The Democrats Fiddle as America Burns

During the Barack Obama campaign, he pledged to "fundamentally change America" and that pledge, alas, is one that he has kept. He, in concert with his willing accomplices in Congress have increased spending, and debt, to levels that were heretofore unimaginable.

The sad truth is that we likely have understated just how dire our economic situation is, and will become.

Here's a good piece about the coming debt iceberg that involves our newly acquired government-owned auto companies.

Key graph:

Make no mistake, these companies are still on life support. The CBO expects that the lion's share of the government's losses on TARP will come, not from anything the Bush administration did, but from the Obama administration's decision to bail out the automakers and to a lesser extent, its bailout of homeowners. It seems that a big chunk of our cost may come from picking up the gold plated pensions . . . "Cadillac Plans", if you will . . . of the automakers. And lest you think I'm picking on unions over management, it was management that used the UAW as a prop to extract these gargantuan sums from the pockets of innocent taxpayers.

And if that's not enough, here's an article about how several states have fared with their state-run health care plans.

Key graphs:

Defenders of the program argue that it's not really a budget buster because the state's budget was already in trouble. But for those worried about ObamaCare's potential effects on the federal budget, that's hardly comforting. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has warned that, without significant change, the U.S. fiscal situation is "unsustainable," with publicly held debt likely to reach a potentially destabilizing 90 percent of GDP by 2020. Democrats managed to get the CBO to score ObamaCare as a net reduction in the deficit, but those projections are tremendously uncertain at best. As Alan Greenspan warned last weekend, if the CBO's estimates are wrong, the consequences could be "severe".

The history of health coverage expansion should make us worry. If ObamaCare's actual fiscal effects look anything like previous efforts to expand health coverage, the federal budget is in for a world of hurt.

This is irresponsible government spending on such a massive scale that there simply is no historical precedent. “Trillions” have supplanted “Billions”, even as unemployment continues to rise.

What we are seeing is no less political malpractice, and those that have brought us to this point seem oblivious to the mortal wound that may well have inflicted upon the economic health of our republic.

We are being destroyed from within, and being made increasingly more vulnerable from without.

Personally, I look to the future with mounting dread.

A Bit of This, A Bit of That.....

You may want to scratch Dubai for that romantic getaway..
Dubai jail sentence upheld for UK kissing couple

Hey Mr. President, did you ever hear the saying that "brevity is the soul of wit"?
Obama's 17-minute, 2,500-word response to woman's claim of being 'over-taxed'

I guess that "Community of Nations" thing isn't working; is there a "Plan B"?
World pressure makes Iran more determined: Ahmadinejad

"What did you know and when did you know it?". Eventually everyone will face the "Congressional Inquisition". Hey, if they keep grilling others, maybe it will keep the spotlight off of them. Not only is it Bush's fault, now it's Clinton's fault, too!
Rubin and Greenspan face crisis inquiry

Good News: We have a 90% Employment Rate, and this will continue for some time!
White House braces unemployed for slow job rebound

Maybe that "Happiest Place on Earth" thing didn't include Paris.
Disney resort hit by staff suicides

Happy Easter!

As humans, we always know what we want, but seldom do we know what we need; that’s God’s department. Often we are given what He knows we need and oft these things are challenges given us to make us better people, to teach us humility and to strengthen our charater. Often we believe that God has forsaken us, but we emerge with the knowledge that those challenges and misfortunes have changed us for the better and were blessings in disguise.

So, let us all do our best to live as He has taught us. In the end though, let us not be too specific about that for which we pray. Let us pray for what we need, and leave the specifics in His hands.

Can We "Keep It"?

At the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Dr. James McHenry, a Maryland delegate, followed Benjamin Franklin from Independence Hall. He recorded a question asked by a lady, directed at Dr. Franklin.

The lady asked, “Well Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?”

“A republic,” replied Dr. Franklin, “if you can keep it.”

Indeed. The stuggle to keep it will be the most difficult challenge we have faced since the Civil War. Our enemy is an intoxicating ideology, foreign to the American experience, that is being embraced by those who purport to represent us. Extricating this cancer will not be easy and may shake the very foundations of our republic.

Many of us have forgotten what liberty is; they have confused it with freedom. Liberty assumes that individuals take responsibility, and that responsibility guarantees our freedom. When we turn over our responsibility to the government, we lose our freedom.

Need for Screed

[Screed mode ON]

For far too long, The U.S. has walked around with a “kick me” sign firmly affixed to our back. Our good and charitable nature has been turned into a weapon that is being used against us. People come into this country and suck up jobs, welfare and medical care, then they turn on us and complain about our customs and culture, then substitute their own and expect us to accept it. Some of these people have raped and murdered our citizens!

It’s far more serious in Israel where Arabs are not only Israeli citizens, but also serve on the Knesset! Yet, their fellow Arabs continue to attack and murder Israeli citizens, and have done so for decades.

The good people of this world continue to get screwed, murdered and maimed, while the evil continue to perpetrate their violence and use their perverted sense of “justice” to explain it away.

Israel is an oasis of democracy, surrounded by apocalyptic madmen, clueless oil tics and a variety of societally and emotionally stunted Mohammedans who will never accept responsibility for their own plight, and whose answer to every challenge is murder.

As for the U.S.; we’re bordered to the north by a bizarre social experiment whose people and government seem oblivious to the fact that their very existence and continued survival is a direct result of their proximity to the U.S. On our southern border lies a country that’s increasingly looking like Columbia in the 80s, exponentially increased in both size and population.

As for the “International Community”, particularly under the auspices of the UN, well, they make the bar scene from Star Wars look like a suburban McDonalds.

The concept of “good” and “bad” has been lost in the toxic fog we call “political correctness” and a perverted sense of victimization perpetrated by the international Left.

“Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue and extremism in defense of liberty is no vice”. It was true back in the 60s, and it’s still true today.

Let’s get the “kick me” sign off of our backs, stand with our friends, and obliterate our foes!

[Screed mode OFF]

But There Is Some Good News Out There!

Obama 'Even Worse' Than Bush On Secret Wiretapping Case, Says S.F. Lawyer

San Francisco attorney Jon Eisenberg thinks he's learned a thing or two about Barack Obama over the past 15 months. Eisenberg, who won a landmark decision against the government in Northern California's U.S. District Court Wednesday on a wiretapping case, says that when it comes to violating civil liberties in the name of national security, the present occupant of the White House is just as bad as -- or "even worse" than -- his predecessor.

"The Obama Administration stepped right into the shoes of the Bush Administration, on national security generally and on this case in particular," Eisenberg said, referring to the lawsuit brought by his clients, an Oregon branch of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers. The plaintiffs argued successfully before federal Judge Vaughn Walker that their conversations were illegally wiretapped under the Bush Administration's secret surveillance program.

Just as significant as the ruling, however, may be what the case demonstrates about the Obama Justice Department's approach to surveillance of suspected terrorists. Eisenberg told SF Weekly that government lawyers working for Obama had been "more strident" than those working for Bush, refusing to let him see important federal documents related to the case even after he was approved for a top-secret security clearance.

"Even though I have the security clearance, I don't have the 'need to know,' so I can't see anything," Eisenberg said. "This is Obama. Obama! Mr. Transparency! Mr. Change! It's exactly what Bush would have done."

Well, amidst a plethora of bad news, that seems to worsen by the day, Obama's annoyance of this type of individual does serve as good news. At least on this point, and at this point, Obama has taken the Hippocratic approach and has "done no harm".

Yet.

Defending My Generation

I read a number of blogs, and there seems to be concerns, as well as not so veiled insults hurled at the “Boomers”. As one of those "Boomers", I would like to take this opportunity to address them.

Our parents grew up in The Depression and many spent their young adulthood literally “saving the world for democracy” during World War II. Personally, both of my parents served in the military, but due credit should be given to all of those who supported “the war effort”; the women in the factories, those who bought “War Bonds”, those who dutifully endured rationing of practically everything in support of the effort.

Having done their duty, the came home, married, and made babies, lots of them. Homes were constructed throughout the country as a result.

Our parents created an economic boom, and may of my generation grew up with parents who were determined that we would not be forced to endure the hardships that were an integral part of their formative years.

The “Baby Boom” generation was a large lump of humanity deposited in American society. When we went to school, new schools were constructed throughout the country, many of which have now been either demolished or recycled for other uses.

When we became young adults, our very numbers attracted attention; Madison Avenue catered to our styles, and television catered to our watching habits.

Politically, many of us had opinions. These opinions were largely formed by the prosperity in which we were raised. “Spoiled”? Absolutely. The problem was that people actually started to listen to us; we, who had been raised in an idyllic society, bought and paid for by our parents’ sacrifices, a generation who spouted foolish statements, and rebelled against what is now recognized as “the Greatest Generation” became a political force simply by virtue of our sheer numbers.

We came to “change the world’, and change it we did. My generation spawned an era of permissiveness and “open mindedness” that now threatens the very foundations of our country.

Those said, let us not forget the fact that a number of my generation served their country in Vietnam and many died in that service. Let us also not forget that the Neo-Con movement that was largely responsible for the election of Ronald Reagan is part of this generation. Let us not forget that the moguls of Silicon Valley, who have been intrinsic to the economy we enjoyed in the 80s and 90s, were also part of this generation.

Most importantly, let us not forget that this great swath of people we call “Baby Boomers” who have worked and paid their taxes for some 40-50 years now have, to a large extent, financed such programs as Social Security during that time. The politicians were quite content in taking our money, and chose to ignore the quite obvious fact that, eventually, we would retire and the bill would come due.

Now that many of us are in the situation of looming retirement, health issues, etc., we are considered “a problem”. Many of us, me included, find ourselves unemployed and are told that the retirement age may have to be raised. Sorry, but I didn’t pay into Social Security in order for it to fund ADC, AFDC, Welfare, and all of the various “Social(ist) Programs” that it is now funding. The bulk of the “Boomers’” money has been used to fund a plethora of Social(ist) programs in order to buy the votes of people who, for generations now, have been “dependants of the system”.

In closing, those of you who want to engage in “inter-generational warfare”, you should understand that you’re next.