Take the RNC Presidential Straw Poll

Here's your chance to help guide the Republican National Committee's presidential pick for 2016.


RNC Presidential Straw Poll.


You can pick three candidates from  the list or one write-in.


I hope America is finally ready to reject the far-left, Progressive, big-government rule that's given us this horrible economy, high unemployment, rampant inflation, unconstitutional (and therefore illegal) domestic spying on innocent citizens, and endless scandals.

I hope for change, the positive type of change this time.

First Lady Urges "Get to the Polls on November 2."

Should we tell her?

Nah, we'll let her figure it out by herself.

The date is really November 7. Be sure to tell all your Dimocrat friends...

Too Good to Check - Mitt Up by 14 Points in Florida

I don't get too deep into polls, as all fourteen of you may have noticed. For one, it's a bit too early in the political season. For two, I see too many contradictions in them.

Fr'instance, the Real Clear Politics Average shows Obama up by 1.7 points as of today. But when you see other poll questions such as who would be better at handling the economy, Romney wins. And when you count in the other factors that describe the overall American mood concerning the Obama administration and the economy, it's way down in approval across the board. There's a general pessimism shown in many other polls that isn't reflected in the RCP Average.

I'm starting to wonder if these polls are accurate at all. I've heard several anecdotal stories of folks who refuse to tell pollsters what they really think.

Even though this particular poll appears to be a blowout (and thusly, should be taken with a grain of salt), it shows a positive trend for Romney and Ryan in the key battleground state of Florida.

Although highly reliable Rasmussen has Romney up by only two in this week's Florida poll of likely voters, today's astonishing numbers may suggest a trend of some magnitude has already begun. Earlier polling had found that the numerous senior-citizens of the Sunshine State were -regardless of 'progressive' drivel to the contrary- far more terrified of Obamacare than anything the habitually-dishonest Obama campaign claims Ryan is going to do to them.

Romney Taps Ryan for VP UPDATED!

This blog interrupts your hangover recovery morning to announce Mitt Romney's pick as his Vice-Presidential running mate:

Paul Ryan.

I just finished watching the official announcement and Ryan's speech. Paul hit all the right buttons, speaking of things like equal opportunity (not equal outcomes), free enterprise, Natural Rights that come from God (not the government), and Founding Principles. I was heartened by his decidedly conservative message of leadership, personal responsibility and his and Mitt's commitment to the country, its people, and to the Truth.

He also struck one chord that really resonated with me, one that I hadn't heard yet in this campaign: the idea that we own the government. Our foundation is built upon the principle of the "consent of the governed," which is sadly missing from the Obama administration. You'd be hard pressed to find very many Americans who approve of the direction we're headed under Progressive rule.

Now that this is out of the way, we can proceed to persuade and convince our friends and neighbors to vote for Romney and Ryan.

Confidence is high...

As you were.

UPDATE: From fellow Moron DrewM, here's a roundup of some Ryan awesomeness, including a video of him saying to Obama, "Hiding spending doesn't reduce spending,"

John Mica is Obama's Biggest Cheerleader

Here's a new ad from Sandy Adams, who's running against long-time Washington insider John Mica down here in Florida.


A couple of quick questions for Representative Mica: Who on Earth convinced you that it was a good idea to put toll lanes on one of the busiest Interstate highways in the state? And why do you support double taxation of motorists? Why can't all of us freely use all of the lanes of the road we paid for?

New Romney Ad - Olympics

Here's another web ad. This one is from Restore Our Future, which I found over at Conservative Daily News.



Somewhat light posting today, errands and all that.

New Ad - Obama Isn't Working

Well, DUH!

He's either playing golf or out with his HollyWierd pals partying or having lavish fundraisers whose cost-per-plate is more money than I've made in the last four years, or giving some idiotic campaign speech where he tries to divide the country and promote class warfare.



(posted per Gabriel Malor's request)

BackwardsBoy, Political Consultant

(where I do my best R. Lee Ermey imitation)

OK, listen up ladies. I’m only going to say this once while I have you all in one place.

You want to win this election? Here’s what you need to do.

Cut the crap. I mean it. Have you seen your poll numbers lately? There ain’t a damned one of you that anyone wants to vote for. The only reason anybody will vote for you is that you’re not Obama.

Proud of yourselves?

Well you shouldn’t be!

What me and a few million of my fellow Americans are hearing ain’t cuttin’ it. Why are you sniping at each other and not talking about the real problems? Are you that shallow? Are you that insulated from the rest of the country that you don’t know what the rest of us are going through? Are you?

Look at me when I’m talking to you!

When was the last time any of you filled up your own gas tank with your own money? Hell, gas is $6 bucks a gallon already! Do you not know that high gas prices get passed along to everybody who buys anything that’s shipped by truck? Why do you think grocery prices are so high, cupcake?

And the deficit. Why the hell haven’t you said one damned word about how much money they’re spending up there in Washington? What’s it going for? Is it making our military forces stronger? Why hell no it’s not! Obama’s cutting back on our fighting forces while he’s busy sticking America’s nose all over the place and then calling it everything is isn’t. Kinetic military action, my ass. Anybody with an ounce of brains knows what’s going on. But do we hear one peep out of you about it? No we don’t!

And you, Rombley, or whatever your name is. What are you doing even mentioning the word “fairness” in the same sentence as tax rates? Did we interrupt your drum circle at the Occupy protest? You could’ve used that little speech the other day to educate some people, but what did you do? You pandered! Hell, no wonder your approval numbers can’t get above 25%! Who wants to vote for a damned weather vane? Hell, I can buy one at the local feed store for a lot less than you’d cost this country.

What are the rest of you laughing at, huh? I don’t see any of you doing anything to inspire people. Do I need to tell you that about 75 percent of this great country doesn’t feel like the government is doing what they want done? Seventy-five percent! That’s something to laugh about?!?

You disgust me.

Why in the hell aren’t you saying what needs to be said? Why aren’t you raking this little skinny Alinsky disciple over the coals every minute of every day after what he and that Pelosi woman and that little puke who calls himself a boxer Reid have done to this country? Hell, I’ve crapped better things than that bunch, but do we hear one word out of you about what you’d do to make things better? Do we hear anything out of you about how there needs to be a twenty percent reduction in force in Washington yesterdamnday? Why no we don’t! And why don’t any damned one of you mention a flat tax? Tell me, what the hell’s wrong with a flat tax rate of 12 per cent for everybody? NOTHING, THAT’S WHAT!!

You actually have the stones to think you can run this country? My grandmother has more spine than you do, and she’s dead!

You think being nice is going to do it? Well, DO YOU? Do you feel that it’s nice what this bunch of drug addled, washed up hippies we call an administration is busy doing to our country? Do you like that we can’t make anything here anymore and that we’re sending every dollar we can scrape up to our ChiCom buddies who’d like nothing more than to take us over when we default on their loans?

Do you like it that we’ve got a bazillion barrels of our own oil that we can’t drill for because some idiots believe that the Earth’s gonna warm up a degree or two over the next couple of CENTURIES? Does that make any sense to you?

Why of course it does. You’re politicians. You’re bred in a special facility so you won’t contaminate the rest of the population with your stupid.

You! Why are you crying? Did I hurt your widdow feelings? Well it’s about damn time somebody told you the truth. We’re tired of you playing nice with our domestic enemies! We’re sick of your pandering, your waffling and your little girly answers to these lefty reporter’s questions. When are you going to finally tell one of them they’re full of it and to ask a question that actually makes sense? Turn it around on them and show them for the liars they are! You can do it. Hell, my great-grandmother could do it. Maybe I ought to dig her up and sic her on your pathetic asses and stop wasting my time.

If you’re not going to say what needs to be said in this election and lay out exactly what you’re going to do to get this country turned around, then you’re even worse than I thought you were.

We used to have real men in this country. Men who’d call ‘em like they saw ‘em. But all we’ve got left is you.

Do I have to call your wives and get them to give me the key to the box that they keep your manhood in? Sheesh, I’ve never seen a bigger group of losers in my life as you four.

Did anything I say penetrate those thick skulls of yours? I hope so, because if it didn’t, we’re all up a creek without a paddle, and you’ll be the first ones we throw overboard! The sad thing is, none of you look like you know how to swim.

Now, get out there and show me what you’ve got! Be a real American man for once in your pathetic life and stand up for what you know in your heart is the right thing and don’t back down for a second!

Move it, move it, MOVE IT!

How a Little Hardship Can be Good for Us

I had the opportunity to have a conversation with a couple of good friends over the weekend. One of my buds had just bought a “new” car. I put the “new” in parentheses because it was 20 years old and had just over 100K miles on it. Even then, it was in better shape than the van he’s had ever since I’ve known him. That one had over 300K miles on it and was starting to give him just a bit of mechanical trouble.

As we were doing what guys do, namely looking over his new ride, opening the hood and the doors, noting this and that and swapping advice on how to keep a vehicle operating for a long time, the conversation turned to the economy. Not surprisingly, we all started noting the deteriorating conditions and the various things we were all doing just to get by. The proud owner of said new vehicle had lost his formerly good-paying job which he’d had for years and had lost his house as a result. They were familiar with my plight too: a lifetime spent absorbing everything I could inside the manufacturing arena only to be tossed aside as we abandoned our lead and were “guided” towards a service economy.

While our collective situations were not nearly as secure as they were a few years ago, we had all managed to make the necessary adjustments to our new normal of greatly reduced income. Despite our current financial woes, we all still had our typical sunny outlook.

Alcohol had nothing to do with it, I swear.

It was on my drive back home that I started to note something. We Americans really are different. We have an inborn resiliency. How much of this can be attributed to the natural state of humanity and how much is due to our society is up for debate. It’s the classic nature versus nurture question that we’ve debated ever since we could talk and reason amongst ourselves.

We have access to relatives who are able to remember what it was like when there were similar downturns in the economy. Mom had me later in her life; she grew up during the Great Depression. So I got to hear her horror stories about people living hand-to-mouth for years at a time. I also learned how to make do with less. Mom was resourceful when she wanted to be, especially in the kitchen. The only bad part that I saw was her tendency to place too high a value on money, a psychological scar that she embraced, sometimes irrationally. She tended to carry on as if we were still in a depression, when she could have enjoyed the fruits of her labor.

Since I seem to be on the lookout for any silver lining in a cloud, I’ve come to the conclusion that this recession, the worst in modern times, has the potential to be quite good for all of us. We’ve been forced to do more with much less. We’ve started to ask questions, particularly of our elected officials, notably why they aren’t doing more to get our economy back on the road again.

We’ve circled the wagons, to borrow a phrase. We’ve been forced by circumstances beyond our control to rediscover things within ourselves, things we’d forgotten because life was almost too good. Family and friends have become more important. Virtually everyone is in the same boat to varying degrees, and we have collectively and instinctively drawn our loved ones closer. Financial transactions now go through family members when possible, since banks won’t lend money to someone without a decent job. Bartering has taken the place of the greenback in some situations. Our social circle has expanded to include others in similar fashion. Charity on a personal level has increased dramatically. We’re helping each other more than ever.

Collectively, we’re coming together during these difficult times, as we are wont to do. It’s in our nature. We also have the great fortune of living in a country that has created a very high standard of living. Even the poor among us have a car, a computer, and a cell phone. Such are the fruits of capitalism.

Even in the worst of times, we are truly lucky to be Americans. And there’s nothing like hard times to make us even more aware of that.

But in the meantime, we’re going to be busy making lemonade out of the lemons we've been given.

It’s what we do.

GOP wins this Budget Battle, Sort of

A national crisis has been averted. Last Friday’s down-to-the-wire agreement by Obama, Reid, and Boehner kept the Federal government open. Thankfully, our troops got paid, The Washington Monument stayed open and all the non-essential workers stayed on the job. Grandmothers were spared untold horrors, as were countless puppies and kittens.

And the spending spree in Washington continued unabated.

While the argument over spending had been simmering for a few weeks as Republicans did what the Democrat-controlled 111th Congress refused to do, (as was their Constitutional duty) namely to submit an operating budget for fiscal year 2011. The pot had begun to boil over, fueled mostly by the typical doomsday rhetoric from the progressives on the far-left side of the political aisle who think that the world cannot rotate without money from Washington.

And the amount of cuts to programs was miniscule compared to the amount of money this administration spends. With a record-high peacetime deficit in the trillions, and Washington spending more than $50B in one week, this budget that cuts only $38B for a short time is like bailing out a dingy with a thimble while under a waterfall. It just isn’t enough.

But, we’ll take our victories where we can find them. I found one tiny ray of real hope in all this: we started to change the mindset in Washington from ever-increasing levels of spending to one of actually considering cuts in funding, something this Boy never thought he’d see.

The usual suspects on the left attempted to lay blame (once again) on the dread Tea Party as though this was a replay of the last showdown back in the mid-nineties where the GOP was the party that wanted to kill Granny. And children. And puppies. And kittens.

The nation knows better. Had the government been shut down, the blame would have fallen directly upon the dainty shoulders of Reid and Obama. They knew it. Nothing else explains the President’s rush to take credit for the “biggest cuts in history.” Never mind that he had pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, and sat by idly as the Pelosi and Reid-led Congress created the most extreme debt our country has ever seen.

Yeah, Chuck Schumer, what was extreme was the unprecedented run-up of debt that you helped create, not Republican efforts to trim it. And when, exactly, did wanting to reduce the nation’s historic and potentially devastating deficits become extreme?

We’re waiting, Chuckles.

Dems can make all the excuses they want for adding more to America’s debt than all the previous administrations before it combined. The Stimulus has not only failed, it has failed in spectacular fashion. We are now much worse off than had we been if nothing had been done. The $787B that was spent did nothing to lift our economy from the worst recession in recent memory; I maintain that it did the exact opposite, on purpose.

But, we had to try it your way. We had to see what didn’t work before we, as a nation, suddenly realized what we already knew. There is no way to spend our way out of a recession, as Slow Joe Biden proclaimed. His Gump-like solution sounded like the perfect antidote to our ailing economy to everyone except those of us who could count. Maybe, we thought at the time, there was some sort of magical formula, known only to those inside the Beltway, which would prove to be the solution to the negative effects of a large and overweening government presence in the free market: even more government intervention.

After the massive failure of this administrations’ misguided economic policies, American’s eyes no longer glaze over at the mention of deficit numbers. As this battle has proceeded, the public is hearing more accurate facts and figures concerning the budget, and it doesn’t like what it has been hearing. Or seeing. Too many of us know too many of us who have been unemployed for years, or have lost their home or business, or had to move in with relatives as a result of this, the Obama Depression.

So, we can claim a small but not insignificant victory, one that is tactical instead of strategic: it’s time to reduce the size and scope of the Federal government and the negative impact that it has on our economy.

Last Friday’s compromise that actually cut spending was only the first step in changing the national dialogue from one of how much we spend to the more sensible notion of cutting real spending.

Friday Bits of Tid - Video Day

On this day in 1743, nothing happened.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It would be nice if nothing happened, especially after this week. Sheesh, what a week. Another earthquake in Japan, like they haven't had enough already, the judicial election in Wisconsin, the federal budget meltdown with our military caught in the middle and not getting paid, and now Obama's biweekly vacay.

Oh well, let's let the rest of the world do whatever it is they want to do. I'll just open a nice Breakfast Beer. I'll put it in this beer holster for my walkabout. Everything is better with beer. And bacon.

Duude, like if you, like, eat one of these pot candy bars, like, won't you get the munchies and, like, man, want to eat another pot candy bar? You'll be, like, really, really busy eating all day, won't you, man?

This is not good news: Mankind is nearing the end of the Age of Speed. Coulda fooled me, it seems as if everything is happening faster and faster. Oh, that's just for machines? Nevermind.

Bacon cologne. Need more be said?

What do Carlisle Cullen, Scrooge McDuck, Jay Gatsby, and Jed Clampett all have in common? They're on the Forbes Fictional 15. Consipuous by his absence from this years list is Uncle Sam. Go figure.

And now for the crux of the biscuit, today's videos. There are a few I've posted just because you need to see them if you haven't already. It'll be good for you, trust me. A couple are just standard Friday fare, a way to welcome the weekend.

Here'e a one that's good for you. It's the kind of Congressional hearing we should be having more of.



Here's another pair, because all the goodness just won't fit in one YouTube video.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ann Barnhardt, Cultural Heroine.





An interview with this amazing woman is here. A devout Catholic, she says, " I reckon He looks at me and just shakes His head." He Might, but we don't. We need more like you.

Here's a trailer for the first movie for us Tea Partiers, Atlas Shrugged, Pt. 1.



As of this writing, Atlas Shrugged hasn't been picked up by a major distributor yet, so you'll have to call your favorite theater and ask them to run it. Haven't heard about plans for the DVD yet.

This is just way cool.



And finally, the official video of this blog (for this week, anyway).



Ya'll come back now, y'hear? Also, if you could hit the tip jar, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

False Characterizations of the Tea Party and Why They’re Inaccurate

I’ve been wondering about something lately (there’s that damned curiosity thingy again). Why is there so much criticism of the Tea Party when the facts consistently prove otherwise? Rush kind of touched on this Monday when he talked about conservative critics of Sarah Palin. Ace sort of did the same yesterday, but from a slightly different angle. After all, SarahCuda and the Tea Party are pretty much inseparable.

Just as America gets a pretty bad rap worldwide, as do Christians, we’re in pretty good company. So there’s that. I can understand why America receives criticism from the rest of the world. The only thing they have to gauge us by is our TV shows, movies and music, which all generally suck. Hollywood seemingly ran out of ideas for good movies some years ago. TV shows about responsible Americans who love their families and go to work each day are about as engaging as watching grass grow. Shows have to be about things we don’t normally see or else why watch. As for our music, someone needs to explain to me how we got from “You Can Make It If You Try” to “Cop Killer" (language warning) in the span of one generation.
Oh, and politics. CNN, MSNBC, and the alphabet stations’ news reports paint a very different picture of the country that the one I see every day, for the same reason I stated above. If that’s all they have to go by, then their low opinion of us is warranted.

But that’s the rest of the world.

When it comes to our own national news coverage of the Tea Party, I can also understand the MBM’s criticism. They have dropped all pretense of objectivity and lean solidly to the left (if they don’t fall all the way over), and since they’re now the official Progressive Pravda, their attitude merely serves their interests. The Tea Party threatens their power. This is also the prevailing attitude of the self-appointed Republican elite for the same reason. To them I say “Dede Scozzafava.”

And they all say pretty much the same things when they criticize: TP’ers are dumb hicks, gun-toting, Bible-clingers who can’t think much beyond their next six-pack. Anti-intellectual. Racists.

And they all smell of elderberries.

Of course, those of us on The Inside know differently. Just as those who routinely pounce on Glenn Beck have never seen his show, these detractors sound more like one of the five blind men who grope at different parts of an elephant, thinking they know the whole animal. A well-reasoned critique is beyond them due to their preconceived notions.

The most recent charge leveled at TP’ers is that they aren’t very smart. Well, all I can offer up is myself. I do claim to speak up for the party. What do you think? If you’ve poked around in the archives here, you’ve seen a wide range of subjects along with some ideas for solving problems. I certainly don’t consider myself an intellectual in the traditional sense: I don’t have a degree from a fancy university and I certainly wasn’t born to a prominent family, although my folks have been here since before there was an America.

I identify with Mrs. Palin because I see in her many of the same qualities. She has street smarts. She’s what I call a “real world” person, grounded in reality, aware of what works out here. She doesn’t spend her time inside an office surrounded by lackeys. She hunts and fishes alongside her husband, loves her kids and thinks government should be run by average Americans. That’s how she entered politics, as a regular citizen. And for that, she is roundly regarded as stupid. As Rush points out, the same charge was leveled at one Ronald Reagan. Again, good company.

And we’re Bible-toters. Hmm, OK, guilty as charged on that one. But how is that out of the American mainstream when over 90% of us claim to believe in a Higher Power? And what’s wrong with having a strong moral foundation with which to measure the world and the people in it? It certainly serves me well, as I’m certain it does you. But there’s something wrong with that according to some. I hold no animosity towards others who believe differently as long as they do as I do and allow me to live my life in peace.

Here’s the one that really puzzles me: Tea Partiers are racists.

Really? Then how do you explain the election of Colonel Alan West? He’s black you know. Same for Tim Scott. How about Marco Rubio? His folks are from Cuba. Nikki Haley? She’s only the first Indian-American ever elected to a governorship. Maybe it’s just me, but if the Tea Party was so full of racists, as some contend, these candidates wouldn’t have even been considered for office, much less elected. So that pervasive argument falls flat on its little face like a drunken leprechaun. They all do under a bit of scrutiny.

Yeah, we get lied about a lot, but just a couple of facts show the detractors how wrong they are.

We’re Becoming a Nation of Busybodies

I’ve noticed a trend lately. It seems as though everyone is trying to tell me how to live.

Animal rights groups don’t want me to wear fur or eat meat or go hunting or fishing

Greenies don’t want me to drive a car.

Unions want to me to become a member so they can take my dues and support candidates I don’t agree with.

Islamists want me to convert to a religion I don’t believe in.

Charlie Sheen wants me to think he’s normal.

(I just threw that last one in there. Who’dathunk that Two and a Half Men was a documentary?)

I understand the strong urge, when one discovers a new lifestyle choice, to share it with their friends. I really do. And there’s nothing wrong with that. You want to be a vegetarian? That’s wonderful. Oh, you’re a pacifist now? Splendid. You’ve suddenly become aware of this or that cause and now want to tell the world about it? More power to you.

Umm, guys (and gals), I don’t need you to tell me what to do, or what to think, or how to spend my money, or what to teach my kids, or do any of the other things that you seem to think I need to do.

I’ve got this.

There also seems to be a trend within this trend: all of these folks who’ve gathered together for what they see as the Betterment of Mankind are on the political left. Somehow they don’t seem content to let me live as I see fit. Their growing numbers enable them to raise money for political contributions to candidates that agree with them. Once these candidates reach office, they start to push for legislation to elevate their cause into law, thereby forcing their beliefs on the rest of us.

Take the environmentalists (please). For generations, these folks have been convinced that we’re somehow doing irreparable damage to the Earth by going about our daily lives. That by going to work and caring for our families every day, we’re a pox on the planet and must be stopped. That by taking what we find and making it into something that helps to make our lives easier, we’re somehow the enemy. By their thinking, businesses are evil, profit is the Devil’s lucre and anyone who works for them is a little Hitler, raping Gaia for their own selfish gain. How do we sleep at night?

You don’t have to think for long about how difficult it would be to live without all our modern creature comforts: all you need to do is read a book to find out how it used to be. We’ve managed to do a pretty good job of beating back disease and famine to take our rightful place at the top of the food chain.

And that is somehow wrong? And being born in America makes me evil?

Granted, we were pretty sloppy once upon a time. But we’ve managed to clean up our act quite a bit since the Cuyahoga River Fire of 1969. You’d think that environmentalists would be happy that we’ve gotten a lot more responsible and that they’d declare “Mission Accomplished.” You’d be wrong.

Instead, these groups have infiltrated government and now tell us that we can’t even use incandescent light bulbs. In fact, the EPA has more power to pass more regulations than ever and looks to enact even more. This is a major reason why we don’t drill for our own oil in the face of rising gasoline prices, we don’t construct new nuclear power plants or build new refineries. We even have a hard time building new roads and bridges due to lawsuits brought by environmental groups.

Our own president even said that under his Cap-and-Trade plan, our energy bills would “necessarily skyrocket.” And that helps us how, Mr. President? Sir, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re not all rich.

A proper balance seems increasingly hard to reach. And with more pushy people comes more peer pressure to conform to what they think is the right way to live instead of what we know in our own hearts.

You can look at life any way you want. But with that freedom comes the responsibility to make damn good and sure you see things as they are, not as someone else sees them. You see, power makes folks think things that aren’t true and see things that aren’t there. Just listen to these groups scream that anyone who disagrees with them is full of hate. That’s now how adults operate.

But then again, we’re not dealing with adults, are we?

There’s a big difference between someone who wants to throw their weight around and someone who wants to accomplish a worthwhile goal that benefits everyone.

It's the difference between harvesting grapes and peeling them. Although, it makes for a cute tune...

Crazy Uncle Barry Maxes out the Family Credit Cards

“Um, Uncle Barry, can we talk?”

“Yes, Nathan.”

“We just got the credit card bill in the mail today.” Nathan sat dejectedly on the footstool next to his uncle.

“Yeah, uh, what, uh, about it?”

“It seems as though we owe them a great deal of money.”

“I don’t understand your concern.”

“Well, we simply can’t afford to keep making these payments.”

“Why is that a problem? You know that making that payment is good for you, don’t you? It teaches you discipline.”

“I’m not so sure anymore, Uncle Barry. When we took you in, you said you’d help us around the house. We trusted you when you said you’d help us, but letting you handle the family’s budget isn’t working out the way we had hoped.”

“Nate, you know I love you and your family very much. I’d never do anything to harm you. I always have your best interests in mind.”

“We know, you’ve told us many times.” Nathan waved the bill in the air. “But this is getting out of hand. We just can’t keep spending money like this. We can’t even pay down the principle, this next payment is four times higher than our last one, and that’s just the interest.”

Uncle Barry turned down the TV volume and sat up in his recliner, finally looking away from the golf game. “I knew you might have some reservations about taking me in when your Aunt Zettie passed away two years ago. I was grateful for the opportunity and vowed that I’d make my time here as comfortable for you all as possible. Why, just look at your daughter’s face, how she smiles when she turns on her new phone.”

“Yeah, about that, Uncle Barry. She already had a phone that worked just fine.”

“And look at your son, Will. Don’t you think he thinks of me when he starts up his new Cadillac every morning to go to school?”

“His old car ran just fine. It got good mileage and we almost had it paid off. We were going to use that spare money to add to his college fund.” Nate responded.

“But now he’s the envy of all his little friends. It’s important that he be accepted by them.”

“But, Uncle Barry, Will has good friends who value him for himself, not what he has, or which car he drives.”

“Just think of the new friends he’ll have when they see him now.” Uncle Barry leaned forward in his recliner, “And what about how your wife looks at you when she puts on her new mink coat?” Uncle Barry gave Nathan a sly wink.

“Well, she likes it, but she hasn’t seen this bill yet. Thanks to you, I might be sleeping on the couch soon.”

”Don’t worry yourself, Nate. You can always come down here to the basement and sleep on my couch. That’s what family is for.” Barry said.

“But we’ve got a big problem, Uncle Barry. We simply can’t afford all this, this, stuff you bought.”

“Oh, don’t worry yourself, Nate. I have a plan that will take care of all this. You won’t have to worry any more about anything.”

“Um, what plan is that, Uncle Barry?” Nate said cautiously.

“I’m getting us another credit card!”

Ronald Reagan Reminds Us We’ve Yet to Tame Big Government

While over at Ace of Spades yesterday, I watched Ronald Reagan’s stirring speech from 1964 entitled “A Time for Choosing.” I hadn’t heard it in several years. I was struck by the number of issues he addressed that we have yet to resolve. In case you haven’t heard it lately, here it is,



Nearly all of the problems he mentioned are still with us today. Problems such as deficit spending and high federal debt, inflation, war, apathy, a ruling elite who believe they can control our personal lives better that we can, and the fragility of freedom (under attack from all sides, but mostly from inside Washington), serve to remind us that we have fallen far from the political ideals of our Founders.

At the same time, Mr. Reagan also reminded us of our exceptionalism. The concepts of self-rule, individual responsibility and freedom prick our senses to reawaken us to our destiny and our purpose, to the greatness that we are today in real danger of losing.

Free-market capitalism was under attack then, as now. Well-meaning but misguided social scientists seek to impose their vision of a mankind perfected upon our society, as if we were somehow incapable of correcting our mistakes, as if the average American was some sort of animal, growling and pawing in search of prey when all we really want is to provide for ourselves and our families a comfortable living in peace with our neighbors. He points out the still popular but grossly inaccurate opinion held by leftists that capitalism is a zero-sum game where the one who benefits robs the less fortunate of their money. Or as he put it, “We have so many people who can’t see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one.”

Today, as in 1964, there are those that feel our Constitution is outmoded, an anachronism due to its age and language, indecipherable, limiting, nothing more than a relic to be viewed in a museum much like the bones of a prehistoric beast.

Like a wild beast, Mr. Reagan cited government programs that grow far beyond their original intentions to spring from their confinements and wreak havoc where there was none, outliving their usefulness (if there ever was any) to devour the private sector’s initiative and energy. “The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.”

In a rare dose of reality coming from a campaign speech, Mr. Reagan asks if, since government seeks to solve all the ills of society, shouldn’t they be reading us the score showing how well they’re doing? Indeed, after all the billions spent to cure poverty and the grand promises made by those who propose program after program, how is it that record numbers of Americans are now forced to live in poverty today? “Shouldn’t they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help?”

Fraud, waste and abuse of government systems were addressed in his speech, along with the demonization of those who seek to clean it up. He summed up what passes for liberal thought today, even as it was back then. “They say we’re always against things, never for anything. The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant, it’s that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Social Security was in financial trouble then as now. Imagine the scorn heaped upon someone who would dare suggest that there was a private sector way to provide for retirement years, or that the system itself was insolvent and in need of reform.

Reagan excoriated planned inflation, the same type that we’re seeing today couched in the benign title of the “quantitative easing” of our monetary supply. Whatever it’s called, the results are the same: a carefully planned reduction in our standard of living through the printing of more money in order to try to balance Washington’s books in the absence of getting the economy going again.

The failure of a corrupt United Nations that seeks to blunt American interests at every turn, the exploding numbers of public sector employees, the erosion of once-sacrosanct individual property rights by an overreaching and out-of-control court that focuses on Constitutional case law instead of what it actually says, it's all there.

Nothing has changed. We’re still in a struggle to maintain our freedom against government.

We miss you, Mr. Reagan, and pray that your words will persevere, to renew the spirit of freedom we so desperately need today to liberate us from our own special tyranny, that of progressivism.

The Conservative Candidate for 2012 - Mr. Issues, Part II

Continued from yesterday's post.

I’ll start with the economy.


Recent polls have shown that 1 of every 2 of us know someone who’s been out of work for a year or more. I personally know several friends who have been unemployed for much longer, have lost their homes and have been forced to move back in with relatives in mid-life. Clearly, we need to get our economy going again. However, despite the promises of a laser-like focus on jobs and the economy, this administration has concentrated instead on forcing unpopular programs on an unwilling country. But you knew that already.

The question is where to begin. Well, since we are a capitalist, center-right country, shouldn't we elect a capitalist, center-right president? Shirley, there must be someone willing to run that has some experience in the private sector, who understands how it operates, and how government has strangled it by imposing an unprecedented number of new rules and regulations upon it. The current administration has dismissed completely the role that the private sector plays in the economy. This gives me an opportunity to run my favorite cartoon by Michael Ramirez…

For example, in the disguise of healthcare reform came a requirement for businesses to file a 1099 form for all vendor transactions over $600. Think about that for a moment. Most businesses deal in tens of thousands of dollars or more monthly. This single provision adds an unnecessary burden on these businesses already scouring their profit and loss sheets for every penny. One should ask why this was considered necessary at all.

However, that wasn’t all the damage contained in the ObamaCare bill. We have (or once had) a private-sector method to administer health care insurance. The ObamaCare bill was designed to destroy it. Granted, there were some flaws in the system that needed to be addressed, but what was needed could have been done with common sense reforms designed to remedy those flaws, such as tort reform to eliminate the added costs of frivolous lawsuits and to allow insurance companies to sell policies across state lines, much like auto insurance companies. What was not needed was a complete takeover of the industry by Washington.

Even now, progressives in Congress are wildly claiming that repeal of this awful piece of legislation will result in the needless deaths of Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth. Political grandstanding such as this serves no purpose, other than to confuse voters so unscrupulous politicians can retain their power. Recall that throughout the too-short debate on the ObamaCare bill, health insurance companies and doctors were treated as some sort of out-of-control Frankenstein monster, terrorizing local villages, lopping off legs in some greedy rampage, when the truth is that those insurance companies operate at a five-per-cent profit margin and employ your neighbors and friends.

We need healthcare. We can administer it through the private sector, where Americans can perform a needed service to their fellow citizens, constantly on the lookout for better ways to do their jobs and make some money, or we can do it through government (and a union as an added bonus layer of lazy bureaucracy and inefficiency, strikes, etc.). Someone gets paid either way. The question then becomes which one is more efficient. If you’ve ever been to your local Department of Motor Vehicles, I think you know the answer. The last thing any of us want is that level of customer service when it comes to our medical needs. However, that's what progressives wanted, the destruction of the worlds best medical system, replaced with a socialized system that is well-known for needless deaths and long waits for essential procedures. Brilliant!

Having a capitalist president in the wheelhouse will enable us to use our free market economy in a way that benefits the public instead of draining it its resources. While there are things that only government can do, such as provide a standing military for national defense, there are plenty of opportunities for the private sector to step in to provide needed services at a reduced cost.

Mr. Issues will also begin to address the direction in which our economy can move to provide a richness of diversity in the job market.

It is indeed curious that considering how much the mantra of “diversity” has been bandied about in recent years, we’ve managed to reduce the number of job opportunities available to us. While there’s nothing wrong with a college degree, there are many Americans who draw a great deal of satisfaction in working with their hands. I count myself among them. Manufacturing provides good paying job opportunities for people of various skill levels, from fabrication, to machining, to quality control, to finishing, to shipping. Some of these positions require more education than others, but the point is that a college degree is not required for all of them. Apprenticeships are just as valuable, even moreso since the student gets paid to learn. What's not to like?

The passage of NAFTA was to herald a move towards a service economy. How has that worked out for us so far? Why was that move necessary to begin with? Somewhere along the way, we managed to move away from our manufacturing economy, where downturns were far less disruptive, to one based more upon disposable income, which is more volatile and prone to fluctuations. This is another area where a capitalist president could calm the waters, so to speak, not walk on them.

A president with real working experience would steer the country back towards a manufacturing based economy. We’ve seen the rapid rise of China’s economy, fueled by manufacturing. While there are some naysayers who complain that American workers command a too-high wage, we need look no further than Germany, who has maintained their level of worker pay while increasing their exports. They are currently leading Europe’s exit from the worldwide recession.

There is no reason why Americans shouldn’t be making American products. We have the world’s largest economy, we’re dumb not to take advantage of it. There was and is no excuse for other countries to flourish at our expense. Mr. Issues would also propose a national “right-to-work” law and allow the free market to do its stuff. In the Internet Age, it wouldn’t take long for folks to find out which company has the best compensation plans. Good companies would attract good employees as a matter of course. Bad companies would wither away, as they should, and have in the past, before It Was Decided that certain companies (populated with union workers) were Too Big To Fail.
To be continued tomorrow., same time, same place.

I Had a Dream, Too

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Thanks to all of you who clicked on the video Friday. I feel much better.

Such is the power of this Interwebs thingy.

In between coughing fits and fevered sleep, I had a dream I’d like to share with you.

I dreamed that America had an epiphany. That collectively, we decided we’d had enough of the things that bedevil us and set course to pursue what could, and should, be ours. To take our place in history as the greatest society the world has ever known.

That we started to emphasize the goodness that comes naturally to us. We told our leaders that, in no uncertain terms, from this day forward they were instructed to vigorously pursue our wishes, to the exclusion of all others.

Our wishes were these:

America should begin to put Americans first.  Political decisions will be made henceforth with the needs of all Americans in mind. We will begin to reassemble a free-market economy that insures Americans have a secure future to pursue happiness for our families and ourselves. We would create true diversity in the job market so as to accommodate the richness of our abilities, whether those abilities reside in our heads or in our hands.

America’s representatives would put themselves in the place of their neighbors and practice real empathy. They would ask themselves how their decisions would benefit the majority of their peers who chose them to act in their stead in Washington, and if they had no answer, they would go directly to the people and ask them, and then act on those answers. Their decisions would no longer cater to whichever group gave them the most money for their campaigns, but to America as a whole.

I dreamed that those whose charge it is to inform us would swear allegiance to the truth, that we might ferret out those who choose to ignore the plain, honest wishes of the people, and not seek to “change the world” through deception, or bias, or misrepresentation of American values.

I dreamed that we would construct an impenetrable shield to protect our shores from enemies and those within our shores who wish us ill leave us in peace.

I dreamed that we would once again draw our God-given resources from His Earth to use for our benefit in a responsible way.

Lastly, I dreamed the dream of another, that we might truly judge one another by the content of their character. That we all begin to see our similarities more clearly than our differences. That we see ourselves in each other, knowing that we are interconnected not just in life, but in spirit, seeking goodness, humility and truth to bind us together, and to treat each other as we want to be treated.

Whew, We Did It

Yesterday was a great day in American political history, and an important one, too. The country spoke out and said not only "No" but "Hell No!".

Let's take a quick look at what we did:

We stopped the hard left turn that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi have been turning the country towards against our will.

And speakering of Pelosi, she is no longer the Speaker of the House. Her deathgrip on the gavel is no more.

Harry Reid is quaking in his oversized shoes.

Russ Feingold is now a regular citizen.

The Idiot Alan Grayson is gone.

Republicans picked up 61 seats in the House to take control away from Democrats.

Tea Party candidates made a respectable showing for a nascent movement.

Marco Rubio and Colonel Alan West were elected to Congress.

Twenty-seven states now have Republican governors.

Did we conservatives get everything we wanted? No. Have you ever gone fishing and caught all the fish?

We did, however, do something vitally important for the country: we sent a message.

We're back!

Note: Today starts the move into the new digs, and along with it short or nonexistent posts for a few weeks, for real this time. You can always visit some of my blog buddies on the list in the sidebar. I promise I'll be back as soon as possible. This blogging thing is worse than crack, not that I'd know, or anything. Anyway, have fun.

Some Helpful Ideas for the GOP

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs has made it official. The House of Representatives will be taken by the GOP this coming November.

This is great news, to be sure. But the GOP may be in danger of being like the dog that chases cars all day. When he catches one, what will he do with it?

In the interest of the nation, this blog is here to help. The GOP certainly needs it. The Democrats in Congress have been on a tear since the election of President Obama. They've managed to force one unpopular piece of legislation after another on an unwilling nation. The reaction from the GOP has been the sound of crickets. In our Age of Information, where the news cycle is now 24/7, there is literally no excuse for the Republican Party to remain in the shadows. There are so many ways to circumvent the MSM that it boggles the mind. Apparently, most of the GOP leadership has been boggled to the point of stunned silence since we never hear an alternative to the big-government, freedom-reducing, job-killing policies of this administration and the Democrat controlled Congress.

So here, in no certain order of importance, are some tips that the GOP could consider once they're in office.


1. Balance the budget and get our mounting debt under control immediately. You could even start working on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that will solve this problem once and for all.

2. Start reducing the size and scope of the Federal government by eliminating the Departments of Energy and Education and the Environmental Protection Agency for starters. Return these functions to the states where they belong.

3. Repeal ObamaCare, the remnants of the Stimulus Bill and just about every other bill that this Congress has foisted on the people against our wishes. This includes any bills that might be passed during the lame duck session.

4. Make General Motors and Chrysler private companies again.

5. Secure our borders. Critics of the effort constantly complain that we don't have a system to insure orderly immigration. That is just plain bullshit. Perhaps they've never heard of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

6. Institute a flat tax of absolutely no more that 10 per cent of gross income that cannot be raised without a two-thirds majority popular vote. Keep the deduction for mortgage interest and college loans. Tie this to the balanced budget amendment above.

7. Repeal NAFTA and institute policies that will revive the manufacturing sector of our economy. We need the diversity of job opportunities that manufacturing provides, especially to those who want to work with their hands.

8. Pass a national right-to-work law. No one should be forced to join a union if they don't want to.

9. Replace the United Nations with a new coalition of democratic nations. Have as a requirement for membership free and open elections and a functioning democratic constitution that recognizes the right of the people to be free. We might be the only ones in it, so what?

10. Craft a national energy policy that encourages the harvesting of our abundant natural resources in a safe way. Make it much easier to construct new nuclear power plants and oil refineries. Open up areas that have been senselessly closed to drilling. Abandon the false notion of "climate change" or "global warming" or whatever it's called this week.

11. Pass a tort reform bill that drastically limits the number of frivolous lawsuits and repeal every hate crime law. The lawyer lobby will scream, but again, so what? No one should live in fear of a lawsuit if they've done nothing wrong. Return the ideals of right and wrong to legality and illegality.

12. Restore NASA to its original purpose of maintaining the lead in space exploration that we've earned. Go to the Moon and Mars, not because it is easy.

13. Answer critics with the truth. Any time someone, particularly in the media, says or writes a false statement, call them out on it. Defend American values such as honesty, individual freedom and responsibility at every opportunity without cowering or making excuses. If you hear something false, say something true.

14. Root out corruption whenever and wherever it is found. Restore trust in government that we can once again be a beacon to the world and set the example of how government is to be operated, which is in the best interests of the majority of Americans.

15. Dismiss this notion of personal political wins and losses. Politicians who think this way (as we see nearly every issue painted as a victory or loss for Obama instead of the nation) need to be rooted out of the system. We also need to end the practice of political donors receiving direct favors in repayment for contributions. If a politician gets a contribution, it should be understood that it's in repayment for the politician doing the will of the people and standing up for American values, which indirectly benefits everyone.

16. Be aware that any move to the political left or towards a larger government is directly at odds with the Founders notions of limited government and maximum individual freedom, and is thus to be avoided at all times.

This is by no means everything that needs to be done to restore American values to Washington, but it's a start. This blog has done its part. Now it's time for the GOP to do theirs.