All Get Out

How Professor Obama would run a classroom

2012-01-10T19:34:00.003-05:00

Professor Obama spends the first several weeks of class delivering titillating lectures on what students can expect from the class. The kids get pumped. He convinces school officials to issue a multi-million dollar bond to equip all classrooms with solar-powered teleprompters and provide all students with “yes we can” T-shirts.

Dr. O brings in czars to determine which students are bright and which ones aren’t. (No one checks to see if O really has a PhD because he talks so eloquently... and he’s so cool.)

The bright students are assigned to tutor the other students while Dr. O sits up front planning a lavish Halloween party for the czars.

When parents complain that their students have made no academic progress, Dr. O blames the students’ past teachers. The parents calm down when O introduces them to his buddy, George Clooney.

Everyone in the class receives an A. Those students who had never before received an A occupy the principal’s office to demand renewal of Dr. O’s contract for next year.

Years later, the students of Kikthekan High hold their reunion under a bridge manufactured in China.

ABO

2012-01-07T10:20:00.002-05:00

What could Obama followers be thinking? Do they not see the screaming peril of our massive national debt?

No one in their right mind would run their household the way the Democrats have been running this country for the past five years that they’ve been in power. Dave Thomas, CEO of Equitas Capital Advisors, came up with a clever way to explain the situation in terms a fifth grader can understand.

Here is the federal budget for 2011:
Federal revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal spending: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000

Few people can relate to these trillions of dollars, so let's remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is a household budget:
Total annual family income: $21,700
Amount of money the family spent: $38,200
Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710

We can begin to reverse this insanity in November. Vote out the Democrats, starting at the top. Anyone but Obama.

One picture sums up 2011 for Dems

2012-01-01T22:16:00.002-05:00

Big government is metastasizing the private sector

2011-11-06T08:31:00.004-05:00

Just as one rotten strawberry ruins the bunch, government regulations and social engineering are metastasizing industry.
First it was the judicial system allowing lawyers to collect outlandish awards, restricting behaviors and sending jobs overseas. The insurance industry distributed the cost to us all. Then the Dems decided that everyone should own a home, eventually sending the construction, real estate and banking industries into a tailspin. Obama’s war on carbon and premature subsidies of ‘renewable’ energy has jacked up prices and set the green movement back decades. Cash for clunkers left nothing but more debt. Health care will soon be regulated by the same crowd that does such a fine job of running the Post Office.
Much needed attention is now focused on the student loan bubble. The government push on college degrees causes students to incur more debt than they can repay, institutions to spend more than they can sustain and future generations will be left with mountainous debt.
Our government does some things well – defense, treasury and transportation. But the government‘s push for ‘social justice’ has had tragic consequences - unintended social damage, bloated debt, rampant abuse and waste, and loss of individual freedom.
It’s time we elect representatives who can balance a budget instead of just thinking they’re in office to impart their personal judgment of how we should live our lives.

Who cut that?

2011-10-29T10:16:00.004-04:00

I saw President Obama on the Jay Leno show the other night. He reminds me of the guy who farts in a crowd and is then the first to complain about the smell.

Rabble rousing Democrats tearing country in two

2011-10-23T10:19:00.007-04:00

On one side you have the Tea Party - working people and retirees speaking out when the onslaught of government taxes, regulations and debt became destructive. On the other side are the Occupiers who want the government to level income and forgive our debts (no word yet on where the money will come from).
The left wants to defy nature by piling on rules. Their lack of knowledge and experience, and sour generalizations are a form of bigotry.
And who is giving the freedom-defiers support? Democrats, supported by the media. Barack and other Dem leaders are running around the country campaigning for bigger government and more debt on our kids. My former neighbor, Joe Biden, is a poster child of shrill rabble rousing.
We elected the fancy talkers in 2008 and it failed. What will happen when the country elects more responsible leaders next November? If the Democrats don’t tone it down, it won’t be pretty.

Return Churchill bust to the Oval Office

2011-10-16T10:21:00.002-04:00

How gracious of the Brits to offer a valuable bust of Churchill to the U.S. as symbol of solidarity following 9/11. And how bizarre that Barack Obama returned the bust in his first days of office.

America has been schooled on fancy talk over the past three years. Have we ever had a more erudite president who has done more damage? Big hat, no cattle.

Mitt Romney said in the Florida debates in September that one of the first things he would do as president is return the Churchill bust to the Oval Office. Very clever.

Twain, Churchill and Reagan could capture complex sentiments in a few words. Romney did that for me.

Solargate brush off

2011-09-17T06:57:00.002-04:00

The petty break-in and attempted cover-up at the Watergate offices in the 1970s became the biggest scandal in modern times. The media hysteria led to Nixon’s resignation. But really, what was the damage to anyone?
We have very real corruption and damage in the Solyndra and other green company Stimulus cases. Watch how the media sweeps this under the rug.

One boneheaded, job-killing act after another

2011-09-03T09:11:00.003-04:00

Last week, employers received orders from the NLRB that they must post a notice informing employees of their right to organize. Sounds harmless enough, but the heavy-handed action is just another disincentive to hire, or keep your company in the U.S. And it's another clear example of the Obama administration's intent to rule without Congress or the will of the citizens.
Highlights of recent NLRB edict

I'm glad someone is tracking the nonstop flow of 'progressive' measures that kill jobs in America.
Recent Forbes article

Happy Labor Day.

Obama rules like a teenager

2011-08-21T20:35:00.003-04:00

My teenage daughter plans to take her first road trip. I offered her some advice, but she feels she knows all she needs to know. After all, she’s made scores of trips to school or the store without any accidents or tickets. She sincerely thinks she’s qualified.

Obama began ruling our nation like a teenager – long on confidence, short on experience. Despite his nontraditional upbringing, elite school education and never having held a real job, he was cocky confident that government should drive the economy. With his brand of social engineering.

I like the way Obama stays healthy and seems dedicated to his family. He’s clearly book smart and a gifted talker. I thought he was sincere. Even though I disagree with nearly all of his policies, I thought the American economy was resilient enough to withstand his lack of leadership experience.

But our economy is in trouble. Either Obama doesn’t see it, or he is hell bent on driving his agenda, regardless of the damage.

Both my daughter and Obama have sincere confidence that they can reach their goals. However, if my daughter has trouble on her trip through the friendly back roads of Georgia, she will seek help.

Obama is going the wrong way on a crowded Interstate in D.C. Instead of seeking help or changing direction, he just keeps accelerating.

Malfunction

2011-08-16T06:14:00.003-04:00

Dog and cat owners know that malfunctioning ‘scent glands’ can be quite unpleasant – foul odors, diarrhea, bad humor and that crazy ‘scooting’ action. I think the President’s sense glands are malfunctioning.

Bloated government is terrorizing U.S. job market

2011-08-06T08:14:00.003-04:00

Years ago, if you wanted to start or grow a business, you hired workers. Nowadays, the first people you hire are accountants and lawyers to deal with the avalanche of government regulations. Resources once used to pay and reward employees are diverted to proving to bureaucrats that you’re not dishonest. The rules are mind numbing and the big brother treatment is demoralizing.
Here is a smattering of the crud business people are forced to deal with:
Sarbanes Oxley (aka: the accountants full employment act) – a wet blanket of financial rules spread across everyone because some company, 20 years ago, ran afoul.
EPA – their threats force any organization using air, land or water to pay lawyers and engineers to chase rules written by lawyers and engineers with agendas.
Labor laws – hoards of new DOL agents enforce FLSA and other rules that no one understands. Labor unions demand that firemen remain on electric trains.
Retirement regs – more accountants filing more reports to more bureaucrats who can’t understand what they got.
Workers Comp and unemployment– squishy policies enforced by capricious officials encourage abuse.
Insurance – Premiums spread the burden of lawsuit abuse, and government mandates such as the latest preventative health rules, on everyone.
Obamacare – The mother lode of hidden taxes and ambiguity. The only thing that is certain is that we’ll all have universal coverage in a few years. It’s called Medicaid.
Industry specific rules – I am so glad I don’t have to deal with the banking regs. You should be glad you don’t have to deal with ED. Then there’s the FTC, DOC, HHS, FDA, ICE, NLRB and on and on.
Disclosures – does anyone read all the crap you get in the mail or with a contract? Talk about a waste of trees.
IRS – they will keep adding rules and agents until, one day, every citizen will be a criminal.
ADA, OSHA, EEOC – Unlimited cost of compliance and threats of claims.
Government employees – job security, raises, generous benefits… and police powers. I’ll bet an eye-popping percent of government workers are on disability (can’t take the heat, feel blue).
Wrongful dismissal , retaliation, discrimination – a lawyer’s paradise of high stakes ambiguity.
To increase jobs in the U.S. (and treasury revenues), we must reverse the suffocating burden of compliance to the ever growing heap of government regulations.

Democrat is next to demagogue in the dictionary

2011-07-02T08:58:00.002-04:00

Demagogue: a leader who uses popular prejudices and false claims and promises to gain power.

I’m personally very worried about what kind of country we’re leaving our kids - titanic debt, mushrooming intrusion of government and burgeoning sense of entitlement.
Clearly the Democrats know they are in big trouble in 2012 because the demagoguery they and their media sidekicks are slinging around is getting ridiculous. A few examples…
• Bush did not cause the 2008 meltdown. Blame those who encouraged banks to overextend credit on the assumption that the real estate market would keep booming forever.
• Democrats want to raise taxes on the top earners and employers who already pay the lion’s share of taxes. Hey, take a minute to study the Laffer curve. Bone up on your history to see that that class warfare is an economic death spiral.
• Had Obama decreased taxes instead of wasting nearly $1 trillion on silly stimulus projects, we’d be out of this economic funk by now.
• Obamacare, higher taxes, more regulations, unions, minimum wage, drilling bans and such are all kryptonite to business people who create jobs.
• A fancy-talker like Obama could have succeeded by surrounding himself with a strong team. Instead he hired political hacks and crony czars.
• The mainstream media has lost all credibility by coddling Obama and attacking his opponents, especially conservative blacks and women.
• If Obama spent as much time working with Congress as he does playing golf, taking extravagant vacations and raising money for his re-election, we might be on the way to recovery. And if he put a buck in the jar every time he says “I” and “me”, we could balance the budget.
• Obama deserves as much credit for nailing bin Laden as Nixon does for putting a man on the moon (both happened during their terms).
We could be so much better if there was less rabble rousing and more statesmanship.

Time for less butter

2011-05-07T08:28:00.003-04:00

Many moons ago, when I was in school, the big discussion was whether the government should be spending on defense and infrastructure, or social programs such as health, education and welfare. Well, the butter people won that ‘guns or butter’ argument, and you can see where it got us. We now have mountains of debt and the social demands are growing exponentially. We don’t even maintain the roads and infrastructure we have, not alone expand. One of the best programs the government ever initiated – space exploration – is grinding to a halt.
It takes extra effort and curiosity to understand how supply economics works. It takes courage to say no to the demands of people, knowing you are helping them in the long term.
I compare government policy to the way mothers and fathers raise a child. The balance of protective cuddling from the mom - and ‘suck it up’ demands from the dad - produce a balanced kid. If the dad starts acting like the mom all the time, the kid may never be all she or he could be.
You would think we would look back over the past few decades to realize that public policy in this country is out of balance. We need to get back to lower taxes, less regulation and less social engineering. Restore liberty and personal responsibility. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Stay to the left and speed up…

2011-04-17T20:52:00.003-04:00

The year is 1912. Captain Obama hurries to the bridge of the huge passenger ship, agitated at being called away from a celebrity-packed party on the luxury deck. “Ice ahead, Captain,” says the worried officer. “Could be an iceberg.” The Captain looks out into the darkness. He’s never commanded this ship in these waters before; in fact, he’s never been at sea. But he learned to appear confident in college, and he’s anxious to get back to the party. “Oh, it’s just a big chunk of ice. Stay to the left. This ship is unsinkable. Plus all the world’s ice is melting. Full speed ahead! In fact, increase our speed by ten knots.” Unlike the Titanic, our country has negotiated around some major economic icebergs in the past. But it’s 2011, our debt now exceeds our GDP, and our leader is more concerned with holding his office than dealing with the issues. Disaster can be avoided, but time is running out. We can’t balance the budget with tax increases; spending and promises must be reduced. And the media has to stop handing the mic to Democrats who still blame Bush and repeat the same old worn-out class warfare nonsense. Democrats control the government – the White House, the Senate, the bureaucracy, the media, government education and the courts. It’s time they put down the violins and step up to the challenge.

Democrat’s kabuki dance

2011-04-17T20:47:00.001-04:00

Rush Limbaugh’s use of the term kabuki dance last week caught my attention. I thought it was some African term that was sure to get the lovable little fuzzball in PC trouble again.
It turns out that kabuki is a form of Japanese dance that features over-the-top costumes and makeup, exaggerated theatrics, and farce. What a perfect description of Washington today!
Come on, Democrats. Stop the kabuki dancing and get serious about fixing the current unsustainable level of government spending and future promises.

The wet blanket of statism

2011-04-03T15:56:00.003-04:00

Progressive people like to fix what they consider unfair. It might be some disadvantaged soul who needs a hand, or some money-wasting, environment-damaging corporate type who needs to be taken down a notch. Government is their vehicle and Western Europe is their model.

Well, after 80 years of social engineering through regulation, it ain’t working. Instead of improving poverty, health, civility and education, big government has become a wet blanket over the entire economy. Fannie Mae, health care reform, stimulus... good grief. A once great, thriving nation is drifting into oblivion. Obama didn’t start the decline, he just stomped on the accelerator.

Change may get ugly. After all these decades, the Washington bureaucrats, the media, and the unions are deeply entrenched. But better now than later. My generation made the mess, and we ought to step up to fix it.

In addition to dramatically shrinking the government, we need to face up to some facts of life. Accidents happen. Outcomes vary despite equal opportunity. Good intentions aren’t enough. You can’t reason with truly evil people. Redistribution spreads misery, not wealth.

We need leaders like Paul Ryan, Mitch Daniels and Marco Rubio to take charge. Heck, Donald Trump would be more effective than Barack Obama and his czars.

Better weather approaches. It’s time to get out from under the wet blanket.

Misplaced grief

2011-01-17T08:37:00.002-05:00

I feel bad for the families of the Tucson shooting victims that such a tragic event was so politicized and hijacked in the media.
I was hoping those people who immediately used the tragedy to promote their busted old rants about censoring the right and gun control would disappear after learning that the shooter was deranged and not at all influenced by conservative talk. Maybe they would see how insensitive, hypocritical and inaccurate they were. But as late as Friday, the Telegraph was still at it, running some stupid opinion cartoon of the image of a weapon formed with the names of Limbaugh, Palin and other conservatives.
Such partisan rants only serve to drive the wedge deeper. If we must play the blame game for Jared Loughner’s actions, let’s start with the ‘progressive’ culture of decriminalizing drugs, embracing toxic music, TV, and movies, squelching our Judeo-Christian traditions, and sweeping acts of terror under the rug of political correctness.
It’s bad enough that our country is becoming desensitized to evil. What makes it worse is that some in this country use any crisis to promote their agendas.

One less decoration

2010-12-06T06:52:00.002-05:00

Christmas will be a bit less festive in Rivoli Downs this year. The adult-size reindeer with joyful lights and life-like movements will no longer be part of the Maier’s holiday decorations.
“I brought him down from the attic and set him up in the yard like always,” reports owner Rick Maier, “but when I plugged him in, his head wouldn’t rotate. The lights worked, but the motor has finally failed.”
Former Coroner and neighbor Ed Bond declared the reindeer dead. “Looks like natural causes,” he said. “No foul play is suspected.”
That’s good news for the oldest Maier child, Matthew, who has been under scrutiny recently for a variety of teenage boy behaviors.
Neighbor Dan Slagle added that Maier had been setting up the reindeer Christmas decoration for many years. “Between you and me,” said Slagle, “I won’t miss it. Those things were tacky even when they were popular back in the 90s.”

Next for Obamalism: regulate tipping

2010-12-05T08:16:00.003-05:00

Tipping - distributing treasure based on one’s judgment of the performance of others.

That is such a republican notion that I’m surprised it hasn’t gone the way of ethnic jokes, fur coats, opening the door for a lady, riding without a helmet and other politically incorrect practices.

The Federal government needs to regulate tipping because it’s just so uneven. Customers tip less for poor service, even though the server may be having a bad day through no fault of their own. That’s not fair! Some people get great service and stiff their server, which leads servers to profile customers for preferential treatment. That’s not fair!

How do we know that servers are reporting all their tips to the IRS? The government should require us to send 1099s to everyone we tip so they can collect more taxes.

Then there’s the bothersome math. How can progressive people be expected to calculate 15% of the bill if they’re already using their phone to text, post on Facebook and listen to Springsteen?

Wealthy, white, men probably tip the most, so it must be an unfair, racist, male chauvinist pig practice. And homophobic and unenlightened.

And don’t people tip more around Christmas? Don’t they know that the President declared that we are not a Christian nation?

Everybody write a letter to Barney Frank and Barbara Boxer. We need legislation to ensure fairness, spread the wealth and create more green jobs in Washington.

Get your boot off our throats

2010-11-20T08:31:00.003-05:00

Want to know why unemployment is high, jobs are moving overseas and so many commercial buildings are empty?

Here are some hints: FLSA, IRS, workers comp, FMLA, unemployment, ADA, Obamacare, DOL, EEOC, OSHA, OASDI, Sarbox, plaintiff’s attorneys, EPA, unions, I-9, plus an array of industry-specific controls (banking, education, health, energy).

Obama didn’t create these regulations, but he’s rapidly increased their complexity and intensified enforcement in ways that suffocate employers. For example, Obama spent hundreds of millions in stimulus dollars to hire Dept of Labor agents to enforce the over-reaching FLSA rules. He boasts that he created jobs, but he’s actually squandered hard-earned taxpayer money to harass job creators.

The mounting heap of regulations distracts leaders from growing jobs and causes uncertainty that stifles growth. Hordes of bureaucrats keep attacking until good people are made to feel like lawbreakers.

Democrats don't understand the difference between governing and micromanaging. Their obsession with redistributing wealth is simply spreading misery.

Riled up for Nov 2 election

2010-10-30T10:52:00.003-04:00

A few short videos show why Americans are angry with the Democrats and excited about new leaders like Christie...

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N.J. Gov. Chris Christie calls Jon Corzine quintessential limousins liberal Democrat in America

Sad bear story

2010-10-27T07:05:00.003-04:00

A disturbing trend is occurring as well-intentioned people ignore warnings not to feed the wildlife. Animals have learned to just sit on their butt and wait for the government to provide for their care. The Democrat Party is fighting hard to allow these animals to vote.
Shown above is a charmer named Bearack.

Merge right

2010-10-03T08:16:00.004-04:00

The sign on I-75 said ‘left lane closed 1 mile’.
Most of us merged dutifully to wait our turn, while a few zoomed by on the side that was coming to an end.
Once again, the elitist and non-thinkers on the left increased the burden for those on the right.

Questions for this political season

2010-09-06T09:46:00.002-04:00

Why do Democrats have more campaign money than Republicans?

How can voters make informed decisions if the press only reports some of the news? Have you compared CNN, CBS or NYT headlines to Fox News lately? And where was the report that 88% of political contributions from ABC, CBS and NBC execs went to Dems in 2008?

Why does Laura Bush speak so admirably of her husband while Tipper Gore left big Al? (I saw Laura speak recently, and she is one bright, bold, classy lady.)

Why is Barney Frank, poster boy of the financial crisis, still in office?

Can Barack and Michelle squeeze a lifetime of vacations into 48 months in office?

Who said “Every dollar the government gives to someone has to first be taken away from someone else”? He must have been very wise.

Will Romney-Ryan beat Clinton-Gillibrand in 2012?

To my ‘progressive’ friends: It’s a lot easier being negative than defending the guys you voted in, isn’t it?
“Any jackass can kick a barn down. It takes a carpenter to build one.”

No room for Danny Thomas in Lebanon today

2010-08-08T08:56:00.003-04:00

The first time I became aware of Lebanon was in the 1960s when TV star Danny Thomas spoke proudly of his parents’ homeland. He seemed like a good guy, so I figured that Lebanon must have been a good place.

What’s happened to Lebanon over the past half century is appalling. Let’s hope it’s not where the rest of the civilized world is headed.

From its origins as the Phoenician empire in 1800 BC to the early 1980s AD, Lebanon was a shining light in the Middle East. Blessed with great natural resources and good governance, the once French colony became known as the Switzerland of the East; Beirut was called the Paris of the region. Muslims and Christians worked together to create a vibrant capitalistic economy and tourist trade. Education flourished around open borders and a progressive, Western-style culture.

Hezbollah, with backing from Syria and Iran, began making trouble in the 1980s. They killed 241 Marines in their sleep in the U.S. Embassy in Beirut – men who were there to protect the Lebanese and provide stability in the region. Since then, the open, tolerant culture in Lebanon has been increasingly terrorized by Islamic extremists.

As Christians and moderate Muslims are killed, go underground or flee, the Switzerland of the East is fast becoming another Iran to the west.

This erosion of Western culture is also apparent in Europe where countries that once civilized the world are now drowning in welfare and hogtied by political correctness. Muslim immigrants pour in, and while the majority are peaceful and industrious, they include the few extremist who can cause great havoc.

It’s about time we understand the difference between tolerance and weakness of conviction. The diminished outrage over recent events in the U.S. - Sharia honor killings, Fort Hood, acts of terror, failure to deport criminals here illegally – makes me wonder if America is heading down the same path as Lebanon.

Health Care Deform

2010-07-31T07:34:00.002-04:00

The train wreck of Massachusetts health care provides a daunting vision of how Obamacare will play out across the nation over the next few years:

• Millions of people will get nearly free medical coverage. The Feds will mandate employer benefits.
• Insurers will be forced to raise rates, the government will impose price controls and the current, mostly private system will steadily deteriorate. As many as 160 million employees who now enjoy private insurance will get Medicare-like coverage.
• An entire industry of insurance professionals (brokers, insurers) will be replaced by government bureaucrats.
• Instead of becoming public employees, doctors will retire early, kick back or look elsewhere for income.
• More demand and less supply will lead to long delays and rationing for medical treatment. ER rooms will get more crowded.
• Boutique medical services will sprout up for those who can afford the expense. More Americans will travel to Asia for medical procedures. The U.S. will no longer be the health safety net for Canada and the rest of the world.
• States will cut other essential services, or go bankrupt, under the mounting Medicaid burdens. Federal debt and unfunded promises will soar even higher.
• Research and development for drugs and prescriptions will decline dramatically.

The American people have been hoodwinked into thinking that Obamacare would cover the uninsured without increasing costs or disrupting the services we enjoy today. Those who voted for the legislation could not have understood the details because they are still being written. Some Congressmen made side deals, others were okay with letting future generations deal with the consequences.
Obamacare is another back-door redistribution of wealth, another setback to the American standard of living. The system needed repairs, not a lobotomy. Democrats have thrown the baby out with the bath water.
We must elect a new Congress in November and reverse this nonsense.

Government buildup –waves lapping at our sandcastle

2010-07-25T20:44:00.003-04:00

I think of government as a kind of necessary inconvenience, like referees on a ball field or trips to the dentist. Governance and checkups are required, but only at a minimum.
Democrats in DC keep expanding government with hopes to eliminate what they consider to be unfairness. Nice thought, but trillions of dollars and 50 years of social engineering has led to more people demanding fish than folks willing to learn to fish. And years ago the bureaucrats ran out of other people’s money to redistribute.
The heaping pile of recent financial, health care, tax, education, welfare, environmental and other regulations is suffocating the tax base. Worse, the anti-business climate in DC creates dark clouds of uncertainty for those who would create jobs.
Government is inherently inefficient because it operates outside the natural rules of economics – living within your means, survival of the fittest, measure and reward results, colorblind. Government workers have no edge on virtue, as can be seen by the recent news of porn at the Pentagon, record low ratings of Congress and partying while oil gushed into the Gulf.
Maybe the big-brother nanny state is an unavoidable step in our evolution from bondage to liberty, to abundance, to apathy, and back to bondage. If only the Dems would quit stomping on the accelerator.
The American economy is as messy as it is exceptional. If you can’t embrace it, at least do no harm to those who do.
Don’t let the surging tide of government destroy our kids’ opportunity to build sandcastles of their own.

The thin man with the flat tire

2010-07-18T17:17:00.002-04:00

Late to join his daughters and wife on vacation in Maine, the tall, handsome man was about to leave when he noticed that the rear tire was nearly flat. No past experience had prepared him to deal with this, so he summonsed his car czar in the next Suburban.

“Probably a nail,” said the czar - a lucky guess for someone who had also never fixed a flat.

“I see it right there,” exclaimed the tall, articulate man. “Nail clippers!” he hollered, and the nearby suitcase czar immediately slapped trimmers in his hand. The man, the one who we have been waiting for, reached down and popped the nail out of the tread. Air swooshed out and the tire went flat.

The crowd of czars stood there, their mouths and eyes wide open.

“That nail was here before me and it wasn’t fair to the tire,” scoffed the tall, thin man. “Let’s go,” he yelled, and the entourage drove off. No one, especially the fawning media, questioned his decisions.

The tire spewed thick smoke until they finally stopped at a repair shop. What could have been a $20 plug turned into a $900 tire and wheel replacement.

The tall, confident man didn’t give it a second thought. In his mind, he was creating or saving some tire maker’s job. And besides, someone else would pick up the tab.

The Right likes Obama as much as Left liked Bush

2010-04-25T08:04:00.002-04:00

Piece in CommentaryMagazine.com by John Steele Gordon on April 23, 2010:

The so-called financial-reform bills now working their ways through each house of Congress are, like the health-care-reform bill before them, not about reform at all. They do not reform anything. Instead, they make the federal government the major player in a major industry. Just as the health-care-reform bill will transform private insurance companies into the equivalent of public utilities, whose every major decision needs government approval and whose returns on capital are more or less guaranteed, these bills would do the same for big banks and other financial institutions.

President Obama gave a typical speech yesterday in the same room where, a 140 years ago, Abraham Lincoln gave a most untypical speech. Well, perhaps typical for Lincoln: eloquent, tightly reasoned, profound, and consequential in its effect. (As an aside, I have spoken in the Great Hall of Cooper Union myself and had a powerful feeling that I was standing upon holy ground while I did so; Obama, I suspect, felt he was only adding to its sanctity.) Obama’s speech was typical in that it set up straw men, fearlessly knocked them down, assigned blame without evidence, told falsehoods while demanding that others stop lying, and asked for discussion as long as every discussant agrees with him. Everyone else and every other opinion is “illegitimate.”

Wall Street was hardly blameless regarding the financial crisis of 2008 and reforms are necessary to prevent the same things from happening again. Niall Ferguson and Ted Forstmann explain what’s needed in today’s Wall Street Journal. (In a nutshell: moving derivatives trading from back rooms to exchanges and limiting the leverage that banks can use.) The Senate bill wouldn’t do that. Instead it would move most derivatives trading to exchanges but allow the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to decide what derivatives can still be traded over the counter. Does anyone see there a hugely empowered federal official (not to mention a golden lobbying opportunity for banks and members of Congress alike)? Is a back room at the CFTC an improvement over a back room at Goldman Sachs?

And Fannie and Freddie? They were at the heart of the mortgage meltdown and political piggy banks that were so badly (and corruptly) regulated that they are likely to cost the taxpayers $400 billion when all is said and done. But neither of these bills even mentions them. Fannie and Freddie are classic examples of crony capitalism, where government and business are in bed together. Obama wants to expand that disastrous model to the likes of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

It is the business of business to take risk and seek profit. It is the business of government to regulate business to ensure that the public interest is not put at risk. That’s exactly what government failed to do before 2008. As Judge Richard Posner put it in his most recent book, The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy, “Calling bankers greedy for taking advantage of profit opportunities created by unsound government policies is like calling rich people greedy for allowing Medicare to reimburse their medical bills.”

The Obama administration’s ruthless pursuit of ever greater concentration of power in Washington — and calling it reform — just keeps getting scarier.

Driving drama

2010-03-06T10:05:00.005-05:00

The rule was simple when I learned to drive: left turns yield to everyone. Then intersections got fancy. Separate right-turn lanes curved inside triangular islands, ending with yield signs demanding that drivers turning right stop if necessary.
It’s 2010 and I’m trying to teach my 15-year-old daughter how to drive. Fuel, tire pressure, seat belt, hands at 10 and 2 – check. Ke$ha on XM, vibration of cell phone – disregard. Having the slightest clue of where we are on the ‘map in your head’ – hopeless.
We’re heading south on Rivoli Drive, preparing to turn left on Northside. Daughter stops just short of turning.
“Go!” I say, louder than I intended.
“You told me to wait for the intersection to clear before I make a left,” my daughter responds, frustrated.
“That’s usually true, but they have a yield sign.”
Three cars are now sitting at the intersection – us, a car coming in the opposite direction making a right, and a car on Northside waiting to turn left to go south on Rivoli.
“How should I know that they have to yield?”
“There’s the back of the yield sign…”
“Really? I’m supposed to see that?” she replies with rising annoyance.
“And they’re in a right turn lane.”
“So left turns don't yield when there’s a right turn lane in the opposite direction?”
“Not always. And there’s the island.”
“I don’t see an island,” daughter responds.
“It’s painted on the road. See those striped lines in the shape of a triangle?”
Daughter would be glaring hatefully at me if she didn’t have her eyes on the road.
“Just go,” I say.
All three cars lurch forward, then all three suddenly stop. Finally, daughter goes.
Daughter is smart, so that particular scene will not happen again. Driving past an accident at that same intersection last Friday will reinforce the need to stay focused.
Moral of the story: There’s enough drama in driving. Don’t drive distracted.

Nancy's Password

2010-03-02T22:27:00.006-05:00

During a recent Congressional security audit, Nancy Pelosi was asked why she used such a long password:

MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento

The Speaker replied that she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital.

Our own Greek tragedy

2010-02-28T12:18:00.001-05:00

BY Mark Steyn Washington Times February 26, 2010

While President Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand new, even more unsustainable entitlement at the health care "summit," thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split screen - because they're part of the same story. It's just that Greece is a little further along in the plot: They're at the point where the canoe is about to plunge over the falls. America is further upstream and can still pull for shore, but has decided instead that what it needs to do is catch up with the Greek canoe. Chapter One (the introduction of unsustainable entitlements) leads eventually to Chapter 20 (total societal collapse): The Greeks are at Chapter 17 or 18.

What's happening in the developed world today isn't so very hard to understand: The 20th century Bismarckian welfare state has run out of people to stick it to. In America, the feckless insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids. In Europe, they've reached the next stage in social democratic evolution: There are no kids or grandkids to screw over. The United States has a fertility rate of around 2.1, or just over two kids per couple. Greece has a fertility rate of about 1.3: 10 grandparents have six kids have four grandkids - i.e., the family tree is upside down. Demographers call 1.3 "lowest-low" fertility - the point from which no society has ever recovered. And compared to Spain and Italy, Greece has the least worst fertility rate in Mediterranean Europe.

So you can't borrow against the future because, in the most basic sense, you don't have one. Greeks in the public sector retire at 58, which sounds great. But, when 10 grandparents have four grandchildren, who pays for you to spend the last third of your adult life loafing around?

By the way, you don't have to go to Greece to experience Greek-style retirement: The Athenian "public service" of California has been metaphorically face-down in the ouzo for a generation. Still, America as a whole is not yet Greece. A couple of years ago, when I wrote my book "America Alone," I put the Social Security debate in a bit of perspective: On 2005 figures, projected public pensions liabilities were expected to rise by 2040 to about 6.8 percent of GDP. In Greece, the figure was 25 percent. In other words, head for the hills, Armageddon, outta here, The End. Since then, the situation has worsened in both countries. And really the comparison is academic: Whereas America still has a choice, Greece isn't going to have a 2040 - not without a massive shot of Reality Juice.

Is that likely to happen? At such moments, I like to modify Gerald Ford. When seeking to ingratiate himself with conservative audiences, President Ford liked to say: "A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have." Which is true enough. But there's an intermediate stage: A government big enough to give you everything you want isn't big enough to get you to give any of it back. That's the point Greece is at. Its socialist government has been forced into supporting a package of austerity measures. The Greek people's response is: Nuts to that. Public sector workers have succeeded in redefining time itself: Every year, they receive 14 monthly payments. You do the math. And for about seven months' work - for many of them the workday ends at 2:30 p.m. When they retire, they get 14 monthly pension payments. In other words: Economic reality is not my problem. I want my benefits. And, if it bankrupts the entire state a generation from now, who cares as long as they keep the checks coming until I croak?

We hard-hearted, small-government guys are often damned as selfish types who care nothing for the general welfare. But, as the Greek protests make plain, nothing makes an individual more selfish than the socially equitable communitarianism of big government. Once a chap's enjoying the fruits of government health care, government-paid vacation, government-funded early retirement, and all the rest, he couldn't give a hoot about the general societal interest. He's got his, and to hell with everyone else. People's sense of entitlement endures long after the entitlement has ceased to make sense.

The perfect spokesman for the entitlement mentality is the deputy prime minister of Greece. The European Union has concluded that the Greek government's austerity measures are insufficient and, as a condition of bailout, has demanded something more robust. Greece is no longer a sovereign state: It's General Motors, and the EU is Washington, and the Greek electorate is happy to play the part of the United Auto Workers - everything's on the table except anything that would actually make a difference. In practice, because Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland are also on the brink of the abyss, a "European" bailout will be paid for by Germany. So the aforementioned Greek deputy prime minister, Theodoros Pangalos, has denounced the conditions of the EU deal on the grounds that the Germans stole all the bullion from the Bank of Greece during the Second World War. Welfare always breeds contempt, in nations as much as inner-city housing projects. How dare you tell us how to live! Just give us your money and push off.

Unfortunately, Germany is no longer an economic powerhouse. As Angela Merkel pointed out a year ago, for Germany, an Obama-sized stimulus was out of the question simply because its foreign creditors know there are not enough young Germans around ever to repay it. Over 30 percent of German women are childless; among German university graduates, it's over 40 percent. And for the ever dwindling band of young Germans who make it out of the maternity ward, there's precious little reason to stick around. Why be the last handsome blond lederhosen-clad Aryan lad working the late shift at the beer garden in order to prop up singlehandedly entire retirement homes? And that's before the EU decides to add the Greeks to your burdens. Germans, who retire at 67, are now expected to sustain the unsustainable 14 monthly payments per year for Greeks who retire at 58.

Think of Greece as California: Every year an irresponsible and corrupt bureaucracy awards itself higher pay and better benefits paid for by an ever-shrinking wealth-generating class. And think of Germany as one of the less profligate, still just about functioning corners of America such as my own state of New Hampshire: Responsibility doesn't pay. You'll wind up bailing out anyway. The problem is there are never enough of "the rich" to fund the entitlement state, because in the end, it disincentivizes everything from wealth creation to self-reliance to the basic survival instinct, as represented by the fertility rate. In Greece, they've run out Greeks, so they'll stick it to the Germans, like French farmers do. In Germany, the Germans have only been able to afford to subsidize French farming because they stick their defense tab to the Americans. And in America President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are saying we need to paddle faster to catch up with the Greeks and Germans. What could go wrong?

A blueberry in the pancake

2010-02-28T08:45:00.002-05:00

Job approval for Congress is now at one of the lowest points on record. The RCP average is 18.8% approval, with Fox at 14%, NYT at 15% and Gallup at 18%. Ratings for both parties are flat as a pancake.
I find the recent hearings of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee particularly contemptible. Last week they verbally flogged the CEO of Toyota, the latest of many public spectacles where corporate executives (job creators) are raked over the coals by a Congress that can’t see the log in their own eye. No one has caused more misery in this country than Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, but don’t hold your breath for their much deserved comeuppance.
One Congressman who stood out like a blueberry in the pancake last week was Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan. While Obama and the Dems continued their tired campaigning for government takeover of health care at the “summit”, Ryan gave a six minute summary of clear facts that should put the whole bungled bill to rest.
Congress should serve and protect the American people, but first they need to get their own house, and Senate, in order. November will be here soon.

The Hair Cut

2010-02-21T09:44:00.006-05:00

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, "I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community service this week." The florist was pleased and left the shop. When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.
Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replied, "I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community service this week." The cop was happy and left the shop. The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.
Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill, the barber again replied, "I can not accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week." The Congressman was very happy and left the shop.
The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen Congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut.
And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the politicians who run it.

Email blast from a friend, author unknown.

Unsustainable spending

2010-02-21T09:16:00.001-05:00

Let’s say you make $100,000 a year and buy a house with a $180,000 adjustable rate mortgage. You promise your kids that they can attend expensive colleges and assure your parents that they will enjoy a comfy retirement for life. You agree to support your unemployed brother-in-law, but don’t cut back on a fancy lifestyle that maxes out your credit cards.
Sounds reckless, doesn’t it?
That’s how Washington is managing the US economy. Debt and promises are many times annual income. In fact, each taxpayer’s share of the $59 trillion national debt (including unfunded liabilities) is over half a million dollars.
The big spending politicians in DC find economic experts to sing Hakuna Matata. Special interest groups and people on the receiving end of taxpayer dollars shriek at any mention of slowing down the gravy train. The media fails to sound the alarm.
A rising number of bankrupt states and cities preview what may happen to the US. Republicans won’t raise taxes and Democrats won’t stop spending. Foreign investors may stop buying US notes. Printing money will only cause a future hidden tax - hyper inflation.
It’s frightening to see the strength and prosperity of the US slip away while Washington continues to spend money they don’t have on loaded welfare, wasteful earmarks, benefits to illegal immigrants, expanded health benefits and premature alternative energy investments.
The first rule when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.

Good intentions

2010-02-16T07:06:00.003-05:00

A man found the cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, unable to go any further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly by snipping off the remaining bits of cocoon with scissors. The butterfly emerged easily, but had a swollen body and shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body. But neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around, never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us. We will not be as strong as we could have been and we would never fly.

Washington getting louder and funkier

2010-02-14T11:23:00.004-05:00

We have some serious policy disagreements in this country, and Washington is only obfuscating the issues. Several things I read this week make the same sad point.
An ER doctor sent the President a letter expressing how he’s fed up with treating patients with expensive clothes and jewelry, tattoos, fancy phones, who smoke, drink… and receive Medicaid. Another doctor added that he’s weary of giving up his Wednesdays to treat these patients for free. The rising realization is that we don’t have a health crisis, we have a cultural problem where people do what they want and expect to be taken care of for free. Personal responsibility for one’s health is fast becoming the state’s problem.
On the manmade climate change front, I’ve listened carefully to explanations of how greenhouse gases warm the planet to cause this year’s record cold and snowfalls. I don’t get it.
In addressing the economy, health care and environment, the Democrats in Washington continue to press legislation that - when you strip away the spin - do not fix the problem as much as they significantly increase taxes, debt and regulations. There’s way too much class warfare and far too little understanding of how free market capitalism built the resources that this nation now takes for granted.
I can’t watch President Obama without thinking of the old marching band analogy – the drum major grabbing all the attention as he struts around the field, while the guy on the ladder on the sideline quietly does the real work of leading.
The third of Americans on the left and third on the right may never agree on the role of government. But can we agree that when your car goes into a skid on a slippery road, the first thing you do is take your foot off the accelerator?

Raising teenagers

2010-01-30T18:53:00.003-05:00

Some favorite quotes about raising teenagers:

Too many of today's children have straight teeth and crooked morals. ~Unknown high school principal

The young always have the same problem - how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another. ~Quentin Crisp

When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot. ~Larry Lujack

Mother Nature is providential. She gives us twelve years to develop a love for our children before turning them into teenagers. ~William Galvin

The best substitute for experience is being sixteen. ~Raymond Duncan

Violet will be a good color for hair at just about the same time that brunette becomes a good color for flowers. ~Fran Lebowitz

The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes - naturally, no one wants to live any other way. ~Judith Martin

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years. ~Mark Twain

Teenagers complain there's nothing to do, then stay out all night doing it. ~Bob Phillips

The average income of the modern teenager is about 2 a.m. ~Author Unknown

Telling a teenager the facts of life is like giving a fish a bath. ~Arnold H. Glasow

The average teenager still has all the faults his parents outgrew. ~Author Unknown

You can tell a child is growing up when he stops asking where he came from and starts refusing to tell where he is going. ~Author Unknown

How strange that the young should always think the world is against them - when in fact that is the only time it is for them. ~Mignon McLaughlin

At fourteen you don't need sickness or death for tragedy. ~Jessamyn West

Can I set your hair on fire, too?

2010-01-29T05:49:00.003-05:00

My neighbor, an otherwise good guy, asked me for $6,000 to build a fence between our yards. I told him no; I didn't want a fence, it was against the covenants and I didn't have an extra $6,000. He went around telling people I was an uncooperative cheapskate. That's what it's like to live next door to a Democrat.

Relief and pride

2010-01-23T08:00:00.003-05:00

The victory of Scott Brown served many purposes. It was a huge boost to the conservative platform and a kick in the head to the elitist, soft-on-terror statism of Obama and the Democrats in Washington.
Thank goodness the race wasn’t close and Coakley had the class to concede early. The last time a Senate race was contested we got Al Franken.
The best thing about Brown’s win was it showed that I was not alone in feeling downright hopeless about the direction of the country under Obama rule. There are kajillions of people who are fed up, even the citizens of the bluest state.
I feel a giant sense of relief now. And excited about the future.
Middle Georgia can have a Scott Brown experience in November. Angela Hicks is a fantastic person and would represent the 8th District well in Congress.

Minimum wage killing jobs in Samoa

2010-01-18T07:32:00.005-05:00

60 Minutes had a good piece on why American Samoans make such great college and NFL football players. I don't know how it slipped through, but the CBS report mentioned that the island's primary industry, tuna canning, has been nearly destroyed by well-intended but wrongheaded regulations. One plant shut down and the other may close, all because of the high minimum wage passed by Congress in 2007.
What a great example of how tinkering with the free market destroys lives. It’s no wonder national unemployment has risen from 5% to 10% since the Dems took over Congress.
Here's a counter intuitive solution to unemployment that should have just the right unintended consequences: fire all the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington.

A cry for leadership

2010-01-17T15:09:00.002-05:00

Over the past few decades, the PC bunch has played down the importance of leadership in favor of ‘it takes a village’ collectivism. It’s not working.
One big test of leadership is an unexpected disaster. We see what a lack of national leadership has done in Haiti. We remember what poor local and state leadership did after Katrina.
Leadership isn’t holding office, but statesmanship that comes from experience, surrounding yourself with great people and getting out of the way.
Another test of leadership is the slow, steady strengthening of an organization. It’s participative and unselfish. There’s nothing glamorous about creating a plan and working the plan over the long haul.
Our country is facing tremendous challenges – record unemployment, record debt, unsustainable promises and terrorist attacks. We could blame the people for being so uninformed and apathetic, but good leadership could work wonders.
It’s time, to borrow a phrase from Maureen Dowd, for captain obvious to learn the limits of cool.

It’s cold out

2010-01-09T17:20:00.003-05:00

Not since my first winter in Macon in 1985, when it was minus five degrees and the pipes in my house froze, do I remember such a cold snap.
What really chaps me is that the new cold realities won’t stop the Dems from pushing cap & tax, sacrificing the economy to try to make the climate cooler.
The cold weather should be our signal to return to reason - to a balanced approach to conservation and respect for nature. We should stop the political BS – the anti-capitalism, redistribution, power-grab baloney. Hollywood and government make matters worse with their superficial, feel-good nonstarters.
CO2 is not a pollutant. It is not clear that human activities significantly impact the climate. There is nothing we can do to stop sunspots and volcanic eruptions under the oceans. Global cooling is a whole lot worse than global warming.
It’s time for the Prius and SUV to share the road.

2010: Obama announces Auto Reform

2010-01-01T10:39:00.003-05:00

Obama car (price as shown with optional teleprompters and decal: $37,999).

Having fixed health care, Democrats will now move to the next frontier: making driving safer and more affordable. The goals for Auto Reform parallel those of the hugely popular health care legislation – increase benefits, reduce costs, redistribute wealth, create jobs, reduce the deficit, centralize power, secure world peace and save the planet.
The media has their demonization plan ready to launch: oil company excesses, fatal crashes involving SUVs and Southerners driving pickups running over squirrels by the scores. Hollywood plans to release Return to Avatar, where tall skinny half-nude blue people make human drivers look like idiots, this time in 4D, where smelly black soot sprays onto the audience every time a corporate or military human opens his mouth.
The Obama plan calls for government-run GM to manufacture millions of fuel efficient cars, one model in your choice of pinko or baby blue. Americans won’t be forced to buy the car, named the Hugo, but a combination of taxes, regulations and subsidies will ensure that it will cost at least 40% less than any other make. (PC police insist that Hugo be pronounced hug-“O" to show allegiance to the first world president.)
All adults, regardless of citizenship, will be entitled to zero-down, zero-percent, zero-payments financing through Vinnie Mae, a government financing program designed by Barney Rubble Frank.
The program will be funded by setting up ten-mile check points on all streets and highways. Gatekeepers will interview drivers to determine if their pre-registered “trip plan” is politically correct and green. School children will affix Obama stickers to each bumper at the stop. $3 per stop fees will fund government alternative-fuel stations constructed next to existing post office branches. ACORN workers will staff the booths and stations under the leadership of the SEIU and TSA.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer pledge to pass the legislation by May Day without reading or understanding a single provision of the 4,174-page bill. All drivers with jobs will pay into a trillion-dollar public option car insurance fund administered by the trial lawyers association, which will base awards on means testing.
In announcing his plan, President Obama said (sans teleprompter): “When I took office, millions of my Americans could not afford cars… Let me pause to give a shout out to George Clooney and Katie Couric for standing with me… I will fix the appalling injustices of the previous administration because I represent hoax and chains, I mean hope and change.”

High school drinking

2009-12-28T09:02:00.004-05:00

The double standard is alive and well at my house. I can drink beer, smoke cigars, roll through stops and participate in other adult activities, but if my teenagers do it, they’re busted.
The current issue is drinking alcohol. My teens think it’s okay. I don’t.
I have mixed feelings about 18 year olds, but my kids are under 18.
So now we have what I compare to a POW camp. Prisoners have an obligation to try to escape, and the guards have an obligation to shoot them if they try.
I tell my teens why the law is what it is - decreased inhibitions, 40% of alcohol-related fatal crashes are teens, general withdrawal and disregard for other laws, and that alcohol can be a gateway drug and/or lead to addiction.
Apparently other parents think it’s okay for their high schoolers to drink. Or they just turn a blind eye. They allow parties with alcohol at their house.
I’ve talked to school officials and the Sheriff’s Office. I was impressed by their concern, but discouraged by the outcomes. Sheriff’s deputies bust retailers; they even arrested parents last year. But few seem to care, and it’s tough to enforce fake IDs. Schools offer programs, but few participate.
I will keep talking and stay on guard. There will be no teen drinking at my house. I pray that no one gets hurt because of what happens at some other parents’ house.
I know this is an age-old problem. But now it’s my turn and any advice is welcome.

Person of the Year

2009-12-27T09:54:00.002-05:00

As years go, 2009 rates as a two on a scale of ten. On the bright side, the weather was mild, gas prices behaved and warnings of a pandemic didn’t pan out. But in March, the stock market wobbled so badly that we thought the sky was falling. Those of us lucky to still have a good job lost a chunk of our savings, and America was thrust deeply into debt.
But even in a hapless year, one person must stand out.
Nobel chose Barack Obama. Time picked Ben Bernacke. AP sports picked Tiger Woods. Many wanted Michael Jackson.
(I think the Wizard of Oz had more depth than those four.)
My pick for person of the year is Susan Boyle, the frumpy woman who belted out the Les Mis tune to 100 million viewers on youTube. She had talent and nerve, but more importantly the woman under promised and over delivered. She was real, at least in that initial appearance, not some illusion shaped by the media. Her star quickly dimmed, but only after warmly enlightening us all to not judge a book by its cover.
For 2010, I’ll be looking again for substance over form and for people who lift us up collectively.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

And this from an admirer...

2009-12-27T09:51:00.002-05:00

“Though the American left and right don’t agree on much, they are both now coalescing around the suspicion that Obama’s brilliant presidential campaign was as hollow as Tiger’s public image.”
Frank Rich, New York Times columnist, December 19, 2009.

Drowning in unintended consequences

2009-12-27T09:38:00.002-05:00

People think that conservatives want to dismantle government. Not true. We’re proud of our military, parks, mints, highways, and for the most part, judicial system. We just understand that when the government attempts to fix social issues, the results are worse than the problem.
The government wanted no one to go hungry; now we have a nation of obese people. The feds wanted to upgrade education and now everyone gets a very expensive but often inflated degree. They loosened immigration and now we have millions of illegals living here like citizens. They wanted everyone to own a home and the resulting bad credits may capsize the system. They want the U.S. to pay for keeping the climate constant without addressing the much bigger problem of third-world overpopulation.
The liberal politicians and bureaucrats who run Washington mean well, they just won’t use judgment, try new approaches or ever scale back. Government rewards failure with more funding.
Free market forces may be uneven and messy, but at least they drive efficiency.
Norman Thomas, a six-time candidate for President from the Socialist Party of America said this in 1944: "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened."

Over-reaching amateurs

2009-12-15T18:00:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine, a professional in the health insurance industry for many years, was in Washington recently to talk to legislators about health care reform. He left depressed and embarrassed at how little the lawmakers and their staffs understand the issues.
There are accounts of federal minions telling Detroit executives how to build cars. Local power company experts are alarmed at how much the proposed cap & tax legislation will cost Georgians. And if Congress doesn’t pass cap & tax, the EPA will back door us.
Every organization – for profit or not - is spending an inordinate and rapidly rising amount of resource complying with massive new regulations, in addition to defending against frivolous litigation.
We have some serious problems in this country – high unemployment, exploding debt, un-fundable promises (Social Security and Medicare), illegal immigration, and more.
What are we getting from the Democrats? Re-engineering medicine, trying to change the climate and redistributing wealth.
Good grief.
It’s like a bunch of kids with new power in Washington, and they're very quickly killing the goose that has produced golden eggs in this country for over two centuries.

Obama could learn a lot from Governor Perdue

2009-12-05T07:26:00.003-05:00

What a contrast we have in the leadership styles of Sonny Perdue and Barack Obama.
Sonny grew up in the country, has been an Air Force Captain, a veterinarian and a businessman. He walks the talk. He understands that government is the servant, not the master of the people - quietly, humbly running the state and letting people live their lives.
He was a Democrat in his younger days, but developed into a Republican.
Sonny gets it. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Least government is best government.
I’ll take a get ‘er done leader over a fancy talker any day.

Dealing with Dems is like Whack-A-Mole

2009-12-04T19:59:00.002-05:00

Cap & Tax… whack. Health care reform… whack. Higher taxes… whack. Crushing regulations… whack.
Miss one and a mushroom cloud of debt appears.
The Democrat social engineering attempts just keep on coming.
Solution: lower taxes to stimulate investment and create jobs.

An independent press – key to freedom

2009-12-03T20:01:00.004-05:00

I heard the publisher of The Telegraph, George McCanless, speak recently.
I agree with him completely that a robust press is critical to freedom in this country. I was also glad to hear him say that he wants no part of government subsidies.
But I completely disagree with his statement that The Telegraph is politically balanced. He cited that the opinion page runs the same number of left as right leaning political cartoons. In whose judgment?
My biggest beef with the Telegraph is their national news coverage. Someone at the paper decides what AP stories will run and where, and that person (or persons)is highly selective and left of center.
Have you seen appropriate coverage of Climategate? Or anything about the scandalous people Obama has appointed as czars?
The rising popularity of talk radio and Fox News proves that Americans want to hear both sides. We expect a left slant from the lamestream media (AP, network news, TV shows, movies, etc.). You’d think that The Telegraph would see the opportunity to increase readership by offering more balance, especially in this conservative part of the country.
If only the media invested a fraction of their resources in tracking government waste and corruption as they have in Tiger Woods or the crasher couple, more people might have jobs.

Has Obama learned anything during his first year?

2009-11-16T22:36:00.003-05:00

Barack Obama was a relatively young man when he became president. He’s bright, but his experience was limited to going to school, community organizing and public office. Surely he has met people and seen things in the past year that are completely inconsistent with the profiles and impressions he formed long ago.
• Obama must be blown away at how bright, hard working and caring business people truly are - especially small business owners. He must be equally disappointed at how self-centered and unenlightened government officials can be.
• Has he seen enough to understand that America, warts and all, is a truly exceptional nation, and that no apologies are needed?
• Does he yet comprehend that cutting taxes would have stimulated the economy, and that massive government spending has sent us into a long-term funk?
• Does he now accept that all the “excessive” corporate profits and CEO wages added together wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket of government waste and corruption?
• Can he now see that the real substance of America lies between the Northeast and California?
• Has he seen the destructiveness of political correctness and the divisiveness of partisanship?
• Does he yet realize how shallow it is to blame Bush for everything?
• Has it sunk in that attempts to share wealth simply spread misery?
Yes, the past year should have been an eye opener for Obama. Is there any hope that he can change?

Book #3 progress

2009-11-10T22:13:00.002-05:00

Thought I’d share the progress on getting my third novel, Orange Terrace, released. Might be interesting to anyone wanting to get published.
• Writing – done 4 years ago. That’s the easy part.
• Editing – probably rewritten every word and line several times over the past 4 years.
• Feedback – 15 friends or so have provided feedback, which directs much of the editing. About ready to close this step and do one more self-edit.
• Cover – Susan Welsh is working on some revisions and should be done any day. Very exciting. Cover design is a work of art in itself.
• Publishers – sent queries in October. Two dear johns and three open to date. May be go with Indigo Publishing again. AuthorHouse (print-on-demand) is the fallback.
• Blurbs for back cover – 5 people in mind; two received to date. Hope to have quirky lines by Mayor and MCCG CEO.
• Website – Larry Najera ready to rework www.rickmaier.com. Need new photo.
• Marketing – need to work on postcard, freebie list, book signings, appearances, and promotion via the web.
Summary – May be January-February before book gets published, March-April before it’s out. Not in a big hurry because book market is in a slump. Spring is good timing for summer reading and positioning for fall (2010) selling season.
I'm halfway up the mountain.

Ginkgo is one sexy tree

2009-11-06T07:21:00.005-05:00

The walk from my car to office at Wesleyan College every day is like a walk in the park… not the work so much as the view of the wonderful old buildings and landscape.
And in the next few days we will be treated to a particularly special annual event - the fall of the Ginkgo leaves.
All at once the leaves will turn brilliant yellow; then, all at once, they will fall to the ground. People will be staring up and taking pictures of the trees. Some folks lie on the ground and make “angels” in the golden blanket of leaves.
What makes the fall show even more special is knowing that ginkgo biloba are the oldest trees on earth, dating back 250 million years to the time of dinosaurs. The living fossil was once thought extinct, but found in China hundreds of years ago and replanted around the world. The leaves have a unique fan shape, and the leaf extract is said to have memory-enhancing and other medicinal powers. Some trees in Asia are said to be 2,500 years old.
Here’s the sexy part. The boy trees have cones and the girls have seeds. In early fall you can smell the female tree from fifty yards away when the seeds fall to the ground and give off a really foul odor as they decay. The smell is so bad that people end up cutting down the female trees. It can take twenty to fifty years for the trees to mature, so you can’t tell the boys from the girls when you plant them.
There are one female and two male ginkgo trees at Wesleyan, and you can find others scattered around Macon. If I had a few more decades to live, I’d plant a grove.

Conservation movement hijacked

2009-11-03T19:36:00.003-05:00

I’ve been conserving all my life. I consume as little energy as possible, use things up, recycle and never litter. I love nature and support the great outdoors. Most people I know act the same way.
You’d think conservation would be the foundation of the ‘sustainability’ movement, but hijackers came aboard and forced a wacky left turn: consumers are wasteful drones of the evil business empire; Americans are most responsible for damaging the Earth; big government programs are the solution. Then the council of Hollywood bishops ordained Internet inventor and climatology expert, Al Gore, as their leader.
Like the ‘peace’ movement of the 1970s, the ‘sustainability’ and 'climate change' tags have that oxymoronic deceptiveness about them. They even hijacked green – the color of Christmas, money and envy - so the masses could follow more easily.
If man is having a negative impact on the planet, it can’t compare to the forces of sunspots, volcanoes and forest fires. Man’s biggest impact stems from an exploding worldwide population, but you don’t hear environmentalists say much about controlling births or accelerating deaths.
In nature, when a population consumes its resources, it dies or invades another territory. But environmental extremists pick and choose their laws of nature, and survival of the fittest isn’t a rule they like. They blame America for ravaging natural resources and labor overseas, but ignore that we aid the needy and maintain world order.
Instead of using up the earth’s ready supply of fossil fuels, the movement leaders want to force ‘renewable’ sources on us, decades before their time. If we want to tax and spend our way to sustaining Mother Earth, we should build nuclear plants and accelerate the exploration of space.
Maybe ‘conservation’ just sounds too similar to ‘conservative’.

Where’s the accountability?

2009-10-30T19:41:00.003-04:00

Why are Barney Frank (D-Rep MA) and Chris Dodd (D-Sen CN) still in office? Not only are they economic idiots, they’re corrupt. If anyone is responsible for the meltdown in the financial markets we suffered last year, it’s these two clowns. But they are still officiating and the press still gives them airtime.
Oh that’s right, they’re liberals. Yes, they received huge contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Barney’s boyfriend was a Fannie executive and Dodd got a VIP loan. But they meant well.
There must be a lot of pork pouring into their two states, though both may lose reelection in 2010.
Another group that needs to man-up are moderates like Warren Buffet and Colin Powell who helped put Obama in office. They owe us an equal effort to try to unwind this disaster.
And then there’s big media, giving any lib a pass (Alan Grayson, D-Rep FL) and letting the Dems continue to blame Bush for everything.
Three years of Democratic control of Congress and a year of Obama in the White House has produced the biggest economic disaster since the 1930s. Time for heads to roll.

Earl Benson, Macon job creator

2009-10-30T19:33:00.003-04:00

Pictured: Sandra and Earl Benson at Oct '09 reunion

Back in the 1970’s, Earl Benson decided to quit his bread truck route and open an office equipment company. Today a thousand people in Macon have good paying jobs, thanks to Earl’s initiative, hard work and tenacity.
Earl sold his highly successful copier company, Acme Business Products, to IKON Office Solutions in 1983. He continued on with IKON, expanding his responsibilities and growing jobs in Macon with corporate-level resources, until retiring just a few years ago. IKON later sold the leasing operation (Bass Rd) to GE Capital, and the sales & service operation (Preston Ct) and back office center (Arkwright Rd) to Ricoh.
On October 24th, Acme held a reunion. Seeing everyone again made me realize how great the good ol’ days in the 1980s and 1990s really were – genuine change and exciting opportunities.
You don’t hear much about Earl, mostly because he shuns the spotlight. But he’s done more for this community than people will ever know.
I moved to Macon in 1984 to work for Earl, and owe him a great deal.
Thanks, EB.

Nanny villages go kaput

2009-10-30T19:26:00.003-04:00

When you’re under stress, go back to basics. And a basic way to consider public policy is to think of our country as a village.
Say that you’re the leader of a village of 100 people. The villagers hunt, farm, care for their families, build huts and trade goods. Everyone agrees to chip in and hire a few peace officers and teachers, plus they gladly give to the church to help take care of the less fortunate. The village prospers.
If the US were a village of 100, we’d have 5 teachers, 5 police officers, 10 attorneys, 5 social workers doing the work the church once did, 5 assistants to the leader, 5 vagrants, 5 guys scamming the system and 10 bureaucrats keeping tabs on the other public workers. We’d be in big time debt to the village next door, the one with the wisdom and discipline to maintain about a seven to one private-to-public ratio.
Soon, the 50 villagers who carry the load will slow down; some will move to a better village. The once prosperous village soon collapses.
The private economy in the US has done so well that it could sustain most of the increase we’ve seen in public works over the past 80 years. But Obama and his statist friends have stomped on the accelerator so hard that the engine can’t take any more.
Don’t like the village analogy? Just look at history. Countries with big central governments always fail. Low-tax, low-regulation countries thrive. But even successful nations run the risk of thinking that money grows on trees, get apathetic and slowly fade.

‘99 Blazer, Rescue Truck

2009-10-24T16:09:00.005-04:00

I’ve never won anything significant, so it was pretty exciting to receive a call from the Georgia Industrial Children’s Home that I had won a car with my $10 raffle ticket. I was thinking new Camaro. Not even close. A 1999 Chevy Blazer with 143,000 miles.
The truck was in fairly good condition, but my theory is that a SUV with over 100,000 miles is like 100 in human years. I only accepted the prize because my son was close to getting his license, and this would be a good first vehicle.
A year and a half later, it’s still on the road, but has had some issues.
First the radiator blew. My son (let’s call him Matthew to protect his identity) thought it was on fire. A good cooling system lesson for $400. Then the A/C didn’t work in the middle of the summer; $500 for a new climate control panel.
The first $400 the prep-turned-thug earned at his new job at Kroger, he spent on speakers. The subwoofer is loud enough to make your head explode.
Then ol’ Matthew had a mental lapse and took the 2WD truck, with one wheel in the grave, out to an area the kids call Brandywine. I had no idea such a vast no-man’s-land existed in Bibb County… right behind Wesleyan no less. Steep, rugged trails with deep ruts wind through acres of marsh and woods. The various trails lead to mud holes – big, red clay craters filled with slimy mud and nasty water. Catnip for a 16-year-old.
Of course the boy got stuck. His buddies pulled him out of the bog, but his truck wouldn’t run. No tow truck or repair service would venture the half-mile from a paved road.
In the days the truck sat abandoned, some idiot threw a rock through one of the windows and stole the speaker system. Then the property owner locked the gate Matthew had entered. It poured rain every night. After letting Matthew exhaust his connections, I got retired off-road experts Walt and Eddie to drag the crippled SUV out of the wasteland and to the shop. They wouldn’t accept any pay for their incredible talents and equipment, but the shop bill was $900.
This week, the driver side electric window won’t work. Another hit to the boy’s savings account.
Despite all of the breakdowns and downtime, I must say that both Matthew and I have developed a very special bond with the little rescue truck. But a few more big cha chings and we’ll have to put her down.

At least the right hears both sides

2009-10-17T08:55:00.004-04:00

I sit at the gate at the airport and watch CNN. The rabbit-eared TV in the kitchen only gets CBS News. The news reports between Neal, Sean and Rush segments on talk radio are from ABC News. I must sift through AP stories in the Telegraph to get local news. I sit through incredibly stupid anti-business propaganda to see otherwise entertaining movies. I sometimes can’t get my finger on the FFWD button fast enough to cut the juvenile political jabs of Leno, Conan and Letterman to get to their occasional good guest.
I can’t help but get the left-leaning media’s version of the news, but at least I get both sides.
I feel sorry for the left who miss half of the news and perspective in the world. Even sadder is that the left gets deceptive reports from the left of what the right is saying.

Libs don’t know the difference between profit and covering costs

2009-10-17T08:38:00.002-04:00

Listen closely when liberals use the word profit. The tone is negative, the contempt compounded further by a snarl. Those wicked corporations and their money-grubbing CEOs care about profit more than people or the environment.
Clearly not everyone was paying attention in economics class, or they wouldn’t be using the p- word so loosely or as if it was something evil.
Here’s a question we used to ask middle school students in a Junior Achievement course I was involved in years ago: What percent of profit do you think the average corporation makes on sales? The replies were usually in the 50% range; the reality is more like 5%. And after running their own ‘company’ for a few weeks, the Junior Achievers understood how hard it was to eke out even 5%.
Stockholders deserve a 5% return on sales, just a little more than what the IRS demands. Anytime there’s a lot of profit, competitors flood in. And if you think oil, pharma and insurance companies make too much money, go buy their stock and get rich along with them!
Libs don’t understand that profit is essential to growing jobs, paying taxes and providing a little cushion for hard times. They have no idea how bright, hard-working and caring most CEOs are - at least the ones I've met.
Every organization must cover costs – except government. The Feds just print money while most state and local governments borrow far more than you or I would consider prudent.
So don’t let the libs use the profit word in a negative way. Unlike government, companies that don’t cover their costs, plus a little return for investors, go out of existence.

Hail the Class of '69

2009-10-17T08:19:00.004-04:00

1969 was a landmark year – moon landing, angry Vietnam protests, drugs gone wild, Helter Skelter, Woodstock, and the graduation of about 400 kids, including yours truly, from Mt. Pleasant High School in Wilmington Delaware.
On October 10th we got back together for our 40th reunion. I figured four decades was a good time to catch up, and I’m glad I did.
By age 58, we’re past all the bravado. Some of my fellow Green Knights have retired in luxury, some are bankrupt, and it was hard to tell the difference over a few drinks. Most of the guys had added a few pounds, lost some hair, have trouble seeing and hearing, and struggle with the ol’ short-term memory. The women are fabulous, all even more bedazzling than they were in high school.
Only about 100 classmates made it, but many of us flew great distances (CA, TX, WI, AZ) to be together. A few of our classmates (maybe twenty) have died; most have lost one or both parents.
The lesson I would want my kids to hear is that high school is just the beginning of the journey. Looking back, kids that had success in high school – however you want to measure it - were often, but not always successful over the next forty years. And some classmates who barely got noticed in ’69 have gone on to great things. High school is a base, an important one, but there is plenty of time to recover if you make some bad choices or get off to a slow start.
Salutes to people at the reunion – to those who are taking good care of themselves, to those still happy in their marriages, to those who organized the event, to those on Facebook and to the spouses that endured the reunion (you have to really love someone to attend a reunion that isn’t yours).
The event was awkward, fantastic and surreal, all in one. Nothing like a reunion to ground you in your past. I hope to stay in touch with several new old friends. Go Green Knights!

Some of my best friends are liberals

2009-10-17T07:57:00.004-04:00

One of the mysteries of life is how people who are bright and industrious can have such different approaches to public policy.
I’m not talking about the tens of millions of people who suffer from class envy or are led by the media like sheep. I’m talking about well-adjusted, thinking people.
Part of it is rivalry, similar to rooting for a college or pro football team. We start out following the same team as our parents, and build our position over time with more pride than logic.
Positions are then reinforced by how we filter information and everyday experiences. A liberal sees the guy in the picture above as a lucky Michelle fan. I find it disturbing that a guy in a food line has a $500 Blackberry.
Liberals look out over a world with a few greedy ‘haves’ and a sea of helpless ‘have-not’s’. It’s not fair (by their definition), so they feel compelled to do something. They demand that the government use their arresting power to tax and regulate the ‘rich’. The law of unintended consequences kicks in and the situation worsens, so they keep ratcheting up big government control.
It’s like taking a walk in the woods and seeing a fox attack a rabbit or a hawk swoop down and grab a chipmunk. The well intended liberal wants to help the little guy by hampering the big guy, and screws everything up. If you ignore the occasional unpleasantness and mess, nature does just fine. And like nature, the free market takes care of itself.
I don’t like greed any more than the next person, but I also hate to see people get a pass for making stupid decisions over and over – not taking school seriously, goofing off, drugs, etc. Liberals let slackers slide.
I say live and let live. Quit judging and trying to rig outcomes. Each of us has enough to do making the best with what we got. The greedy and the slackers will suffer the consequences and it won’t be at the hand of social engineering administered by a big central government.

No joy in watching Prompterpotamus get a beatdown

2009-10-07T20:42:00.003-04:00

October has not been a good month for President Obama – higher unemployment, a public scrap with General McChrystal and failing to get the Olympics in Chicago. SNL even lambasted Obama in a skit (search hulu.com).
You might think that someone like me who fundamentally disagrees with Obama’s central government approach would be delighted in this beatdown. But the failure of wrongheadedness is no cause for celebration. We are going through a tough economic correction and the chronic mistakes by the Democrats have made matters worse.
Not only are we not getting what we need, but the crazy talk in Washington (sky-high debt, higher taxes and takeover of our medical and energy industries) is undermining everyone’s confidence. Duplicity and false promises are tearing the country in two.
The private sector needs stimulus – tax cuts, tort reform, relief from regulation. We need strong leadership in a troubled Middle East.
Washington has two jobs to do – stimulate private job creation (the tax base) and keep us safe. Quit the power grabbing and get busy.

Walk away, Dave

2009-10-03T07:40:00.002-04:00

Letterman used to be fresh and funny; in recent years he’s become dim and sarcastic. The only thing that keeps him out of the political-hack pool with other two-bit comics like Al Franken or Bill Maher is self deprecation, and even that’s become insincere.
Dave’s behavior is so typical of the media and entertainment’s ridicule of traditional values. He even tried to get laughs as he made his sketchy confession on the show the other night. Letterman talks about his young son all the time – I’ll bet Harry will be real proud to know that his dad has been diddling the staff, dipping his pen in company ink, fishing off the company pier.
Letterman now joins the ranks of Clinton, Edwards and other remorseless libs with no character – egomaniacs leading America deeper down the sewer pipe.
This week’s uproar may help ratings for a while. Letterman fills his theater with sycophantic audiences, but the sponsors won’t put up with his crap for long.
And surely there’s another side to the story.
The late night format is great; it’s time to give someone else a chance.
You’ve made your hundreds of millions, Dave. Time to walk away into the Connecticut sunset.

Medical and tuition cost shifts

2009-09-28T07:10:00.003-04:00

The good intentions of liberals to make higher education and health care available to all has had a major impact on costs for the middle class.
Why have tuition costs risen so much faster than the CPI for decades? One major reason is that the expensive, highly selective schools decided to give financial aid to bright, poor students. If you charge $40,000/year for tuition, why not increase it to $44,400 and let 10% of students come for free? It’s the same total revenue and now you’re politically correct. The egalitarian strategy soon spread to all colleges.
The same has happened to medical costs. Medicare and Medicaid pay doctors and hospitals a lot less than private insurers, so the providers shift costs. All you’re doing is squeezing a balloon at one end.
The rapid increase in government programs (now nearly 50%) has caused medical costs to rise dramatically for everyone else.
And what is Washington’s solution for rising costs? More government! (You got to talk real smooth to pull that argument off – but so far half the people are buying it.)
The system can absorb some scholarships for poor kids and some discounts for government-paid medical benefits. It’s the right thing to do in, say, 10% of cases.
But when government dominates the system, and the expectation is ‘free’, nothing good can happen. The balloon goes pop.

Democrats speak with forked tongue

2009-09-27T11:37:00.003-04:00

President Obama has said time and again that, if you like your private health insurance, the new reforms being proposed will allow you to keep it.
But wait a minute. That’s not his decision and it’s not yours. Your employer will decide.
Employers have been plagued for years by steep increases in health care benefits, causing most to shift about 25% of the cost to employees in the form of payroll deductions.
The new regs would require employers to insure their employees or pay a tax of 8% of payroll. Employees would then receive Medicare-like government coverage.
My guess is that most employers now pay 6% to 14% of payroll for Blue Cross-like coverage, plus the costs of administering the program and complying with the rising heap of regulations. Given the opportunity to lower costs, they will pay the tax. And employees would - initially - welcome not having $50 to $350 deducted from their monthly pay for health insurance.
Obama may be technically correct that the government won’t mandate the public option, but most employers would eventually elect the government plan. Unless you work for a very profitable company, it will only be a matter of time before you join the estimated 100 million employees who will be moving to government insurance.

Eddie Haskell is in the (White) House

2009-09-19T11:35:00.004-04:00

Smooth talk, good looks, wrongheaded

Give President Obama credit for talking; he’s everywhere and his platitudinous comments play well. He carries himself well. And he’s completely off base in thinking that big central government is the solution for everything.
Talks good, looks good and up to no good… who does that remind you of? Eddie Haskell!
You got to have some years on you to remember Eddie in the old Leave it to Beaver shows. He was Wally Cleaver’s best friend, a wise guy who would suck up to adults only to pick on other kids such as Beaver and Clarence “Lumpy” Rutherford.
President Obama doesn’t play pranks, but he’ll do some major damage if he gets his way.
If Eddie isn't Obama in disguise, he must be one of his many czars.

The Myth Myth

2009-09-06T09:44:00.002-04:00

I recently canceled my membership to AARP, but they still send that monthly Bulletin that reads like a DNC rag. Their feature story this month is about clearing up all the hype and lies about health care reform - myths such as private insurance disappearing, euthanasia and rationing. It’s bad enough that they miss many key issues, but their responses are all based on what lawmakers say today.
All this spin by the media and special interest groups is getting old, isn’t it?
The basic facts that AARP and other supporters of Obama-style health reform miss is that we can’t trust anything the government says when it comes to social programs. Go back and look at the promises made about Social Security back in the 1930s. Look at today’s catastrophe-waiting-to-happen level of unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security. And the only Democrat plan for illegal immigration (and ensuring that more illegal’s don’t get free health care) is keeping unemployment high.
My biggest complaint about the health care debate is that proponents of reform talk about problems and not solutions. Of course there are issues needing attention, but the Pelosi-Reid-Obama plan just increases the government’s interference in our lives… at the expense of our freedoms.
If you want to bust some myths, ask your doctor what reforms we need. Or ask your employer’s HR department how many people don’t enroll in your company plan because they have other “priorities”.
I sure hope we wake up and stop rushing to a government solution for health care.

Be careful boycotting media sponsors

2009-09-06T09:40:00.003-04:00

You don’t have to agree with everything Rush Limbaugh says – he probably doesn’t. He has the biggest audiences because he does his homework, keeps an incredible library of past statements made by officials, and invents/popularizes phrases that capsulize the issues – drive-by media, Breck Girl, environmentalist wacko, chickafication.
Is Rush partisan and acrimonious? Absolutely. But no more so than Couric, Letterman or Matthews are to the ears of conservatives.
Glenn Beck apparently said some things on Fox News that really angered the left. Now they’re organizing boycotts of his sponsors. While this is nothing new, and we are certainly free to shop wherever we want, these boycotts are the slipperiest of slopes.
Can you imagine if the left shopped at Publix and the right at Kroger? Or the left was AT&T and the right Verizon? Or the left drove Toyotas and the right Chevys?
You put an Eveready battery on your shoulder and I’ll put a Duracell on mine, and we’ll dare each other to see who knocks whose off first.
Wide-scale public boycotts of sponsors will destroy what little independence of the press we enjoy today.

Break from the folly

2009-08-30T14:31:00.003-04:00

Thanks to vacations and funerals, the reckless pace of hard-left social engineering has slowed to a crawl in the past few weeks.
But something very significant occurred over the summer. Raised voices from the third of Americans who worship Obama and the third who can’t stand his politics have awoken the middle third. The herd has picked up the scent. No longer is Obama the post-partisan, post-racial, cool guy who represents hope and change. He’s been exposed as just another platitudinous power grabber.
The left has overreached. They have shown their hand. Government health care and manmade global warming never were about lowering costs and fixing things that need attention; they have always been about central government control. And the vast majority of Americans hate the notion of Washington judging them, overtaxing them and interfering in their lives.
And maybe the best part of the summer break has been that the mainstream media no longer directs what we see and hear. Radio, Internet and ordinary people speaking up in public have worked around the filters.
Enjoy the break, because the folly will restart soon enough.

Friedman and Donahue

2009-08-25T12:54:00.001-04:00

Milton was brilliant and more relevant than ever today

Watch this so you won't experience it

2009-08-22T13:03:00.004-04:00

When you think about it, the greatest risk we take everyday is not Al-Qaida or Obama's latest policy, but getting behind the wheel.
Watch this and share it with those you love.

Warning: very graphic and disturbing!

Pull my finger for the public option

2009-08-15T07:37:00.002-04:00

Pictured: writer of the House health care bill

Obama and company are trying to pull off the scam of the century on health care.

Does your employer pay more than 8% of payroll for health insurance (8% is the proposed employer tax for not providing health insurance)? My bet is they do; a lot more.

Would your employer drop BlueCross or whatever plan you now have, and use the savings to either lower the price of their product/service or give employees a raise? My bet is they would.

Do you think a Medicare-like system will be better for your family than the private plan you now enjoy?

Estimates are that Obamacare will cause a hundred million employees and their families to transfer from private insurance to government insurance.

The Dems like to rail on insurance company profits and executive comp, yet those amounts would be a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of government waste, corruption and rationing costs. All Medicare and Medicaid have done is cost-shift by paying a fraction of what private insurers pay doctors and hospitals.

Choice? More competition? Lower cost? Yeah, pull my finger.

The key to improving health care is HSAs that put control and responsibility on individuals.

Reagan had it right

2009-08-15T07:30:00.002-04:00

Citizen Ronald Reagan, 1961.

Dems have become the establishment they once scorned

2009-08-10T20:21:00.003-04:00

Pictured standing: Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Clinton, Barney Frank.
Seated: Barbara Boxer, Al Franken, Al Gore

Back in the seventies, young people did anything they could to rail against what they called the ‘establishment’ – from drugs, riots, and desertion to bad hygiene. They yelled, disrupted, mocked and scorned any and all authority.
Now those youth are the establishment – at least in government, media, entertainment, and academia. We have gone full circle and memories are short.
Today, if you speak out against Obamacare and a government spinning out of control – in a much more mild and sincere fashion than the 70’s – you’re an un-American mob.
Yeah, all we are saying is that it took a village to end up in this mess.

Favorite recipe – the perfect summer treat

2009-08-06T19:57:00.002-04:00

I spend little time in the kitchen , so if I offer a recipe, you know it’s going to be delicious, nutritious and easy.

Recipe for frozen grapes

Ingredients: red seedless grapes
Preparation: place in sandwich bags for individual servings; freeze.

Warning: Grapes can pose a choking hazard for children ages 3 and under. Eating more than 75 grapes at one sitting may cause nausea, diarrhea, constipation and swelling of the thighs and buttocks. Do not insert grapes in your nose as this can cause sudden drop in blood pressure, runny nose, shortness of breath and decrease in semen. Placing more than 10 grapes in your mouth at once may cause you to talk like Barney Frank. Not following these directions can cause thoughts of suicide, hearing voices, projectile vomiting, stomach bleeding and an erection lasting more than 4 hours. Eating grapes alone can cause paranoia, infections of the nervous system and skin reactions. Avoid driving or operating heavy equipment while eating frozen grapes. See your doctor if you get a brain freeze or dryness of mouth. Grapes do not provide protection from STDs or homicidal tendencies.

Porked, spent and spun to death

2009-08-01T20:07:00.002-04:00

Here's what I understand to be the layers of this year’s federal budget:
1) Basic government services – national defense, welfare for the needy, and infrastructure programs that have been around for decades
2) Entitlement programs – Social Security, Medicare (including prescription) and interest on federal debt - none of which can be sustained at current levels
3) Recent reactive actions – bailout of financial institutions following mortgage crisis, higher unemployment benefits
4) Stimulus – Democrats' special interests and share-the-wealth initiatives passed last spring.
5) In Obama’s pipeline – government health insurance

Government will spend $34,000 per household in 2009. Median income is about $50,000. That’s madness.
I’m okay with 1) and could live with 2) if the bureaucrats would resize benefits. Some of 3) might be needed temporarily to fix past government missteps. Items 4) and 5) are irresponsible.
Do you personally spend money on what you want or what you can afford?
I balance my personal finances, and I’m sick and tired of Washington spending money they don’t have for programs we don’t need.
This economy will not recover until consumers and industry regain their confidence. On a scale of ten, my confidence in Washington is zero.

Obama is America’s ‘puppy purchase’

2009-07-31T07:19:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-25T16:08:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-25T14:57:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-21T19:22:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-20T20:42:00.003-04:00

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…

2009-07-18T08:43:00.002-04:00

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?

2009-07-18T08:32:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-17T07:37:00.004-04:00

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?

2009-07-11T15:54:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-11T15:43:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-06T06:29:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-05T09:51:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-05T09:44:00.003-04:00

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.

Testy testy little ma'am

2009-06-29T19:09:00.001-04:00

Can afford a Blackberry... but not food

2009-06-29T12:41:00.003-04:00

This is crazy. A guy shows up for free soup served by volunteer Michelle Obama with a very expensive Blackberry. Priorities?? Choices??

If you read one magazine

2009-06-28T20:21:00.004-04:00

The only magazine I read faithfully is Forbes. They get it. Smart, insightful and easy to read. Here are a few lines from the latest edition:
Steve Forbes on the new financial regulations – the blunt truth is that even if we had Obama’s regulatory reforms in place 4 years ago, we would still have experienced an economic disaster… regulations turned a serious flood into a tsunami... the thing about government is that the more it fails, the more power it accrues.
Steve Forbes on the new vehicle regulations - changes in efficiency standards will mean greater carnage on our highways… smaller cars will mean people will keep their clunkers longer… sky-high fuel prices, not innate environmental rules, is why Europeans drive small, high-mileage vehicles... but raising gas taxes in the US would be deeply unpopular, so Washington gave us CAFE.
David Malpass on the markets – the markets have rebounded from March lows… Washington will claim victory… but they shouldn’t…unemployment will climb to well over 10%... industrial production has fallen 13.5%... Washington’s plan is to hire workers to take the census, sign union construction contracts in compliant states and tax the shrinking private sector to pay unemployment benefits… economic problems are fixable, but not under current policies.
Rich Kilgaard on energy – Obama supports Iranian nuclear power, but not ours… France gets 80% of its electricity from nuclear power… the US gets 20%... there were no deaths or effect on cancer rates from the Three Mile Island accident in 1979… but after Hollywood’s The China Syndrome , logic didn’t matter.

Barack Obama is Tommy Flanagan

2009-06-26T07:06:00.002-04:00

Every time I hear Barack Obama I think of the Jon Lovitz routine on SNL.

Obama dodges central health care question

2009-06-26T06:22:00.003-04:00

Obama hems and haws, and gets long winded to avoid the key issues. The health care system is messed up, but government involvement will just make things worse. National health care is a huge power grab which we can't afford and don't need. Any solution must include individual responsibility for good lifestyle choices.

Impressions of Washington DC

2009-06-25T19:11:00.003-04:00

On our annual trek north to see family, the kids and I stopped overnight in Washington to visit the monuments. Here are some impressions.
1. Washington is teeming with activity, especially overcrowded highways and subways. You can almost hear the giant sucking sound as money from all around the country pours into DC.
2. Virginia is booming as the bedroom community for DC. One of the reddest states in the country is steadily turning blue as federal payroll and special interest money oozes southward into the Commonwealth. Thomas Jefferson is crying in his grave at how the statists have ruined his vision for this country.
3. The morning traffic jam northbound on I-95 into DC from Virginia was several miles long, many lanes wide and lasts for hours. DC must have a size 17EEE carbon footprint.
4. The further north you drive from Georgia, the more self-centered people drive. Around Washington, the odds are good that the car cruising in the passing lane and not passing anyone has an Obama-Biden ‘08 bumper sticker.
5. Toll taxes are rising fast. The best stretches of I-95 are in the South and all free. As soon as you enter Baltimore the tolls begin – Baltimore tunnel $2, Maryland $4, Delaware $4… and that’s all within 40 minutes. The tolls get even worse as you continue north (see http://www.i95exitguide.com/tolls/index.php). Not only are these tolls a regional rip-off, but the waste of gas and time waiting in line is sinful. If that’s how they want to play it, Georgia needs to put a $10 toll on I-95 north of Savannah and on I-75 north of Macon and give all Southerners a free speed-pass.
6. DC’s weather in June has been unseasonably cool. Al Gore may not have been truthful about the weather, but his climate campaign has been quite convenient for his fame and fortune.
Washington is full of hope and change - for the Democrats who are seizing power and lining their pockets just as fast as you can say yes-we-can.

Cap compensation? Start with Oprah

2009-06-12T21:15:00.003-04:00

Forbes just reported that Oprah Winfrey made $275 million last year.

I admire people that can command big bucks; I understand supply and demand. But the Democrats in Washington want to cap compensation. They want to cherry pick their targets and stand in judgment of how much they’re worth.

If they decide to go down this slipperiest of slopes, they ought to begin at the top. Cap Oprah at $2 million. But they won’t go after entertainers or media moguls - they’re Democrats. They’ll go after the evil titans of industry who the media has painted as greedy and whose jobs the politicians could not do or even understand.

I can just see some bureaucrat deciding that Steven Spielberg is worth $150 million/year, but the CEO of some business isn’t worth $1.5 million. It’s all bound to blowup in their faces because the politicians think win-lose: if you get a bigger slice of the pie, my piece will be smaller. They slept through ECON 101 when the professor explained the win-win of creating wealth – making a new pie or an existing pie bigger.

I personally don’t think Angelina Jolie is worth $27 million/year just because she was born pretty. Madonna ($110 million) is washed up, as is David Letterman ($45 million). Bruce Springsteen ($70 million) has always had more nerve than talent.

But they are worth what they get. Let the market judge what someone is worth, not some pinhead with a grudge in Washington.