The Great Wall of Washington

There is a wall in Washington. It’s well constructed and apparently impenetrable. It’s nowhere and everywhere, invisible yet pervasive. This wall has no name, but is well defined. It isn’t meant to keep out invaders. This wall is designed to keep those in our current administration separated from reality and common sense.

The wall is evident in many ways. Take the current turmoil in the Middle East. In times past, America was somewhat insulated from the effects of political unrest half a world away. But this New World Order that’s being constructed, often by persons unknown and unelected by us, we’re being shepherded into a global economy that just plain isn’t working.

Nowhere is this more evident that at the gasoline pump. As you’ve no doubt noticed during the past week or two, gasoline prices are going through the roof. Now think back on all the times you’ve heard politicians say we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil supplies. Compare that to the reality of what you’re paying today.

That, gentle reader, is The Wall.

I can think of no other reason for high gas prices than the effect of this Wall. To each and every sentient citizen, the answer is extremely simple: we should be actively and aggressively harvesting our natural resources. Do you think that if we were doing what we once did, we’d be suffering at the pump?

By now, we should all know the answers as to why we aren’t pursuing a national energy policy of drilling and refining American oil. For generations, we’ve been prohibited from doing this by environmental groups and their handmaidens inside the Beltway. Lie after lie has been foisted upon the public claiming that we’re “destroying the planet” by using fossil fuels (even that description is debateable) despite a yearly tsunami of new and ever more restrictive environmental regulations. Even after the hoax of man-made global warming was revealed, politicians continued to pursue their misguided policies restricting our ability to generate energy as though nothing had happened.

I don’t need to tell you how rising fuel prices will kill our economy. You’ve already received a cut in pay over the last weeks, and this is just the beginning. Remember back to 2008 and how high gas prices rippled throughout the economy, raising the price of just about everything we make and consume.

Now, as a thought experiment, try imagining what it would be like if we had mature, responsible, and thoughtful leadership in Washington. We’d be drilling and refining our own oil today. Oil would be far less expensive, well under the $100/barrel we’re seeing today. Jobs would be created here, wealth would be created here. More Americans would have more buying power. World oil prices would fluctuate much less and political unrest in faraway lands would have less of an impact here at home. We'd have the money to effectively research viable alternative sources of energy that actually work.

Kind of like how it used to be.

OK, back to the real world, where logic, nor common sense, nor the laws of physics, nor concern for the nation can penetrate The Wall. Expect more empty words from this administration, more counter-intuitive ideas, more belief in the fairy tale of mankinds destruction of the planet. Expect more of what got us into this mess instead of a concrete, proven plan to get us out of it.

Such is the power of The Wall.

Protestors Desecrate War Memorial in Wisconsin

This is a video you should see, even if it is a Saturday morning.

You will not be pleased.

The level of disrespect shown towards the very men and women who gave their lives to defend the protesters' right to speak is truly astonishing and shameful. One of the protesters even says she constructs memorials, so shouldn't she know about proper behavior and treatment of one?

   

Thanks to Dave in Texas over at Ace of Spades HQ.

Friday Bits of Tid, Presidents Day Edition

Yeah, I know it was last Monday, but then again, George Washington's Birthday is really on February 11th. Go figure.

Anyway, I thought about calling this the Wisconsin Missing Democrat Edition, but I've spent all week on the subject. I am tired, as are you. Wouldn't it be nice if the people we send to do our business actually did it? Maybe what this needs is a phone app. Find the Missing Senator. Hmm...

On this day in 1890, Vlacheslav Mikhaylovich Skryabin, foreign minister for the Soviet Union who took the revolutionary name Molotov, is born in Kurkaka, Russia. There's a cocktail named after him, but I sure wouldn't want to drink it.


A tidding we shall go.

The world's oldest wedding cake.

Flexibility, like youth, is wasted on the young. A handcuffed suspect drives off in police cruiser.

Doc, it hurts when I do this anything. Chinese surgeons remove four-inch-long knife blade from man's head.

Doc, it hurts when I do this ride my bicycle. Warning for picture of something that you'd think would really, really hurt, but didn't stop him from finishing a race.

This will surely solve all of Detroit's problems: a statue of RoboCop.

Oh wow, duude, I like totally fergot that today, way back sometime, some dude named Robert Mitchum got busted for weed.

From across the pond, David Thompson posts this link to the Space Suit of the Week.

There is no fun in Islam - Formula 1 race cancelled due to unrest in Bahrain.

And finally, apropos of nothing now that football season is over, here's UConn quarterback Johnny McEntee and his amazing magic football...



Y'all have a good'un.

Obama and the Unions – As Thick as Thieves

As the debate in Wisconsin over Governor Walker’s effort to balance the state budget intensifies, we’re finding out all kinds of things about the unholy alliance between the Democrat Party, President Obama, and unions. When it began, Obama came down squarely on the side of the unions with whom he has been aligned since the beginning of his political career. Naturally, this put him at odds with Republicans and the rest of Wisconsin who elected Walker with the mandate to manage the state effectively.

As I outlined yesterday, we now understand how unions and the Democrat Party work together to fund their political machine. In this case, unionized state workers are paid by tax dollars, a portion of which goes to the unions in the form of dues. Those dues are then used almost exclusively to fund Democrats who, once in office, funnel more taxpayer dollars to the state employees, a portion of which goes to the unions in the form of dues, which are used to fund more Democrats, until we reach the point where the game must end.

Curiously, the Wall Street Journal has an article that tries, weakly, to spin Obama out of this. I’m sorry to have to tell the fine folks over at the WSJ, but you’re a bit behind the curve. The rest of us are paying close attention to this, as it has a direct effect on our pocketbooks.

As President Obama has appeared to back down his rhetoric on this confrontation, other Democrats have stepped up theirs. As I predicted yesterday (damn I’m good at this stuff), Massachusetts Representative Mike Capuano has walked back his irresponsible and reprehensible statement inciting union members to “get a little bloody” in their protests. Um, Mikey, it’s a bit late for that, especially when you were among those who shamelessly blamed the Gabby Giffords attack on the Right.

However, as the young folks say, it’s all good. Or at least they used to say that.

This issue has given the country a good look at unions, who their leaders are, what they say and what they do, and the role that the Obama administration plays in backing the unions in a fight that shouldn’t be happening.

Here’s a video of the national face of Labor, Richard Trumka. See if you can detect just a teeny, tiny bit of a factual inaccuracy in his statements…



Now it seems as though this fellow doesn’t have even a basic grasp of economics. As the chart on the video plainly shows, and all of us know, the Obama administration is responsible for the highest deficits in our nations’ history. The deficit is one of the main reasons we can’t get our economy out of the ditch, to borrow a phrase, since the federal government is busy vacuuming money from the private sector that could be going into real investments to generate wealth and tax revenue.

If you’d like a bit more info on Trumka’s background, click here, and here. Do click and edumacate yourself, and ask these questions, “Should this guy have the ear of the president? Is he qualified to occupy any position in Washington that purports to create jobs?”

I think not.

About the good part of this issue, there are a lot more folks asking questions about the role the unions play inside and outside the Beltway. Bill O’Reilly is asking, as is Charles Krauthammer.

There is a golden opportunity for Governor Walker and the American people to break the stranglehold of unions on the various states budgets and greatly diminish the political power of unions to drive the Democrat agenda. I don’t think union leaders will like that very much. As we’ve seen, the unions will stop at nothing to lie, cheat, and intimidate the public to keep their power.

If it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they shall have.

Democrat Representative Calls for Union Violence

So much for the New Civil Tone in politics. Massachusetts Representative Michael Capuano is calling for union protesters to become violent as a response to efforts by Republican lawmakers to balance their state budgets.

How nice.

In a report by The Hill, Capuano was rallying union supporters Tuesday when he said this, "Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary."

Is this what we’ve been reduced to? As most folks should know by now, public sector union pensions are posing a real threat to many states’ ability to balance their budgets. Year after year of increasing demands from unions have resulted in a greater share of tax dollars going towards unions. It’s not just pay rates; even those are now above the national average for most job descriptions. When you factor in benefits that are paid for by taxpayers instead of the union members, the total bill becomes quite expensive, exceeding the national average by a substantial percentage.

But when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker tries to do what the rest of America has to do during this recession, his efforts are met by the unions with demonstrations. Tens of thousands of demonstrators have descended on the state capitol, many bused in from out of state and assisted in their efforts by the Democratic National Committee and President Obama’s own group Organizing for America. These protests have been largely free of violence up until now.

One wonders why a sitting Congressman would be advocating violence. Didn’t we just receive a lesson from the Professional Left following the attack on Gabby Giffords? Wasn’t the Tea Party falsely accused of all sorts of things? Even Sarah Palin got the blame when anyone with two functioning neurons to rub together knew differently. All of the finger-wagging came from the left, whom, as we all know, is incapable of uttering a syllable of incivility towards their political opponents and would never stoop to such tactics as comparing a sitting president to Hitler. Nor would they consider making a movie about the mythical assassination of a sitting president. Or compare him with a chimpanzee.

No, they would never do such a thing.

By now, America has learned how the unions have gamed the system. Public sector unions are paid with taxpayers’ money. Union dues are collected from those members, which are used to pay for the unions’ political support of Democrats. The Democrats, once in office, are indebted to the unions for their support and give the unions sweetheart deals. Money then goes back to the unions to support more Democrat candidates, who again give unions favorable deals in a never-ending cycle of back-scratching and hand-washing.

At least everybody involved is hygienic. Everybody except the taxpayers, that is.

You can expect this reprehensible incitement to violence by a sitting Congressman to be walked back, probably by the end of today. He will doubtless say that’s not what he meant in a weak attempt to appeal to the rest of the country’s non-union populace.

However, the cat is out of the bag, as it were.

America is at a crossroad. We can either continue down the road we’re on, where public sector unions (with the very socialist Richard Trumka as their public and private face) can continue to drain local and state coffers of money, or elected officials can do their duty to the citizens and start to rein in the outrageous demands for an ever-larger piece of a shrinking pie.

It’s Time for a National Right-to-Work Law

The events in Wisconsin pitting teachers’ unions against taxpayers give us a golden opportunity for real freedom in the workplace by enacting a national right-to-work law.

Who needs another boss? If you work, you probably have enough of them already.

And why should you be forced to join a union if you don’t want to? Isn’t freedom all about choice? Shouldn’t you make that decision yourself? Couldn’t you use the extra money that is legally removed from your paycheck?

It’s a wonder that we don’t already have a law that prohibits the mandatory confiscation of a workers’ pay, particularly when it comes to politics. Many rank and file members are becoming increasing vocal in their opposition to having their union dues used to support a political candidate they don’t personally support.

At one time, American unions served a vital service to the workers they represented. We have the union movement to thank for the 40-hour workweek, among many other benefits that were later codified into law. But today’s unions are a different beast, as we’re seeing in Wisconsin.

Here’s a taste of some of the false rhetoric emanating from the union protestors, countered with a bit of reality…



I’d think that teachers would have a better grasp of history, especially if they were responsible for teaching my kid. If this is any indication of what’s being taught in the classroom, then it’s also time to start examining the curriculum for this type of leftist indoctrination. I suspect Billy Ayers would not welcome such a move.

Nationally, we have a big political problem with unions. As you probably know, they contribute almost exclusively to radical leftist candidates and were among the biggest supporters of Barack Obama in 2008. As president, Obama was more than happy to bail out GM and Chrysler, a move that prevented those companies from renegotiating their contracts with the unions by declaring bankruptcy. This goes back to yesterday’s post about corruption in high places and campaign contributors greedily expecting a direct favor (or favors) for their political support.

It’s no secret that wages that are well above the national average for comparable work are helping to price American companies out of the global marketplace. This also extends to the outrageous salaries that some executives receive.

There are a couple of organizations that are working towards the goal of freedom for American workers. The National Right to Work Legal Foundation is one of them. The National Right to Work Committee is another.

This is a concept whose time has come. Governor Walker is doing the work he was elected to do by standing up to the unions and their continued demands that place them above the good citizens of Wisconsin who pay their salaries.

Quid Pro Quo or How Good Government Went Bad

The current stalemate in Wisconsin offers us a good lesson in how not to operate a government. Public sector union pensions are in the process of causing a genuine meltdown of the state’s budget, draining monies from needed infrastructure into pension plans that the rest of the working populace can only dream about. This budget crisis has been brewing for decades, with unions seeking ever-increasing benefits that seemed almost reasonable during good economic times. However, the tenuous nature of our economy, which has been teetering on the edge of fiscal responsibility for years, has awakened the good citizens of Wisconsin and America to the fact that we can no longer continue to give the unions each and every little thing their hearts desire. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker puts it plainly when he says, “We’re broke.”

One only needs to listen to Richard Trumka and his outrageous Socialist rhetoric to know that this has been planned.

While teachers call in “sick” and unscrupulous doctors write fake notes so the teachers can get paid to protest, the parents who have to take days off to tend to their children or pay daycare are not amused. The rest of the country is starting to see the unions, rightfully, as the spoiled children that they are. As the details of the unions’ demands emerge, we’re seeing that the public sector unions have an awfully sweet deal, with above average pay and benefits that the average American doesn’t have.

While the rest of us are tightening our belts, the unions are screaming that their rights are being taken away from them, that Governor Walker is Hitler, or a dictator like Egypt’s Mubarak, or any number of other false, immature accusations.

Cartoon by Phil Hands of the Wisconsin State Journal.

Wisconsin’s Democratic senators are no better, fleeing the state rather that performing their sworn duty to uphold the state’s constitution and effectively manage the budget.

Sports fans, this is exactly what happens when we choose the wrong people for elective office.

Mr. Boy, you ask, how do we know when we’ve done that? What are the signs of corruption in politics?

I thought you’d never ask.

It’s simple. It’s also Standard Operating Procedure in Third World Countries. One hand washes the other, scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, or its most eloquent title, Quid Pro Quo. It’s called by several names, but the principle is the same.

And it’s not how our government is supposed to work.

In a perfect world, a political donor would contribute to a candidate on principle, and expect nothing in return except good, honorable and honest government in accordance with the Constitution. Everyone would benefit indirectly from this, as the economic tide would rise for all the ships.

But this has been twisted into corruption where today a donor expects (quite wrongly) a direct benefit from a campaign donation. Nowhere is this perversion of the Constitution more evident than in the waivers the Obama administration has given to cronies to avoid the onerous restrictions of ObamaCare, over 700 so far.

One could argue (quite rightly) that this action is unconstitutional. What’s the point of passing a law that only applies to Americans of a certain political affiliation? This action clearly runs counter to the Equal Protection Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. You don’t need to be a constitutional scholar or a Supreme Court Justice to understand the simple principle that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law.

I’m frankly surprised that the Supreme Court hasn’t already weighed in on this aspect of the administration’s selective enforcement of the law. While I haven’t studied the details of the various states’ lawsuits seeking relief from ObamaCare, this should be the first item on the agenda. What use is the High Court if it will not to step in and warn this administration that it’s violating the Constitution?

It’s just this simple, either we adhere to the nations’ legal foundation, or we don’t. It’s written in plain enough language that people (except certain writers for the New York Times) can understand it.

Friday Bits of Tid, Daytona 500 Edition

In Spring, a young Boy's thoughts turn to...octane ratings, aerodynamic frontal areas, lap times, and drafting partners.

What?

Yes, I know that this is also the NBA's All Star Weekend too. I'll be tuning in to that as well, but one must have priorities. This year, my Magic only have one representative in LA, Superman, the new one, not the old, worn-out one (who still manages to put up respectable numbers between injuries). Go get 'em, Dwight Howard.

Now, back to the race. This weekend we remember Dale Earnhardt, whom we lost in the last lap of the 500 ten years ago today. Everyone who follows the sport remembers where they were when they heard the news. There was one small consolation: he died doing what he loved to do. We should all be that lucky.

The truck race is tonight, the Nationwide race is Saturday and the Big One is Sunday. I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning...

OK, let's drop the green flag on some tidbits.

On the NASCAR front, Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum wants the Pentagon to stop  advertising on stock cars. Um, no. I'd rather see that money on the side of a car than on a TV ad, say, for Jersey Shore. Which one is more wholesome?

This is a sure sign that inflation is back. $5M suit filed over 80 cents.

Overheard in a McDonalds drive-thru: "I'll take one Big Mac, one Warm and Sweet Wedding package, hold the prenup, with, uh, oh, I'll take the Hamburglar as best man, what the hey. With fries."

Duude, like bad dog, man. Bad dog.

There is no fun in Islam. Malaysia's Campaign Against Cupid.

New York launches app to find you free condoms. Who knew there was also a black market for them?

A real, live, cat burglar.

And finally, here's Freddy, the world's fastest fish.



Y'all have a good weekend, y'all.

Showdown in Wisconsin: The People vs. the Teachers Unions

If you didn’t see it already on the news, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has introduced a bill that will finally release the stranglehold that the state teachers union currently has on the budget. After years of ever-increasing demands from public sector unions, many states are finding themselves at the breaking point. Their budgets are overdrawn due in large part to the outrageous amounts of money these unions have demanded and gotten. In fact, most state’s public sector union members receive benefits and pay that would make a mobster blush.

This just happens to tie in with a commenter’s remarks from the other day. I’m so proud that I got a comment here on the Internet’s best-kept secret, I have to share it:

I find it interesting that most rural/republican districts spout a rhetoric that doesn't match the reality when it comes to smaller government and fiscal self-sufficiency. Across the country I see that these are the districts that receive quite a disproportionate amount of money from the government compared to what they put in. While the liberal "welfare" bastions of urban areas foot there bill.

I know I’m carbon-dating myself when I say this, but there was a time when local tax money was put towards things like road and bridge repair, or infrastructure maintenance as it’s now called. Today, a disproportionate amount of this money is going to pay the for the very comfortable benefits for public sector union workers, many of whom don’t even contribute to their health care insurance like private sector workers do. That’s why local governments are forced to look to Washington for help, even with all the strings that come along with it.

In short, we’re slowly coming to the realization that public sector unions are bleeding the nation of tax dollars. It’s about time we started fighting back.

And if you think that the unions won’t mobilize to try to stop this common sense move by the officials who were elected to do so, you must be at work.

They’re protesting today at the state capitol. They’ve even enlisted students to march and called in sick all across the state so they could be seen protesting.



As you can see and hear, the students don’t have the slightest idea why they’re marching, they’re such good useful idiots. If one of those were my child, I’d yank them back home and file charges against the teacher for kidnapping so fast their head would spin. If parents need a permission slip to take their own child off campus, how did the teachers get them to the protests?

Was it a field trip to teach them about ecology?

Maybe it was a civics lesson. Hmm, how about teaching the kids that unions take the members’ dues and support overwhelmingly far-left Democrat candidates, many times against the member’s wishes and political beliefs. It’s no secret that the Democrat Party depends heavily on contributions from these unions. They contributed a great deal of money to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, which may explain why he chose to insert himself into the fray in Wisconsin by saying this,

“Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain, generally seems like more of an assault on unions. I think it's very important for us to understand that public employees, they're our neighbors, they're our friends.”

Yeah, Mr. President, they’re our friends, friends who are emptying our bank accounts. Just like all my friends do.

If you’d like a bit of insight into what passes for the thought process of a public sector union worker, here’s a little taste…

While visiting a state agency in Springfield recently I had the opportunity to engage a nice, professional looking, college educated, 30ish worker in conversation. What started with my making pleasant conversation while waiting for a transaction to complete, asking how long he/she had worked there and what was his/her previous job, quickly turned into an astonishing conversation to me, although the employee thought his/her thoughts were completely normal.

…When I asked what the person's previous job had been, the person answered that he/she had been with another state agency previously and applied for this position when it came open. "Do you like it better here," I asked. "Oh yes, much better. I wanted to move here because the union is better at this agency."…

…The person then told how much he/she mistrusted "management" and didn't think "management" ought to be able to approve days off. I asked if he/she really thought managers are always that bad.
"Absolutely. The workers need protection from management. If we don't have protection, you know, these people are just going to tell us to do things we shouldn't have to do and fire people. We need protection."

"Do you really think other people you work with or all managers are that bad?" I asked.

"Absolutely, you have to have protection. The managers are all going to take advantage of you if you don't have the union. You know these legislators, the ones who say their gonna just cut budgets so everyone loses their job, we have to have the union protection from them. They just want to fire everyone."…

…"You know our state is literally bankrupt. We have massive deficits. Don't you think the people have a right to elect new people to cut government to the level we can afford to pay for?"

"No way."

Then the big one. The question and answer that chilled me.

I asked, "Well, you know those legislators are the representatives of the people. The people elected them to vote for the policies they want for our government. So our boss is really the people, who we work for. That's who the legislators represent. Don't you think the people should be respected who fund us through paying taxes and make decisions through the vote?"

"No way. I don't have any respect for the people. The people are the worst of all. No, they shouldn't be able to make that decision. They should just pay the taxes if we need more. They don't know what we do. They have no business telling us what to do."

Emphasis mine.

Read the whole thing.

Here's another reminder, just in case you're still not ready for a drink...




Courtesy of Mikes America.


Behold your tax dollars at work.

Many thanks to the Morons over at Ace of Spades.

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!”