Obama is America’s ‘puppy purchase’

My house is full of all kinds of electronic gizmos and wheeled contraptions that the kids and I just had to buy - we couldn’t live without them. After using them like crazy for a few weeks, many now sit idle. The tire needs air, the fishing line got tangled, the batteries need a charge.
We call these impulse buys ‘puppy purchases’ because, just like a cute little puppy that grows into a big needy dog, the fun turns to work.
The election of Barack Obama reminds me of the nation's ‘puppy purchase’. The guy was cool… a different kind of candidate. It wasn’t what he said as much as how he said it, and the voters bought in. He was supposed to be bipartisan, transparent, post-racial and able to talk down dictators. Instead, he’s been inflexible, inexperienced, divisive, soft on defense and a real Chicago-land politician.
My family has learned its lesson. We think long and hard before we commit to anything on an urge. I hope the country is learning the same lesson.

The Minimum Wage is stupid

Note: I always taught my kids not to use the word stupid. But it’s in the news a lot these days, and there may be no better adjective to describe the minimum wage.

My 16-year-old son just started working part-time in an entry level position. I’m very proud of him for taking the initiative. Low and behold, after only three weeks on the job, he got an 11% raise. The boy must be good, a real chip off the old block!
But wait. The raise wasn’t based on performance, it was Washington interfering in the markets again. And it may cost my son his job.
The minimum wage increased to $7.25 on Friday. Of all the misguided government programs, this may have the most damaging unintended consequences of all.
I shop at the place he works; you probably do, too. I’m just waiting to see the impact of the minimum wage increase. Will my son lose his job or suffer a cutback in hours? Will the store raise prices or cut back on quality or service? Will lower earnings cause the company’s stock to decline and lower our retirement savings another notch?
You can squeeze a balloon all you want. Either the pressure goes somewhere else, or it bursts.
If raising the minimum wage to $7.25 is so smart, why not raise it to $17.25 or $117.25?

Obama speaks without facts… again

The Gates-Crowley episode in Cambridge, MA reminds me of the movie, Bonfire of the Vanities. Instead of Manhattan, the setting is Harvard.
Professor H. L. Gates, Jr. is about as privileged as they come – big salary, friend of the President, tenure at America’s richest school, living in a university house, returning home from a trip to China with his chauffeur. Sergeant Crowley was simply responding to a neighbor’s call to 911 at a house that had previously been burglarized.
In the movie, an alcoholic journalist shines a spotlight on an otherwise unfortunate accident. In Gates-Crowley, the President of the United States drew national attention to an unfortunate event with his casual, off-the-teleprompter comments.
Saying the police acted stupidly may have been a rookie mistake, but Obama's unguarded observation gave us a glimpse into his way of thinking. Based on his own frantic backpedaling, Obama acted stupidly in judging without all the facts. A simple ‘no comment’ would have been wiser.
Don’t worry Obama supporters, the mainstream press will make sure that the damage to your man is minimized.

Global warming update

Katie Couric: I feel bad not reporting the news of record low temperatures in Macon.
Nancy Pelosi: You did good. That would’ve hurt our chances of passing the cap and trade bill in the Senate. Right, Barbara?
Barbara Boxer: If you are talking to me, please call me senator.
Couric: Did you ever wonder if we could be wrong about global warming?
Boxer: Quiet! We’ve worked too hard to get people to buy curly light bulbs and take their own bags shopping. Do you think this outfit makes me look taller?
Couric: I can’t just ignore the truth. What would Walter do?
Pelosi: Let’s come up with a diversion. We need more greenhouse gas villains.
Boxer: What is greenhouse gas, anyway? I heard it’s just water vapor. That doesn’t sound very harmful. Actually, it’s good for my complexion.
Couric: Maybe I could do a two-hour documentary on The China Syndrome. I thought the acting was much better in that than The Inconvenient Truth.
Pelosi: I got it! We need to go after methane gas. Something stinky and flammable.
Boxer: Doesn’t methane come from pig farts?
Couric: Does methane make a lot of noise, because one time I heard Walter cut the cheese and it was quite a blast.
Pelosi: I saw this PBS special that showed methane gas just naturally bubbling out of oceans and lakes. They even showed where snow can burn in Alaska.
Boxer: Some of my best friends are Eskimos.
Couric: I’m confused about all this global warming stuff. It sure was easier when we were negative about everything and didn’t have to defend things.
Pelosi: I got it! Let’s call Joe Biden. He’ll find a way to blame Bush for all this.
Boxer: Joey is up in Hyannis Port helping Teddy protest the installation of windmills that block the ocean view at his beachfront compound.
Pelosi: What about Al Gore? He invented the Prius.
Couric: Al is still at the Michael Jackson tribute eating leftovers.
Boxer: Just forget it, Katie. It will get warmer in Georgia. Those people just cling to their guns and religion, anyway.

Asia is beating us like we beat Europe

In the movie Outsourced, an American company has moved its production to China and call center to India. In one scene, an American caller complains about dealing with a bunch of foreigners. The pretty young Indian empathizes with the guy and gives him the number of a company that manufactures and sells in the U.S. The customer asks if the price is the same. When she replies that the item costs $200 more, the customer sheepishly stays on the line to place his order.

The same people that complain about outsourcing are those who are unwilling to pay more for American goods and services. They support unions, but buy imports. They love jobs, but hate employers. They demonize corporate executives when they as consumers are driving businesses to outsource.

Every time our government raises taxes – e.g. cap and trade, national health - jobs go overseas. The more regulations passed by our government – e.g. minimum wage - the better other countries look.

You can’t stop people from doing what’s in their family’s best interest. And history proves that protectionism cannot stop an expanding global economy.

Years ago, the U.S. was strong enough to absorb all of these hits. Unfortunately, due to decades of high taxes, heaping regulation, lawsuit abuse and wasteful spending, our reserves are stripped.

Wake up, Democrats. It’s time to stop all the emotional, anecdotal liberal speak and grip the realities.

Landing on the moon. We came, we saw, we…

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. I’ll never forget the fascination and pride I felt that night. I still marvel at NASA’s inspiration, courage, creativity, teamwork and persistence. That was the greatest leap man has taken in my lifetime and brought the people of earth together like never before or since.
Much of the technology we enjoy today came from the R&D that went into the space program – areas such as communications, miracle materials, medical breakthroughs and advances in safety.
But soon after the landing, the social engineers began arguing that we should direct our resources on poverty and education, not exploration. Their short vision won, and now, forty years later, we have more poverty and ignorance than ever… and little progress in space exploration. People also said we should explore the oceans instead of space. We needed to do both; we did neither.
As Charles Krauthammer said in his recent column about the moon landing: we came, we saw, we retreated.
Too bad. Quitting was a big mistake.
But who knows... maybe I’ll live to see man land on Mars.

How did Mary Jo die?

At about the same time Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, Ted Kennedy left Mary Jo Kopechne dead in his overturned car in a stream on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts.
Ted and Mary Jo were at a party of six single women and six married guys sans wives. Kennedy was supposedly giving her a lift to the ferry landing when he made an unbelievably irrational turn from a paved road onto a dirt lane and drove off a narrow bridge.
Was he drunk? He says no. Were they fooling around? He testified no. Why did he swim the strong current of the channel between Chappaquiddick and the mainland, return to his hotel, sleep, and act so casual the next morning – all before contacting the authorities? He never gave rational answers.
There was no autopsy. The Kopechne family went silent. Kennedy was treated like royalty by officials, and got off with a two-month suspended sentence.
Mary Jo would have been 69 years-old on July 26th. I guess we’ll never know how or why she died.

Barbara Boxer and the Grizzly Bears

I recently watched a nature program showing how grizzly bears snag spawning salmon out of an Alaskan stream, take a big bite, and throw the carcasses on the rocks.
My first thought was that the grizzlies must be doing well and there must be plenty of salmon. Global warming must be very good for the wildlife in Alaska.
Then I wondered what people like Barbara Boxer and Barack Obama would think if they ever paused from pontificating to pay attention to the world around them.
Boxer: “Oh my, those grizzlies are so greedy and wasteful! It’s not fair! We must stop them from killing those poor little fishes!”
Obama: “Ma'am, we must tax and regulate them! We will ration the fish by muzzling the bears and putting cages around the fish. We know better and this must be stopped!”
Boxer: “Oh, Barack. What would the world do without us?”

Conservatives and libertarians accept the ugly as well as the majestic side of nature. Live and let live. We view free enterprise the same way. Too bad the powers in Washington think they have all the answers, yet don’t have a clue about unintended consequences.
Turns out, the fish carcasses on the rocks support an entire ecosystem of smaller animals, insects and plants.

Secession – will the South rise again?

I never thought I’d seriously consider the idea of states seceding from the union. I’m not sure if it’s the highest form of patriotism or treason, if I’m even in favor of the idea, or that I understand how it would work. But the talk is rising; the momentum is building.

I do know that I can't stand the changes that the Democrats have brought to my country.

Any society or organization needs administration. Probably about 25% of resources should go toward infrastructure – security, finance, education and other administrative functions.

The U.S. is approaching 45%, and that’s way too high. Half the people will soon be supporting the other half. Some of that is military and police, teachers and other clearly necessary functions, but entitlements and unnecessary bureaucracy are rising fast. Environmental fanaticism and political correctness rule.

The people in Texas are openly talking secession. Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina should be right behind them. Throw in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and a few other solidly red states, and we have a viable country. (Florida should remain with the California-Illinois-New York crowd.)

Thomas Jefferson said: “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.”

However it works, I hope people have a year or so to immigrate to the country of their choice. If we lead the charge, maybe Atlanta can become the new nation’s capital.

Obama’s fatal flaw – talks fancy, but full of crap

Even the most loyal Obama fans have to be alarmed at the length and depth of this recession. Unemployment continues to rise, investments are still down. Those who bought into the campaign slogans are losing hope, and the rest of us are deeply concerned that the statist in Washington are doing permanent damage to this country.

Obama policies have not created a single job in the private sector… the sector that produces real wealth. He’s loading up future generations with debt, promising entitlements that can’t be delivered and weakening our security.

The world is full of people who don’t express themselves particularly well, but that's okay, because they don’t have anything unique to contribute anyway. Once in a while we get an inspiring talker who is also a brilliant walker… Reagan comes to mind. Great leaders who aren’t great speakers are the salt of the earth… Cheney and most corporate execs come to mind.

The most dangerous people are great speechmakers who are either evil or misinformed… Hitler and Obama come to mind.

Stimulus not working... VP offers excuses

Joe Biden said recently that the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was.”
Good grief, Joe. A fifth grader could have seen the two lines tracking in opposite directions for the past year – the likelihood of an Obama agenda and the economy.
Instead of authorizing $787 BILLION for a bunch of pork and social programs, the Democrats should have given us a two-month tax holiday.
Can you imagine how rapidly a tax cut would have stimulated the economy, versus making delusional promises back in March and waiting until the House elections in 2010 to spend the money?
Tell me, Joe, which Obama program do you think encourages business to hire and expand? Is it higher taxes, more debt, nationalizing companies, crippling environmental rules, smothering regulations or the prospect of government health care?
The people who make this country work have no confidence in Washington.

Tapeworms, Al Franken, barnacles and other parasites

The comparison of liberals to parasites and conservatives to hosts has never been more appropriate than with Al Franken’s arrival in the Senate.
What were the good people of Minnesota thinking? Do they miss the national attention of Governor Jesse Ventura?
Parasites can play a useful role, like an egret picking off ticks on the back of a bull. And a certain amount of parasitic activity is harmless. Like barnacles, they may be a nuisance, but do little damage.
Franken is over the top in a Senate that is over the top. He’s made a lot of money being negative, in a low, mean style. He’s the kind of parasites that, left untreated, will slowly kill the host.

Sports celebrities say some stupid stuff

Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson recently told Conan O’Brien that he had a conversation with the president after winning the NBA championship. He told Obama that the reason the Iranians were protesting in the streets was the tone that President Obama has set in the world.
Not only is that about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but why is Jackson commenting on foreign affairs, anyway? He’s a basketball coach, for heaven’s sake.
What is it about celebrities that they feel a need to use their platform to say such stupid stuff?
Is it some kind of god complex? Are they trying to find some greater relevance for their lives?
I think celebrities have an overwhelming need to feel that they’re part of the herd. Conan’s LA audience loved Jackson’s comment, so we can expect more dim-witted observations.

“I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to." - Shaquille O'Neal, basketball player, on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece.
"I want all the kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I want all the kids to copulate me." - Andre Dawson, former professional baseball player, on being a role model.
"Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer." - David Acfield, sports commentator.
"We all get heavier as we get older because there's a lot more information in our heads." - Vlade Divac, Basketball player.
"He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning regardless of what time it is." - Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer.
"If only faces could talk..." - Pat Summerall, sportscaster, during the Super Bowl.