This year’s fiscal cliff is the result of bad leadership by the Republican House this past spring. Barack Obama wanted massive tax hikes on the “wealthy” and John Boehner wanted badly needed spending cuts. The debate centered on raising the debt ceiling, and what came out of the fiasco was a debt ceiling increase, a national credit rating reduction, with an agreement that if no tax/spending plan could be reached by January 1, 2013, the Bush tax cuts in their entirety would be repealed and massive spending cuts would be implemented mostly centered on Defense.

What Boehner failed to realize then and is again failing to realize, is Barack Obama is a progressive ideologue who has NEVER compromised once in his life. To a person like Barack Obama, the fiscal cliff is a wet dream. It contains everything the progressive liberal agenda demands….high taxes on everybody and massive defense cuts. Going over the cliff is viewed as a good thing, and if there is a little pain in the process, so be it. Obama doesn’t have to run for re-election and thus there are no consequences.

While the press has focused on the class warfare and folks paying their fair share (notwithstanding 48% of working Americans pay NO federal income tax), Obama has offered NOTHING in return. Oh sure, he has offered spending “cuts”, most of which are found in ending wars or pushing the desired expenditure out of the budget of a year or two. The press doesn’t care. I have not seen one budget analysis outside of the business channels. Pushing the can down the road one more time doesn’t solve the mounting problems. The President has NEVER negotiated seriously on any fiscal issue.  He has not produced a budget during his entire presidency.

Speaker Boehner should have played it smart. After the election he should have said that elections have consequences. He should have said that the House of Representatives would agree with anything Obama wanted to do. Send the bill over and we will pass it. Obama and his progressive cohorts would own it entirely. Obama would be on the spot. He would actually have to do something. Then Boehner and the Republicans would retreat to prepare to pick up the pieces, and the drooling press would learn a very hard lesson.

Lack of critical reporting on an incumbent President also has consequences. By failing to inform the public about the nature of the financial crisis the country is facing, these smarmy reporters have done a major disservice to all of us. At the end of the day, just like in your household, unlimited borrowing and spending leads to bankruptcy. Sooner or later it’s going to hit the fan, and it will be the poor and middle class that ends up paying the bill.

As these fiscal shocks hit the economy, rising interest rates, rising inflation and high unemployment are inevitable. In the short run, given the poor performance of John Boehner and the rabid press, the Republicans will take the hit. But four years from now, it will be Barack Obama’s presidency that will ultimately be blamed. Even the fawning press will not be able protect what looks to be a dreary legacy.

The Limits of our Democracy

Has America reached the tipping point? Alexis de Tocqueville was French political thinker who traveled America in the early 1800’s. His treatise Democracy in America is a two volume masterpiece in which he states with impeccable clarity the very issues this country is facing today. Observing problems of slavery in Jacksonian America, he concluded that equality is an unstoppable force. He also warned that equality is its own worst enemy.

Tocqueville said there are two kinds of equality. He wrote:

“Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.” And this:

“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” And this:

"But one also finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the strong down to their level, and which reduces men to preferring equality in servitude to inequality in freedom". Is that what is happening in America today? Trading equality of opportunity, freedom, for equality of outcome, socialism?

America was not founded as a Democracy. It was founded as a Republic. There is a difference. In a true democracy, all people vote on all topics…and the majority rules end of discussion. In modern day America, every American would vote on every issue by remote control!! In a Republic, people elect representatives to vote for them. We rely to a good degree on their wisdom. In nascent America, we didn’t vote for President. The Electoral College is the remnant of a system in which the President was elected by elected officials of each state. Voting citizens were defined as white male landowners…translated….only those who had a stake in the economic game could vote. Let’s face it, these guys didn’t trust the masses and feared the mob.

As Tocqueville traveled America in the 1830’s he watched the contradictions play out. He realized that as America industrialized the system as outlined by the founding fathers in conjunction with the realities of life would somehow have to reconcile. He noted that George Washington signed the Naturalization Act of 1790 prohibiting people of color from becoming citizens. He predicted that slavery would end, but there would be great difficulty in assimilating blacks into society as a whole for generations. Tocqueville was adept in pointing out the weak spots in our ideals and our system. He was able to point out with specificity the limits of Democracy, and imply that it would have an ignoble end.

Of course he wasn’t the first to say that. Ben Franklin said:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Perhaps America should re-examine these great thinkers as we contemplate the limits of our Democracy.  In modern America, are any of us "entitled" to either liberty or safety?

America on the Brink

America is on the brink. It is becoming clearer that each day the precipice is getting closer. Americans are blissfully ignoring the warning signs which are everywhere. It’s not just the fiscal cliff as is popularly described by media pundits. The canyon we are approaching is much deeper and onerous than anyone understands. Sooner or later the credit card has to be paid.

Figures released today show that Barack Obama has incurred more debt than all of the other American presidents combined.  The trillion dollar figures are staggering. And he wants to spend MORE!!! The American people are looking the other way, distracted by everything but what counts. Danger is knocking on the door. Americans and the press are fiddling while Rome burns.

What part of $17 trillion in debt doesn’t America understand? All of it!! This is not a joke.  It will go away. It will work itself out.The debt to GDP ratio is at the tipping point. We are rapidly becoming Greece and anyone that feigns to point out the danger is destroyed by a rabid press blinded by a messianic President. Here is the dirty secret. You don’t have to be smart to spend money. This president has always been on the receiving end of government money…never on the paying end. To him, America is a bottomless well of milk and honey; and those that generate the milk and honey are the enemy.  That is not a good combination.

Sooner or later the debt is going to have to be repaid. His regulation nation and ideologically driven tax policy rooted in nothing substantive will prevent the nation from “growing” out of the debt. Not this time. Paul Krugman, Obama’s economic guru, says worrying about the debt is pointless. The debt is irrelevant. The debt doesn’t matter. Here is a guy that has won all sorts of prizes for excellence in economics…and his reasoning behind his statements? The government can print the money to pay the debt off.

Mr. Krugman is right. Print the money to pay the debt you don’t have to worry about taxes...just hyper-inflation which is the cruelest tax of all. You can keep your money. It just won't be worth anything.

While Obama is worried about taxes paid by the top 2% of taxpayers in an ideological tug of war, the amount of money he would collect wouldn’t pay the national debt for more than a week. What do you do with the other 358 days a year? And that doesn’t even touch the issue of Obamacare. The economic consequences of Obama’s utopian dream are enough to sink the economy.  While it was passed under the guise of saving the country a trillion dollars, new studies released this past week are now showing it will cost the country an additional $12 trillion. Where is that supposed to come from?

The most important question: why is Obama doing this? His economic advisers have deserted him for all intents and purposes. The few that are left are almost laughable. Obama has bamboozled the public into thinking that entire economy is in trouble because of rich Republicans. And he keeps spending and spending and spending and spending some more. Today he called the MSNBC progressive commentators to the White House today to discuss tax policy.  He called in left wing media pundits...Rachel Madow leading the pack...to discuss tax policy. That's who is giving him advice. 

Look into Obama’s eyes and you will see why he doing this. Look into his eyes when he makes one of his few public appearances for interviews or questions and you will see something you won’t like. He is not a nice man. He is not a good man. He is a manipulator driven by an ideology of hate and revenge. That is what he said in the few candid moments of his campaign. His motives are out there in full view for America to see.

We will wake up sooner or later.  I hope it's not too late.

You've Got To Be Taught to Hate

                            

Now it’s Obama’s turn. He won the dirtiest election in American history following his own advice: make the election about small things and demonize your opponent. There was no pretense of hope and change…just hate and fear. Whether you agree with the tactics or not, Obama ran a brilliant campaign and destroyed a good and decent man in the process. For those of us involved in politics, we may not like the man or the outcome, but we admire political skill when we see it. Barack Obama is the most skilled of skilled politicians. Romney and my fellow supporters can cry about how dirty the campaign was, but at the end of the day if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. You’re playing with the big boys now.

So like I said…now it’s Obama’s turn. Yes, I know he has had a full term already, but it wasn’t his term…at least not in his eyes. The last four years was one big political campaign. He never stopped. He relied on his extreme left wing base and his race to prop him up, reinforcing it every chance he got. Now he has to govern. The nation is facing serious problems. It’s legacy time when all incumbents worry about what the history books will say. Barack Obama is human. He is worrying too.

Now we will find out his true colors. We will find out whether he has learned anything these past four years. We will find out if experience is the best teacher. We will find out if he is ready to leave his ideology at the White House door and do what needs to be done to repair America and the hate he has sown especially during the election.

Things have been strangely, almost eerily, quiet. Romney has fallen off the face of the earth never to be seen again, I think. And where is Obama? The Mideast is in turmoil. The fiscal cliff is looming. American and Europe are on the brink of another recession. Poverty is increasing at an alarming rate. Health care is looming and all of the problems it will force on America. Obama isn’t stupid. He knows what is coming. The ideological purity of the first four years becomes reality in the second four years and he knows the pain that will be inflicted on the country by Obamacare. Now we will find out if he cares. Don’t bet the rent.

So why is the country so quiet? Maybe we are just tired of an election process that is numbing. Maybe we can’t believe we put this jack ass in office for another four years. Maybe we are beginning to understand the truth as the need to protect him in the press is evaporating as his presidency begins its descent to 2016. He will have some effectiveness the next two years...the last two years will be a waste of time as the country moves to get over its Obama stupor. It’s that way for all second term presidents.

The mood of the country is bad and is getting worse. News reports have tried to pump up Black Friday shopping results. Unfortunately there were lots of people looking, not so many people buying. People are skeptical. Some are depressed. Some are afraid.

I am hoping for the best. I am expecting the worst. As the song said in South Pacific, you have to be taught to hate. You have to be carefully taught. So the President who got elected in 2008 railing against the hate of the right, has won the election in 2012 by teaching the rest of America how to hate.  Now he has to unteach us. We will see how that works out.

RIP Twinkies

The demise of Hostess Brands, Inc. is not only sad for Orange Hostess Cupcake fans like me, it is emblematic of the ills this country has faced over the years. 18,500 folks have lost their jobs which will cost the taxpayer a cool $450 million in unemployment benefits to cover them. That’s no Twinkie.

Hostess has had a troubled past, filing for bankruptcy once before…then doing it again as the cost of basic foodstuffs rose and the demand for product fell as Americans changed their eating habits. Union contract issues were the immediate cause for the closing, but so were management issues…aggravated by unions.

Over the years, Hostess Brands, Inc. did not have internal organic growth. It grew by acquisitions. It started out as a bread manufacturer named Interstate Bakeries Corporation in 1930 located in Kansas City. In 1937 it began an aggressive series of mergers and acquisitions that extended clear through the late 1900’s. ln mid 1995 it purchased the Continental Baking Company, itself having a history of acquisitions and mergers, from Ralston Purina acquiring the Hostess and Wonder Bread brand names…and it kept on buying more bakeries. Each of these merged and/or acquired companies had their own culture…and their own union contracts.

This pastiche of union contracts and diverse corporate cultures forced the publicly traded Interstate Bakeries (IBC) into bankruptcy in 2004. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 as a privately held corporation named Hostess Brands with a fresh infusion of cash from its private investment firm owners, such as Ripplewood and GE Capital among others. The unions made concessions in exchange for the cash infusions to keep the company going.

But the root of the problem still existed. There was no single unified contract, with various segments of the company operating almost at diverse purposes. CEO’s came and went every couple of months as they realized it was too unwieldy to control. Work rules were crippling. By January 2012 Hostess Brands debt exceeded $860 million, much of it in ununfunded pension obligations. Meanwhile, company executives were giving themselves liberal raises sometimes in excess of 80%.

Hostess then filed for bankruptcy protection again in January 2012, and in July issued possible layoff notices as required by Federal law while urging the workers to stay on the job while the owners attempt to rebuild the company. Everything collapsed on November when the Bakers Union rejected a new contract by 92% of the vote…and the rest is history.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the demise of this American institution. Due diligence would require those running the company to examine the outcome of purchasing numerous companies with different cultures and union contracts. Spoiler alert: it won’t work!!! Unions also were willing to turn a blind eye to the fundamental problems facing the company, and were unwilling to resolve the contractual issues with the owners to simplify the company’s operation to efficient levels. Sometimes pay may be what the members are interested in…but work rules may be the ultimate deal breaker.

Hostess Brands was an old style American company that has gone the way of other American companies founded in the early twentieth century whose growth was non-organic. No matter what the product from steel to light bulbs to bakery goods to cars…that old management/union model has proven to be problematic in modern America. The digital age is an age of efficiency on steroids. The old way just doesn’t cut it. You can’t have a union requiring the delivery of Wonder Bread and Ding Dongs in two different trucks to the same store.

More likely than not, the major brands owned by Hostess will re-emerge in a non-union setting, in a right to work state, in a modern and efficient bakery with modern work rules and product delivery systems. In the meantime, we will miss our Twinkies.

The American Press

One of my favorite political observations is that I am constantly amazed at the wisdom of the American electorate, and its stupidity. There is an underlying assumption in that observation. Is assumes that the American electorate is informed. That wasn’t the case this year. And it wasn’t the electorate’s fault.

When Obama ran for president in 2008, the potential of the first African American president permeated the media. Already steeped in liberalism, here was the chance to assuage white guilt and right all of the wrongs Americans had inflicted on the world in one fell swoop. The press became orgasmic and hasn’t stopped since. Obama understood American guilt. Hewould be the father confessor to grant absolution. And it was a double bonus. He also would give blessing to the cultural path forged on both coasts of the continent while denigrating those in the center who clinged to their bibles and guns.

America was already on the path to a British style press where the press isn’t objective, but left or right. Talk radio and Fox News developed as a backlash to the Dan Rather types who decided their wisdom rose above the hoypoloi of perceived American ignorance. 90 percent of the main stream press identify themselves as liberal and Democrat. Of course they are objective…if you agree with them. Since Walter Cronkite’s public epiphany criticizing the Vietnam War, the press has moved steadily down the path of shaping the news rather than reporting the news. Since the 2008 election, the press has actually become the news, the most obvious example being Candy Crowley inserting herself into the second debate defending the President rather than moderating the debate. And it turned out she was wrong and quietly back tracked the next day. Really?

The reaction to the collapse of a watch dog professional press was the rise of talk radio and Fox News. Talk radio makes no pretense of being objective. It is raw conservative meat. Fox News is different. Although it has an obvious right wing political bent on its commentary shows, its hard news is highly objective and sometimes can be left of center. Its panel discussions on the hard news shows have equal numbers of liberals and conservatives. It is not unusual to see panelists from the ABC News, the Washington Post, and the New York Times sitting with the likes of Fred Barnes and Charles Krauthammer. Brett Bair, Britt Hume, Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace are consummate news folks of the old school.

But it still a cable news channel although it consistently draws several million viewers a night compared to CNN which barely draws a few hundred thousand. Most folks still get their news from ABC, NBC and CBS who as of late don’t even try to hide their left wing bias. Every now and then they get caught with their pants down…CBS News and that Dan Rather thing with dummied Bush documents. CBS say a few Hail Mary’s but old habits die hard. There isn’t a Republican or conservative in the bunch.

The result of all of this has been a non-reporting of basic news to the American public since Obama took office. The press not only spun the news, it just stopped reporting it. Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the green energy scandals, the huge unemployment problems, Hurricane Sandy, all were mentioned, but barely and shoved under the rug. Where are the homeless? Where are the stories about the highest poverty level in 60 years? Where are the stories about food inflation and gasoline inflation? The most disturbing was the cover up of the Benghazi incident. CBS withholding footage of Barack Obama comments as to the nature of the attack up to the day before the election is unforgivable, and America should take note. You cannot trust these people for the truth.

And since the election, we now find out the press hid stories about an American drone being attacked by Iran over international waters and General Petraeus, head of the CIA, caught with his pants down, literally. 

The press knows that news is now fractured with Americans pre-occupied with all of their electronic gadgets watching 200 cable channels. The press can get away with it now. And what really is scary to me? I would guess that some of you reading this wouldn’t know about some of the issues I mentioned above not because of anything you did, but the press didn’t report them.

The surprise isn’t that Obama won the last election. The surprise is that given how the news has been reported this past year that Romney did as good as he did.

This is scary stuff. When the proverbial you know what hits the fan in this county, and it will, point the finger at the press…if they bother to report anything at all.

Not Obama

For many, Barack Obama has been an enigma. He is a publicly charming man with a beautiful family. He says the “right” things. He has a “cool” factor. He watches “b-ball.” He hangs out with pop celebrities. He calls himself “eye candy.” And more than anything, he is the first President in my ever increasing life span that understands and is the epitome of American pop culture. There is lots of flash. He is a President for the masses. He understands it. He knows how to play it.

The 2008 election was one of hope when America needed it most. The soaring rhetoric was just right for the times as the world economy neared collapse. It was a scary time and Obama’s messianic campaign dazzled the public and the media who failed to look behind the curtain to see what was really there. Journalistic standards were tossed out with those toxic bonds as a long biased press totally abandoned any pretense of objectivity and was sucked in to the movement. There are no red states. There are no blue states. There is only the “United” States. Tears were flowing. We were saved.

Four years later, for many, the Obama love is still there. The press is still giving him passes. He has had one press conference in the past year…and one “normal” interview this election cycle as he trips the light fantastic from MTV to The Daily Show to rap radio-jocks to the View to Letterman to Leno where the questions start with “Tell me, Mr. President, have you found your way around the White House after four years?” Not only has the press not asked him any tough questions, journalists have simply refused to report hard news stories until the alternate media forced their back to the wall and the stories could not be ignored anymore.

But like someone coming out of a heavy anesthetic, America is slowly waking up. It has been a long slog. The disconnect between the rhetoric and reality can only go on for so long before the American public senses there is something askew. Maybe we don’t understand why, but what he’s saying and what we are experiencing don’t add up. The debates exposed a divisive Barack Obama who floundered without his teleprompter. He promised to unite us but divided the country in ways beyond normal understanding, pitting one segment of our society against the other. What happened to those "united" states?

Here is Obama’s America. Our foreign policy is a fiasco. Food stamp recipients are up from 32 million to 47 million. He has added more debt than any other President in American history. Now at $16 trillion, your share is $48,000.00. Outside of 401 (K)’s, 47% of Americans have less than $500.00 in the bank. Middle class income has shrunk by $4100.00. More people have gone on disability these past few months than have found jobs…and if you found a job it is probably part time. Reported unemployment is hovering around 8%. Real unemployment is closer to 15%. Poverty, after spending billions upon billions of dollars starting with the Great Society, has gone up to over 15.5%, the highest since 1965. Our education system is in shambles.

President Obama’s solution? Tax the rich. That is his economic plan: more debt and tax the rich. You can take every penny the 1% makes….and at the end of his economic plan we will still owe in excess of $16 trillion. That is not a solution; that is plan for disaster.

Historians will be unraveling the Obama presidency for the next hundred years. I predict it will be among the most studied of presidencies as America grapples with who this guy is and what he has done. This writer can go on for pages as to Obama’s background and motivations, all of which would be for naught. America is not ready for the truth, at least not yet.

Nobody knows who will win on November 6. I view it as a win-win. If America comes to its senses and throws the bum out…we win. If America is still in its Obama stupor and re-elects him, we only have four more years. The price America will pay for four more years of Barack Obama will be steep and beyond all comprehension, but at least our Constitution say eight years is enough, and then we can get on with the business of being America.

Mideast Lies Obama Told Me

Mitt Romney has experienced a surge in the polls. Many attribute it to the first presidential debate. That certainly had something to do with it. But more importantly Obama’s bubble as a trustworthy individual has been popped. The Libyan fiasco has caught up with him.

There is no other way to say it. The President lied. Faced with a disaster involving a dead ambassador plus three other dead Americans, instead of playing it straight with the American public, he lied. He said, over and over and over again, that the attack on the Libyan consulate was the result of an incendiary video attacking Islam. He sent his underlings onto all of the talk shows repeating the same story. He sent his United Nations Ambassador into television interviews repeating the same story. Almost two weeks later, even when his national security adviser admitted to Congress that they knew within hours that it was a terrorist attack, Barack Obama went in front of the United Nations and blamed the video yet again.  To make matters worse, now it has been disclosed that the Ambassador asked for security several times, including the day of the massacre, and he was refused.

What was he thinking? Even the slobbering press was aghast. He told one fib too many. The facts didn’t line up with the story, and the media was appalled. People accuse Fox News of having a conservative bias, but they employ hard core liberals as a counterpoint to the right wingers. Even liberals like Juan Williams, Kirsten Powers, and Bob Beckel had to step back from this one. And CBS News has featured reports on 60 Minutes about the utter disaster in Afghanistan and resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Afghanistan was supposed to be the "just" war.

In an election where the economy should be front and center, it is a collapsing foreign policy that is bringing the independents to Romney. We may have our differences as to our economic problems but things are spinning out of control worldwide, and if we are dead…then the economy is irrelevant.

From the end of World War II, America’s foreign policy has been peace through strength. Jimmy Carter attempted a change in that policy resulting in helicopters crashing into the desert in a failed rescue attempt of our Iranian hostages. There were no spare parts. Ronald Reagan spent the first several years of his administration getting our armed forces operable again.

Now Obama is once again talking about the “peace dividend.” Really? The Mideast is burning. North Korea is threatening the US mainland with rocket attacks. The Russians are re-arming while we unilaterally mothball our nuclear weapons. Iran says it will blow Israel up. Pakistan is a basket case. Egypt is lost. Two thousand Americans have been killed in Afghanistan, and the Obama is flying drones all over the world killing those whom he has refused to “torture” or put in Guantanamo.

The aura of Obama invincibility has come crashing down around him. He was portrayed as the black Jesus. Halos backlit his campaign posters! Now we know that he is a politician like all of the rest of them, who lied to the public about a raid on our embassy. If he lied about that for political gain, what else has he lied about?

Catholics and Jews Beware

The Obama administration has been chock full of all sorts of hidden nuggets which are aimed at sowing seeds contrary to understood American principles, but none is more egregious than his treatment of Catholics and Jews. It is disgraceful, and those few voices in the wilderness that are attempting to call him out on what he is doing are either ignored or scoffed. The media seems blind to the obvious which leads me to believe they either approve or are driving an agenda based on success of the first black President rather than good government.

Americans still don’t understand how Obamacare works. Its dictates are stringent, and will cause substantial pain to employees, employers and those in groups who enjoy good health care benefits. Included in those folks are groups that are Obama supporters. In order to placate these groups who will be unhappy with Obamacare once implemented, Obama has reserved the power to exempt these groups, particularly his friends, from compliance with Obamacare. When it was being shoved through Congress, he garnered support from the Catholic Church by promising it would receive exemptions for heatlh care policies offered by its outreach organizations such as Catholic schools, hospitals, and charities as relates to insurance paid abortions and contraception, both sins in the eyes of the church.

This past year, he reneged on his promise. His HHS Secretary redefined religion by saying that unless a religious organization is run by members, for members, primarily employing only members of that religion, then that part of the religious organization does not get religious rights freedoms and must comply with Obamacare dictates. Then he refused to give the Catholic Church the promised exemption. He stuck it to them. The Catholic Church is now required to provide health care insurance that includes abortions and contraception to employees of its hospitals, schools, and charities. He lied to them to get what he wanted. Anyone who minces words or attempts to justify what the President and his minions did is a fool.

If this definition of religion is allowed to stand, you will see other problems not only in terms of health care, but right into the very core of religious operations outside of regular worship. This applies not only to Catholics, but to any religious based organization if it employs or services folks outside of that religion. This is dangerous. Catholics who believe in the operation of Catholic schools and hospitals and nursing home and charities and universities should beware.  The very essence of their operations is at stake. 

The Jews have another issue. Notwithstanding whatever religion President Obama happens to be, he has a different world view than we are used to. As in all things Obama, don’t look at what he says, look at what he does. His actions show that he is downgrading the relationship between Israel and the United States. He has made the fundamental determination that there are infinitely more Muslims in the world than Jews, and America hitched its wagon to the wrong Mideast country over the past fifty-sixty years. No matter what he says about the strong relationship between the United States and Israel, his actions indicate something else is going on, and it has yet to be determined what that is.

This is not a new concept in American foreign relations. There have always been a small number of foreign policy experts who have said that the American relationship with the Islamic world is much more important than with Israel. The benefit to the United States was small from the Israeli alliance. During the cold war, however, it gave the United States a strong military base of operation in the Mediterranean against the Soviets. That need is now gone.

The problem is that Obama’s policy of appeasement and apology to the Islamic nations is falling on deaf ears as the radicals in these countries used the United States to ascend to power, and now are doing to Obama what he did to the Catholics. Sorry Charlie. Talk to you later. This is dangerous stuff. Apologizing and indicating weakness to dictators is the path to stumbling into war. A misinterpreted signal of weakness from the United States government can spark consequences. Just ask Kuwait.

Iran says it wants to blow Israel off the face of the earth. It is rapidly developing nuclear weapons. Pakistan already has them. It is a tinder box. One misstep, Israel is gone. If they think even for one second that the United States would not react with equal force in retaliation, the radicals will act and deal with “sanctions” later. After Obama’s appearance at the United Nations and his brushing off the Israeli Prime Minister…the signals are mixed and dangerous.

This election, Catholics…be aware of your principles of faith and conscience. Jews…just be careful.  President Obama has an engaging smile and easy manner. This election look behind it.  There are obviously other issues that also influence your vote.  Maybe priorities need to be rearranged this time.

A Nation of Takers

So now the battle lines are drawn. Mitt Romney either by design or faux pas stumbled onto the truth. This election is about one thing…do we stand for our own well being as individuals, or are we dependents wrapped in the arms of a government nanny state.

When I was small, that was a theoretical question. Of course we believe in American individualism and exceptionalism. People were ashamed to take government assistance. Not anymore. These are government statistics. In the late 1980’s, 37% of American households had one member dependent on government largesse. In 2004 that figure had been bumped up to 44%. In 2011 it is at 47%, and climbing.  When Bill Clinton was president, 17 million Americans were on food stamps.  Today it is 47 million.

What is interesting is that not one of the Obama slobbering media outlets said Romney was wrong. They said it was a political gaffe to say it. Really? Romney was right. Those folks who become more and more dependent on the government will not move away from it or vote for someone who says they should. It becomes too comfortable. That doesn’t mean the government should abandon these folks. It means the role of the government is to get those folks a pay check rather than a government check.

The facts are stunning. More people went on Social Security Disability last month than found jobs. The work force participation rate, those looking for jobs, is at an all time low.  Unemployment among America’s young is 35%. Cradle to grave government largesse is not compassion.  That is the new slavery.

It is government do-gooders that have killed the middle class in this country. It is government do-gooders that have stopped construction projects for spiders. It is government do-gooders that have shut down the coal industry because of academic theories of global warming. It is government do-gooders that have given America the 2nd highest corporate tax rate in the world. It is government do-gooders that are preventing America’s energy independence. It is government do-gooders that have encouraged the destruction of the nuclear family. It is government do-gooders that have moved American jobs off shore because of bad fiscal, monetary, regulatory, and social policies…and that is a non-partisan statement.

And what is more disturbing is the number of Americans that pay NO federal income tax. You think it’s funny? It’s not. 47% of the American work force pays no federal income tax, and actually gets money back if the government goes into “tax rebate” mode. 90% of all taxes are paid by the top 1/3 of wage earners, and most of that is paid by the members of the notorious 1%, and Obama gets up there and says they aren’t paying their fair share? Bull!! YOU CANNOT TAX AND REGULATE YOUR WAY INTO PROPSERITY.

Everybody should pay something, from General Electric which paid no taxes last year, down to those who are making minimum wage…that way everybody has some skin in the game, and when tax policy is discussed in our political discourse, everybody will pay attention. And no…payroll taxes are NOT taxes. That is Social Security. If you don’t want to pay the “payroll tax”…get rid of Social Security.

The cold hard fact is the party is over. Barack Obama has decided that rather than create wealth through work and free enterprise, the solution is to print money. There is no free money. That approach has never worked anywhere in the world or anytime in history. He is a thief with a stolen credit card. When the proverbial you know what hits the fan…and it will…this country will learn some very hard lessons. The country will learn we can’t be a nation of takers. We have to be a nation of makers. But then it might be too late.

Mideast Boiling

The breach of the American Embassy in Cairo and the US Consulate in Libya on 9/11 highlights the problem our nation faces with radical Islam. President Obama has turned a blind eye to the problems in the Middle East. These are serious problems. War with Iran is coming, and it will spill over into other countries. It will be brutal, and will set the world economy on its ear as the oil from the Mideast will drain to a trickle.

Barack Obama thought he could “apologize” his way out of America’s and Israel’s Mideast problems. These are radicals whose hate for Israel is only surpassed by their hate for the United States. These are religious zealots. Rationality plays no role in how these folks think. Obama’s Arab Spring has disintegrated into America’s nightmare. Strong-arm dictators who violently suppressed these radical nut cases are now gone. The current governments are weak. No amount of money can keep these governments in power. The radicals are being bankrolled by Iran…and we have big problems as they rise to positions of power in their countries.

Egypt and Libya are the sideshow. The real problems are Iran and Pakistan. The current Pakistani government is holding on by a thread. They have nukes…and $8 Billion/year in Pakistani aid is not going to cut it. If the current government falls, the Islamists will have nuclear weapons at their disposal. Same for Iran! No nukes yet, but they have radioactive material that can be used to build dirty bombs. Who knows who has what from Iran right now?

While all of this is going on, Obama is proposing that we unilaterally give up our nuclear weapons. Is this guy serious? His reference to the “peace dividend” in his convention speech is almost laughable. Actually, it isn't laughable.  It is scary.

These folks in the Mideast play for keeps. They are patient, and have been building up their strength and resolve for fifty years. Iran is taking the lead in developing weaponry. They are testing long range ballistic missiles and right now can probably hit, albeit without much accuracy, any city in Israel and Europe. Give some of these weapons to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and those living around the Gulf Coast should be concerned too. Obama thinks he can change this by bowing to the Saudi Prince and saying Pah-kee-stahn instead of Pakistan. 

And while giving a wink and a nod to the Islamic radicals…he is refusing to meet with the Prime Minister of Israel claiming scheduling conflicts which include an appearance on the Letterman Show and interviews with hip hop disc jockeys in Florida.

Someone in the current administration needs to wake up and smell the coffee.  Maybe America needs to wake up this November.  

DNC: We Belong to the Government

In a stunning piece of political…I don’t know…gambling, the left wing of the Democratic Party has finally shown its true beliefs. It is stunning and almost unbelievable. In a video released by the Democrat National Committee, the message is clear. The only thing we all belong to is the government. Couple this with the removal of references to God in the Democratic Platform, one now sees a secular party worshiping an omnipotent government.

This is a complete reversal from the traditional view that our rights flow from God, not the sovereign. It portrays government as a benevolent being embracing all of America. The video goes on to say that government is the only thing we have in common, because we all come from different faiths and backgrounds. Really?

Barack Obama is the epitome of this type of thinking. He uses the word “I” and “my” more than any president in my lifetime. Come to your father and mother….the United States government.

Is this really what you want? The fact that they would finally commit to publishing what the rest of us have been saying about these people for these past four years is almost scary. Do you really think the government is there “for” you? It has provided a poverty existence to those it has made dependant on it. If you want to find a complete void of hope, go to the projects. Go and watch the folks at family services. We have done that to these people. Maybe Republicans don’t know what the answer is, but we sure know what it isn’t. Government!

Maybe government has replaced God as the Democratic Party has so aptly told us. It is everywhere. It is where we eat, where we sleep, where we use the toilet facilities, where we do our banking, were we drive and where we walk. The government is there watching our every move, ready to tell us what we are doing wrong. Ready to show us a better way. Ready to control our lives from cradle to grave. And don't make too much money or be successful in your business.  You didn't build that, the government did.  Is that what we want?

This President has called the Constitution a flawed document, and he is doing his damndest to circumvent it. His background is based in a “world” view of life as opposed to an “American” view of life. He believes government is the answer to all of our problems, one where he is calling the shots on what we do.

Before you vote this election, replay the video which is posted on the home page. Do you think that government is the only thing we have in common? When you say your prayers at night, will you say them to the government? Then go vote in November.

The Death of CNN

 

CNN is in big trouble.  It's viewership during prime time continues to drop.  To give you an idea about how bad it is, the number of people watching CNN during prime time is equal to the combined population of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana Counties...around 530,000.  By comparison, about 2.65 million are watching Fox News.  Broken down by programs, it is even worse.  Piers Morgan's coveted 9:00 PM slot has a viewership around 200,000. 

CNN decided to remedy the situation by changing the head dude.  I have read numerous reasons for the ratings debacle at CNN blaming pretty much everything and everybody but the real cause.  Their news sucks.  It is bias.  It is irritating.  It is condescending.  

CNN still has the best breaking news coverage.  When there is a disaster or a breaking story of national import, it still maintains the capacity to get the news faster and better than any other news channel be it network or cable.  Unfortunately, it's regular news coverage has devolved into a complete mess.

It has become the voice of what it perceives to be the oppressed.  All black, all gay, all day.  If there is the even the smallest, most insignificant story relating to minorities, women and gay activists, it bounces to the front of the news lineup and the reporters harangue endlessly about how horrible the story is.  Maybe it is horrible, but that's life.  There is lots of horrible stuff that happens to people every day, but it doesn't make the news...and be all of the news...for a 24 hour news cycle.

The commentators and hard news reporters do little to hide their disdain for Republicans and conservatives.  Soledad O'Brien sneers when interviewing someone anywhere right of left of center.  Wolfe Blitzer isn't much better.  He is like a robot babbling on and on asking the same inane questions with his eyes bulging out of his head...baba-baba-baba-baba.  I stare at the television in disbelief that CNN even puts this guy on. 

Yesterday the Republican Senate candidate in Missouri made some asinine comments about women and rape.  There was a fema-nazi explosion on CNN. They were shaking in their ecstasy of excitement...it's the end of the Republican Party...he is going to save the day for Democrats....Ohhhh.  Romney is in trouble now because now the whole world can see the evil heart of Republicans.  Really?

What is shows is that Congressman Aikin is an idiot and horrible politician, but not much more. Yet these folks went into contortions to try to connect the dots between Aikin and Romney and the moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party.  Meanwhile, Joe Biden is off putting people back in chains and he was poo-pooed...and unemployment went up to 8.3%.

I challenge anyone to turn on CNN and not see the hard news reporters talking about anything but minority rights, women's rights, and gay rights.  Here are stories you won't hear on CNN.  The killing fields of Chicago.  The war in Afghanistan.  The homeless.  The high unemployment rate.  Rising gas prices.  Rapidly rising food prices.  College age adults living at home because they can't find work.  The strangulation of the coal industry in the United States. The number of people on food stamps. The rise in the poverty rate in the United States.  If it weren't for CNN International, which makes boat loads of money, CNN would be out of business. 

Everybody laughs about "fair and balanced" at Fox.  But some of the CNN reporters, especially some of the female reporters, are just plain scary.   CNN needs to lose Wolfe Blitzer, Soledad O'Brien, and Piers Morgan plus any number of those snob blond babes who are anchoring other "hard" news throughout the day.  They should put Anderson Cooper into a slot where that pained look may actually do some good. Maybe then, somebody would actually watch it.

In the meantime, the seriousness of the issues that CNN holds itself out to care about are trivialized to the point where people like me just turn them off.  And that's a real shame.  Talks is cheap...too cheap at CNN.

Obama the Motivational - Follow the Money

At the end of the day, this election is about choice. It’s very simple. Do we believe that the solution to our problems is found in Barack Obama’s big government model, or is found in a vibrant free enterprise system? One only has to look to Europe to see the answer. Once a country’s national debt equals or exceeds the GDP of that country, the proverbial you know what will hit the fan. There is no turning back and you get Spain and Greece with unemployment rates exceeding 25% and almost 50% for those under the age of 35.

We are almost there. I don’t understand Obama’s motivation for doing what he is doing? He is not a stupid person. I assume he reads the papers. He talks about hope and change but has yet to articulate a vision of what that is. And he obviously is filled with jealousy and envy for those who have worked hard and made it in the private sector…something he couldn’t do. His mean spiritedness is beyond all comprehension. When I am faced with an issue for which there is no obvious visible explanation, I follow the money. Who profits from what is happening?

Obama practices crony capitalism. He rewards his friends with extravagant contracts…think Solyndra; and punishes his enemies with unending and baseless investigations…think Gibson Guitar and Boeing. General Electric is the among the largest of exporters of American jobs…as well as General Motors as it builds its new mammoth plant in China…and yet he is simpatico with Jeffrey Immelt and bailed out General Motors at the feet of our bankruptcy system. And white collar workers are bad and not deserving of pension rescues, think Delphi…and blue collar workers are good and are worthy of rescued pensions, think GM.

Obama has not been hesitant to make shady deals to his financial benefit, think the house deal with convicted felon Tony Rezko. I still believe that if anyone took the time to examine Obama’s 2008 campaign reports, one would find an electronic version of the oldest political contribution scam in the book…phony ticket sales…phony small donations.

The press has ignored these questions. Reporters might have to think and do some work. I suspect that the true issue of Obama isn’t one of race or one of liberal radicalism, but rather one of dirty Chicago politics. The corruption in the Obama administration is so blatant it is breathtaking. How far does it go, and where does the money land? Follow the money.

There was big money behind Obama in 2008. I am not sure who was fooling whom…whether he was a liberal patsy bought by Chicago thugs…or whether he was a Chicago thug playing to the most radical of American liberals to find a base of support to get elected, throw them a few bones, and play with his friends back in Chicago.

I suspect the latter. Sooner or later we will find out, whether after this election or the election in 2016. It will be interesting once the next administration gets into office and gets access to the information of a man who promised to be the most open President in history.

In the meantime, watch your wallet.

Does Harry Reid Beat His Wife?

The question I have is what do Obama and crew see in the polls that they are willing to throw Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid under the bus? The weasel eyed Senator from Nevada stood at the Senate podium and accused Mitt Romney of not paying taxes for the past 10 years. He claimed he has the information from an impeccable unnamed source that, of course, will continue to be unnamed. He further said that Romney used tax avoidance measures in his tax returns. Of course, Mr. Reid has never released his tax returns…and just for the record….those tax avoidance measures were put into the tax code by….let’s see….YOU, Senator Reid.  And by the way....when did you stop beating your wife?

Even Anderson Cooper looked stunned tonight. His knight in shiny armor finally fell off the horse. In an interview with Democratic Party activist Paul Begala, Cooper actually started to laugh at Begala’s feeble attempt to justify Reid’s actions. How do you defend the indefensible?

Don’t think for a minute that Reid has gone off on this tangent on his own. There is no way in hell he would do this without the imprimatur of the White House. More than claiming Ann Romney is not a true woman because she never worked. More than claiming Romney is dirty because he worked hard and was successful. More than claiming Ann Romney wore $900.00 blouses which couldn’t touch Michele Obama’s $4000.00 jacket. More than demonizing Ann Romney for owning a horse. This is almost laughable, but absolutely indicative of a failed progressive presidency as the country slowly falls back into recession. At least it keeps the spike in gasoline prices this past week off of the lead story on the evening news.

The good news is I think the American public, at least the part that is paying attention, will see this for what it is. The only issue in this election is the economy, and things aren’t good. Manufacturing is slowing down. Car sales are slipping. Unemployment is creeping back up. And if gasoline prices go any higher, the economy will grind to a halt.

President Obama is a true believer in his uber Keynesian economic philosophy. Unfortunately it has a strong dose of class envy and hatred mixed in with an eye to punishing people for success. After all, they didn’t build that. Obama was swept into office on the back of an economic collapse and a belief in the inherent goodness of the man and the essential honesty of his hope and change message. What we got was the most partisan president in American history. We got a man who combined environmental extremism with crony capitalism. We got a man who left the details to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid while he jumped into racially charged situations that backfired in his face. We got a man preaching a civil tone while stoking the fuel of class, sex, and minority warfare. And we got a man who just doesn’t understand how business works. How could he? He is an academic who lived a golden and charmed life.

So, Mr. Reid, when you release your taxes showing that your didn’t take advantage of the tax avoidance provisions that you and your congress put into the IRS code….then I will listen to your BS. Meantime, sit down and shut the hell up.

In Defense of Penn State

Today that bastion of hypocrisy, the NCAA, lowered the boom on Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Included in the package of goodies were was a $60 million fine to be paid by the university (which coincidentally is the estimated annual take of the Penn State football program), the loss of 10 scholarships for each of the next 4 years; post season game prohibition for 4 years;  probation for 5 years; and forfeiture of all games from 1998 to 2011 thus robbing Joe Paterno of 111 victories and his place in history as college football’s winning-est coach.

Those who investigated the tragic circumstances know better than me how bad the cover up was. There is no excuse for what happened. In Ohio, if you are aware of child sexual abuse you are required to report it to the authorities. Apparently Joe Paterno did report what he had heard to his superiors, and then nothing happened. Sandusky left the employ of Penn State, but continually showed up at the university using football as the drawing card for his young victims…and everybody supposedly knew it.

But here’s the thing. Punishment should be meted out to those who did the crime. The perverse results of the NCAA investigation and punishment is that the people who will be paying for this despicable behavior will be those who didn’t do it, and more likely than not knew nothing about it. Current students, football players, innocent contributing alumni, football fans and the taxpayers of Pennsylvania will bear the brunt of the punishment for deeds committed by people who are no longer in the employ of Penn State.

The crimes committed at Penn State were not collective crimes. These were crimes of individuals and should be punished by immediate employment termination of any person who had the slightest inkling that this was going on and failed to report it to the police, including revocation of pensions and any other post retirement benefits of both current and past culpable employees. Appropriate criminal charges should be brought against those who failed to report it to police with appropriate jail time and criminal fines. There shoould be complete replacement of the university Board of Trustees, along with the President of the University and high ranking officials who failed to implement proper guidelines and procedures within the University to keep this from happening.

Sanctions against the university as a whole may assuage the guilt of a money hungry NCAA which fosters the type of environment that allows this to happen in the first place, but does nothing to those unsuspecting folks remaining at Penn State other than to piss them off and demoralize the alumni who will quit giving to the University. At the end of the day, it is the students and taxpayers who will end up paying the price for those who actually did the crime.

The only way to stop this type of behavior in the future is to hit the guilty individuals who allowed this to happen hard and in the pocket book. If state law does not allow for criminal sanctions against the enablers, then the law should be changed to throw these folks in jail. Anything other than that is window dressing, and will destroy an otherwise great institution.

A word about Joe Paterno.  He is not the first person in history to live a glorious life only to meet his end under a cloud of shame.  The removal of the statue was appropriate.  His victories will always be his victories but the attempt to remove them from the record book is also appropriate.  But the man also accomplished more good than most of us could ever hope to achieve.  The fact that he failed to live up to his own ideals that he tried to instill in others is tragic and sad, but not as tragic to what was suffered by those children who trusted those around him.  Time will determine his legacy, and perhaps bring closure to those who suffered the indignities of his assistant coach.

Lies Obama told the Catholic Church - Beware!

When President Obama was elected, the entire nation including myself wished him the best. Being the first African American President of the United States is no small feat. He is an attractive man with an attractive family. He promised a new era of bipartisanship…there is no red America; there is no blue America; just the United States of America. Promising hope and change he was going to fundamentally change America.

But now the truth is out. It was a lie, a complete ruse. He suckered punched the American public and became the most partisan president this country has seen in my lifetime. His good natured smile masked the hate and disdain he had for the American people, clinging to their guns and bibles. He used the most onerous and underhanded tricks relating to Obamacare I have ever witnessed. He looked the American public in the eye and lied…over and over and over again on just about everything. The lies were so bad, the public went into a funk not understanding what they were seeing or experiencing. No one wants to call the President of the United States a liar…but he is. And now he has made the upcoming campaign one of the most hateful and negative we will ever witness…deliberate deceit as he shows his disdain for the American public. I am afraid to say what is behind the compelling smile…but it is not good.

The worst of it, the one that scares me the most, is his attack on religion. Among the other ugly nuggets found buried in its 2300 pages, Obamacare provides a new definition of religion. Barack Obama defines religious institutions as those entities that are operated by the religious entity for the members of the religious entity only employing members for the religious entities.

Using Catholics as an example, a Catholic entity would only enjoy constitutionally guaranteed protection if the entity was run by Catholics, for only Catholics, and employing only Catholics. In other words, outside of the church itself…and even that is questionable under this definition…there is no religious exemption for any outreach project. Catholic High Schools allow students to attend who are not Catholic. They employ teachers who are not Catholic. The same goes for Catholic Charities and Catholic Universities. Even within a church itself, if a non-Catholic housekeeper or secretary were to be employed by St. Dominic’s Church, then it would lose any heretofore constitutionally protected exemptions…like offering health insurance to employees which does not contain abortions or contraception as a benefit. Barack Obama lied to the Catholic Church when he told them don't worry about it, those provision don't apply to you. He lied. He lied. He lied. Surprise...they do!!!!

In fairness, the definition of a religous organization is not quite as onerous as I portrayed above...but it is darn close using the terms like "primarily" and "mostly."  What does that mean to a Catholic High School where 25% of the student population is non-Catholic; or to a Catholic university where over 50% of the population is non-Catholic; or to a Catholic hospital serving mostly non-Catholics.  Look at the testimony of the Georgetown University student boo-hooing about the church paying for her birth control. 

This is dangerous stuff. If this definition of religion is allowed to stand, it is not much of a leap to believe that it will spell the end to Catholic Schools, Catholic Universities, Catholic Charities, and Catholic Hospitals. You will see this sectarian ideologue and/or his minions expand the use of the definition and attempt to remove the crucifixes from the hospital rooms and religious classes from Catholic High Schools if non-Catholics are anywhere on the premises. And don’t believe him if he tells you otherwise. He has lied already. He will lie again.

The press may hesitate in calling Barack Obama a liar. I won’t just as Obama is now calling Mitt Romney a “felon.” Hard core left wing progressives have no qualms about using every dirty trick in the book, including lies and deception, to achieve their vision of the world. This is nothing new. Barack Obama is no exception. Beware of what is hiding behind that deceitful smile.

Flash! It's a Tax!

Leave it to the Supreme Court to take a bad situation and make it worse. To my credit, during the last days before the ACA ruling from the Supremes I told my family that they would find some convoluted way to uphold it. I just didn’t know how convoluted.

It is personally disturbing to me as an attorney that Chief Justice Roberts would actually rewrite the law to call what was intended to be a mandate with a penalty a “tax,” especially when outside of court arguments, the President and his cabal in Congress made it a point to say it was NOT a tax. Oftentimes the court looks to the history of a piece of legislation to interpret it or to decide if it is constitutional, but that isn’t even in the realm of possibility here. The history shows it was drafted this way to avoid calling it a tax by an ideologically driven president and congress. No…Justice Roberts simply rewrote the legislation.

There are those who said he did it to show the court was nonpolitical. He was afraid of a 5-4 ruling would injure the reputation of the court. Since when? I can give you any number of decisions that were 5-4 to the liberal side and nobody from the liberal side complained about those. Justice Roberts said it was not the court’s job to decide on the merits of a law. He was right. Is it constitutional or not? That’s all the court had to decide. That is there job. Instead, from a court that has continually upheld abortion rights (under the nonexistent right of privacy in the Constitution), we now have a piece of bad legislation justified by bad law.  Given that the law is already considered to be illegitimate, look for trouble in the country and system of health care sprining up outside the law for those who can afford it.  

It’s clear to me that Justice Roberts was motivated by nothing but politics. When a decision is so convoluted it defies explanation, there is always a singular explanation. He was for the law, and he found a way to vote for what he wanted. Perhaps it is because he is an epileptic and knows that if he were a private citizen, he would be unable to buy health insurance. That makes sense, and it would have been better if that was the motivation he say it outright rather than disgrace the court, the legal profession, and himself with this type of ruling…a ruling that rewrote the words of the law as well as the intentions of those that passed it.

That being said, maybe he stumbled across the truth. Maybe he decided to call it what we all know it is. It is a tax. You either buy health insurance, or you will be taxed. In his twisted decision, Justice Roberts actually stated the limitations of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, and pretty much said that the slight of hand of the Obama and his then Democratic/Progressive Congress did not work. You can have your law…but I will call it what it is. Now go into the political arena and defend it.  On the other hand, the goverment is now clear to use tax law to coerce behavior changes.  Get ready for penalty taxes on everything from not eating vegetables to drinking too much lemonade.  It's coming folks.

The Wall Street Journal analyzed the tax provisions of Affordable Care Act, and they are anything but affordable. Most of them won’t hit until 2015. These include both direct and indirect taxes on over the counter medication, a tax on medical devices, a tax on bio-fuels (you know…what were are supposed to use instead of oil), and excise taxes on policies that cover more than the government says they can cover (what?). All in all, there are over 20 over taxes and elimination of tax deductions in the system established under the act…and most of them will be borne by people making UNDER $125,000.00/year, per the Wall Street Journal analysis. The middle class, once again, will be nickel and dimed to death under a bureaucratic nightmare….enforced by the Internal Revenue Service.

That’s right, it will be enforced by tens of thousands of new IRS agents that are being hired right now. And it will all fall down on you…unless you are one of Obama’s exempted cronies.

IRS enforcement? Maybe Justice Roberts was right afterall.