Hispanic Crime and Political Correctness, Vol II

                                            
Here you go folks; here's the August Mug Shot gallery for Phoenix, Arizona.  I'll continue posting these mug shot articles until America wakes up to the fact that 80 percent of our crime is now hispanic crime.  Some are illegal but many are home-grown hispanic criminals bred by those we gave amnesty to during the last two decades.  Still want to give amnesty for the 30 million illegals already here?  Obama does; he's already put out the word to the Justice Department to cease deporting illegals and issue them work permits.

http://www.azfamily.com/outbound-feeds/yahoo-news/Maricopa-Mugs-Arrest-Photos-August-Vol-2-128589413.html?gallery=y&c=y&img=13#gallery-image

And the mauling continues.  Here's a recap of just today's crime news:

Hispanic man tries to kidnap 13 year old girl today (they love kidnapping teen girls and taking them down to Mexico and putting them on the prostitute circuit).

Hispanic man stabs and beats to death his girl friend

Two Hispanic men shoot two Phoenix police officers on west side

Two Hispanics rob bank, believe they are the same pair that robbed Glendale bank two weeks ago.

Too routine to be included in crime report:  a dozen hit and run accidents all over the valley.

Illegal Hispanic arrested for theft and use of stolen social security card; worked at Wendy's for ten years on the stolen card, only caught when IRS came to true owner demanding why she had not been paying taxes on her (his) earnings.

Increase in hispanic population in neighboring El Mirage drives up Surprise, Arizona theft and burglary rates by 13 percent over last year

40 instances of illegals driving without license and insurance reported for Sun City and Youngtown; can't be arrested because Obama's Justice Department forbids it; declares law enforcement is unfairly targeting illegals for deportation.

Sigh, review the mug shots (link); you'll find 80 percent of arrests are illegal felons.

Please, someone join me; get off your ass and write one little letter to Congress:  No Amnesty and the U.S. Military on the border

Liberals Say Drug Tests for Welfare Recipients Unfair

                                                             
I just read this morning that Florida, the latest state to demand drug testing before receiving welfare benefits, is under attack by Democratic legislators and the ACLU for mandating drug tests for "needy" people.  From my prior reading I believe there are over 20 states that are working on this requirement and every state is being attacked for requiring a drug test before receiving welfare.

The states, already burdened with ever expanding welfare needs, are asserting that many of these folks wouldn't need state aid if they were not abusing drugs.    Abusing drugs and holding down a job are not mutually compatible.  Further, the states argue that many of those applying for welfare are doing so to supplement their income since most of their money is going toward supporting their drug habit.

I'm having a little difficulty understanding all of this.  Most of us are required to take a drug test as a condition of employment.  It seems to be okay for us to be tested but God help us if we require deadbeats to be tested prior to being supported by taxpayer dollars.

Of course, the ACLU is dead against testing, saying that infringes on the individual's right to privacy.  Again, I ask; if drug testing is acceptable for employment applicants, why is it not acceptable to welfare recipients.  I'm still waiting for the first case ACLU accepts that supports the rights of taxpayers.

I understand clearly that Democrats are ardently opposed to welfare drug testing.  Liberal support derives from those 52% of Americans who pay no taxes, the 30 percent who are drawing unemployment checks for two plus years, as well as that element of society that has sucked off the welfare tit for three generations now.

I am a bit disheartened by the liberal element's oppostion to drug testing for welfare recipients.  However, I am also a bit encouraged at seeing over 20 states waking up to the fact that many millions are on welfare because they abuse drugs...and are working now to do something about it.

"He Still Doesn't Get It"

                                         

President Obama, having taken a look at his latest poll numbers, is now proposing that the federal government revoke over 5,000 federal regulations thought to be hampering business expansion.  In keeping with Obama's typical "foggy" math, no one has come forth to identify just what regulations will be revoked, yet somehow, Obama and his minions have projected the revocation of these business regulations will yield as much as $10 billion dollars in savings for American business. 

The U.S. Chamber of Congress yawned and walked on, ignoring Obama's latest gesture as just another political ploy to somehow capture the votes of moderate Democrats and Independent voters.

Why would business react so callously to Obama's grand gesture?  Because frankly, the business community has been telling Obama what is hampering business expansion and costing Americans their jobs:  they are scared to death of the explosive costs of Obamacare and the strangling of business credit expansion brought about by the restrictive Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill which sets the marker for bank reserves so high that they are afraid to lend.

Of course President Obama has made no move to revoke either Obamacare or Dodd Frank, so he has once again set himself up for another defeat.

I sometimes wonder if Obama is stupid or stubborn or both.  I fear both are true.  Surely, in the quiet of evening, as he lays his head on the pillow to sleep, he must contemplate the effect his socialist policies have had on the American economy.  Any reasonable person, given the quietude of nocturnal contemplation,  would see their mistakes, awaken to a fresh new mornng, and vow to correct them.

President Obama seems incapable of doing so...and we are all paying the price for electing someone so severely lacking in logical reasoning and so incapable of providing leadership to our nation.

Now we must console ourselves with the dreams of Hope and Change...hope that November 2012 comes quickly...and we can change leadership

The Principal Difference between Democrats and Republicans

In 1972 I was eligible to vote for President for the first time.  I had just returned from three years in Vietnam.  While there I had fallen in love with history and read widely in history and literature.  I was a 24 year old idealist, full of compassion and love for my fellow man and very disturbed about the nature of our involvement in Vietnam.  I voted Democratic.

By the time the next Presidential election came around I learned that raising and supporting a family was a tough job, made tougher by ever rising inflation and ever rising taxes.  I also noticed that I was working two jobs and my wife was working and we were just scraping by.  Yet, I would go into a grocery store and see someone buying groceries with food stamps, living off of welfare and breeding more children to draw even higher welfare checks.  Somehow it didn't seem fair.

I also noticed that the Democrats seemed to ignore anyone working for a paycheck and always seemed to campaign in so called "hard hit" areas in which the majority of their constituents were welfare folks. In my studies I learned that President Johnson, a Democrat, has started "The Great Society" legislation in 1965.  Since that first legislation we spent trillions of dollars building public housing for the poor, gave out welfare checks generously, gave preferential treatment for college entry and job selection to minorities, supported every huge labor union pay raise and our national debt just kept rising as we spent for programs unpaid for.

I also witnessed the growth of huge government agencies to supervise all of these programs.  Soon government workers were making twice or three times what the average citizen was making with far better medical and retirement benefits. 

I learned that Democrats are like "children"; they buy everything they want, want everyone to love them, want to forgo any kind of self discipline and let someone else clean up the messes and pay the bills at a later date.

Until recently, conservative Republicans believed in self-initiative, downsizing the government bureaucracies and keeping the government as much out of our lives as possible.  So, like Ronald Reagan had to do after Carter, it will eventually come down to the "parents", the Republicans, to regain their conservative values and clean up the huge mess that has been made by both the free-spending Bush and the wildly extravagant Obama.

Only this time we may not be able to do it.  The latest estimates are that we will be paying 45% of all tax revenues on interest on the national debt by 2015.  Sad.

"An American Citizen Opinion Poll"

                                                      

The Gallup Poll, The MSNBC poll, the CNN poll, the Wall Street Journal poll....daily polls, weekly polls, monthly polls....the media is relentless in letting us all know how our politicians are being perceived by the American electorate.  According to these polls Americans hold Congress in strong contempt and give The Anointed One ratings that are not much better.

What I'd love to see is a "reverse opinion poll".  I'd like to be one of the raters surveyed.  I would give the American people a favorable rating of 20 on a scale from 1 to 100.  Has anyone seen those Jay Leno and David Letterman street visits?  They go out and ask the average citizen to name the Vice President of the United States and are met with slack faces and wrong answers.  The vast majority of Americans cannot explain what the "debt ceiling" is about nor do they have a clue about the economic impact of a $15 trillion dollar national debt.

These same slack face "citizens" can tell you all about the Prince's wedding, can name all of Kim Kardashian's bride's maids and can tell you who won the last "Batchelor" round but haven't a clue about what our politicians in Washington are doing to them.

I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who said that we will get the kind of government our citizens deserve.  If the level of civic awareness is any indicator we are certainly getting the government we deserve.

Sad.  Damn Sad.

"Obama; Still Gaming the System"

                                                           

Last Friday Obama and his rogue Justice Department and Homeland Security announced that they will no longer honor their sacred commitment to enforcing our nation's laws.  Desperate for a boost in his political fortunes, and with a cold, calculated eye toward next year's Presidential election, Obama has decided not to enforce our nation's immigration laws.

Obama knows full well that his re-election is nearly untenable given that his socialist programs have failed to revive the American economy.  Accordingly, he has now raised the ramparts, stocked the moat with alligators and will execute a "Hail Mary" pass to his liberal and Hispanic base in a desperate effort to acquire sufficient voter support for a second term.

Having failed to convince Republicans and even moderate Democrats to legalize another 30 million illegal invaders, Obama announced Friday that he will no longer deport 80 percent of immigrant criminals.  Both the Justice Department, headed by Eric Holder (he of the "Americans Are Cowards" bent) and Homeland Security have been directed not to hold and deport illegals caught in work place enforcement raids, arrested in DUI incidents or arrested by local, state and police agencies. 

Why are we not surprised by "The Great Opportunist"?  We have a President who has never held a job in his entire life, gamed the federal government for hundreds of thousands of dollars for Student loans and free Pell grants and "minority" scholarships, chose to ignore drug laws through his use of pot and cocaine, consorted with a Chicago mobster to acquire real estate at one third of market value, filled his White House cabinet with tax cheaters and lobbyists and encouraged the flaunting of contract law by encouraging mortgage deadbeats to walk away from their home mortgages?

Mr. Obama, you have lost Middle America.  We are tired of your tantrums, your tirades, your failure of leadership and your failure to take responsibility for your own failures.  Your support comes from liberals and those whom you ransom by providing a welfare check.  Not enough.  The workers of this country, the producers of this country, and those who believe in the rule of law have abandoned you. 

Mr. Obama, you have gamed the system long enough.  Come January 2013, you will be leaving the White House forever.  Perhaps you can return to Chicago and resume your community organizer duties.  Since your former Chief of Staff is now Mayor of Chicago perhaps he'll give you the job of "Elections Czar"; then you can start registering illegal aliens to vote and start registering to vote the names of dead people in those suburban Chicago graveyards.

"Seeding and Ceding"

                                                 

Hello Again Loyal Readers,

During my hiatus from writing my blog I took the time to study the U.S. Census Bureau's latest census figures.  One of the statistics that leaped from the report was the number of fatherless families in the U.S. today.  I was surprised to learn that one out of every three families have no father living at home. 

Why is this relevant?  Well, aside from the implications this has on raising responsible and productive children, the Census Bureau reports that families where no father is present represent a significant portion of families who are living below the poverty level.  According to the Census Bureau, families where both a mother and father are present represent only 7.9 percent of families subsisting below the poverty level.  Contrast that with female head of household families; 39 percent of fatherless families are living in poverty.

While economists and social scientists may opt to look at these numbers as "numbers", the average American is forced to live with the sad realities of these numbers.  This rogue breeding of children, then ceding responsibility to society at large is crippling  our culture and placing unsupportable demands on our social welfare system.

We all see the results of the breeding and ceding mentality; increased gang activity, high school drop out rates that exceed 40 percent in most of our large cities and an increase in drug abuse by American youth.

It is instructive to note that in the 1950's and 1960's the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare required home visits to welfare eligible families before family welfare was made available.  Welfare program audits were vigorous and required aggressive government action to identify and find the children's father and enforce child support payments through payroll withholding.  In instances where the father failed to render child support the father was jailed for failing to support his offspring.

Today, neither state or federal agencies perform program audits nor are aggressive efforts made to force fathers to provide support to the children they chose to breed.  Instead the bill is sent directly to the taxpayer.

Ah...I long for.the good ole days.

A Brief Respite and Re-Charge

                                                        To My Loyal Daily Readers:

I'm going to take a few days away from my daily blog to do some research, re-charge the batteries and open this forum up to you.  Please note the "Comments" section at the bottom of this blog.  I would really like to hear from you, which blogs or topics you enjoyed reading, what you would like to see me write about, what national issues top your priority list, etc.

To Jo; I haven't heard from you in awhile.  You've always been a daily reader so I'm praying your health is good and that you're just away on vacation for the summer, far from an IPAD or computer.  Looking forward to hearing from you again.

Just Bob:  Be cool!

Grenadavet:  Keep fighting!

Constant Reader Crystal: Thanks for sticking with me.
To all my "anons":  I'm perfectly okay with your anon status.  Always enjoy your comments.  Please take this opportunity to write and leave me suggestions, as you see fit.

I'll be back on this blog within a week or so...till then, you all have a great week!

Dearel

"Why I Don't Visit Facebook Anymore"

                                               
A year or so ago I finally signed up for Facebook and was delighted to see postings of my family and friends and to see both old and new photos of the extended family.   In an era where no one writes letters anymore I thought Facebook would be an excellent way to stay in touch with those you care about.  Facebook can also serve as support system for those who are lonely or sad or, when confessing some "need", having that need filled by those in your circle of family or friends. 

What I actually found in Facebook is that it is as shallow in relationship-building as are face to face relationships are in the new world of the ethernet. 

As an example, I've had some pretty grim medical issues in the last few years.  It has somewhat hindered my capacity for pursuing interests that I normally would, whether it be starting another career, or travelling as much as I had hoped to do, or being as active as I would have liked to be.  After several years of existing in a vacuum, I finally decided that I would begin to write a daily blog.  On the 17th of January of this year I began my blog.  I wrote about my concern about national issues, for which those who read it may choose to agree or disagree with them; that's fine, that's what we, as citizens, have the right to do.

I also wrote about personal experiences and family experiences and used my blog to express my admiration and love for those who are dear to me.  I also thought my blog might serve as a family history when I wrote of my uncles, or grandfather or mother, so that the young ones might someday like to know "what it was like when those who have passed walked the earth.

When I first began my blog it was important to me to have my family and friends click my Facebook link and, should they find it interesting, compelling, or touch them in some way, to read it.  At the critical beginning my blog was what kept me going, kept me getting up in the morning and having something meaningful to do.  Thus, my blog became something of importance to me and I had high hopes that my family and friends would support me in this endeavor.  As any blogger knows, the number of "clicks" to your blog is the only way advertisers and blogger raters know if your blog is successful.  As with any personal human effort, one likes to hear a "cheering section", whether it is the little kid in little league or an old guy like me in a bowling alley, or..yes, in writing on his personal thoughts.  I even found I couldn't even get a "like" from many of my routine postings, perhaps because I'm an old fogy and no longer relevant.

What I learned was that my Facebook friends and family rarely bothered to click the link to my blog that I posted daily to Facebook.  This was as hurtful to me as any hurt one feels in being slighted, and worse, ignored....as if their very existence was unimportant to anyone.  I further learned that I received more kindness from complete strangers (who visited my blog) than from my own friends and family. 

Still having a modicum of pride I plunged on with my blog and wrote daily, with the same kind of discipline that one would contribute to their work.  To date, my blog has had over 30,000 page views; sometimes I have as few as 150 visitors and I have also had as many as 2,000 in a single day.  Very, very few of these visits were from my family but I have learned to live with that hurt, compart it to a smaller place in my heart, and plow on. 

So, I now post my blog links to Twitter and, once again, find that I receive more interest and kindness from strangers than I ever received from my Facebook circle. 

The poet, Rod McKuen, once wrote: 

                   "Sometimes, when friends die, or move away,
                    I get the feeling that no one else can come along
                    And make me feel "not alone"
                    Then I go to the window and hear footsteps
                    And even if they do pass my door
                    At least they came my way"

I'll keep "listening for footsteps" but know in my heart, it'll likely be that of a stranger.
               

"Dear Mr./Ms Mailman"

                                                  
Dear Mr/Ms Mailman,

I'm sorry to hear that 20 percent of you will likely lose your jobs with the proposed cuts.  Millions of folks using email now and that's reduced your stamp sale revenue as fewer Americans write letters anymore.

I just wanted to take this time, before you leave, to say thank you.  Some of the momentous news of my life came via the mail.  The first "mail event" happened to me at age 18.  I had just returned home one day, after enlisting in the Air Force, only to find an Army draft notice in my mail box.  Such irony that those two events occurred on the same day.

I still remember "mail calls" in Air Force basic training as we stood in our open bay barracks and rejoiced at every letter received from home, and equal envy aimed at those who got more mail than us.  Once I got to Vietnam every letter from home was like manna from heaven!  It was a reminder that there were family and friends waiting for us...and reminding us that our lives mattered to someone.

Mr. Postman, you brought me cookies and birthday presents and written confirmations of caring and love to me no matter where I was, whether Vietnam or Korea or Saudi Arabia.  What magic!

Even now, like a rat chasing cheese in a maze, I am conditioned to go to my mail box, filled with hope that some missive of joy, some connectivity to others, will be in my afternoon mail.  I'm more than willing to cull through the junk mail just to retrieve some written confirmation that my life matters to someone.

It is hit or miss these days.  Long droughts of nothing but junk occupies that magic box.  But, as a birthday, or Father's Day, rolls around I await with great anticipation that over sized envelope that offers me love in rhyme..or stick figure humor.

Mr./Ms. Postman, I expect, in the months to come, I'll be seeing less of you.  So let me thank you now for all the joy and happiness you brought into my life.  Through rain or sleet or snow...or extreme heat, you have always been there for me.  Just as I admire those in military uniform, I have always had great respect for the uniform of the U.S. Postal Service.  You have brought light and happiness to the darker corners of loneliness and I salute you.

May God bless you for the service you provide to our nation. 

"The Great Santelli"

                                                  
I was watching CNBC this morning.  The panel of guests included the same cast of characters that show up to explain the financial crisis and what needs to be done to resolve it.  These guests come with impressive resumes; graduate degrees from Yale Business School, Harvard Business School and the Wharton Business School.  Joe the Plumber would call them "egg heads".  Please note that these are the same people that didn't see the financial meltdown of 2008 coming. 

So, as these "experts" sat around the desk this morning explaining what's wrong and how to fix it, you can't help but notice that you have heard the same tired worn platitudes last week and last month and last year.  Their words are like cotton candy, with little substance to them.

Scene Two:  Rick Santelli, manning the Chicago Trading floor, is asked to chime in with his opinion.  Keep in mind that it was Rick Santelli's rant against big government, welfare give-aways and Obama's coddling of the mortgage foreclosure deadbeats who walked away from their debts that spurred the birth of the Tea Party!
Santelli this morning offered direct and concise advise on resolving our nation's financial crisis.  He offered these two suggestions to spur business growth and create jobs as well as dealing with our national debt:

1) Repeal the restrictive Dodd-Frank financial regulation which is tieing the banks' hands in freeing up credit for business expansion.

2) Repeal Obamacare.  This would immediately lift $16 trillion dollars in federal obligations over the next decade and assure businesses that they are not going to get burned with oppressive Obamacare costs and regulations.

So, after all the eggheads talked for over two hours....after the eggheads sat around skirting around the problem, and the resolution, The Great Santelli, Tea Bagger, offered the best advice for a recovery.

"Cable Greed or..I Miss My Analog"

                                         

As I sit here this morning watching my big 40 inch plasma digital television I am longing for the good old days of analog.

Thanks to the greed of the cable company, in the span of less than thirty minutes I am seeing dancing pixels, frozen screen images and garbled dialogue.  When the U.S. Congress mandated the end of analog they provided free bandwidth to all the broadcast businesses in order to provide digital programming.  That free bandwidth was meant to provide us with a strong reliable signal to our TV set.  Instead the cable companies took that bandwidth and, split the signals into 50 mini-signals so they could charge us more for shopping channels, half a dozen weather channels and a channel that will let me watch "My Mother The Car" from the 60's.  Then the greedy cable company can brag that they're giving me 160 channels when, in reality, I've got a dozen channels worth watching.

Okay, that's bad enough...but then they have to charge me for a digital box which gives me those dancing pixels, garbled dialogue and frozen screen images.

Americans have been screaming for a decade for Congress to implement a legislative proposal that would stop the cable companies for charging us for five weather stations, ten Mexican stations and all the other junk offered.  Congress actually considered an "ala carte" approach which would allow viewers to order and pay for only the channels they actually watch.

Unfortunately, the cable lobby took all of our congressman and senators out for dinner and a wild night in a stripper bar and the proposal died on the vine.

Sad,  Damned Sad.

"Rescue Dog"

                                             

"Rescue Dog"

In March of 1999 we lost our son.  I really don't believe anyone except those who have lost a child can know the depth of despair of that experience.  For almost two months my wife and I walked around like zombies, just trying to get through the day.  At night we would lie in bed and cry in each others arms.  The early evenings were the hardest; we would turn on the TV for noise but I don't think either of us really paid attention to the programs. 

Then, in August of that same year, my wife decided that we needed a dog.  I have no idea why; she was never an avid dog lover.  We scoured the ads in the paper, found a lady selling Chihuahua puppies and we went to visit.  We selected a little brown haired Chi who is what they call a "fawn reindeer", five pounds of puppy, four pounds of which were long little legs.  We brought her home and named her "Ginger".

Each night thereafter Ginger would prance around our living room, eyeing the both of us, and trying desperately to command our total attention.  She would put on elaborate shows for our entertainment, grabbing at stuffed toys and growling and acting as if she were the most ferocious animal on the planet.  If her audience was inattentive she would select a toy and have us hold it so that she could pull it in terrific mock anger.  With me she began the "throw" game.  Bringing me the stuffed toy she would beg me to throw it so that she could quickly run the length of the room to fetch and retrieve and return for another bout of throw and fetch.  When totally exhausted our little Chi would climb into a convenient lap for a rest and a nap.

And it came to pass that a little Chi named Ginger rescued us.  She brought laughter again to our lives when no measure of human communication could do so. 

When Ginger was two we brought about an "arranged marriage" between her and a little Chi named Rocky.  Ginger's happiness was complete.  Every night the two "love-birds" played together and slept together and Rocky, the Stud Muffin, at eight months of age, produced a litter of six little Chi's who all went to good and loving homes.

My wife and I witnessed a true miracle; the love affair of Ginger and Rocky.  Alas, it was not to last.  In October of 09 Rocky crossed the Rainbow Bridge and left his Ginger alone.  If you don't believe dogs can go through depression you didn't see our Ginger after the loss of her husband.  No longer playful or happy, she would retreat to her bed early in the evening and it seemed she would never again be the playful and loving dog she once was.

Unable to see her suffer I went out and bought Ginger a "sister", a little girl Chi we named "Rosie".  In the beginning the two dogs were remote and uninterested in each other.  But as the days progressed little Rosie's playful puppiness was too hard to resist and Ginger began to play with her sister as if she, at twelve years old, were still a puppy herself. 

Last June Ginger was diagnosed with mammary cancer.  She underwent surgery and we were concerned that the prognosis would be bad.  However, in a very short time, the two sisters began to romp and play and I credit "Rosie" for Ginger's recovery.

So you see, in all good relationships, Ginger rescued us, then we rescued her.  And, until God decides our fates, we will continue the mutual rescues and we'll all be better for it.

"Gay Marriage For Bert & Ernie? Really?"

                                                   

Can there possibly be any end to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance's efforts to destroy the structure of the traditional American family?  Apparently not.  To celebrate the success of same sex marriage legislation in gay friendly states, the alliance is now petitioning the creaters at Sesame Street to have long time puppet friends Bert and Ernie to marry.  The Gay Alliance believes they can add further legitamacy to gay marriage by having these childhood icons advocate for their cause.

Why stop there?  Perhaps we can arrange a match of Snow White with Cinderella?  How about Little Red Riding Hood and Olive Oyl?  Maybe Popeye can hook up with Wimpy and convert his love for hamburgers to that of wieners!  Is a more meaningful relationship possible between Batman and Robin? 

I'm sorry, but this is getting ridiculous!  The American family is already under onslaught from the internet, social networks, a youth drug culture, the "nanny state's" dictates regarding restrictions on parent-child discipline and the rejection of christian or any other moral principles.  Do we really want the Gay and Lesbian alliance determining the sexual orientation of our childhood icons?

Sad, Damned Sad.

P.S.  The company that produces Sesame Street responded today:  they said Bert & Ernie are not gay, just good friends. 
Who's the next target for the Gay Alliance?  Stay tuned.

"Liberals Praise Islam; Snub Christianity"

                                               

The hot news on MSNBC and CNN for the last four days has been Governor Rick Perry's attendance at a Christian prayer meeting.  These liberal bastions have attacked Perry unmercifully for attending this prayer meeting and abhor this "mixing church and state" as they call it.

Following that liberal logic, they deem anyone who lives a Christian life as automatically unqualified to be a state Governor and certainly not a President of the United States.

Yes, the liberals have had numerous successes in removing God from all facets of American life; thousands of communities now are banned from displaying a cross on public property.  Thousands of schools are now banned from having Christmas celebrations; they must now be called "holiday" festivities because, yes, there is "Christ" in Christmas.

However, I have been watching the news carefully to see if that same condemnation of religion applies equally.  Apparently not.  You see, tonight, President Obama has invited Islamic religous leaders to the Whitehouse for a Ramadan celebration.

Yep, you guessed it; not one word of condemnation against Obama's celebration of the Islamic holiday at the White House.

Sad.  Damned Sad.

"Sunday Morning Wisdom"

                                              
On Sunday mornngs I like to watch parts of the Sunday morning talk shows.  I first tune in to Candy Crowley on CNN Sunday morning.  I like Candy because, in thirty years, she's never given me any hint of her political persuasion so I feel secure in knowing I'm not going to get the traditional liberal bias so evident in other news shows. 

When CNN cuts to commercial I jump over to C-Span.  C-Span always insists on neutrality from their news hosts and they succeed.  Plus, C-Span always has guests who discuss the issues from all sides of the political spectrum.

At 7AM I'm tuned in to Meet the Press.  Here, I have to tread lightly.  While MTP will have their token conservative on, both the discussion panel members and the host himself are so clearly in adoration of Obama and his liberal minions.  For example yesterday the majority opinion seemed to be that, despite the liberal Dems spending $5 trillion dollars in two short years of legislative orgy, they blame the Tea Party for Standard and Poor's downgrade of the U.S. debt rating.  Never mind that the Tea Party pols weren't even around during the spending orgy; the Dems all blamed it on them, though they didn't vote on any of those wasteful spending programs.

At 8AM I tune in to ABC and watch Christine Amanpour and the regular panel.  Christine seems fair, asks all the tough questions and I find solace that George Will is there to bring the liberals back to reality.

The problem with all of these shows is that you  know going in that you are only going to get the same pat answers from the pols who show up to regurgitate the same old talking points.  Extremely boring.  The only information I get from any of these shows is from the back and forth discussions among the panel members themselves.

The best question...and the best answer I heard on Sunday was from an In Depth Q&A Session conducted on C-Span with conservative writer Ann Coulter.  Someone called in and ask Ann the following:

"Ann, since every time the Dems get in power they ruin our economy...and since every big spending program they legislate ends up in economic disaster...are the liberals just dumb in believing government spending is efficient?...or are they evil, knowing damned well their programs don't work but do it anyway to garner voter dependency and thus, more political power?"

Ann's response:  "That's the age old question, caller.  I vote for the latter!".

That interchange was so refreshing.  I like the caller's question because I've asked it a hundred times myself..and I like the answer from Ann.  Ann Coulter flunked charm school and is never going to win any popularity contests but she gives you a straight unvarnished opinion.

That's more than you are ever going to get from the same old tired politicians who show up on Sunday morning, just to say the same thing they said three years ago.

"If I Were Obama's Speech Writer"

                                     

Here's the speech I'd write for Obama.

"My Fellow Americans,

As you all know, the credit rating agencies have recently downgraded our debt from the triple AAA rating we have maintained since 1917.

Let me just say to you here and now; a reasonable man admits his mistakes and I am coming before you today to admit I've made some huge mistakes that have served to keep our economy in the doldrums and caused pain and suffering to many of you who are either unemployed or underemployed.  I was wrong to allow Congresswoman Pelosi and Senator Reid to pass a trillion dollar stimulous bill so loaded with pork and ear marks that it did nothing for our economy and just piled on to our already staggering national debt.

I was wrong to push the regulation crippling and extremely costly Health Care Reform legislation.  My economic advisors have reviewed the ten year costs for this program and have advised me that it adds $16 trillion dollars to our nation's debt and has had the doubly painful effect of causing businesses, both large and small, to defer hiring.  Businesses are worried about the effects of operational costs to comply with what my political opponents have called Obamacare. 

Accordingly, effective immediately I am rescinding the entire Health Care Reform legislation and will ask Congress to draft a less costly, less restrictive reform package.  While I'm not going to please my largest campaign contributors, the American Bar Association, I will ask that tort reform be included in any future health care package to stop these silly and costly medical lawsuits that cause Doctors to spend $200,000 dollars a year in tort insurance and prompt unnecessary medical tests, just to avoid a potential lawsuit.
I will also ask Congress to approve a federal health audit agency to audit the entire Medicaid program to insure only the truly needy are receiving Medicaid assistance.

Also, with respect to Medicaid, I am going to insist that Congress include charging a co-pay to Medicaid recipients so that potential Medicaid patients have "skin in the game" and do not flood our hospitals and emergency rooms every time little Johnny gets the sniffles. 

Finally, with respect to both Medicaid and Welfare, I am going to ask Congress to revise the 14th Amendment of our Constitution so stop having the children of illegal immigrants being granted automatic citizenship, thus qualifying them for federal benefits that should be reserved for American citizens.  Until that legislation reaches my desk, I am issuing an Executive Order that hereby precludes illegal immigrants from receiving any form of federal or state benefits.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has advised me that illegal immigrants are costing American taxpayers $300 billion per year and I want this stopped.  Accordingly, I am pulling 20,000 troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and assigning them to our southern border to stop the flood of illegal immigrants.  Secondly, I have directed both the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Homeland Security to coordinate efforts to find and deport illegal immigrants throughout our major cities.  I also recognize that we have several "Sanctuary Cities" who refuse to comply with E-Verify as well as the "Secure Communities Program", both of which were organized to identify and deport illegal immigrants.
I am also issuing an executive order which halts all federal funds to Sanctuary Cities who aid and abet the proliferation of illegal immigrants.  These cities include my home town of Chicago, San Francisco, New York as well other smaller communities who have sheltered illegal immigrants and failed to comply with federal immigration laws.

I have just come from a meeting with the American Bankers Association.  They tell me that the Dodd-Frank financial regulation legislation has caused banks to hold on to higher reserves to meet overly stringent financial compliance.  This has caused a credit crunch and choked off lending to small business.  I am rescinding that law immediately.

Our most immediate threat to our national prosperity is the crippling downgrade in our debt rating.  Accordingly, I am taking immediate measures to increase the liquidity of our financial system in a series of steps which will both create additional revenue as well as millions of new jobs.  They are as follows:

After conferring with the leaders in Congress we have agreed to close tax loopholes for large corporations.  However, we have agreed to lower corporate tax rates from 35% to 25% for any company who opts to hire new American employees.

Secondly we have agreed to grant a tax holiday to any world-wide corporation who deems to bring corporate money held overseas back to the U.S.  This tax holiday shall last for one year and the amount of tax credits will be directly tied to those funds being earmarked for hiring Americans.

The Congressional Budget Office has scored these measures and have reported that tax revenues will swell to an additional $2 trillion dollars, which will be targeted toward paying down our national debt.

Finally, I've been on the phone all week with the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan; I have told them that America can no longer provide either military or economic aid and, henceforth, they are on their own.  The Secretary of Defense has received my order to withdraw all American forces from the region within 90 days.  This will save us an additional $450 billion dollars per year.

My economic team has evaluated all of the above proposals.  They have reported to me that the cumulative savings from reforming the Medicaid program, the reduction in war spending and our ceasing to provide support for illegal immigrants will save over $7 trillion dollars over a ten year period.

As I said in the beginning, a reasonable man can recognize his mistakes.  I have done so.  I ask your support, beginning now, to insure the success of these programs.  Write, call or Tweet your congressman and senators and tell them you support these efforts.

May God Bless You and God Bless America.

(camera fade)

"America's FICO Score Just Tanked!"

                                          

For the first time in our nation's modern economic history America's debt rating has been downgraded from AAA.  We held that supreme debt rating since 1917, through four wars, a Great Depression, a long Cold War and through every economic downturn we've ever experienced.

How did this happen? 

Well, for the last ten years we've been spending twice as much as our income.  Imagine you are holding a credit card; your annual income is $60,000 per year but you keep charging $100,000 dollars on your credit card every year.  It wouldn't take long for those VISA folks to freeze your account and kill your spending habits dead in their tracks.

Not so, Uncle Sam.  I wrote an earlier blog called "The One", referring to Obama's supreme ignorance of the rules of economics and the rules of business.  That essay was written in January of 2009, right after Obama was inaugerated.  The telling point in that essay is that China and Japan and our other bankers would call in their loans, citing the federal government's huge give-away programs and failure to manage their debt.

When Obamacare was shoved down our throats businesses began anticipating the enonormous burden of health care regulations and began to lay off employees and refused to hire anyone. 

When the Obama/Reid/Pelosi regime shoved the pork-laden trillion dollar stimulous bill on us, some of us knew that building rat preserves in Pelosi's San Francisco and water parks in Obama's Chicago would not pull us out of recession.  They wasted a trillion dollars, failed to revive the economy and only drove our national debt higher.

When the housing market tanked because 30 percent of Amercians bought houses they couldn't afford the Dems sympathized with the deadbeats who refused to pay their mortgage or couldn't pay their mortgage because they lost their jobs (again, thanks to Obamacare and liberal regulation) .  Due to the Dem's interference into the free markets the housing market couldn't settle and then recover.  Housing experts are predicting another 2 million foreclosures over the next 12 months!

Bush was only slightly better; his silly Mid-East wars have cost us a trillion dollars and his lack of spending restraint loaded $4 trillion dollars to the national debt.  Obama went Bush one better and racked up $6 trillion dollars in less than three years and passed legislation that adds another $10 trillion over the next decade!

When Obama took office the unemployment rate was 5.4 percent.  It is now 9.1 percent because Obama and Reid and Pelosi  and old Barney Frank scare the hell out of business!  Just this morning Fannie Mae, who Barney Frank managed for the last five years, just announced they again lost billions and needed taxpayer money to bail them out!

So, America's FICO score just took a nosedive.  Who's going to be hurt?  Not Obama or Pelosi, or Reid, or Barney Frank...nope, it's you!  Get ready for higher mortgage interest rates, higher student loan rates and higher car loan rates.  But those are small time!  The interest on our national debt just went up!  Get ready to fork over more of your taxes to pay for it!

"The Gold Rush"

                                                      
Several months ago I wrote a blog entitled "How To Survive The Coming Financial Collapse".  Gold was going for $1200 dollars per ounce.  I recommended you consider buying gold as a hedge against the depreciated dollars being printed like monopoly money by the U.S. treasury. 

Today, gold is going for nearly $1700 dollars per ounce as the world economies are under tremendous pressure from the economic collapses in Greece, Spain, Ireland, Great Britain, Italy and the United States...yes, you read that right; the U.S. is poised to enter a period of massive economic upheaval.  Our creditors have finally had enough.  Yesterday, China (Communist China, for God's Sake!) downgraded our debt and placed a credit watch on us. 

Let's put this in proper context.  The neutral Congressional Budget Office has tabbed American debt as follows:

Current debt:  $14.5 trillion dollars
Long Term Debt (Unfunded liabilities):  Social Security and Medicare, etc: $74 trillion dollars
Total debt:  $88.5 trillion dollars.

Since the U.S. government takes in $2.2 trillion dollars in taxes and other revenue, if we stopped paying everyone..and I mean everyone, to include old folks, vets, government employees, the poor and every other bill, it would take us half a century to pay down our collective debt!

I now encourage you to google "debt reduction through deflated dollars".


And I quote from the U.S. Government Accounting Office:

"Based on the 2010 U.S. budget, total national debt will nearly double in dollar terms between 2008 and 2015 and will grow to nearly 100% of GDP, versus a level of approximately 80% in early 2009.^[23] Multiple government sources including the current and previous presidents, the GAO, Treasury Department, and CBO have said the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal path.^[24] As the debt ratio increases, the exchange value of the dollar may fall. Paying back debt with cheaper currency could cause investors (including other governments) to demand higher interest rates if they anticipate further dollar depreciation. Paying higher interest rates could slow domestic U.S. growth."

Focus especially on "100 percent of GDP...by 2015". 

Bottom line is this:  A financial Hurricane is approaching that is going to have severe consequences to your family's financial survival.  We can reduce the severity if we demand financial reforms from our legislators and take every possible measure to expand our economy; scrap "cap and trade" rules on energy programs, take away business uncertainty by killing the Dodd-Frank financial regulation legislation,  kill Obama care and reward businesses who create jobs.

Meantime, hang on to that little gold pinky ring and grandma's necklace and sally's 10k school ring.  Those greenbacks in your wallet are just funny money and will soon be worthy alot less.

"A Bankrupt America"

                                  
Orange County, California, Central Falls, Rhode Island, Vallejo, California; all recent city and county entities declaring bankruptcy.  Cited as the cause were the excessively generous public employees pay and who absolutely refused to take a salary cut or contribute to their own retirement fund.  Get ready for this scenario to play out a thousand times across the nation in the next few years.

As the federal government is forced to cut back on its own spending there will be little funding available to funnel to the states.  Since we know what "flows down", look for the states to tighten up and squeeze the cities and counties and leave them to fend for themselves.  Again "flowing down", the cities and counties will try to make up the shortage by raising sales and property taxes on you.  Sorry, but you can't pass the crap down....you're the bottom of the food chain. 

Twenty percent of you will be watching these government entities like a hawk and rebel at the first sign of a sales or property tax increase.  Another fifty percent, who are on the government take through welfare or who have bred enough babies to qualify for huge child tax credits and tax exemptions will do nothing since they have created their own "dependent tax shelter and could not care less about the tax burden.  The remaining thirty percent of you are so extraordinarily ignorant about government activities that they'll just be shocked by the turn of events. 

The migratory pattern that has been developing for the last forty years will continue; the working class will continue moving to states and communities that are more vigilant about containing costs while the "tit-suckers" will continue to hang around the Blue States (like California, Illninois, New York and Washington) and continue to suck like leeches on the last remaining productive taxpayers until there is nothing left but a third world community, crime-ridden and without an ounce of community responsibility.

Last year, when the economy tanked, while Wisconsin was enforcing labor concessions and confronting their deficits, Illinois, home to corruption-ridden Chicago, opted instead to double the income tax rates for the few who still had a job.  California has been running 25 percent annual deficits for a decade while feeding, housing, medicating and educating 20 million illegals.  California has sold off their state parks and buildings and hocked everything they own in order to cater to the invaders and several million unionized state workers who pull in annual salaries of $200,000 plus. 

Financial analysts who cover municipal bond debt are projecting hundreds of municipal bankruptcies over the next decade.  Perhaps bankruptcies are the only way we can get control of these unionized thugs.  As to the $330 billion we are forking out for illegals each year, well, that's another battle entirely.  

America itself is so drowning in debt that our foreign bond holders, like China, are now telling us what we can and can't do.  Most Americans can't even comprehend how massive is our debt.  And even in the most stringent political scenario offered to date our $14.3 trillion dollar deficit expands to over $20 trillion before this decade is out.  Of course, that does not take into account the $74 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

America is already bankrupt; we just don't have a court to tell us so.  The saddest part is that America's citizens are bankrupt as well; bankrupt in caring and bankrupt in the moral indignation that is required to turn this nation around.

Sad, Damned Sad.

"Dear Congressman"

Note to Readers:  Please feel free to use any or all of this letter and write your legislators.  Let them know what you want to see done.


Dear Congressman/Congresswoman,

Unless you've been on an overseas sabbatical you may have heard that the electorate is a little upset about what's going on in Washington, D.C.  Most of us know that our national deficit is in excess of $14 trillion dollars and that we have $78 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities; specifically to Medicare and the Social Security Trust Fund because the money we paid into these "trust" funds were robbed and put into the government General Fund.  These liabilities are to be even greater as the costly Obamacare Health Plan begins to take effect. 

Let us frame our message to you in the simplest possible terms:  Enough is Enough!

We find it quite baffling that, while we see waste, fraud and abuse in nearly every government program, you don't.  We often hear both sides decry the other side as "cutting costs with a machete, instead of a scalpel.  We say, "man the machetes!"  In the event that you can't "see the forest for the trees" let us out here in the forest point out some obvious cuts that need to be made.

Since the current tax revenues of $2 trillion represents only half of government spending, let's bring those 200,000 American troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan.  The $450 billion dollars allocated each year to those two countries, in the form of war spending, the military assistance program, the supplementary spending, are needed here.  History has shown that the best one can hope for in the Middle East are authoritarian theocracies.  We can't afford any more futile attempts at nation buildling.  Bring our troops home and put 50,000 of them on our southern border to stop the invasion of illegals into our nation.

Just this past weekend the Government Accounting Office announced that our government overpaid our dues to the United Nations by an astounding $125 billion dollars.  Please recover that money immediately! 

All Americans who paid into Medicare and Social Security are concerned that the program has become a source of government largess for people who never paid into the system.  I refer to Green Card holders who, having never paid into the system, are allowed to receive Social Security SSI based on "low income elgibility".  If our new "legal immigrants" do not have sufficient funds to sustain themselves upon arrival please deny immigration approval.  Secondly, please join with your colleagues to amend the 14th Amendment; it was never meant to sanction the citizenship of millions of illegal immigrants who have taken advantage of this loophole to receive welfare, WIC, child tax credits, free medicare and all manner of social funding that has crippled our social safety net which was intended for U.S. citizens.  Our funding of illegal aliens is costing us in excess of $500 billion per year across the many programs available.

With regard to the illegal immigration problem, please do not assume that another attempt to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants will be accepted by the American people.  Rather, we urge you to strengthen existing employment laws to severely punish businesses who fail to participate in the E-Verify Program and are employing illegals.  As to the Dream Act which is being promoted by the Democratic party, the program, as proposed is too lenient.  It allows illegals as old as 40 years old to qualify for citizenship.  Instead, we propose that you limit this program to those who are willing to serve four years in our Armed Forces.  After completion of four years of military duty, grant these young people immediate citizenship.  Please, no waivers for "attending college" or other such nonsense.  We want to see a clear demonstration of true allegiance to this country before we grant citizenship to anyone.

Finally, we urge you to vote "no" on raising the debt ceiling.  Voting no will not shut down the government.  As tax revenues are received the federal government will be forced to live within their budget, as American families have had to do in these severe economic times.

If you haven't noticed, we have just provided you with recommendations which will balance the budget immediately!  We expect you to represent our interests or, frankly, we'll find someone else who can.

Respectfully Yours,

Just Common Sense