"Getting A Charge Out of Nuke Nick"

                                                                     

My electric bill came in the mail today. I opened the envelope and smiled...$55 bucks....far less than the $250 Arizona Public Service (APS) will be gouging out of me in August.

On the back of my bill is a nice little bar chart. It shows 1) how well I'm doing in saving energy versus my average neighbor, 2) how I'm doing against my energy-thrifty neighbors, and 3) how I'm doing this year versus this time last year.

Now isn't that wonderful? Here you have an electric company (ours is nuclear powered), and they are encouraging you to use less of their product!

Well, hold on boys and girls. The energy utility, any energy utility, is a corporation, owned by shareholders, and hell-bent on maximizing profits.

So why would they send me a circular encouraging me to go "energy star" on all my appliances? Or convert my light bulbs to LED? Or smile at me as I listen to the solar guy's end of aisle spiel at Home Depot?

Boys and girls, your electric company spins out more fairy tales that Walt Disney. They say they want you to use less energy, but if you do, they're gonna jack your rates up higher because...well because they want to make big, big profits!

Let's go back. Remember that "solar smile?" Well, my APS has spent millions in "dark money", trying to elect politicians who might have a favorable view of forcing solar customers to take less for the energy they return to the grid, or at least make them pay $50 bucks a month for just belonging to the grid!

And yet, after hiking rates, and battling their solar brothers, even that's not enough for my electric company. Since I'm only using $50 some dollars of their power in the winter, they want me to pay more...way, way more in August when my air conditioning system is creating 3 digit electric bills! Is that because my AC is taxing their nuclear power plant? Nope...even in summer old "Nuke Nick" is operating at only 50 percent of capacity.

Now, being the "capitalist pig" that I am, I have no problem with anyone making a decent profit. But I don't think I need to be gouged just so some boardroom prima donna can announce "record profits" at the shareholder meeting. Nope, I want to see him or her stand up and say "folks, we made a decent profit..we were able to allocate funds for maintenance, for research and development...and there's your 5 percent dividend for the quarter...now let's all party down!"

Instead, I have the sinking feeling that those APS boys are meeting in some back room, even as I write this, and they're saying "damn that Friend character over on Snead Drive! He just put in ten LED bulbs this week!"

Sad. Damned Sad.

Obamacare Is On The Critical List

                                                                   

The Chicago Tribune reported this week that Illinois' Land of Lincoln State Health Exchange is facing bankruptcy, its only hope for survival is pulling out of Obama's health exchanges.  That makes 17 of the original 23 state health care providers that have pulled out of the Obamacare program.

Most of the big health care providers have already pulled the plug.  Some of the factors making Obamacare untenable has been Obama's own mandates.  For example, single men are forced to pay for maternity coverage, even as they they are biologically unable to bear a child.  Senior citizens pay for birth control that they will never, ever need.  However, according to the health exchanges, the most crippling factor has been the ability of "gamers" to refrain from signing up for Obamacare (and taking the less expensive penalty assessments), then jumping into a health exchange as soon as they get sick.

Many Americans simply can't afford the premiums, with premiums as high as $19,000 dollars a year for middle class working Americans.  And while "Robin Hood Obama" robs from the working class and gives to the lazy, overall, the program is a massive failure.

Congressman Paul Ryan announced this past week that the House, having failed to repeal Obamacare, will try to re-work it...introducing reforms in increments.  Ryan's plan calls for providing basic care for the needy, but does so through the introduction of tax credits.  This would afford Americans the opportunity to buy only the coverage they need, allowing senior citizens to give up their birth control and maternity coverage, and pay for only what they use.

I don't see much hope for Ryan's plan.  Both Obama and Hillary Clinton are for expanding Obamacare (to include allowing illegal Mexicans access to federally subsidized health exchanges) so I'm seeing big "vetoes" ahead for anything the House and Senate tries to bring forward.

Since Obamacare was implemented health care premiums in some states have gone up as much as 400 percent, a far cry from Obama's promise to lower premiums by 25%.

Sadly, as every policy Obama has ever implemented the consequences are always the opposite of what he promised.

Sad.  Damned Sad.

Another Kind of 3AM Phone Call

                                                                       

Ringgggggggggg.

"Hello"

"Hi Hill, Deb here. Terrible news....the DNC got hacked and they leaked our emails".

Hillary:  "Oh shit!  Did they find everything?"

Deb:  "Nah...nothing about our lesbian relationship...just the stuff where I suggested how we were going to "burn the Bern".

Hillary:  "Well, Deb, ya know we couldn't have won this nomination without the DNC going rogue, and yeah, those Super Delgates were helpful too".

Deb:  "What do you expect we should do?"

Hillary:  "Well, the first thing I'm gonna do is to call Bill and tell him to go down to the basement and wipe that damn server again".

Deb:  "Yeah, good idea....but what are we gonna tell the press?"

Hillary:  "How in the world did those DNC computers get hacked?"

Deb:  "We used the same IT guys that you used for that basement server."

Hillary:  "Oh shit!"

Deb:  "Yeah".

Hillary:  "Did they identify the hackers?"

Deb:  "Not sure.  Wikileaks released it...think it might be the Russkies".

Hillary:  "Russia?  I thought we had Putin in the tank when we sold him all that damn uranium and gave him that red re-set button".

Deb:  "Well, no matter who hacked us, let's blame it on the Russkies".

Hillary:  "Do you think that will fly?"

Deb:  "Sure...we'll blame the whole damn thing on Trump".

Hillary:  "Will the media buy that?"

Deb:  "You're kidding right?  I'll just send a memo to CNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC and remind those bastards over there of how many of their wives or husbands who work for the Administration".

Hillary:  "Brilliant, Deb".  Say, now that the cat's out of the bag, and since you're already "outed", why not just come on board as my campaign manager?"

Deb:  "Cool, Hil!"  "And thanks so much!"  

Hillary:  "Okay, we're agreed".  "We blame this on Trump and the Ruskies".

Deb:  "But what will we do if the press asks us about those "Bernie-Burning" emails?  Can't blame that on the Russkies".

Hillary:  "Get serious Deb...I got everyone of those liberal bitches in my pocket...and if anyone gives us any lip I'll just show em a pic of Vince Foster and Lafayette Park".

Deb:  "Oh yeah!"

Hillary:  "So just lay low until after the convention, Deb."  "In fact, I gotta little time now...why don't you come on up for a little slap and tickle!"

Deb:  "I'll be there in five minutes, Hil".  "Should I wear that leather number you like so much?"

Hillary:  "Grrrrrrrr!"

The Democratic Convention; A Preview

                                                                         

If any of you are going to be too busy this week to watch the Democratic Convention, let me preview it for you.

First of all, I can define the difference between Democrats and Republicans in two sentences.  1) At The Republican Convention delegates stood and cheered when prominent speakers called for hard work and sacrifice.  2)  At the Democratic Convention delegates will stand and cheer when they are told what government is going to "give" them.   If you wish to stop reading now, you've pretty well got the gist of what' the Democratic Convention is all about.  If you want to know how they'll promote the government gravy, read on.

The Democrats will most likely hand pick half a dozen illegal Mexicans and have them stand up and speak about how they are justified in violating our immigration laws.  All six will most likely have a college education, paid for by you, the taxpayer.  Then, without once referencing how they, or their parents violated immigration laws, they will talk about the woe their family has had to endure as they forged work papers, or stole someone's ID.  Hovering above it all will be a general call for "immigration reform" which really means abandoning the immigration laws already in place...totally valid and workable if they were only enforced.

Then, one of the party big-wigs will trot out a few Muslims who have not yet blown up a public building or massacred people in a public mall, then argue that we must take in a couple of hundred thousand Syrian refugees...because it's the only "fair" thing to do.

Throughout the convention we will hear how anyone who opposed massive illegal immigration is a racists.  At least a dozen times we will hear "that's not who we are as Americans".

After sucking Hispanic ass, the convention will move toward some massive Black ass kissing.  We'll hear speeches about bad cops and we'll hear, for the ten thousandth time that more money has to go into Black neighborhoods (because the thousand fold increase in Black education is simply not enough).

After that we'll begin to detect the stirrings of a movement to forgive the $2 trillion dollars in student loan debt (run up by Gender and Ethnic Studies majors who bought cars and ordered pizza three times a week with their student loan money).  The "Dims" will then advocate for total forgiveness of the debt (with you, the working stiff paying for it) and, in the future, free college education for everyone (again you get the bill).

On the 3rd day old Bernie will get up there and speak.  He'll talk about 90% tax rates for the wealthy and get massive applause from the $15 dollar an hour burger flippers in attendance.  

On the last night, Hillary, fresh from getting a free pass for lying about her emails and exchanging favors to foreign countries who kicked in a few dozen million to the Clinton foundation, and for allowing national security to be compromised, will laundry list her resume; First Lady, Senator from New York, Secretary of State.  She'll go heavy on "office holder" and light on accomplishment.

Then, in that raspy "dyke" voice, she'll promise everybody something, and never explain how she'll pay for all the massive goodies.

Any questions?

My Candidacy And My Platform

                                                                       

My Fellow Citizens

Being unsatisfied with my current choices for President, I am, today, declaring my candidacy for the President of The United States.

I enter this contest begrudgingly, motivated only by a deep love for this country.  I throw my hat in the ring because America has become  the opposite of 'E Pluribus Unum', and are instead now "E Unum Pluribus"..."out of one, many"...our President and his party hell bent on slicing and dividing us by class and ethnic group, our guilt assigned to those of us who still work for a living, or have a little savings in a bank account.

Today, after eight years under Obama rule, our nation faces the greatest racial divisions in half a century.  And I am weary and leery of a government that seems unable to fix a single national problem...yet has intruded into our persona lives in ways never imagined.  We've seen government weapons purposely sent to Mexican drug cartels...to be used to kill American Border Patrol agents.  Our citizens are harassed by the Internal Revenue Service for the crime of following our own personal political beliefs.   Our government, for the first time in our history, has forced a health care program on us that has proven personally costly and totally unworkable.   And our government has served as "fomenter", both here and abroad...praising Muslims and persecuting Christians who dare stand by the religious tenets expounded by the Holy Bible.  Abroad, this President has abandoned our democratic allies, championed the overthrow of sitting heads of state, and retreated from America's traditional role aa leader of the free world.  Worst of all, he has failed to wage a war on terrorism..a war we must win and cannot afford to lose.

As Obama exits the stage, America must prepare for years of "clean-up"...of the holy mess this "man-child" has wrought.  Restoring America to her previous eminence, resolving our national ills, and once again claiming leadership of the world stage will prove to be mighty challenges.  I am not satisfied with the two choices available to us in the next election.  Therefore, I am "entering the arena", putting my name in the hat, and ask for your support in the months ahead.

I enter this candidacy unselfishly and unambiguously.  Having fought for my country, and having served in diverse places around the globe, I understand what President Reagan said many years ago..."that freedom is never guaranteed and must be fought for with every generation".

Unlike many candidates today, I do not expect you to support my candidacy until you clearly understand the policies I would work to implement during a Friend Presidency.  Therefore, I am offering you my platform....my ideas for American restoration.  

Taxes

For more than half a century our own IRS estimates that as much as $800 billion dollars are lost each year through tax fraud...profits from illicit drug sales, cash payments to illegal aliens for work performed, citizen tax fraud through underreporting, or failing to even file income taxes.  From the corporate world we have financial giants like General Electric using financial voodoo to pay no corporate taxes at all, or as little as possible through the corporate lobbying of Congress.  And, for the past two decades hundreds of American corporations have shipped both their jobs and their money to more favorable tax havens, to exploit cheap labor, or to skirt American environmental laws.  All this must stop.

1)  Upon being elected I will propose a reduction in corporate taxes...from the current 35% to 15%, enabling American business to compete with foreign competitors on a level playing field.  Concurrently, I will send to Congress a bill banning corporate lobbyists within a 300 mile radius of our nation's capitol.  

2) To create new jobs I will work to provide tax credits for any business investing in state of the art plant equipment and processes and offer further tax credits for any business who chooses to employ an American worker.

3) I will propose tax incentives (but no government grants) to any business enterprise engaged in the expansion of solar and wind and clean coal processing technology.

4) I will propose the elimination of the personal income tax.  Instead I will implement a ten percent national sales tax on every product or service.   This sales tax will generate all the revenue the federal government needs since we will be eliminating tax fraud and roping in revenue from every prostitute, drug dealer, illegal Mexican worker and every other form of tax cheating employed to date.  That $800 billion in income not reported each year will enter the coffers of the federal treasury.  Accordingly, I will reduce the size of the IRS by 90 percent, making them a "receiver" of federal tax revenue and not an "assessor". 

5)  I will eliminate child tax credits for "serial breeders".  After four children the federal government will cease and desist from subsidizing your sex life.  (See Welfare, below).

Welfare

1)  I will eliminate the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.  Instead, I will "block grant' federal money back to the states who are more readily capable of detecting fraud, waste and abuse in these programs.  

2)  Several  caveats will be imposed on the states, making HEW block grants conditional.  No welfare check shall be issued, no Section 8 housing vouchers will be issued, no food stamp money allotted to any citizen capable of working to earn those benefits...whether it is serving as teacher's aids, raking leaves in the park, painting over gang graffiti, working in an animal shelter or any other community service deemed beneficial to those communities.  We will always take care of the truly needy but we simply must stop borrowing money from China and Japan to pay for the "gamers" who exploit our good intentions.  In addition, for any family on the public dole, please know that medical, dental, free child care, public funded education, and welfare benefits stop after you've bred your fourth child.  And anyone receiving government benefits will be subject to an in-home audit to determine if welfare money is being spent on large screen televisions, smart phones, or gaming systems....if you can afford those, you don't need federal money.

Medical Care

1)  I will terminate Obamacare on my first day in office.  I will replace Obamacare with a series of reforms which put health care decisions back in the realm of personal choices.  I will propose a free market system of healthcare that allows providers to market their products across state lines...promoting competition and eliminating monopolistic practices that exist today.  Rather than direct government outlays for personal health care plans I will propose incentives for tax free health care savings accounts and allow them to be used for any member of the immediate family, and allow them to be passed down to children and grandchildren tax free.  Premiums for poverty level citizens will be funded through the use of direct tax credits, allowing those impoverished to buy their own, less expensive health care premiums in the open market.  Again, health care subsidies will be terminated after the birth of the fourth child....if you're breeding children you can't afford, well, that's your loss.

2)The Medicaid Program will be terminated, thus eliminating the scores of thousands bureaucrats now employed to say "nay or yay" on your health care decisions.  (See above).

Social Security And Medicare

I will propose a bill that separates Social Security taxes from the General Fund.  Until 1965 the Social Security Trust Fund has trillions of dollars it.  Then, President Johnson, in order to fund the Vietnam War and the War on Poverty, began robbing the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for generous benefits meant to win elections.  I will restore the Social Security Trust Fund and make it untouchable for anything except what those funds were intended for......to keep our seniors fed and sheltered and cared for in their retirement years. However, since the SS Trust Fund has already been raided by trillions of dollars, we will have to write an IOU to that fund...to the tune of several trillions of dollars.  To fund the payback to Social Security, I would propose that 1% of all federal revenues be allocated to the Social Security Trust Fund, with additional funding provided through the augmentation of a ten percent cut in salary and benefits to all federal employees making more than $100,000 per year, including the President and Congress.

Medicare

The Medicare program is essential for the healthcare of our senior citizens.  However, as with Social Security, Medicare funding has often been diverted to other, more voter friendly programs, the most recent being Obama's diverting of $800 billion Medicare dollars to fund Obamacare.  I would confiscate all unspent dollars and return them to the Medicare account.  I would then, as with Social Security, make those funds untouchable to any politician.  

However, it should be noted that Medicare itself is fraught with fraud, waste and abuse.  In the last ten years we've discovered the Russian Mafia colluding with corrupt doctors to defraud the program of over $800 billion dollars.  We've seen Medicare pay for penis pumps and adult diapers, wheel chairs that cost ten times more than on the open market, and fraudsters trading mobility scooters issued to folks who don't and have never needed one.  Enough is enough.  I will propose a team of auditors be assigned to the Medicare program...private contractors who will be awarded ten percent of all fraudulent money they find.

We can take good care of our seniors if we just nail the fraudsters and the fakes, and quit diverting Medicare taxes that should only be used for the program's original intent.

Immigration Reform

My fellow citizens; don't let the Democrats fool you.  When they talk of reform they are really talking about the relaxation of our immigration laws...and that's been the cruz of our immigration problems.

1) Upon taking office I will immediately repeal Obama's illegal amnesty executive orders.

2) Any "dreamer" who wishes to be granted American citizenship must serve four years in our Armed Forces or in an equivalent, approved community service program.  At the end of that four years those "dreamers" will have earned their right to citizenship.

3) Deportation of 30 million illegal immigrants.  Mitt Romney had it right.  We don't have to spend hundreds of billions in the deporation of illegal invaders.  All we need do is make it impossible for them to collect federal or state benefits, or draw a paycheck for their work.  They will go back to Mexico when the gravy bowl is pulled away!    I will implement a fool proof E-Verify program, requiring holographic identification that cannot be forged.  I will put any business "out of business" who hire illegal aliens. I will stop the flow of all federal funding to the 361 American cities who have been deemed "sanctuary cities"....who actually encourage the flourishing flow of illegal aliens to this country.

4)  Once I have rid this nation of those 30 million Mexican invaders I will open up the immigration system to the hundreds of thousands of "legal immigrant applicants" who've been waiting for years to come here under the rule of law.

5)  I will "build that wall" and make Mexico pay for it.  Donald Trump seems unable to articulate how.  I will tell you how....we stop our $7 billion in foreign aid given to Mexico each year.  We impose a ten percent tariff on all Mexican made goods until Mexico begins enforcing their own borders, and we double the size of the Border Patrol to make damn sure they do!  Failing that, I have no qualms about putting our armed forces at the border, locked and loaded, with instructions to shoot and kill anyone still dumb enough to invade.

**************************************************************************

In the next days and weeks I'll be expounding on other facets of my platform, to include foreign policy,  American education reform, trade and restoring the American economy to its former grandeur.  My philosophy will always be to quit fighting over a "piece of the pie" and just grow a larger pie...that's the secret to American success and prosperity.   If you like my platform so far, please remember my name for that "write-in" space on your ballot.

Obama Can't Get Those Cats Back In The Bag

                                                                       

From his first year, when he sided with a drunken Harvard professor against the Harvard Police (and had to eat crow at a "beer summit" in the back yard of the White House), Obama has dissed law enforcement and embraced thuggery. Whether it was making teen thugster Travon Martin his "son", or dispatching a team of official federal mourners to Ferguson for thug Michael Brown's funeral, or condemning the Baltimore cops (most since acquitted), Obama has created the Black hysteria and campaigns to kill cops. And it didn't get any better when he invited the terroristic Black Live Matters to the White House for a toke and a gallon of Gallo.

The cat is out of the bag now and no matter how many "healing" speeches Obama gives, we'll suffer from Obama's abandonment of law enforcement for years to come.

Hillary Clinton is just as bad. Her first response to the Dallas police killings was to say that we haven't kissed enough Black thug ass yet.

Sad. Damned Sad.

Why I'm Glad The "Ginny-Bug" Spoke Out

                                                                       

This may surprise you folks, but, personally, I'm glad Ruthie spoke out...not once, but three times against Trump.  You see, for decades we've witnessed the secret biases of those liberal judges on the Supreme Court.  We see it in the most bizarre judicial decisions; decisions that are destructive to American society, but are "rote mantra" for the liberal religion.   They march in lockstep with the liberal agenda, completely ignoring the Constitution in doing so, and rule unanimously for the liberal pap they called "law".

At last we have one of those liberal judges showing their true colors, wallowing in the mire of politics, unable to disguise their worship of Hillary Clinton.  Ginsburg's blurting of her distaste for Trump is the equivalent of sucking shit from the sewer....it's always been there...it always stank to high heaven, but less so now that it's been sucked up and exposed to fresh air.

We see liberal hypocrisy at ever turn; on MSNBC where the "journalists" show clear biases for Hillary and Company.  Day before yesterday I was over on the CNBC site and they offered a "news item" about how Hillary was innocent of any wrongdoing in her email debacle.  And who wrote the news article?  Lanny Davis, one of Clinton's own teammates....how's that for "journalism".  

Personally, I'd like to see all of the liberal judges on The Supremes "out themselves" and declare their liberal religion.  Old "Ginny-Bug" didn't say a damn thing that isn't foremost in the minds of her fellow liberals on the court.

"Know Your Enemy", said warrior Sun Tzu....that's wise advice.  If there were any doubts as to who our enemies are at least one of those liberal judges made it quite evident this week.

Sigh.

Arizona; Doing More With Less

                                                         

Pardon me for bragging on Arizona, just a little.  Our state is not looked on in favor by our government masters.  The Obama Administration has shown that disfavor time and again when it comes to funding programs, or allocating government gravy.

Arizona receives an average of $38 dollars per capita in both commercial and government capital investment....the average, by state, is $158.  California and New York get the lion's share of that capital.

And yet Arizona just keeps on "trucking"...turning out innovation after innovation, the largest bite coming from private innovation!

As an example, First Solar, an Arizona based company, has teamed up with researchers at Arizona State University to develop solar cells that will double the current voltage output of solar cells now in use.  This technology will accomplish two things; you'll need far fewer solar panels up there on the roof and the connection to the grid (the largest expense associated with installing home solar) will have installation costs shaved dramatically.

Or let's look at our Palo Verde Nuclear Facility.  Unlike California, who required sea water to cool their cooling towers, our nuclear plant uses treated waste water from Arizona homes.  The water is treated, then flows through a 38 mile pipeline, out to Palo Verde, where it is treated again, then used to cool those cooling towers.  We aren't using valuable fresh water, nor are we negatively impacting the environment.  How's that working out?  Well, we've never had a nuclear incident, and even on 120 degree days we barely use more than 50 percent of the facilities generating capacity.

Last but not least is the Tres Rios Reclamation Wet Lands facility just outside Phoenix.  This facility recycles both liquid and solid wastes from our households, extracts the solids, treats them, with the solid by products used to fertilize non food crops.  The water is treated as well, then recycled into wetlands to allow fish and fowl to thrive in this man made habitat.  Tres Rios Wetlands has won all kinds of environmental awards and pays for itself!  Over at Tres Rios they extract the methane, treat it, then send it via a natural gas pipeline over to California...who pay us for that natural gas and enrich our own pockets!

                                                         

Arizona has hundreds of these projects underway....some funded by Intel, some by Apple and many other commercial concerns.

Arizona is doing fine without Obama's gravy...thank you!

The Impending Death of Social Security

                                                                         

January 1st, 2034

Dear Citizen

We regret to inform you that, of the some $50 trillion dollars the Social Security Program collected since its inception in 1934, none of those program trust funds remain.  Accordingly, the U.S. Treasury has directed an immediate 30 percent cut, across the board, of all pension holders.

We hope these cuts will not have too severe a financial burden to you and your family, but, regrettably the United States Treasury simply does not possess sufficient funds to meet the program's many obligations.

Your Respectful Servant,

Director, Social Security Administration

Dateline Atlanta

June 16th, 2016

(AP)

The Social Security Administration released its annual report this morning.  SSA auditors report that, as of January, 2034, the Social Security Administration will have exhausted program reserves, necessitating severe cuts to all beneficiaries.  

My dear and faithful blog readers...both of the two entries are sadly true.  As you no doubt already knew, Social Security is broke, even as the program has collected tens of trillions of dollars in Social Security taxes over the past 80 years, the program can no longer meet its fiduciary obligations to American pensioners.

The death knell for Social Security began to sound in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson, trying to fund The Great Society and the Vietnam War at the same time, signed a bill into law which authorized all Social Security funds to be mingled with the Treasury's General Fund.  This enabled politicians to dramatically step up federal funding for programs that might keep them in their seats of power in both the Oval Office and in Congress.

Compounding the problem, President Jimmy Carter expanded payouts for Social Security through the authorization of Social Security SSI which approved Social Security payouts to resident aliens who had never paid into the program.   Coincidental to that act, the massive 20 percent annual inflation rates during the Carter years necessitated massive cost of living payouts to keep our senior citizens off of the Alpo Diet...not having to resort to eating dog food to survive during those inflation plagued years.  

The next great death knell sounded when President Obama appropriated $600 million dollars from the Social Security Program to pay for Obamacare for illegal aliens and American citizens unable or unwilling to pay for their own healthcare.

So the Social Security Program is essentially dead.  If government auditors were held to the same Fair Practices Standards as private business they would be required to report "unfunded liabilities" the program is saddle with.......tens of trillions in payouts that will not be made.

Incidently, if you are considering suing the federal government over mismanagement of your retirement money, I would advise you not to waste your time.  That has already been done, and the Supreme Court in "Flemming vs Nestor" ruled as follows "entitlement to Social Security benefits is not a contractural right" and therefore unenforceable.

Dear readers, all I can say is "stock up on Alpo".

Sad.  Damned Sad.

Happy Birthday, Mom

                                                                   

Dear Mom,

Today's your birthday, so "Happy Birthday".  Like every other child on the planet, I'm guilty of assigning you the one dimensional role as "Mother".  Then, the other day, as I thought about your birthday coming around, I began to think about your larger role as a "whole person".  I remembered your brother, Floyd's re-telling of you and your siblings' childhood...the weekend fishing trips down at the river, of your school days, of childhood crushes, of sibling fights and rivalries, of back-breaking field work even as a child, of your childhood dreams...many of them which never came true.

I think what I remember best about you was your penchant for "chasing rainbows", always faithful to the ideas that things would be better tomorrow.  I wish I had one of your wonderful cobblers for every time you said "God will provide"....even when our circumstances were utterly dreary...I'd have enough cobblers to last a lifetime.

The picture here is so illustrative of that "rainbow chasing".  It was during a stop, in 1952, on that first venturing from your native Oklahoma, to California.  There you are, nearing your thirtieth birthday, encountering your first orange tree.  So we pulled that old pickup off the road, laid down a blanket at roadside, spread out the white bread and potted meat for sandwiches, and picnicked for the first time in the Golden State.  So, someone grabbed the Kodak, and captured your image for posterity...a young woman grasping that first orange from a tree, as if to show the folks back home that leaving home, and distancing yourself from family, can somehow ameliorate the pain and loneliness of that leaving.  Chasing rainbows...even beneath an orange tree.

You not only chased rainbows...you threw open the bay windows and summoned us toward those multi-colored hues as well...insisting that we get an education...so that our world would be a better one than the Depression years that you endured.  You filled our home with music,  either from that big old stand alone radio, or through your own voicing as you warbled something from Hank Williams or Kitty Wells...that little ache in your voice reflecting sadness and loss...yet with an assurance that, with tomorrow, rainbows would grace the skies...and things would be better.

So Happy Birthday "Encley Annie Friend!"  Here's a little music to celebrate your special day!  (Can you still hear them amidst the harps up there?)  Thanks for all the rainbows, Mom...they made those rainy days just a little less dreary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ5DORLwJY0

America; China's ".99 Cents Store"

                                                                 

Two news items in the last two days should have raised alarm bells with Americans, but didn't, because Americans are in deep slumber these days.  The first announcement was that McDonald's has hefted the surrender flag and have decided to sell all of their Chinese franchises back to China.   Then, we learned that Walmart is also selling their Chinese e-commerce business to Ali Baba, their Chinese "E-Bay" type competitor.

These two monstrous transactions are a clear indication that American business is in retreat...certainly in Asia.  And neither Congress nor the Obama administration can do anything about it.  In the last six months alone, whenever we have offended China in any way, the Chinese have threatened to cash in the $3 trillion dollars in Treasury bonds they are holding, thus sending the U.S. into a recession that would make the 30's Great Recession look like a picnic in the park.

So, the Chinese are buying America like Christmas shoppers stampeding Walmart for a $200 dollar television on Black Friday.   The Chinese now own General Electric's appliance business, heavy equipment maker, Terex, and technology giant Ingram Micro.  According to DealLogic China has spent $81 billion dollars this year alone buying up American companies.  (I haven't bought a single Smithfield product since China bought Smithfield Foods....I'm not going to have my Christmas ham if it comes from China).

In addition to the hundreds of Chinese corporate buys, China is leveraging their buying power to scoop up American real estate, both residential and commercial.  

Sadly, America is so dependent these days on our Chinese bankers...the better to fund that $20 trillion dollar federal debt, that we as a nation no longer call the shots internationally...nor even domestically anymore.

America has become China's ".99 Cents Store" and we can't do a damn thing about it.  

Everybody Dance To The "I Beat The Rap..Hillary Rap"

                                                                       

"My name is "Hil" and I beat the wrap

We not like the average sap

Me and Bill..we real cool cats

Know where all buried bones are at!'

"Me and Bill We so so rich

Ain't gonna be no prison bitch!

Bill fixed it good he put the pinch

Out on that plane with Jessica Lynch!"

"Said Bill "Hey Jess...remember I appointed you, you little wench

Back in the 90's to the federal bench"

So 'hey girl'...you know if I have my drutha

I be cool if just don't prosecute that Hillary motha"

"My name is "Hil"..I be above the law

Don't care about others in those prison walls

I beat Travelgate and downed old Vince

No prison cells for Hil..no barbed wire fence!"

"So get on down...do the Hillary Rap

I'll soon be Prez...cause of those liberal saps

And me and Bill...we still be rich

Thanks to Mideast Moguls with a greedy itch!"

I gonna make Bill the first "First Man"

He be earning it with that airport scam!

So get on down and rap with me

Cause taking down America is my cup of tea!"

"Yeow!"

Tom and John and Ben Claimed No Safe Spaces

                                                                       

We laugh at these ditzy, coddled college students demanding "safe spaces" from the world. But, in reality, there are far more claiming safe spaces..more than at any time in our history.

Our youth, raised by a "it takes a village" parenting model, adorned in blue ribbons (for participating) just can't cope with real world realities. Drowning in their student debt, unable to get a real job with their philosophy degrees, and still living in their mom's basement, are demanding a savior who might afford them a safe space from life.

And, before we leap up and cast the first stone, we need to realize that far too many adults have their own safe space; a place to get away from the realities of a crumbling economy, corrupt government at every level, an explosion of immorality, massive government debt, the exportation of American jobs, with their government masters lying to them at every turn...even as they wrest person liberties by the hour.

So the "grownups" watch their Maury and their Jerry Springer and their Wendy Williams...because watching trash makes them feel their own lives are just a little less trashy.

Or they spend their evenings watching reality TV shows, or the exploits of shadowy super heroes, the ass magnificence of one or another Kardashian, or the childish pranks of one of the late night Jimmies.

And all of this "safe space" claiming is bringing our nation to its knees. On this day we ought to be thinking about those now scorned old white guys who gathered in Philadelphia 200 plus years ago. Those boys had no safe space....had any of them been caught by the English they would have been hung on a lanyard within the hour.

Instead, those vastly educated, fearless old boys had studied their Locke and Rousseau and embraced the concept that freedom and personal liberty are divine rights from God...not granted by government or kings.

So those old guys staked their fortune and their life in that heroic effort to establish a free republic. No safe spaces for any of them.

Sadly, today, we are so caught up in our own demand for a "safe space" that we've forgotten those long ago lessons. Indeed, it was Thomas Jefferson, our Declaration's author, who declared that "the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots".

The only hope for our beloved nation is for Americans to abandon their "safe spaces", take to the field, throw off the chains of oppressive government, and declare once again our independence from government nannies whose ultimate goal is to legislate and regulate away your rights to pursue happiness in your own way.

The sooner folks realize that there are no "safe spaces" the sooner we can actually begin to feel "safe". again.

Thomas Jefferson On Revolution; You Don't Need "Permission"

                                                     
Thomas Jefferson had this to say about what Americans need to do to maintain their liberty:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. ... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion; what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?  Let them take arms." -- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787

Does Anyone think Jefferson was kidding?  An empty boast?  Hey folks, this was one of our founding fathers!  The guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence!  Yeah, one of those founding fathers who King George vowed to hang!  No, Jefferson wasn't kidding and it's time American citizens get off their placid ass and listened to him.  

Do you need another Supreme Court decision that gives the federal government supreme power to make you buy anything?  To do anything the government tells you to do?  

How many of you have noted how many "edicts" and "presidential orders" Obama has issued lately.  How many of you know enough about government to know that Obama has side-stepped our Constitution's checks and balances and named himself "emperor", deciding which laws he chooses to enforce and which ones he won't!

Defend our borders against illegal immigration?  "No", says Obama.

Empower "Czars" to ignore Congress and act and spend tax payer dollars without Congressional Authority?  Yes!

Declare "Executive Privilege" to cover up Fast and Furious?  By all means!

Dole out taxpayer money to unions, Acorn, illegal Mexicans, Welfare Queens, campaign donors in order to win the vote?  You bet!

Spend two million dollars in legal fees to completely seal off from public view every school, office or criminal record from his past?  Why not?

Violate the Constitutional protection of separation of church and state by forcing religious organizations to pay for birth control pills and abortions?  The Emperor wills it!

Confiscate the wealth of the successful and re-distribute it to the lazy sloth of the welfare crowds?  Hey, anything that will win him a vote.

Grant "permanent victim hood" to those who drop out of school, ingest drugs, breed irresponsibly and demonize the successful?  Also yes!

Guess what people!  Washington and Jefferson and Franklin and Adams and Patrick Henry didn't ask permission to revolt....and you don't have to either!  Not if you still believe in what our Founding Fathers believed in!

Hillary Clinton Should Be Scared To Death

                                                               

Britain's vote to leave the EU should be scaring Hillary Clinton.  This is the year of the "common man's revolt".  Disgusted by our government masters, the people are fighting back.  Britain's decision to leave the EU was largely because they were tired of the EU shoving 300,000 Muslim refugees dow their collective throat each year.  Anyone who thinks these massive migrant immigrations isn't a big thing is not thinking clearly.

Here in the states Hillary and the Dems have been so busy kissing illegal immigrant ass that they've been unable, or unwilling to look back, behind them, to see the storm clouds brewing.  Americans are tired of illegal immigrant crime, tired of enduring property and sales tax hikes to educate illegal children, tired of footing their medical bills, tired of paying for welfare and WIC and food stamps for "14th Amendment Citizens" who have learned to hate America while taking her sustenance.

"Killary" has said she'll double down on Obama's illegal immigrant pandering and we can only take her at her word.  We'll continue to hear from the Dems that our immigration laws aren't working, when, really, all that is lacking is that our current immigration laws be enforced.

Yes, Hillary is going to get the Black vote....they love their liberal plantation, even as they rot in the ghetto.  And Hillary will have many Hispanic votes (though perhaps not as many as she thinks..I have many Hispanic friends who abhor this illegal invasion).  But Hillary should know that Americans, like Britains, have had their belly full...of internationalism, corporate elitism, political lobbyists, political pandering to interest groups, to win their vote...and they are damn tired of seeing America turning into another iteration of Mexico and those pockets of Sharia societies raising their ugly heads all around America.

Hillary had better watch out.  Britain voted for "Leave".  America just might order Hillary Clinton to do the same.  This has been a crazy year, with many surprises.  I wouldn't be shocked to see more of them before the year is out.