New Years Eve Tradition

I'm recycling some old posts.  Last week, on Christmas Eve, I spoke of my old family traditions.  This New Years Eve, I'm recycling another about New Years Eve on the farm.  This one was fairly common where I grew up. I expect it was more widespread than I know, but today?  

Heh!  Somebody'd call the cops!

New Years Traditions at the Farm

Hmmm. Look at this in light of the new START treaty

I was over at the Investor's Business Daily website for my Michael Ramirez fix when I saw this article. The dems and a pack of RINOs forced through the latest version of the START treaty. In that treaty, the preamble alludes to blocking further anti-ballistic missile deployments. The dems and RINOs either conveniently overlooked this or said it didn't mean what it said.

Be that as it may, consider a possible halt in ABM development with this column.

China's New Missile: A Game Changer?

Posted 12/28/2010 06:22 PM ET

China's Challenge: As tensions elevate on the Korean peninsula, Pyongyang's patron deploys a weapon designed to sink the very ships we are sending to protect an ally. This does not bode well.

The prospects that the Korean War, which ended in only an interminable armistice, may resume has become an increasingly real possibility in recent months.

That its patron, China, without which North Korea would collapse of its own rot, now has deployed a missile designed to target and sink U.S. carrier battle groups adds a new and disturbing element to any confrontation in the region.

Admiral Robert Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, told the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun last Sunday that China's touted "carrier-killer," an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) designated the Dong Feng-21D, had reached "initial operational capability."

This version of China's land-based mobile medium-range missile is off the drawing boards and in the field.

"Beijing has successfully developed, tested, and deployed the world's first weapons system capable of targeting a moving carrier strike group from long-range, land-based, mobile launchers," confirms Andrew Erickson, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College.

Erickson says that at least one unit of China's Second Artillery Corps is equipped with the DF-21D.

Defense analysts have called the weapon a "game-changer," as have we — one that could force U.S. carrier battle groups to keep their distance and stay away from areas of Chinese interest or territorial claims, such as Taiwan or Japan's Shenkaku islands, both of which Beijing claims are Chinese territory.

The land-based missile is designed to target and track aircraft carrier groups with the help of satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles and over-the-horizon radar. Launched into space, the DF-21D reenters the atmosphere, maneuvering at 10 times the speed of sound towards its target.

Aircraft carriers and their accompanying ships would find it difficult if not impossible to defend themselves against such a threat.

In September, Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted that such an operational weapon would change the way the U.S. deploys its carriers in a crisis.

Our Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers offer some defense, but there are not enough of them. We have only 24 Burke- and Ticonderoga-class BMD (ballistic missile defense) warships, not all of which will be available at any given time. Today, these ships are committed to defending Europe from Iranian missiles, as well as other Persian Gulf states.

"The Navy has long had to fear carrier-killing capabilities," says Patrick Cronin, a senior director at the non-partisan Center for a New American Security. "The emerging Chinese anti-ship missile capability, and in particular the DF-21D, represents the first post-Cold War capability that is both potentially capable of stopping our naval projection and is deliberately designed for that purpose."

There's more at the website, go there and read and then consider the phrase, "unintended consequences."

Busy day

My wife will be returning home from the church conference this afternoon. I haven't messed the place up too badly while she's been gone.  When her bus gets close, she'll text me and I'll go pick her up.

In the mean time, I've been goofing off with my "new" eReader.  I bought a Velocity Cruz tablet just after Thanksgiving and I've loaded a ton of e-books on it.  I think I've about clean out the Gutenburg Project and Manybooks of SF, Mystery and other books that struck my fancy.  In fact, I've a couple of years worth of reading stashed on it.

I installed a 16GB mini SD card in the reader and a 16GB flash drive to keep the books backed up.  It's cut into my blog writing time a bit.  

When I received the Cruz tablet, purchased on-line from Borders, it included $55 worth of gift cards too.  A nice Christmasy surprise.  I just noticed than one of my favorite military writers, Douglas Reeman, AKA Alexander Kent, has had his books re-released in digital form earlier this week. Reeman, writing as Alexander Kent, has a series, Richard Bolitho, that competes competes well with C. S. Forester's Hormblower series.  I can hardly wait to start on them.

***

On the news front, I see that Obama continues, through government agencies and regulation, to give the people of this country the salute of the Upright Index Finger.  I've always opposed charging politicians for acts they commit while in office unless those acts were illegal.  Obama's buds in the FCC have ignored Federal Court orders and instructions from congressional oversight committees when they seized control of the internet.  I now see that the EPA will regulate "green house emissions" via regulation whent they couldn't get them passed in congress via their "Cap 'n Tax" legislation. Those regulations will come into force on January 2nd, 2011.

It's time to abolish the EPA in addition to the FCC. They've run amuck and are out of control.

I think these and other acts like Holder's killing charges against the "New Black Panthers" for voter intimidation and interference at the polls comes close to criminal acts.  The question is whether this is malfeasance in office or merely misfeasance.  The adage, "Stupid is as stupid does," comes to mind.  This democrat administration is certainly stupid.  Whether it's criminally stupid is still unanswered.    

A friend of Snigs needs some help. UPDATE

Go here. If you see this woman or her auto, please let these people know.

Serious Help Needed.

UPDATE: I received an e-mail from Snigs. The lady has been found and is safe. Thank you, all.

What happens when you tax millionaires? They leave.

The dems, some at least, are enraged that Obama caved and let the millionaires keep their current tax rates instead of raising them come January 1. Some states, New York, Oregon, and Maryland, I believe, raised taxes on their high-earners and what happened?

They left and now those states are collecting LESS revenue than before.

Rush Limbaugh is an outspoken example of millionaire flight. When the state of New York decided to stick it to him, Limbaugh moved his entire operation to Florida. They continue to audit him but haven't been able to collect a dime. Limbaugh even sold his New York City condo at a large profit to eliminate having anything left in NY that can be taxed. Where before NY received some income from Rush, now, due to their tax policies, they receive none.

Here's a cautionary tale from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

EDITORIAL: The millionaires disappear

Oregon finds tax doesn't raise the money

Attempting to close its budget gap without doing what it should have done -- cut spending -- Oregon raised its "piggy-back" state income tax on the richest 2 percent of its residents last year.

As a result -- Nevada legislators, please note -- Oregon tax receipts are now ... falling.

You can read the entire editorial here.

It seems that millionaires, regardless where they reside, aren't stupid. Unless they inherited their money, millionaires are some pretty smart folks. They wouldn't be millionaires if they weren't. So what happens when the state decides to stick it to their millionaires? They leave---or move their money into areas with a lesser tax rate or perhaps not taxable. Some choose tax defeating alternatives like moving assets into trust funds or out of the state where income derived from those funds are taxed elsewhere. There are all sorts of options and millionaires and their financial advisers are finding them. The new question is, "What does the taxing authority consider 'taxable income'? What if these assets were owned by a trust, or transferred in some different way ... ?"

If BO had followed his party's demands, I expect that off-shore accounts in the Bahamas and in Switzerland would have been growing about now.

(H/T to George in Las Vegas.)

Say, "Good night," Julius.

I've had to work with the FCC for a long time, at least a couple of decades, perhaps more. My previous job was to design systems to support Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS,) a federal mandate to the states to provide telephone communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The states would make contracts with my employer to provide this service. At it's high point a few years ago, we had contracts with over thirty states and at least one foreign government.

From time to time, every other year it seemed, the FCC would propose enhancements to the basic service. The FCC drew its authority from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) Most of the time, the FCC listened to providers. We listened to the FCC carefully. You see, the FCC also regulated our reimbursement for handling long distance calls. When the FCC dictated a few service or technology, we would examine and forecast costs and continuing expenses with a fine toothed comb. We needed to make sure our added expense and cost still provided a measure of profit given the fixed reimbursement rate from the FCC. It was my job to design the support systems and to determine the costs to provide these new services. In the process I was awarded six patents for innovative designs to provide the TRS services.

The question was, why did the FCC have to be involved when the original mandate was to the states? The states were forced by the feds to pass enabling legislation to comply with the ADA. How did the FCC come to be involved in a purely social requirement? The immediate response was because the service was from a telecommunications carrier.

In reality, FCC oversight wasn't needed, nor required. The original mandate was to the states, not to the telecommunications carriers like AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and a few others. The states would issue Requests for Proposals and in turn would negotiate a contract with a TRS provider. The FCC got it's nose into the tent because one of the basic services was to provide interstate long distance calling for the deaf.

It would be more prudent, perhaps, if the service was regulated by the ICC like trucking companies, IF any federal oversight was required at all. You see, the carriers were already regulated as part of their normal business. We, the TRS providers were being "double-dipped", so to speak, by the FCC. First because we were a communications carrier and second because we were also a TRS provider.

There was no need for the FCC to be involved at all. The services to be provided was covered in the contract between the state and the provider. What benefits did the FCC provide?

None. Except to increase the overall cost of the service. And who paid for this? The people of the states. If you look closely at your next phone bill. You'll probably see a line item for TRS. Usually this is a tax for every phone line and/or for every call you make. In a few cases it's a flat charge added to your bill because you have a phone.

I've often wondered how much the cost could have been reduced if we didn't have to jump through the FCCs hoops. You see the FCC was created during that great social failure known as the New Deal in the 1930s specifically to constrain the growth of AT&T. The social engineers at the time feared AT&T would become a monopoly.

The FCC, for all practical purposes, killed competition and gave AT&T a virtual monopoly for phone service. It wasn't until the 1980s that AT&T's monopoly, created in part by the FCc, was broken up and AT&Twas forced to divest itself of the local exchange carriers like Southwestern Bell, Bell South, PacBell and others. The FCC finally performed its original mission---fifty years late. It finally allowed competition to emerge---like Sprint in the 1980s and more recently cable TV providers.

However, we've come full circle. Almost all of the local exchange providers have again been reabsorbed into a single company called---AT&T! So, what benefits did we ever get from the FCC? They've failed to perform their original purpose.

I propose that the FCC having failed to meet its original purpose, regardless whether that purpose was needed in the first place, has no mission and should be abolished as obsolete and a waste of taxpayer money. Others agree with me. Here's an editorial from the Investor's Business Daily that provides some additional information.

Kill Off The FCC

Posted 12/23/2010 06:55 PM ET

Regulatory State: Two days after the FCC voted to take over the Internet, it stands in the way of an agreement between private companies. This is an agency that should be targeted for elimination.

On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission approved net neutrality, a regulatory framework that has been sold as a means of keeping the Web fair and open. In truth, the rules give government the authority to tell Internet service providers how to organize the traffic that flows over their infrastructure.

That's enough meddling in private affairs for one week for any federal agency. But the FCC wasn't finished.

Chairman Julius Genachowski, who pushed net neutrality despite a court ruling and bipartisan opposition in Congress, set conditions Thursday on Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal. He wants Comcast to distribute content in a way that he approves of and lets competitors access Comcast's platform.

It's almost amusing that these conditions are being applied in the name of the "public interest."

Genachowski's proposal isn't binding. He still has to present his ideas to the other four commissioners and a vote must be taken. But neither one man nor one group should have the power to marshal private companies' business operations.

Private media companies are not government-owned utilities.

Regulators such as Genachowski say they are merely trying to keep competition healthy and protect consumers.

But their efforts inhibit competition and obstruct innovation.

Cell phones, for instance, were delayed by the FCC for a decade. The cost of this hang-up to the economy, according to the National Economic Research Associates, was $85 billion.

Like generals fighting the last war, regulators make rules based on the way businesses operated yesterday. As they try to keep up with market dynamics, they inflict uncertainty into business decisions and put a boot on the neck of progress. When not held back by regulators, though, companies freely create new technologies and business models that increase competition.

What role, then, is there for regulators, especially those at the FCC, which oversees one of the most dynamic industries in the world? With the intense competition in telecommunications that has benefited consumers and led to wide commercial successes, there's no need for a government referee in this sector.

There's nothing the FCC does that can't be eliminated, streamlined or handed over to another agency or department that has a legitimate function. (Ed Morrissey of hotair.com suggests broadcast licenses "could be handled by the Commerce Department, or by a greatly reduced FCC with binding limitations on jurisdiction." The point is, the FCC as now constituted doesn't have to do it.)

The FCC has been around for a while — it was established by the Communications Act of 1934. So it won't be abolished overnight. But its elimination is a worthy goal.

Just another Roosevelt boondoggle like the New Deal. A social experiment that is nothing but a failure. Like Johnson's Great Society, all of the social bills passed by the democrats have been failures.

A Merrier Christmas!

Following a long personal tradition, I'm up late--alone--on Christmas Eve--now Christmas. I enjoy the time to reflect a little, and to recall Christmases past.

When the boys were small the late hours were used to haul presents out of hiding, assemble if necessary, place under the tree, and do it all with absolute silence. Usually just before we were able to finally head to bed, one or both of them would be easing down the stairs to peek and inquire if Santa had already been and gone. We'd finally head to bed after we'd had about 30 minutes of silence from them. We sometimes had to resort to an 'or else' but their persistance generally won out by about 5 at the latest. I don't recall much of Christmas afternoons back then. Now, my late hours are simply a time to remember when children were little, grandparents and parents were with us, and all seemed right with the world.

Now our boys deal with the same sorts of early morning excitement and I say 'good enough for 'em!'--but really envy their joy in sharing Christmas with little ones. The Christmas days and the years go speeding away and, among all my wishes to friends and family, I wish for each of them to savor and file away all the pleasures, warmth, fun, and love of this day especially.

When visiting a favorite blog earlier today I came across a charming and fun video of a 'performance' of the Hallelujah Chorus from Quinhagak, Alaska. It will make you smile.



Merry Christmas to Crucis, Mrs. C., and all y'all! I'll be seeing you next year.

A Family Tradition

Every family has traditions.  You may not think of them in that manner, but traditions they are. 

I grew up in a large extended family, mostly from my mother's side.  Mom was the oldest of four. My Grandfather Miller was one of eight. I had cousins scattered over four states but the largest group was in southern Illinois.  The Clan, as it was known to many, had a Christmas tradition. This is my memory of that time of year.

The Gathering of the Clan        

War on Christians

It isn't new, but the left continues to attack Christians. This time of year that means Christmas.  There has been numerous examples. One is from Virginia where a student group of ten is being punished for "tossing small candy canes" to students.  The group known as the Christmas Sweater club for the seasonal sweaters they wear was accused of acts to "maliciously maim students with the intent to injure." The candy canes in question were two inches long, wrapped in plastic, weighing less than an ounce.

In another example, an arm of the federal government, the Federal Reserve, forced an Oklahoma bank to remove Christmas button and Bible verses.

 Federal Reserve examiners come every four years to make sure banks are complying with a long list of regulations. The examiners came to Perkins last week. And the team from Kansas City deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller’s counter and buttons that say "Merry Christmas, God With Us." were inappropriate. The Bible verse of the day on the bank's Internet site also had to be taken down.

...

 Specifically, the feds believed, the symbols violated the discouragement clause of Regulation B of the bank regulations. According to the clause, "...the use of words, symbols, models and other forms of communication ... express, imply or suggest a discriminatory preference or policy of exclusion."

 The feds interpret that to mean, for example, a Jew or Muslim or atheist may be offended and believe they may be discriminated against at this bank. It is an appearance of discrimination.

It's not limited to just the US.  The UK Red Cross has banned Christmas to avoid offending Muslims, atheists and other non-Christians.  Well, what about offending Christians?  They're more numerous in the UK than those others?

I could cite many more.  The attacks on Christians here at home are one of the triggers that created the Tea Party.  While all Tea Partiers are not Christian, a large number, maybe the majority, are.  Tea Partiers, as a whole, resent the attacks on our families, our traditions, and the principles of this Republic instituted by the Founders.


The worst offender against Christians in the federal government from the Department of Education to Treasury to NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizationss) such as the National Public Radio headquartered in Washington.  Nina Totenberg, apologized on-air, for attending a "Christmas" party.


When the new Congress is seated on January 4, 2011, there will be many changed instituted over the next two years.  Many changes...or there will be more dems and RINOs leaving office at the end of 2012.

You Jackwagon!

I love R. Lee Ermey. I haven't seen a single thing he's done poorly---including his latest GEICO ads.  Now he's expanded his repertoire and become a cultural icon.

A hat-tip and thanks to cartoonist Dana Summers.

Yuck!

I'm still sick. Not as bad as last week but still just...yuck. At least I'm not in my usual **cough** **throw-up** cycle. It's mostly just coughing and being very tired.

***

I like to queue up posts so I'm not rushed. That doesn't appear to be happening this week. Fortunately for me, Dinah has the holiday posts for Christmas and New Years. I'm queuing some past items from previous years for Christmas and New Years Eve.

Betwixt them, we'll just see what strikes my fancy. Right now, I'm firing on three out of eight cylinders. Hopefully I'll spy something interesting---maybe not.

***

Of recent events, the Dream Act is now just a dream as is the Reid/Pelosi $1.27 Trillion boondoggle and spending splurge. Mitch McConnell stood up like a man and the 'Pubs followed in his opposition to these bills. Now he needs to do the same with the START treaty that's design to make us defenseless and we need to block Obama's seizure of the Internet via the FCC's Julius Genachowski and the Attorney General Eric Holder.

The Heritage Foundation has this to say about the government's attempt to "control" internet access and usage.

Meet FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a political appointee and Harvard Law classmate of President Barack Obama. Genachowski is leading the FCC's charge for new powers over the Internet so it can enact a policy known as "net neutrality," which would allow the commission to regulate how Internet providers like Comcast or Verizon offer their services. If you're someone who is suspicious of big corporations, that sounds like a great idea. If you're someone who is fearful of big government, take heed. In reality, the policy will limit consumer choice while granting the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet. As Heritage's James Gattuso describes:

The net result [of net neutrality]— a slower and more congested Internet, and more frustration for users. Even worse, investment in expanding the Internet will be chilled, as FCC control of network management makes investment less inviting. The amounts at stake aren’t trivial, with tens of billions invested each year in Internet expansion.

--- The Heritage Foundation's Opening Bell, December 21, 2010.

I like my Comcast service. I don't want my connection "controlled" nor do I want my access to the internet "constrained" by some government censor. That is really what this move is all about---censorship, controlled access, and blocking opposition (of the government) from freely communicating with each other and speaking their minds .

Another spike to make this republic a tyranny. Obama and the dems still think they can seize control of the country piece-meal killing one liberty at an time until there are none left---except for themselves.

It's not about "fairness" nor "equal access" as the government claims. It's all about Control.

Eric Holder is correct. Our greatest danger is from within---from the dems, libs and progressive elites. Holder thinks it is us.

Starting over

Ted Nugent, in addition to being a rock musician, NRA board member, hunter and shooter, TV entrepreneur, is also a writer. I've seen in columns appear in a number sources and he always writes cogently and plainly---something many "professional" journalists have never learned.

He has a column that just appeared in the Washington Times, the only conservative paper in the DC area---perhaps the only one on the east coast. In that column, titled Starting Over, he suggests creating a commission whose purpose is to reduce/eliminate the federal bureaucracy to be in line with the expectations of the Founders. 

I find Ted's proposal very appealing. Read it for yourself and if you support it, pass the column URL along to others and maybe even drop ol' Ted a note and let him know you support it. 

NUGENT: Time for a Starting Over Commission

Fedzilla-free confab should recall the Founding Fathers

By Ted Nugent - The Washington Times 5:09 p.m., Friday, December 17, 2010

Politics isn't the art of compromise. Politics as usual is an artful ruse to get us to believe politicians are doing one thing while they do another. Our politicians do this by obfuscating, confusing, denying, blaming and lying. The truth be damned.

For as far back as I can remember, politicians have mistreated our Constitution and the intent of our Founding Fathers with disrespect and disdain. They do what they damn well please. These punk politicians laugh and scoff at those of us who still believe in the 10th Amendment and a limited federal government.

On our embarrassing, apathetic watch, our politicians have built vast departments on top of vast agencies, which sit atop various other vast government institutions. Our politicians have given these inexplicable bureaucracies incredible powers, including what has become, for all practical purposes, unlimited, unaccountable regulatory power, and an army of millions upon millions of bureaucrats to implement the intentionally confusing infrastructure that serves to control us instead of liberate us, stifle innovation instead of reward it and crush entrepreneurialism instead of encourage it.

There is a good reason I refer to this bureaucratic nightmare as Fedzilla: It wrecks everything it touches.

Fedzilla is inefficient, unaccountable and wasteful. The financial books of some federal government organizations are in such disarray and so disorganized that the Government Accountability Office, the government organization responsible for auditing Fedzilla, has literally stated it has been unable to complete the financial audit. Unbelievable.

Welcome to the new, improved and uglier Planet of the Apes.

Our politicians give us 2,000-page bills that they have not read and do not understand but have the audacity to tell usare for our own good. That's the bizarro anti-logic of people addicted to crack cocaine and not what we should expect from our politicians. These punk politicians deserve a bucket of hot tar and some feathers.

America is literally on the verge of financial ruin. Fedzilla's solution? Borrow and spend even more. This is beyond insanity. Every man's, woman's and child's portion of Fedzilla's mountainous debt is $44,000 and growing daily.

Redistribute that, President Obama.

 There is more of the column at the Washington Times website. Don't forget to read both pages.         

A sigh of relief!

Well--here it is almost exactly one week until Christmas and I'm calm and cool and collected--sort of! Ninety-nine percent of the shopping is done (except for that best friend and I'm closing in on that one) and my abbreviated baking weekend is here. Last year I over-did and ended up with way too much stuff because that's what happens when one gets dazzled by new recipes. I'm going back to the tried and true stuff my mother made with only one fairly new recipe that has proven itself. And it's chocolate, and one can't go wrong with chocolate. And I even have mailed my short list of Christmas cards. The boxes I shipped to my sons have arrived at their destinations [unlike a couple years ago when they went astray and their celebration was postponed by a week].

Perhaps the largest load off my mind is the miraculous cohesiveness of the Republicans in quashing that miserable omnibus spending thing! I was beginning to have serious doubts but they managed to stick together and not let it happen. The weasels outed themselves and I believe their constituents made notes and they might well have an uphill battle to get themselves re-elected next time. Even ol' Claire McCaskill indicated she was against it--recognizing that she is representing folks in a good Red State. I'm feeling so generous I might just give her some points for doing the right thing 'just because.' In any event the thing was pulled, no money is headed to Obamacare and that might make it easier to whittle away at it when the new congress is in business.

I've gotten a real kick out of watching the weasels ranting and raving about how unfair it is that the estate tax is just a paltry 35 percent. I am positive that somehow or another they have figured a way to protect their assets (and how do they get so rich in office?) but feel that they have a right to take more than a third of a family farm or small business or even a medium business. Where does that sort of mind-set come from? A farmer or small businessman seldom has the resources to be able to cover that sort of tax bill aimed at his children--the resources are tied up in land or equipment or something not easily converted to handy cash to hand over to the extortionist government. One of the fools even said that it shouldn't matter to the person passing along the inheritance--after all, he's dead. Just on the basic morality of the thing, the individual has worked hard, built something, paid taxes at least once on the income [not to mention property taxes, real estate taxes, etc., etc.] and the government should have no right to arbitrarily swoop in and take it away.

If you've got a few minutes to spare in this hectic season, I'd like to recommend an article in the NY Times (gasp! choke!) that I found encouraging. It's about a number of young people who have decided not to wait on the economy turning around enough so that they might get hired--they just decided to hire themselves......by creating their own businesses. There are even enough of them that they've formed a 'council' to support each other, brainstorm and encourage others to follow suit. It is a good and uplifting story....and I would hope that more people finding it difficult to become an 'employee' would decide to create their own work.

I wish everyone a fun-filled week in advance of Christmas--and I'll see you then....or whenever...... And remember, when you see that big steaming pile of manure in your life it's simply an indication that there's a pony around someplace!

Cleaver's $48 Billion Earmark

Representative Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO-5), is the upcoming King of Pork.  He's learned how to spend earmarks to best benefit himself.  When he was Mayor, KC spent millions on Cleaver's community action committees.  Years and millions spent for no apparent result---other than to bribe line the pockets of the city's political elite.  When you compare Cleaver to Tom Pendergast, Pendergast was a piker.

Cleaver has taken his penchant for payoffs to special interests to Congress.  It now appears that he's reached the big time.  When he was Mayor,  he channeled millions of bribes to his buds.  Now that he's in Congress, he can channel BILLIONS. 

Pelosi and Reid are trying to pass one last massive $1.2 Trillion spending bill loaded with earmarks and pork.  Reid has a few million in this bill to study "weeds".  Reid is cheap compared to Cleaver.  Cleaver has a $48 Billion earmark for Kansas City to do...?

Now that is a good question.  Have local Kansas Citians heard anything about this colossal waste of money from the liberal-biased Kansas City Star or other liberal media?  No.  The earmark was discovered by a small paper on the opposite side of Missouri, The Southeast Missourian in Cape Girardeau, MO. The word is spreading---but not by the state media organs.

Here's the column that unmasked this payoff to another of Cleaver's buds.

Redistribution on steroids

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Mike Jensen

Rep. Cleaver has proposed a $48 billion earmark

When absurdity gives way to hilarity, you must be talking about politics.

In the midst of a colossal global concern for the economic stability of our great nation, Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri's 5th Congressional District representative, has one small earmark on his wish list that deserves some attention.

Cleaver has listed a new earmark -- one of several -- and he promises to "fight for every one." But this is a whopping $48 billion package that must go down as the grandaddy of all earmarks.

Proposed by a gentleman named Lamar Mickens, president of the not-for-profit Quality Day Campus, the $48 billion earmark would funnel money into the inner cities to give money to the poor and thereby produce a much larger consumer class to buy the goods and services produced in this country.

Just call this redistribution on steroids.

Cleaver's office says this of the proposal:

"The Epicenter is a proposed estimated $48 billion (Phase One) mass scale urban reclamation project for combating, reducing, reversing and/or eliminating poverty within under served communities by utilizing mass scale economic redevelopment to bring about stability and self reliance.

OK. So the idea is short of specifics.

Currently Mickens operates this massive proposal out of his home but with Cleaver's help, this earmark could put him on the road to success.

Cleaver provides a link to a Mickens "manifesto" where a lengthy agenda is outlined -- but again with no specifics other than the rich should provide money to the poor so that the poor will have more money to spend.

Go and read the entire column. Look at the comments and add some of your own.  This is another reason why retaining democrats in any position, at any level of government is a clear and present danger to the survival of our country.          

Greed

According to democrats, if you want to keep your own money, you're greedy.  If you don't want government to take more of your money to waste on pork and political bribes, you're greedy.  If you think everyone, even the rich, should be treated equally, you're a right-wing nut-job and an enemy of the (liberal) people.

I think we've heard this mantra so often that we've become jaded to it.  The Invester's Business Daily brings to focus once again, that the democrats, socialists and liberals in congress think we are the enemy, not those who want to kill Americans.

From IDB, December 15, 2010...

The Greediest People

 Posted 12/14/2010 06:47 PM ET

Politics: Corruption has always been with us, usually in the form of backroom deals and paid-for lawmakers. But sometimes it's depravity of thought and language, and today there's plenty of that to go around.

Consider, for a start, the wisdom of one Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic congressman who represents Lower Manhattan, including Wall Street. On CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, he likened Republicans to "a bunch of gangsters" because they refused to back down from their principles on the tax-cut deal with President Obama.

It wasn't that statement, though, that illustrated corruption of thought and language. It was what came of out of Nadler's mouth a moment later. "Unless you give the millionaires and billionaires a long-term tax cut," he said, summing up what he believes is the GOP position, "we're not going to permit the middle class to continue its tax cut."

Notice the word "give." Nadler thinks taxpayers are "given" something when they get tax cuts. What kind of logic leads someone to believe that when taxpayers are allowed to keep more of their own money, they are being given something by the government?

Offender No. 2 is Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats. America's multimillionaires and billionaires are "crybabies" who are "making out like bandits," he said last week, and then followed by asking, "When is enough enough?" We admit: We don't know. But neither does Sen. Sanders or anyone else in Washington.

Lawmakers there have neither the moral nor constitutional authority to set a limit on how much someone can earn and keep — though that hasn't stopped them from trying. Why would Sanders think it's up to him or his colleagues to make such a determination? By virtue of their election? If that's so, then we don't live in a representative republic, but in an elected oligarchy.

Sanders goes on about "reckless, uncontrollable greed" that's "almost like a disease," apparently giving no thought to how easy it is to make the case that members of Congress are the greediest people on earth. Millionaires and billionaires don't demand anyone else's money. But Congress lusts for it, demands it and treats it as its own.

Then there's Rep. Anthony Weiner, another New York City Democrat (Brooklyn and Queens). He's convinced a tax cut for billionaires creates "virtually" no jobs. Does he think they stick their cash under the mattress, bury it in coffee cans or use it to light their cigars? Truth is, they invest their tax cuts, which does create jobs.

Too often the level of political discourse in this country seems better suited for grade-school playgrounds where loudmouths and bullies hold sway. Sometimes we think the voters deserve better.

 How accurate.                

Cartoon of the Day: Michael Ramirez

Seems Obamacare hit a stumbling block---the Constitution. A Virginia Federal Judge said you can't use the Commerce Claus if people aren't doing commerce. That is, you can't force people to buy what they don't want.

Whoops!

A Florida Federal Judge is due to give his opinion on another, similar lawsuit later this week.  It's expected to say, initially, the same. Michael Ramirez says it better graphically.

The New Deal: Democrat Failure

I'm trying to get over a cold and was surfin' when I came across this opinion piece by Michael Barone. I believe I've said before that I'm a Barone fan. I learn something new every time I read one of his columns, this one not excepted.

It's interesting how the dems are caught in a mental loop---they keep doing the same expecting different results. What is that a definition of? Insan...? Yeah, that's the word. Barone documents how FDRs New Deal failed to get the country out of the Great Depression---that happened with WW2. Now Obama and the dems are trying to repeat the same with stimulus after stimulus package each failing one after the other.

When Obama came out last week endorsing the retention of the Bush era tax rates for another two years, the dems were appalled! It ran contrary to everything Obama has said since being elected and it refuted the dem's contention that the recession was all Bush's Fault and due to his tax cuts. Obama betrayed them and betrayed their Holy Doctrine that tax cuts---even if it is just retaining the current rates, are Evil.

"The single most important jobs program we can put in place is a growing economy." So said Barack Obama at his surly press conference last week defending the tax deal he made with Republicans.

"The single most important antipoverty program we can put in place is making sure folks have jobs and the economy is growing. We can do a whole bunch of other stuff, but if the economy is not growing, if the private sector is not hiring faster than it's currently hiring, then we are going to continue to have problems no matter how many programs we put in place."-- Washington Examiner.

If you didn't know better, you'd think Obama was a fiscal conservative! Barone continues...

But Obama's fellow Democrats, to whom he explicitly directed these comments, can be forgiven for being puzzled. The whole thrust of his first two years -- the stimulus package, the health care legislation, the vast increases in government spending -- has been to put programs in place that have done little or nothing to stimulate economic growth.

That's not accidental. The template for the Obama Democrats' policies, the New Deal of the 1930s, was not designed to stimulate economic growth, but to freeze in place a tolerable but not dynamic status quo.

The New Deal's father, Franklin Roosevelt, believed that the era of economic growth was over, just as many contemporaries believed that technological progress was at an end (how far could you go beyond the radio and the refrigerator?). FDR, like his cousin Theodore, was an affluent heir who had contempt for men who built businesses and made money. They were "economic royalists" and "malefactors of great wealth" -- sentiments echoed by Obama last week.

The initial New Deal program, the National Recovery Act, set up 700-plus industry codes to hold up wages and prices. That made some sense in a time of deflationary downward spiral, but proved unsustainable over a longer term.

It is interesting, too, to note that major portions of the National Recovery Act was held to be unconstitutional leaving only the Public Works Administration. An interesting coincidence occured today. A Virginia Federal Judge has just declared Obamacare to be unconstitutional, so reports the Wall Street Journal.

It's easy to say, "What goes around, comes around," that the failed policies of FDR and the New Deal are being repeated by the current crop of democrats and Obama. Mitch McConnell, the 'Pub Senate leader, seems to be in agreement with the proposal to extended the Bush tax rates. Don't! It's a trap, loaded with more taxes, the increase of the Death Tax to 35%, and more spending and pork. Senator McConnell should drop the whole deal and let the new congress address the issue after the new year. The tax rates must be made permanent and can be made retroactive to the 1st of January, 2011 leaving no gap between the temporary tax rates pass during the Bush years and the permanent affirmation of those rates in 2011.

I invite you to read Michael Barone's entire column, "Obama riles Dems by spurning New Deal complacency." It includes a history lesson on the truth of the New Deal and FDR that isn't being taught in our liberal education system.

Feeling Poorly

Mrs. Crucis and I are both sick. She with some form of flu, me with a cold. I may post later,or...maybe not.

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'tis the Season!

Well, here we are just a couple weeks away from Christmas and I'm sorta, kinda getting into the spirit. The shopping is pretty much done except for a gift for my best friend! One might think that it would be easy to find just the perfect gift for someone I know so well and for so long, but she's a lot like my husband.....if something strikes her fancy she buys it. It's a struggle to anticipate what might be 'right' and, in addition, we're both at that stage in life where 'things' are not needed or even wanted. What would be great would be taking us on a trip to Scotland or Ireland to see wide swaths of country covered in sheep and villages (of our dreams) full of cool shops and interesting old architecture. It's not gonna happen, but that would be a good gift. I'll keep thinking.....

Tonight when I left work I was listening to my usual drive-time talk show and the hostess was participating with the rest of her station's 'talent' in the Coats for Kids drive wrapping up today. I decided on the fly to stop by the location (a major Harley-Davidson showroom I pass on my way home) and donate some money and say hello to her. I met her when we were both in Washington, D.C., in August, and enjoy listening to her on that long, long drive home. The location-broadcast had just ended when I pulled in and my arrival coincided with that of the trucks and folks from the dry cleaners who were there to collect all the donated coats. Tomorrow many of their employees will work on a weekend to clean all these coats and have them ready to hand out to students in local schools early next week. It was truly astonishing to see the swarm of volunteers and cleaner folks hustling a massive pile (at least 15 feet high) out to the waiting trucks. Even in these hard times the spirit of giving is doing well it seems. I'd not participated in this drive in the past, but I believe this year is a little more difficult for folks overall and my modest donation would allow one or two kids to be a little more comfortable on their way to school. Next week I'm going to haul a big bag of dog food to the Kansas City Spay & Neuter folks who collect donations to help families be able to afford to keep their doggy family members with them. I can't imagine the heartbreak of having to give up a pet because I couldn't afford to care for him. Sometimes the unconditional love of a dog is the only good part of a day.

While we all scurry about cooking and shopping for Christmas there's a background of vague dread as to what will be happening to our economy and country. It reminds me of my favorite line from Lily Tomlin....'my life is jam-packed and fun-filled now that I've put reality on the back burner'. A couple months ago I put something on the back burner and it caught fire.

............I've just erased my little rant about the government and its insidious efforts to impoverish us all and I'll save it for another day...after the holidays. Right now I'll try to cultivate a spirit of good will and vow to be cheerful and optimistic. I have much to be grateful for and look to do what I can for others during this season. I hope you will as well.

CFL? NO!

Remember when we could buy incandescent bulbs for our homes?  Did you know there is a federal mandate to force you to move to mercury-laden CFL light bulbs---those nasty things that would turn your home into a hazardous waste site if you broke one of them?  Well, it appears that the author of that mandate has...uh...sorta, "seen the light."

Upton flips a switch on CFL bulbs

Feeling heat, lawmaker sees light on incandescents

By Stephen Dinan  - The Washington Times, 8:05 p.m., Monday, December 6, 2010

Rep. Fred Upton

Three years after he led the charge to require consumers to ditch their comfortable old incandescent lights in favor of those twisty CFL bulbs, Rep. Fred Upton now wants to be the man to help undo that law as the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

That about-face is not unique among lawmakers looking to atone for stances they've taken over the past decade as they seek to gain top posts in a decidedly more conservative Republican Congress, but his reversal underscores how intent the GOP is on proving it has broken with past practices.

"We have heard the grass roots loud and clear, and will have a hearing early next Congress," said Mr. Upton, a Michigan Republican who is facing several others in his party in a bid to earn the gavel of the powerful committee. "The last thing we wanted to do was infringe upon personal liberties — and this has been a good lesson that Congress does not always know best."

Indeed, the compact fluorescent lamp, or CFL, has become a symbol of government overreach for many consumers, who wonder what was wrong with the incandescent bulbs that have lighted their kitchens, family rooms and bedrooms for more than a century.

The government says incandescent bulbs have too short a life span and are inefficient, wasting most of their energy on heat rather than on light. CFLs, on the other hand, can last up to 10 times as long and use 75 percent less electricity.

Still, they were slow to catch on, prompting industry, environmentalists and lawmakers to team up and give consumers a push. Mr. Upton joined Rep. Jane Harman, California Democrat, to co-sponsor legislation to phase out incandescent bulbs beginning in 2012. Their bill was incorporated into the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, which passed with wide bipartisan majorities and was signed into law by Republican President George W. Bush.

But in the intervening years, CFLs have joined low-flow toilets in drawing the scorn of consumers, and some argue that the bulbs' mercury content poses a safety and environmental hazard.

You can read the entire article here.

Many folks have been stockpiling the old-style bulbs just like home builders were scavenging older homes for the older toilets with the bigger flush capacity.

The biggest objection of CFLs is the danger if the bulb is broken or fails.  The CFLs are building a history for being a fire hazard.

• CFLs should not be used in track, recessed or inverted fixtures and in addition can not be used with a dimmer switch. Inversion also affects life span of the bulb.
• Bulb end-of-life hazards: When CFLs burn out they can create acrid plastic smoke and carcinogenic fumes. Those bulbs without an internal fuse will melt or smoke until power is turned off. 90% of these bulbs are currently manufactured in China where quality control is questionable. 

Interesting, isn't it. There are also reports that the advertised long-life may not be true either.  This is just another example of the nanny-state mentality of dems and liberals that turns out to be false and more expensive than advertised.  

Same old, same old.

This week, Obama "negotiated" a compromise with 'Pub leaders to extend the Bush era tax rates for another two years.  It included a 35% tax INCREASE of the death tax.  That tax had been dropping since the Bush tax rates was passed.  This year, 2010, the death tax rate was 0%.

Of course, Obama's presidential incompetency kicked in. The 'Pubs assumed (remember that old adage about "assume?") that Obama had the skids greased with the dem congressional leadership.  Wrong!  It was a unilateral negotiation and ol' Barry didn't have the dems behind him. Now it seems unlikely that the compromise will pass the House. In his complaints to the dem base, he complained that the 'Pubs were "hostage takers," blocking "tax cuts" to the poor and middle class in favor of the rich.

But some of the dems ire isn't directed towards Obama. No, they have to vent their hate towards republicans and anyone who would oppose them.  New Jersey appointed Senator Menedez called 'Pubs terrorists.

The Politico had this about how democrats view negotiating with republicans.   

“Do you allow yourself to be held hostage and get something done for the sake of getting something done, when in fact it might be perverse in its ultimate results?” Menendez said, when asked whether he and other Democrats would compromise with Republicans. “It’s almost like the question of do you negotiate with terrorists.”

In that same article, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) advocated violence against republicans, that people should, "take up pitchforks" if Congress renews tax breaks for the wealthy.

All this rhetoric in order to spend almost another $1 trillion dollars extending unemployment payments for a total of THREE YEARS!  That was the gotcha in this compromise.  Our 'Pub leaders, once more, rolled over and agreed to more spending---the unemployment extension, and more taxes---the death tax rate up to 35%, to get just a two year extension of the Bush tax rates. If passed, we'd have to fight this tax rate battle all over again with another lame duck congress.

What's wrong with this picture?

What we see is that the democrats are still purveyors of hate and class warfare while the Senate 'Pub leadership  "just wants to get along."  Unless the Senate 'Pubs get their act together, there'll be another slaughter of RINOs in 2012. This time in the Senate.      

Only the government can screw up this big!

Last Spring, the Fed, with great fanfare, announced its new $100 bill designed to foil increasingly skilled counterfeiters.  The Fed proceeded to run off over a billion of these new bills. The bills contained a number of new security items including, "a 3-D security strip and a color-shifting image of a bell." 

However, 1.1 billion of these bills, have a flaw. That flaw, "in which paper folds over during production, revealing a blank unlinked portion of the bill face." The flawed bills total about 30% of the total bills printed. 

From CNBC...

The new $100 note

 

 

The total face value of the unusable bills, $110 billion, represents more than ten percent of the entire supply of US currency on the planet, which a government source said is $930 billion in banknotes. For now, the unusable bills are stored in the vaults in "cash packs" of four bundles of 4,000 each, with each pack containing 16,000 bills.

Officials don’t know exactly what caused the problem. "There is something drastically wrong here," a person familiar with the situation said. "The frustration level is off the charts."

Because officials don’t know how many of the 1.1 billion bills include the flaw, they have to hold them in the massive vaults until they are able to develop a mechanized system that can sort out the usable bills from the defects.

Sorting such a huge quantity of bills by hand, the officials estimate, could take between 20 and 30 years.

Only the government can screw up on this scale.  Go here to read the entire article.