Christmas and Redskins

Anyone who watches the O'Reilly Factor knows about the War on Christmas, politically correct robotons walking around with blank faces and glassy eyes spewing "Christmas is bad" and "Santa is bad'" and  “Christmas music” is bad.  Although O’Reilly calls it the War on Christmas, it is really a war on tolerance.  No one is more intolerant than people of this ilk.  Their lives are a permanent buzz kill.  They only tolerate one point of view…their own which they raise to religious status.  Pathetically guilt ridden, they espouse a world where there is a tyranny of one.  If one person is offended, then the whole world must bow down…of course unless that one person is you.  You don’t count.  Only they count.

The good news is things are finally starting to get better.  The mass hysteria of those attempting to look progressive and cool and caring and tolerant has waned.  It reached the high point over the past few years when merchants banned their employees from saying Merry Christmas in fear of offending someone.  Well…they did offend someone: the vast majority of those shopping in their stores for “Christmas” presents.  Americans finally said enough and fought back.  Merry Christmas was back in.   After all, it is a national holiday with major secular overtones.  Should we stop saying Happy 4^th of July because we might offend someone from Great Britain?  Should we stop saying Happy Thanksgiving if someone replies “thanksgiving for what?”

The Houston School System has just voted to ban “culturally insensitive” mascot names.  The top of the list is the “redskins”, never mind that several Native Americans showed up to say they were proud of the name.  The ban also included names like the “Rebels”.  How and to whom is that culturally offensive?  I imagine the PETA people will be banging on the door next because they are offended by the “panthers” or “tigers”.  It is a never ending slippery slope.  In a country of 335 million people, someone is ALWAYS going to be offended by something. Notwithstanding, the Houston School District has much more serious problems than this.  Try finding the graduation rate anywhere.  Wait a minute…they fudged what figures?  Of course, that is irrelevant…because they “care.”

The best way to handle these politically correct nut jobs is to call them on it.  Look them in the eye and tell them to just shut up, forcefully.  America is a wonderful ship filled with all sorts of people on a still relatively new political journey.  Compared to the countries in Europe, we are babes in the woods.  We are a diverse people, and all of those diverse cultures deserve to be celebrated. 

But at the end of the day, we are still a democracy rooted in a Judeo Christian ethic.  Just as we should be tolerant of the minorities around us, they should be tolerant of us.  If the goal is not to offend anyone, then we are on a fool’s journey.  It can’t be done.  More importantly, everyone just needs to lighten to up. 

Merry Christmas means the birth of Jesus, but also represents hope and peace and goodwill.  “Redskins” stands for bravery and strength and discipline and dedication…what’s wrong with that?  Native American culture has actually become iconic in overall culture.  Would you want the team named the Whiteskins?  Think of cultural connotations that would go with a name like that!!!! 

Merry Christmas everybody.  

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Turkey and football and the beginnings of the Christmas season make for an unbeatable combination.  I come from a once large now small family.  Our traditions have changed accordingly.  It’s been hard to do, but we have succeeded.  Better to go with change than to fight it.

Our Thanksgiving Day dinner changes from year to year.  One year my wife cooks at home.  Another year we go out for dinner.  This year we are driving to my brother-in-law’s house in Ashland.  His home almost burned to the ground last spring and he is celebrating its rebuilding.  We are thankful that his family and dogs survived as the fire spread across the ceiling very early in the morning while they were sleeping.  It could have ended in disaster. 

Our favorite tradition is Black Friday.  When my son was small we used to get up early in the morning to check out the lines outside the stores.  We walked through some but did very little shopping because, quite frankly, it was scary.  Then we went to breakfast.  We were home by nine in the morning just in time to begin putting up the Christmas decorations.

Black Friday is still a family tradition, but now we just go to breakfast and drink coffee until noon.  We put the outside lights up at the beginning of November when it is still warm leaving the wreaths and other visible accoutrements to hang on Black Friday afternoon.  Friday night we meet with friends for pizza.  Saturday is a trip to Kraynak’s in Sharon to look at tacky Christmas stuff.  We always buy some tacky Christmas stuff.    

One of my favorite Thanksgiving things to watch is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Snoopy is a cool dude and knows how to carve a turkey…and make popcorn and toast.  As always, we learn the true meaning of the holiday as we are taught to give thanks for family and friends and the blessings bestowed upon us.  Did I mention Snoopy does a good job carving a turkey?  And the music for this Charlie Brown special is outstanding. Little Birdie...Why do you fly upside down??

Thanksgiving is a laid back holiday.  Sure…the dinner is a lot of work, but there is really very little pressure to do much of anything else.  There are no gifts or Thanksgiving Eve dinners.  No present opening cleanup before the company arrives.  It’s expected the men will stretch out and watch whatever football game is on after the kids watch the various Ho-Ho parades.  The turkey makes us sleepy…or maybe the wine or maybe all those carbs.  The food police haven’t attacked Thanksgiving dinners yet.  Be on the lookout.

So…this year we are another year older, but we made it  through another year.  The country is struggling, but we still can speak our mind.  The economy is shaky, but we aren’t destitute yet.  The politically correct crowd is out to destroy our traditions and beliefs, but we still have a voice to tell them to shut up.  Families are scattered throughout our great nation, but we have cell phones and skype to keep us in touch.  Health care politics brings us stress, but the miracles of modern medicine have us living longer and healthier.  The American family is changing, but it is still family.   I think it is safe to say….

...for all of that, we are thankful.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving. 

Road Cleared for Mideast War

 

The number one rule in Political Science is there is no power vacuum. Now Barack Obama is about to learn that lesson, and we are all going to pay the price.  On August 31, 2013, the world became a much more dangerous place.  The road to massive war in the Mideast is now clear. 

Mark Knows It All opposes intervening in Syria.  There is no upside for the United States.  There are only bad guys and really bad guys.  We can’t tell them apart. 

The big problem is the complete collapse of what little American foreign policy the Obama administration had.  His policy, or lack thereof, has been a total disaster.  Now there is a vacuum in the Mideast.  As I write this it is being filled by Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.  The United States is now the laughing stock of the world.  Obama wants to disarm American nuclear weapons. Maybe he should hold off on that for awhile. 

In August of 2012, in one of his rare moments of unscripted commentary,  Obama stated that there is red line that the al-Assad regime should not cross.  The United States would respond to any use of chemical weapons by his regime against the Syrian people.  Evidence was presented several months ago and Obama skirted the issue.  But he could not skirt the 1400 dead Syrians from a week or two ago including over 450 children, most likely from Sarin gas.  Secretary of State John Kerry waxed poetic leading the world to believe military action was imminent.  He painted a total picture of reliable intelligence and cause and effect.  We were ready to go. 

But then it started to go wrong.  British Prime Minister David Cameron approached Parliament for permission to move forward in concert with the United States.  For the first time since the 1780, the British House of Commons refused to sanction military action requested by the Prime Minister.  One MP stated what the American press was afraid to state.  Why should Britain involve itself in a war the sole purpose of which is to save face for Barack Obama?  There is no British security interest in Syria. 

Now Obama would have to go it alone.  Years of leading from behind appeared to be over.  Not so fast…while John Kerry was preparing the world for American military action, Obama was scheming one more way to vote present.  Shift the blame to somebody else. 

On Friday night, he met with his advisors.  On Saturday afternoon he made a statement saying that while he didn’t need Congressional Approval for anything, this one time he was going to Congress to get that approval.  He may or may not get the vote in the Senate.  He most likely will not get approval in the House in which those Democrats without a spine will vote for it…and those with the strength of their convictions (remember George Bush) will not.   AND THEN OBAMA CAN BLAME THE CONGRESS FOR THE COLLAPSE OF WHAT  LITTLE FOREIGN POLICY HE HAD.  What a brilliantly cynical plan...go to Congress for political cover. 

What a joke.  Now we face real problems.  Obama has proved himself to be the paper tiger people like me knew he was.  There is no peace or strength through appeasement.  How many times do we have to learn that lesson?   Iran will feel emboldened.  North Korea will feel emboldened.  China and Russia will feel emboldened.  I suspect the Israeli leaders are in shock.  They will rather quickly come to the conclusion that they will have to move against Iran by themselves to stop Iranian development of nuclear weapons.  The only entity in the Mideast to show any backbone at all against this Islamic/Arab mess is the Egyptian Army.  And he bungled that too. 

   

Right now the Suez Canal is at risk.  All out war in the Mideast is a stong possibility.  If Barack Obama were smart, he would explain to his environmental whack job friends the facts of life, and start drilling for oil here and now.  

After his speech, Barack Obama went to play golf; never mind he has to go to Europe and Russia for various economic conferences.  He said in his speech he is comfortable with his decision.  We should not. 

Hair, Theater, and Politics

My wife and I went to see a local production of Hair last night at the Oakland Theater in Youngstown.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Oakland, it is a relatively small theater making the audience up close and personal with what was a very large cast.  It has specialized in “edgy” type productions, but as of last year the management changed.  It is still somewhat edgy, but on the “mainstream” side of the line.  Over the top or not, the Oakland has always produced a quality product and draws both cast and audience from beyond our area.  We have seen several productions of Hair over the years including the original Broadway production.  This was the best.

First the promo:  It was an outstanding production. This is Community Theater, and great community theater.  The word that comes to mind is gritty.  The intimacy of the theater plus a cast of “real” people who you might know personally made the tribe in Central Park come alive in ways you won’t see in New York or Pittsburgh or Cleveland or in the movie version. These were the people I saw protesting in 1968 as they marched to change America…and if you were in the audience last night, you were out there with them.  This is the beauty of the Oakland:  taking a show like Hair from Broadway perfection to exquisite local reality.  They did it with The Full Monty several years ago.  They have done it again with Hair these past few weeks. 

The audience reflected the age of the show.  There were lots of folks my age in the packed theater.  I was eighteen when Hair made its Broadway debut.  In the spring of my senior year in high school both Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated.  I campaigned for Eugene McCarthy.  I cheered when Lyndon Johnson said he would not run again for president.  I watched in disbelief the violence at the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention.  And then I worked for Richard Nixon because I am a Republican.  Those were scary and exciting times as America experienced a burst of creative energy in all aspects of the arts the likes of which we will never see again as the nation moves further into the digital cocoon. 

I thought the premise and music and message of the show would be dated.   I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Within the story line there was much to dislike about the main characters.  They were rude, goofy drugged up hippie freaks that desired a life of self gratification living as bums.  But underneath, they understood who they were...with lots of insecurities but understanding the necessity for some of life's evils such as money.  

What I remember most about those times was the overriding feeling of hope and idealism.  These concepts were rooted in respect for the individual.  Although the musical dealt with generally accepted liberal issues including race, drug usage, anti military, and a rigid social and governmental hierarchy, it wasn’t the “collective.”  The message was get government out of our lives so we are free to live our lives as we choose.  It is libertarianism. There is a difference. Libertarianism is where liberals and conservatives meet. 

Where did that idealism go?  Where is the hope?   We have been told by the media that folks running things in Washington today are the descendants of those protesting on America’s campuses in the late 1960’s and early 70’s.  I disagree.  They are the ideological descendents of the radical fringe of the movement.  In today’s Washington you are finding the progeny of the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers, the SDS, SNIC and other violent groups.  These folks believe in government control by force and use of government as a political weapon to achieve their goals.  We are just now finding out how autocratic these folks can be in the pursuit of their radical vision of an egalitarian utopia. For them, their end always justifies the means.

The reality, however, seldom matches the fantasy.  So now it is time to assess and move on as we face new issues of an over reaching government; rigid and unfeeling.  And the music goes on.

Somewhere

Inside something there is a rush of

Greatness

Who knows what stands in front of

Our lives

I fashion my future on films in space

Silence tells me secretly

Everything 

Everything

Let the sunshine in!

Obama

Now it’s time to say what needs to be said.  Barack Obama is the worst president in my lifetime, and I suspect in the history of the Republic.  This man has systematically set out to destroy the country and he is succeeding.  He has destroyed any semblance of rule of law.  He has destroyed the Constitution as Americans, and a compliant press, have sat idly by…secure in their own pomposity…watching it happen bit by bit.   Obama and his compatriot Eric Holder have managed to do the impossible.  Their lies and their antics have made Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, and John Mitchell look like babes in the woods.  The President and the Attorney General should be ashamed.  They’re not.  They are enjoying it.

Under his watch, spying on Americans has reached Orwellian proportions.  Every single thing you do, right down to each key stroke on the computer, is watched by the government.  Corporations send out privacy notices relating to bank accounts and credit cards; hospitals put on a big show with HIPPA.  The reality is you have no privacy.  The revelations today that all the government needs is an email address and they know what you are thinking is frightening…and yet we passively shrug our shoulders.  Sooner or later, the government will use this information against us.  Read your history.  Obama was supposed to be our protector against this type of activity.  He is the worst offender.

The Department of Justice has thrown rule of law out the window replacing it with crony justice.  There are so many incidents that you can’t begin to list them.  There is no excuse for government behavior during the Trayvon Martin trial.  There is no excuse for end running the Supreme Court’s decision on voter rights laws going after Texas.  There is no excuse for not prosecuting Black Panther thugs in front of polling places.  There is no excuse for lying to a judge about a journalist being a criminal suspect in an affidavit for a search warrant.  There is no excuse for stone walling gun running in Fast and Furious.   There is no excuse or justification for using the IRS as a political weapon. 

Eric Holder should have been fired years ago.  He never should have been appointed in the first place after facilitating the re-entry into the country of one of this nation’s biggest tax cheats in exchange for a political contribution to Bill Clinton.  That is the kind of man he is.  He is a thug and a liar.  He has destroyed respect for the law in America.

Then there is American foreign policy which can be summed up in one word: Benghazi.  The revelation today that CNN found one of the perpetrators and interviewed him as our government sat idly by is beyond comprehension.   These people attacked our embassy and killed our ambassador and three other Americans.  All we have gotten is stonewalling.  When asked about it today, Press Secretary Jay Carney told the reporter to call the FBI.  That is contemptible.  What are they hiding?  The only person who has gone to jail is the poor guy who made a two bit video that was insulting to Muslims.  And he had nothing to do with it.

The press continues to be complicit in the cover-up.  First it was to protect Obama.  Now it is to protect Hillary Clinton.  You know…the one asked who should answer the phone at 2 in the morning!!!  Hopefully it won’t be her.

Meanwhile, the economy is growing at a whopping 1.7%!!!  And that was considered good news.  What they are not telling you is that the government had to go back to 1929 to recalculate GDP growth for the last 80 some years to achieve that 1.7% growth.  Obama has accumulated more debt that all of the other presidents put together.  But don’t worry.  He has fixed health care.  Well…sort of…maybe they will put off full implementation another year.  But who cares, we are now a nation of part time jobs. But don’t worry, he is addressing the energy problem.  Maybe the bankruptcy court will give back to the government some of the billions that have gone down the toilet with Obama's green energy start-up companies (run by his campaign contributors).  I know...then he can give the money to Detroit!!!!

Take out the African American support for him based mostly on his race, and Obama’s approval rating would be about 30%.   That is pitiful; but definitely earned.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.  But this has been a dirty and rotten and corrupt presidency…to the core.  I’m not so sure America has it in her to reach the end of the tunnel.  Houston, we have a problem.

Egypt: The Front Line Against Islmaic Extremism

Egypt is such a far-away place.  For much of my life it seemed benign enough, steeped in the most ancient of history.  Most Americans think of the Pyramids and Charlton Heston leading the Jews out of slavery with Yul Brynner chasing them in his chariot….or maybe Elizabeth Taylor exchanging Eddie Fisher for Richard Burton while filming Cleopatra (much to Debbie Reynold’s delight).   To see Egyptian history you could either go to Cairo or the British Museum, where many of Egyptian antiquities landed during the British colonial era.

But just underneath the surface it has been smoldering and a hot bed of international activity.   Egypt led two wars of note against Israel, the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973.  This resulted in the Arab oil embargo to the United States and gas rationing.  Although it did better militarily in 1973 than 1967, Egypt recognized it would never defeat the Israelis and in 1979 and made peace with Israel under the Camp David Accords.

Now it is back in the forefront.  Egypt is a poor nation and relied heavily on the Soviet Union for financial assistance, and then the United States.   It’s the United States which keeps the Egyptian military in business.  We pay 70% of the Egyptian military’s budget. Through assassinations and military uprisings Egypt has had several changes of government starting with Hosni Mubarak who came to power after the assassination of Anwar Sadat. Mubarak was then overthrown in February of 2011 in the Egyptian version of the Arab Spring.  Elections took place about a year later electing the radical Muslim Brotherhood led by Mohamed Morsi to power.  Morsi, in turn, rammed through an Islamist constitution, usurped power from the Egyptian courts, threatened the military, and just last week was thrown out of office in an Egyptian military coup in response to millions of people taking to the streets.  He is now under house arrest, and the head of his party is under real arrest. 

The story that is not being told by any of the media in the United States is that it is the Egyptian people who are now leading the war against radical Islam.  Egypt has become the hot war front line against the Islamists.  What is even more disturbing is that Barack Obama seems to be falling on the wrong side of all rebellions against radical Islam over and over again.  It gives one pause.  What is he doing?

Since the beginning of his presidency Obama has taken a conciliatory approach to radical Islam.  Domestically, he declared the war on terror over.  While cracking down on Christians and Jewish religious activity in the public sector, he has accommodated Muslim activity.  He has refused to call Muslim terrorists what they are…terrorists.  He has pointed Homeland Security away from Islamic terror and towards “right wing” terrorist groups.  He failed to follow up on information provided to his administration about the Boston bombers.  Meanwhile, granny in a wheel chair is still being patted down before getting on an airplane to placate “profiling” Muslims…and my phone calls to my wife are being monitored.  The Fort Hood massacre is still not being called a terrorist event, and this Islamic whack job is defending himself in the courts.

Internationally, he failed to support the Iranian green revolution pulling American support for those in the streets opposing the Mullahs, leaving demonstrating students twisting in the wind.  He has led from behind in Egypt offering succor to the Islamists who eventually came to power and now have been thrown out by the Egyptian people and army.  He still is saying the Muslim Brotherhood must be included in a new Egyptian government.

In Libya, America came late to the party as Ghadafi was overthrown. The night of the Islamist attack on Benghazi and our embassy and ambassador, Obama was nowhere to be seen.  He later blamed the event on a video rather than terrorism from Islamic radicals while he fund raised in Nevada.  His administration refused requests for additional security before the raid, and military help during the raid. 

All of these things, plus a myriad of others, have been shrugged off by the American press.  Maybe individually they can be ignored.  Together, it paints a disturbing picture.  Obama has NEVER answered his view of radical Islam which is anathema to everything his left wing supporters believe.  America needs to know his core beliefs about Islam as Russia, China, and just about every other nation leaves us in the dust in dealing with a philosophy that beheads gays, burns down Christian churches, and beats women for uncovering their face. 

America owes the people of Egypt and the Egyptian army a debt of gratitude for doing what we have failed to do.  

America at the Crossroads

This Independence Day, America is rudderless and leaderless adrift in a morass of liberal orthodoxy that doesn’t work.  Folks are being indoctrinated in our primary and secondary schools.  Universities have been taken over by the extreme left under the guise of “academic freedom” which is anything but.  Try finding a Republican or a conservative tenured professor or a center right commencement speaker.  The media is crawling with the spawn of 1960’s hippies who have dropped principles of freedom and individualism for the collective and a cult of personality.   The melting pot of my immigrant grandparents has become a “celebration of diversity” which harbors the threat of tearing this nation apart in the future.  “From many, one,” has become “from many, many.”  The founding fathers have been relegated to the trash can of irrelevancy; a bunch of old white men who promoted the slave trade.  Our leaders seem ready to sacrifice our country on the altar of internationalism cutting out the country’s heart using the knife of sacred environmentalism to “redistribute” wealth not to our citizens, but other countries.  America should pay for its sins.

Our nation has been turned upside down. Kids lemonade stands are closed down.  Men are expendable.  The government is watching every key stroke we make on the computer, including mine typing this essay.  Our phone calls and emails are being gathered in the name of “national security”.  The IRS has become a political enforcement agency.  The thought police are looking for every non-politically correct utterance we make notwithstanding how long ago (consider Paula Deen’s problems).  Monitoring cameras, both private and government, are everywhere.  Now the government is turning government worker against government worker through an Obama executive order advising federal employees to report on co-workers who might be experiencing stress, or marital difficulties or financial difficulties or have expressed “discontent.”  Even in schools students have been asked to report on parental activities which might seem strange.  This is the stuff of totalitarian governments.

What is more disturbing is the arrogance of those doing these things.  The Obama administration has stonewalled Congress, the people’s house, in investigations relating to the Mexican gun running operation Fast and Furious, the investigation of the Benghazi fiasco, the IRS scandal, the Associated Press scandal,  the NSA matter.  This includes non-operative department heads lying to Congress and an Attorney General who has been held in contempt of Congress with no consequences.   Add to the current of the IRS who provided a redacted report which said nothing, a combative Hillary “what difference make it now” Clinton, two IRS acting heads who pleaded the Fifth and went on Easter Egg hunts in the White House.

The result of all of this is a public who distrusts and fears the government, a press that is afraid to report the news, whistleblowers going into hiding, and a world community that for all intents and purposes is laughing its ass off at American impotency.

This Independence Day, it’s time for America to press the reset button on ourselves.  It’s time to re-examine the principles on which this nation was founded.  The Bill of Rights needs to be dusted off and moved to the front of the room.  America is in trouble.  There is apparently not a leader in sight to take this nation into the future.  People need to get their nose out of the computers and tablets and cell phones and pay attention to the real world. 

This is America’s crossroads.  The Barbarians are at the gate, and they are us.  No on needs to take away freedom that Americans are now willing to give it away to an omnipresent government.  If it is not fixed, the Independence Days of the future will be hollowed out celebrations with no substance…only fear.  

Don't Forget Free Speech at Universities

In the midst of the Obama scandals and the assault on political freedom by the Internal Revenue Service and the NSA, the Obama administration has also been active on college campuses making sure we are all politically correct. In a directive that is applicable to all universities that receive federal funding, the Departments of Justice and Education have issued new guidelines on what constitutes sexual harassment. It now must be defined as “any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature” including “verbal conduct.”

On its face, it seems innocent enough. On the mild side, if someone tells another a dirty joke and someone overhears it and is offended…that is sexual misconduct. If there is a debate on the morality of homosexuality, that is sexual misconduct. If the school reads or performs The Vagina Chronicles, that is sexual harassment. It has also been used to stop pro-live groups from certain activities on campus because it made some students “uncomfortable.”

This overturns a previous policy defined in 2003 which stated sexual harassment must “include something beyond the mere expression of views, words, symbols, or thoughts that some person finds offensive.”

The new policy guidelines were issued in an advisory letter to University of Montana co-opting requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act for notice posting and public comment on all such regulations. Once again the Obama administrative is playing fast and loose with the law to get what it wants be executive decree.

The response from universities has been tepid. Already mired in “hate speech” codes, the associate counsel for the State University of New York (SUNY) stated:

“The Education Department and higher education administrators are well aware of the First Amendment and academic freedom. Encouraging the campus community to report instances of sexual harassment and leaving the evaluation of such reports to designated experts is appropriate and lawful”.

In other words, you can trust the university to make the decision as to whether or not there are free speech violations. Just like the NSA is telling Verizon customers to trust them not to use the mass of information being collected by them to be used inappropriately and only for “national defense.”

A case in point re: trusting university administrations occurred at the SUNY Oswego campus:

“In October 2012, exchange student Alexander Myers was suspended and ordered to vacate his campus residence after emails he sent were alleged to "defame, harass, intimidate, or threaten another individual or group." Myers had contacted three area hockey coaches as research for a class assignment he was writing on SUNY Oswego men's hockey coach Ed Gosek, explaining that "what you say about Mr Gosek does not have to be positive." The next day, Myers received a letter from President Deborah F. Stanley, which placed him on interim suspension and charged with "disruptive behavior," on the grounds that SUNY Oswego policy prohibited emails that "defame, harass, intimidate, or threaten another individual or group." FIRE wrote to Stanley on October 26, 2012, arguing that the charges were blatantly unconstitutional. In response, SUNY dropped the "disruptive behavior" charge, though it found him guilty of "dishonesty" and ordered him to write apology letters to the hockey coaches.” (from article posted on the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education web site.)

SUNY was publicly chastised by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and backed down from its position dropping all charges. Nevertheless, America…wake up to what these fascists and thought control people are doing to this country.

Does anyone see a pattern here?

(THE ABOVE IS BASED ON ARTICLES APPEARING ON THE WEBSITE OF FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS IN EDUCATION AND WASHINGTON FREE BEACON)  

Scandals and Scorpions

Any one of the three scandals currently smothering Barack Obama would be sufficient to sink any other president.  Barack Obama has a life line…he is the first black president.  African Americans are understandably proud of the first African American president; but the assumption is wrong.  He had done NOTHING for the black community because he is not “black” as Americans currently understand the term.  He is a socialist who happens to be black.  Nonetheless, it may be the only thing standing between him and ultimate impeachment.  The visuals of impeaching the first African American president are unfathomable.  But you never know.

I am floored at the political tone deafness of the Obama administration.  Commentators keep asking why he has responded to these scandals using Nixonian tactics.  For those of us over the age of 55, it is déjà vu all over again.  Therein lies the answer to the question…because all roads lead to him and his cabal of socialist thugs.  If one assumes he as "in the dark" or ignorant or clueless as he claims, then one would think he would want to resolve the issues quickly.  Unfortunately, he is as guilty as sin of malfeasance at worst and gross negligence at best.  Either way, he has to cover up and hope everything eventually goes away.  He has no other choice.

Contrary to what the Fox News people are saying, the mainstream press is not pursuing these scandals in any aggressive manner.  Fox News has been chasing Benghazi since last September, and the press, while finally giving it some scrutiny, is still dragging their feet.  The IRS scandal is interesting to them, but at the end of the day, they quietly approve of what the IRS did to those big, bad Tea Party racists and haters. 

The Associated Press story, on the other hand, as has been magnified by seizing of the phone records of Fox reporter Jim Rosen, finally got their attention.  God forbid, Obama should turn his wrath on the press.  The story of Jim Rosen is downright scary.  In order to get a judge to sign off on a search warrant, they had to identify him an unidentified co-conspirator who committed a crime.  Not only did the Justice Department go after his records, but those of his parents. 

Obama gets in front of the press and says he believes in the sanctity of the First Amendment.  Right! Tonight we find out it was his Attorney General Eric Holder who signed off on the subpoena.  But that’s okay, Obama believes in the sanctity of the First Amendment.  After all, he said he did.  As in all things Obama, look at what he does; not at what he says.

The big scandal in ALL of these three scandals is Obama lied to the public to get re-elected.  The bigger scandal is the press knew it, and let him get away with it.  Several years ago my wife asked me when Obama was going to get his.  I answered when he goes after those who are defending him, the press.  That is exactly what happened. 

Of course one wonders why would he try to go after those who helped him.  It’s the old story of the scorpion and the frog.  While the frog was carrying the scorpion across the river the scorpion stung the frog. “Now you did it,” said the frog.  “You have killed us both.  Why did you do that?”  “It’s my nature,” said the scorpion. 

And this is Barack Obama’s nature.  The real Barack Obama.  

Boston Bombers and American Liberalism

The fallacy of liberalism has reared its ugly face in full view of the country in the circumstances surrounding the Boston Marathon bombers.  From terrorism denial to student visas to political correctness in the FBI and CIA to Homeland Security ineffectiveness to welfare to scholarship programs….it has it all.  America should take a lesson.  This is the ugly side of liberal policies.

It’s hard for the mainstream media to run from this one although they are trying.  The Tsarnaev family must have studied how to take advantage of our flawed and guilt ridden American system.  They came to this country as political refugees seeking political asylum.  That enabled them to qualify for welfare programs immediately.  Yet they went back and forth to Chechnya the way we go to Cleveland.  Included in their welfare package were food stamps, direct cash payments, and Section 8 housing.  Initial figures put the “welfare” portion of their sponging at about $100,000.00 over a ten year periods.  Commentators stated that is probably just the surface.  They lived in Cambridge, one of the most expensive areas in one of America’s most expensive cities.  Section 8 housing paid the rent. There is much more to come.  The brothers Tsarnaev attended the most exclusive schools and colleges on scholarships and by all indications had no issues with money dealing drugs on the side. 

While on welfare Tamerlan, the dead terrorist, managed to squeeze in a trip or two to Russia and attempted to go to Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage.  The Russian government tailed him, and told the United States, both the CIA and the FBI, to watch this guy.  There were problems with his Visas, yet Homeland Security was not made aware.  Early reports stated the Saudis also warned our government. The wouldn't let him in.  The Saudis have since changed their story…hmmmm.   All of this notwithstanding, Tamerlan, for all intents and purposes, posted his intentions on You Tube for everyone to see.  Of course, we would not wanted to have invaded his privacy.

The stories go on and on.  And the government is stonewalling again.  Governor Deval Patrick inserted himself into the debate by denying access to the family welfare records citing privacy issues.  Really?  Can this guy be serious?  But what else would one expect from a Massachusetts liberal?  Conservative media and the Massachusetts legislature put an end to that foolishness. 

And now we find out that the younger bomber’s friends attempted to help him escape by destroying evidence.  One of them was here illegally.  The stories go on and on and on.  Meanwhile, Eric Holder sends in a judge and justice department lawyers to interrupt the interrogation of young Dzhokhar while he was in the hospital by reading him his Miranda rights.  He then announces to the world that he will prosecute anyone who discriminates against Muslims. 

This is from the same guy who wants to try terrorists in New York City and has stonewalled his knowledge of gun running across the Mexican border in the Fast and Furious operation.  Standing Amen Corner is John Kerry who has taken over as apologist in chief from Hillary Clinton.  On the back of the Benghazi debacle we now have a trend.  Of course, Hillary Clinton wanted to know what difference four dead Americans made now….and Jay Carney said at a press conference today that Benghazi terrorist raid during the height of the election was “ a long time ago.”  President Obama, of course, is "not familiar" with accusations that his White House has hidden Benghazi survivors and threatened career staff members if they do any whistle blowing on Benghazi. 

You who they need?  They should get Candy Crowley to run cover for them…just like in the debate.  If you want to know what is wrong with America and American liberalism, just look.  

Suspect 1, Suspect 2, and America

The most that can be said about the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks and subsequent pastiche was that it made for interesting…no…riveting television.  At its worst, it is an American tragedy on so many levels.  There are dead people, one a child.  There are severely injured people who will feel effects the rest of their lives.  There is the dead campus security officer who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And finally two wasted lives of young men who from all reports were talented and smart, one gunned down and the other facing God knows what.  What were they thinking?

In many ways this is worse than the Sandy Hook and Aurora and Gabby Giffords shootings.  The perpetrators of those horrific acts were nuts, psychopaths walking among us.  But the young brothers who bombed the marathon were sane, at least by common definition.  They chose to do this.  It was religiously and politically motivated.  Their thinking may have been warped, but the act of terror was deliberately done by choice to express a point of view.

America needs to come to its senses.  There is evil in the world, and it is currently operating under the guise of radical Islam.  You can call them whatever you like, but those aren't Episcopalians blowing up a marathon race.  We have reached the point where we can’t even call it what it is.  The Associated Press banned its reporters from using the word “Islamist.”  Political correctness is trumping all common sense.  Granny’s breasts are being felt up at airports yet the FBI, alerted by another country two years ago to problems with the eldest brother, literally let these guys walk away with no follow up.  Had they done their job, they would have seen the terrorist propaganda posted on You Tube, and the radical teaching of Islamists posted on Facebook; put there by the elder brother who they supposedly investigated.  The fallout from this is just beginning.   

Unfortunately both Benghazi and the Boston Marathon don’t follow the current administration’s narrative that the war on terror is over.  In fact, the opposite is true.  Maybe Al Qaeda’s structure has been diminished to a degree, but most of the activity is at lower levels.  They may or may not be capable of pulling off another 9/11…at least not now.  But they are more than capable of small scale attacks against soft targets.  Boston will be the model in the foreseeable future…until Iran gets Nukes.

The Obama administration has taken the position that America’s greatest threat is homegrown terrorism, and not of the type that just happened in Boston.  Obama and crew are convinced that terrorism will come from right wing militia groups, white extremists and Tea Party types. His adviser David Axelrod commented that Obama’s initial reaction to the bombing was that it was “tax day.”  His Homeland Security Agency has purchased enough bullets for twenty years, and a fleet of armored vehicles.  This predilection also manifests itself in his preoccupation with semi automatic weapons.  He wants to know who owns them and limit their effectiveness as he builds a civilian army.    

Meanwhile, these young men took the best America had to offer and gave back to America their worst.  America needs to take a lesson.  The ethos of Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 were formed by a twisted system.  These young men studied in schools that celebrated diversity instead of commonality of American culture.  Look at the family life of these young men, raised by somebody other than their parents in God knows what circumstances.  At some point, their religion took a turn to the extreme.  They were traveling back and forth to Chechnya with impunity.  Our government was warned but political correctness got in the way.  They posted their extremism online for the whole world to see…and we did nothing. 

Here are the politically incorrect solutions to the problems:

1)            America needs to celebrate the melting pot theory of one common American culture rather than “celebrating diversity.”

2)            English needs to be the common tie that binds the culture.

3)            Profiling needs to be included as one defense against terrorism no matter how abhorrent it may be to us.  With deference to the Muslim community, Muslim males between the ages of 18 and 30 need to be scrutinized if traveling back and forth to areas where terrorism is taught, and that is just the way it is.

4)            One of the brothers was sworn in as American citizen two years on ago…on 9/11.  How did that happen? 

5)            Visas to students from Islamic countries need to be checked and re-checked and re-checked again. 

The solution to terrorism is common sense.  America needs to come to its own senses, then use some common sense.  Otherwise we are just sitting ducks along a marathon race route.  

The Wages of Appeasement...

The wages of appeasement are death.  The events of this past week in Boston are another example of America’s weakness.  Midst the media platitudes and purple prose the true lessons are lost.  Peace through strength is the only path.  In a world filled with evil, the answer to “Can’t we all just get along?” is no.  Until we realize that, things will just keep getting worse.

America has lost its way.  Words of community and forgiveness make for good sound bites on television but accomplish nothing.  It took hours before the government could even bring itself to say the word terrorism because they “didn’t know yet.”  The people that did this set of a bomb and killed and maimed a bunch of folks watching the finish of an iconic marathon.  What else would one call it?

The Mayor of Boston then goes on television and says we shouldn’t treat certain groups certain ways.  What groups and what ways?  The first reaction of the President was to say it was a “tax day” event.  That doesn’t surprise me.  And it very well might be….but minimally it shows his ideological bent.  Do you think for one minute Janet Napolitano and Homeland Security have purchased 20 years worth of bullets and armored vehicles because of Al Qaeda? 

Since the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima America has lost its sense of power and strength.  Through both Republican and Democratic presidents we have appeased and appeased and appeased.  It took Ronald Reagan to outsmart the Soviet Union making them think he was nutty enough to blow them up and rich enough to build the Star Wars missile defense system.  They bought it and backed down because they perceived America to be dangerous. How does the world perceive America today? 

And it’s not just Barack Obama.  Jimmy Carter should have settled the Iran issue then and there.  Look at what we are dealing with today.  When North Korea hijacked our ship or shot the plane out of the air or killed some South Koreans…did we fight them?  No…we gave them money to build an atom bomb.  We invaded Iraq twice…and left without one drop of oil.  Why?  Because of some cockamamie idealized vision of America’s virtue?  Screw that.  How many people have to die? How many times do we have to invade.  Never fight for the same real estate twice.  We will end up doing it three times. 

Now we are in Afghanistan fighting a war with rules of engagement that spells out we lose by definition.  We are going to pull out of there next.  Why?  How many times do we have to go over there?

President Obama came with an idealistic vision.  If we become less dependent on foreign oil, we can walk away from the Mideast mess.  Looks good on paper, but he burdened that vision with his environmental whacky ideas.  And then he said the war on terror was over.   I guess not.

The primary job of government is to keep us safe.  It can’t be done looking through rose colored glasses.  Domestic or foreign, left or right, you have to call a terrorist a terrorist.  You have to call an illegal immigrant an illegal immigrant…not an undocumented person.  You have to call extreme Islamists what they are….Islamists.  No more political correctness.  No more appeasing.

Sooner or later we are going to have to fight Iran and/or North Korea.  It is inevitable.  Sooner or later we are going to have to confront domestic terror whether it is from within or without.  Sooner or later we are going to have to settle the Israeli question.  And when those things happen, it isn’t going to be pretty. 

Wake up, America.  Life isn’t a video game.  Like I said…the wages of appeasement are death. 

Lessons from Cyprus

Cyprus is once again in the news. This is time it’s not for the Greeks or the Turks fighting who controls the island country, but because it is broke. Cyprus is an island about the size of Vermont with an economy identical in size. Unfortunately, its debt load is 145% of GDP. It has been a tax haven for tax evaders. It has been a depository for Russian money…mostly laundered…making its banking business way out of proportion to the size of the country and its economy.

Over the past several years, things have gone from bad to worse and Cyprus and its banks are on the verge of collapse. A member of the European Union, Cyprus went to the European Central Bank looking for a bailout. It got an agreement, but in exchange for the bailout the ECB required that the Cypriote Government confiscate 10% of cash deposits in its banks. Overnight the banks closed and remained closed for over a week. When they opened, depositors were only allowed to withdraw 300 Euros/week. It was a disaster.

There is a general consensus that the Cyprus is not so much a country debt situation…but a banking situation. For reasons known only Cyprus and Greece, the Cyprus Banks took all of that Russian money and invested in Greek bonds. Of course the Greek economy was and is on the verge of collapse and its bonds are worth…well…zero!!!! The banks couldn’t come up with the money to pay its depositors and went to they Cypriote government for money and the Cypriote government didn’t have any so they went to the ECB . Voila…he who pays the piper picks the tune. Cyprus confiscated 10% of all deposits in excess of $100,000.00. The saga in Euro land goes on.

This is scary stuff. Can you imagine a government coming in and saying give us 10% of all your accumulated wealth just because? It couldn’t happen here they say. Unfortunately, it does. The Estate Tax is exactly the same thing. Only our government takes 45% of accumulated wealth over $ 5 million of a deceased’s estate. Money that was earned and taxes paid on already.

When it comes to Progressives, there is no end for the desire to take your money. They take from the rich to give to…the rich…and then take from the middle class to give to…government bureaucrats. There is talk in Washington of raising the gasoline tax. There is the estate tax and the income tax. There is talk of a national sales tax and a value added tax. They print more money to devalue the worth of your currency. Many of these are regressive taxes that affect EVERYBODY regardless of income or class.

Cyprus should be a lesson to all of us. People like me keep saying look over there…look to Europe…to see where we are headed. Will that little island have a direct effect on the American economy? For what it’s worth, probably not! But this is a teachable moment. If they can do it there, they can do it here. And here’s a word to the wise: THEY WILL!!!!

A Looming Constitutional Crisis?

Governor Kasich was in Youngstown for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce annual awards luncheon. He has had many visits to this area since his election as Northeast Ohio is the base of Ohio’s economic resurgence. Much of the growth is based in the natural gas industry, but much of it isn’t. In fact, 55% of the business growth stems from diversified industries from food processing to computer software development to new techniques in dye making.

In his comments, he contrasted what is happening in states like Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Texas, North and South Carolina, and Nevada to job flight from states like New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, California and as of late in the news, Rhode Island which for all intents and purposes is bankrupt. It’s more than a coincidence that the states that are growing are Republican run red states…and the ones on the brink which are the bluest of the blue liberal dominated states.

He pointed specifically to New York which has banned fracking; too bad for New York, but great for Ohio. The anti-fracking zealots who are preaching doom and gloom have shut down an industry in New York that could go a long way in producing needed revenue to support its massive welfare system/nanny state.

This message of economic dichotomy is more and more dominating the news. What is even more frightening is these liberal states keep doing more of the same, digging the hole deeper notwithstanding the businesses deserting these states in droves. Even Bill Maher, that paragon of liberal obnoxiousness, has warned California…and his left wing movement….that they may “lose” him unless the unrelenting assault on wealth is stopped.

Of course a little thing like money has never stopped a virtuous liberal from his appointed rounds. I am sure Governor Brown from California and Governor Cuomo from New York are eyeing states that are fostering economic growth. They will be looking for bail outs as their situations worsen. They will be looking for federal intervention to stop economic flight. It will also cause severe blow back from the successful states which will raise a constitutional battle.

Many of the debtor states have large urban populations. As liberal policies have driven out businesses, they have simultaneously attracted the government dependent class. California tops the list with this problem. The fifth largest economy in the world is broke and getting broker by the day.

To states like California, the Constitution is an impediment. The Senate with two senators from each state notwithstanding a state’s population dampens the influence of states like California. More problematic is the electoral college system which is also state based. As it stands now…California with a declining population will ultimately lose electoral votes to those with an increasing population. A declining population always follows loss of business, and states like New York and California will begin to lose a small degree of influence after the next census. All of this makes it difficult for the debtor states to look to the federal government for a bailout. No state, let alone a red state, will vote to provide funds to another state who has acted fiscally irresponsible.

Look for these states to demand amendments to the Constitution promoting things like elimination of the electoral college and a possible revision of Senate rules. They will do this under the guise of “democracy” when what they actually want is wealth redistribution.

America is NOT a democracy. It is a Republic with representative government and checks and balances to prevent a raid on the treasury by either the masses or a dictator. For warned is for armed…and the country needs to be vigilant against those who would destroy it. And there are plenty of those around who are willing to do it in the name of being “fair”.

Re-Branding Republicans

Mitt Romney reappeared this past weekend with an analysis of his campaign and his feelings on the state of America today. Romney is a good and decent man who ran one of the worst campaigns I can remember, including McCain’s 2008 presidential bid. At least McCain had the financial crisis to blame for his loss. Romney just didn’t have the street smarts or stomach for the type of campaign he needed to defeat Barack Obama.

Since the election, the press has been offering the template that Republicans are in disarray and trying to rebrand themselves. It’s a narrative the press wants the public to believe as preparations are already underway for the 2014 mid-term elections. The Dems want the House back to foist Nancy Pelosi back on a compliant and supplicant public.

Of course, the press fails to tell you that they are propagandists for the Obama administration. NBC chief Washington correspondents such as David Gregory and John Harwood no longer even offer the pretense of objectivity. Harwood appears as the liberal commentator on CNBC while supposedly offering objective reporting of White House activities. David Gregory’s head is so far up Obama’s ass it would take the jaws of life to pull it out. CNN’s Candy Crowley, the objective moderator of the second presidential debate, offered Obama cover when he got into trouble even though she was factually incorrect. CNN said “bad Candy. Don’t do it again.” Wink! Wink!

Republicans can try to rebrand themselves all they want and it will be for naught because the press has made the decision to block the message. Although a portion of the public listens to alternative media for critical news, for the most part Americans are disengaged and take at face value they are getting accurate reporting from the spawn of liberal journalism schools whose professors are rooted in 1960’s radical activism.

Rather than wasting time on trying to get a national message out that will never be delivered, Republicans should focus on state and local elections. Democratic sage Tip O’Neill stated all politics is local. I agree. Both Democrats and Republicans have their fair share of national twits. The real power is in the states, in the cities, in the townships and on the school boards.

One area that Republicans have failed to capitalize on are the appointments to the Boards of Trustees of state universities. Here is where Republicans can watchdog liberal, progressive and outright communist professors lost in the nether world of academia. Republicans control a majority of the state statehouses. Here is an opportunity to create a starting point for monitoring the twaddle that has crept into our state universities. These bastions of higher education scream academic freedom and diversity when in reality they are anything but. The Harvard Kennedy School of Government has twenty five professors and not one….NOT ONE…is a Republican. Of course, Harvard is a private university. But the state colleges aren’t too far behind. Not only do they deny conservative professors, they deny invited conservative speakers. Enough is enough.

All politicians are concerned with the next election. In the short term, Republicans have to lose the idea of whose turn it is to run next. McCain and Romney shows old guard middle of the road types cannot win elections. You know the definite of stupid…doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

But in the long term, Republicans need to concentrate on getting the conservative message out to the people on the local level...one voter at a time.  They have to become in engaged in the education system.  It can be done. It will just take a little effort.

Affordable Care Act - Bend Over and Grab Your Ass

So now the Affordable Care Act is upon us, and America better wake up.  The one thing about liberal academic planners, they don't realize that all of their grandiose ideas NEVER translate to reality.  These folks, with their heads in the clouds, are going to leave the rest of us bent over, holding our ass.  Slowly, unfortunately too slowly, people are beginning to realize the economic debacle we are facing and the potential collapse of our health care system.

Several large companies have already announced termination of employee health care benefits, the latest being Universal Studios in Florida which has informed its part time employees they are on their own after January 1.  The current "mini" plan which offered a reasonable price to part time employees is no longer legal under the ACA, leaving these folks to the whims of the "exchanges".  They will either buy health insurance with after tax dollars at very expensive rates...much more than the $18.00/week they are currently paying, or simply not buy the insurance and pay the penalty.

Practically, this only effects 500 of Universal's employees, the rest of the part timers being on their parents' health care plan or simply opting out.  Of course, there is no guarantee their parents will be able to keep their health insurance as a ripple effect spreads across the nation. 

Company after company is reevaluating their health care plans in light of the Obamacare debacle.  Some companies stand to save millions upon millions of dollars by paying penalties instead of providing health care.  Health care benefits will likely always be there for their key employees, but a second tier will develop for which the company will only pay  for the employee and not the family.  The third tier will be most of the rest of us...the grunts...for which no employee health care will be available.

The net result of the Affordable Care Act, initially peddled to the public as a means to cover the uninsured, will be a rapid rise in the number of uninsured....until they get sick in which case they go buy the insurance when they need it, and cancel it when they don't, driving the costs for the rest of the system through the roof.

Some people say this was designed to fail on purpose.  It was set up to force a systemic collapse and drive America to a single payer system.  If that happens,  a separate insurance system for the upper middle class and the wealthy will  develop either here in the United States or off shore, leaving the rest of us, as I said above, bent over holding our ass.

Congress is well aware of the problems and is beginning to realize what they have wrought. 

1)            Universal long term care plans were scrapped as soon as they began due to major projected cost overruns.

2)            The medical device tax is currently being re-examined because it is already driving American device manufacturers offshore.

3)            The "exchanges" supposed to be available this October are based on the development of a non-existent computer hardware and software system which has yet to be built or tested.  Health and Human Services, the Major Domo handling this fiasco, has thus far been uncooperative with Congress as it tries to determine how things are coming along.  Don't hold your breath!!!!!

4)            A majority of states have decided not to incur the costs of setting up state exchanges opting out forcing the cost and burden on the Feds.  The Feds weren't expecting that and now has a non-easily solved logistical problem.

The result of Barack Obama's pie in the sky health care plan will be larger numbers of uninsured, skyrocketing health care costs, declining income to the middle class, a tanked economy, and a health care system, once the envy of the world, totally destroyed.

You see, Obama forgot one thing.  You can write whatever you want on paper.  The devil is in the details.   As in all utopian plans...the road to hell is paved with good intentions.     

Here Comes the Inflation

One of the hallmarks of the Obama administration is peeing on your leg and telling you it’s raining. His view of the truth is Orwellian. He will tell you it is sunny and 76 degrees outside, but look out the window and you see snow and cold. What is frustrating with this guy is the media says amen to the lie…and an already ill informed American public is left confused and becomes compliant. This strategy, betting on an uninformed and compliant public, is a tried and true method of the radical left. There is nothing new here.

My wife asked when I thought the public would wake up. She answered her own question and said when the public can’t afford their cell phones anymore. Obama apparently knows this…and a government watch dog agency has just released reports which says 42% of those who received Obamaphones are not qualified to receive them at all. What was a program in the Reagan years to make sure everyone had a land line in case of emergencies has turned into a major government boondoggle that the rest of us pay for in our phone bills, cellular and otherwise.  The Obama administration is actually paying people to go out and look for folks to give cell phones to. 

One of the biggest Obama lies is there is no inflation. It allows the Federal Reserve to keep printing money to support whatever the hell Obama is trying to do. The Keynesians are running amok among us…everywhere!!! They achieve this by cherry picking what items are used in calculating inflation rates and rigging the assigned weights. But now they have a problem. The non-inflation is becoming so bad, and so pervasive, that it will be more and more difficult to hide.

The most visible sign is the 30 cent jump in the cost of a gallon of gas this past week. There are many reasons for this jump…but it is a jump nonetheless. Menu prices in restaurants are skyrocketing. The new menu in restaurants like Applebee’s and Bob Evans are up at least dollar an item. Soda and coffee prices have reached the point where I have stopped ordering them. Other restaurants shuffle the food. I was at an Italian restaurant in Cleveland last week that charged $18.00 for a plate of pasta…no meat. The new normal is a $9.00/measured pour for what is basically house wine. You can buy the entire bottle at the grocery store for $9.00….and that’s here in Youngstown.

Food prices in the grocery store are scary. I got a notice from Armstrong my cable bill is going up. You will see health insurance costs double if not more in the next 18 months….a continuing trend since the passage of Obamacare. Although your natural gas bill will remain stable…your electric bill is starting to climb. Have you tried to buy shoes lately…for that matter any clothing lately? At least in men’s shirts, some of the prices have almost doubled. Hotel rooms in major cities are through the roof, no pun intended. Housing is beginning to recover, but not by much; and for most people loans are still hard to come by. Apartment rentals, on the other hand, have been rising steadily the past few years and are now reaching eye opening figures.  Automobile prices also rising, and quickly. 

All of which brings us full circle to the comment my wife made about people being able to afford their cell phones. For the first time, cell phones sales actually declined last year. Maybe it’s a function of a maturing market. After all, even the smart phones reach a level of just how much more new they can do. But it may also be a function that Americans are finally reaching the point that finances are causing them to cry “uncle.” When you are paying $4.00 for a package of Dream Whip, how can you afford the latest $200.00 cellular gizmo?

And the inflation is just beginning.