Re-Branding the Mad Cows

In a twist of political genius, Nancy Pelosi is calling on Steven Spielberg to “re-brand” the Democrat Party. Apparently the “Nan” isn’t happy with how Conservatives portray her Party. Like somehow Progressive, Liberal, Detached from Reality, Mouth Breathing, Spittle Spewing, Kool Aid Drooling, Leg Tingling, Empty Headed Sycophants is a bad thing.

Far be it from me to caution the Nan from Fran, but betting the farm on the guy that brought us, ’Duel’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind‘, ‘ET the Extra Terrestrial‘, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and ‘Jaws’ as being the person to turn to for a re-branding may not be the best plan.

I mean the image of Democrats as the ominous ‘Peterbuilt’ (Duel) chasing down the Conservative salesman, Dennis Weaver, may not be the best example of representing the people, inasmuch as the Peterbuilt eventually goes over a cliff in a fiery crash. Kind of like the housing scandal, no?

Then there is the obvious resemblance of ET to Congressman Anthony Weiner, who really needs to go home instead of phone home. And it cannot go without mention that the old dinosaurs, Barney Frank, John Kerry and Chris Dodd, who have been feeding at the public trough for way too long, are sending out the likes as Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to be the Velociraptor of the Democrat Party, munching on everyone in her wake.

And who doesn’t want to forget the pit of snakes in the Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is the perfect metaphor for the 111th Congress.

No, Nancy has committed the ‘Freudian Slip’ of having the great illusionist, Mr. Spielberg, make over what has been the most destructive Party since FDR thought it was a good idea to meddle with human nature in the 30’s. And America hasn’t gotten over it since.

So, if Ms. Pelosi wants to re-brand the Democrats, she might just resign her post and stop making her Congressional popularity lower than that of Fidel Castro, the Uni-Bomber and Lee Harvey Oswald.

Interpret This

Funny how the incoming recruits to Capitol Hill are getting all about the Constitution. And now I see that they want to make every Bill have attached the provision in the Constitution, where they are allowed to submit such legislation. Yeah, and people in Hell want ice water too.

Ok, I’ll bite. But why don’t we start with landmark legislation over the past 20, 30 or 50 years that was passed without this same requirement? Suddenly, we’ve become all sensitive over what is Constitutional, and what is not. Like they know doo-squat about it in the first place.

Oh, I don’t know. I have a copy, of the Constitution, that I can carry in my pocket, that’s just 46 pages long and I have no problem at all understanding what is contained, not withstanding the Federalist Papers. Especially since when it was drafted there was no Internet, televangelists, high-speed rail or electricity. Likewise there was no unemployment insurance, illegal immigration, Medicare or Social Security.

And I don’t need a Constitutional attorney to explain to me what separation of Church and State is, because there isn’t one. It is simply that a government cannot ‘create’ or mandate a church or religion. Likewise, there are NO restrictions to owning a firearm, because you never know when we are going to be invaded by Canada, Mexico, or, in fact, our own government. Just ask those that lived in pre-war Germany.

I was particularly amused to learn that Wisconsin’s 800,000 licensed hunters alone make up the world’s eighth largest standing army.

I also am not confused about the Commerce Clause allowing Washington, D.C. to do about anything it wants with communications, insurance or food, because it “MIGHT” be shipped across state lines. But I can tell you that the Commerce Clause wasn’t created to allow government control of everything we say, sell or do in the U.S.

But you wouldn’t know it the way the Supreme Court has allowed our “Representatives” to run amok at our expense, since well before Franklin Roosevelt decided it was a good idea to meddle in the free enterprise system in the 30’s. No, opening the door to socialism is a lot like being a little bit pregnant.


Big Government has it in their heads that it is within their power to solve every perceived problem that comes down the yellow brick road. Which by the way is built and being maintained by the Federal Highway Administration.

And by any stretch of the imagination, I haven’t found anywhere in the Constitution that I must pay for the abortions of drug addicted hookers, who refuse to take free birth control that I also pay for under the Welfare Clause.

Trust me I don’t see anywhere that I must birth, raise, educate and provide healthcare to illegal immigrants, that essentially posses more rights than I do. And to that end, I haven’t discovered where I am obligated to install and maintain over 700 military bases around the world, just because we are the world’s super power. And try as I might, bailing out America’s Super Banks appears nowhere in those 46 pages, especially since it was they that got themselves in to the financial pooky bin in the first place.

No America, it is a dramatic gesture that our freshmen Legislators are drifting towards a Constitutional Congress. However, absent immediate action on returning our Country to some sense of sanity, this will remain just a gesture.

Sadly, I believe that a room full of eighth grader would do a better job interpreting the Constitution than the clowns in D.C. do now.

No folks, sometimes you just have to take a men (or in this our Founder’s) at their words. And stop reading something into it that isn’t there.

So fu... fu.... fu.... screwed

America, after considerable contemplation, I have concluded that we are, no the world is, fu, fu, fu, screwed. And this does not come easily. You see, after a landslide election, where voters were moved by the cataclysmic warnings of economic calamity awaiting us, if things don’t change, we are pirouetting on the head of a pin, of a hand grenade.

For example, we have our current Speaker of the House, claiming that unemployment and welfare benefits are “stimulating” the economy. We have the chairman of the Federal Reserve stating that printing hundreds of billions every few months will NOT create inflation. We have the current leadership in the White House and Congress, riding a wave of unsustainable spending, locked and loaded to enact even more taxing to pay for more spending…. into infinity and beyond.

Now, as if that isn’t enough, after the landslide election, overwhelmed by the Tea Party and those that claim to support the Constitution, smaller government, lower taxes, and more personal responsibility, none of the above has been uttered since election day.

No, once the Tea Party leeches got the votes they needed, they skittered into the cracks and dark corners like the cockroaches they are, instead of standing on the Congressional steps and condemning the remnants of a Congress that couldn’t send the most corrupt Congressman in history out the House door in handcuffs. Meanwhile we watch Wesley Snipes self commit to a federal institution for years of incarceration, for crimes paling in comparison. And I am still awaiting an apology from Congress.

The problem here folks isn’t lack of taxes, the problem is that government can’t justify the money they spend now. They can’t even come to terms that the money they spend is ours, not theirs. They can’t admit that most of their spending is on their own cost of operation, their blind commitment to entitlements (for unions, and the so-called poor) and the unjustifiable spending for failing environmental and social programs. No people, we are stepping over dollars to save dimes.

The sad reality is, if we took ALL the wealth, every nickel, away from the top 2 percent, that we’re trying to chisel a few more billion from, it wouldn’t make a dent in the U.S. deficit. Dumbplumber

Desperate Ink Slinger

To my dear friends and followers of Dumbplumber:

If last Tuesday’s Local Fish Wrap Newspaper proves anything, it’s that, “You Can’t Stop Stupid“. Hell, in this case, you can’t even slow it down.

Dumbplumber is thinking about starting an online program and will call it “So You Think You’re Smarter than a Newspaper Publisher”. In the first episode we demonstrate that our local editor/publisher/delivery boy failed miserably to confirm, authenticate or otherwise corroborate erroneous statements defaming Board members of the FRCSD.

Such appears routine for ‘our’ Fourth Estate serial Offender.

I feel sorry for our Publisher. He is so desperate to sell papers that he puts his ignorance in print--draws fire-- then doubles down by repeating the ignorance again. Nevermind that he was accused of “provably erroneous” reporting, his response was, as was his errors, a pathetic attempt to put out a fire with gasoline.

Well, the Dumbplumber, in the future, will be posting his observations of the “Desperate Ink Slinger” on www.Dumbplumber.blogspot.com

But don’t expect any rebuttal to reasonable observations, because our Spelling Bee dropout couldn’t find the website if you gave him a map. ((Think “Mayflay“(instead of Mayfly)Pub)) Same edition.

Thank God that the Echo doesn’t have to be responsible, accurate or informative to feed his family. He apparently has an audience that is either immune to his ineptitude or must have a weekly dose of his incompetence to remove any doubts of their own abilities.

No my friends, The Echo, a once reasonable source of information (many moons ago) has bogged itself down like a 4X4 with four bald tires.

Hell, Dumbplumber has a cat that’s smarter than our newspaper publisher. At least, if you swat her for a mistake, SHE doesn’t make it again.

Man from ARSE

Letter sent to our local fish wrap protesting the continual misstatements of facts and printing of rumours. This started a range war between the Dumbplumber and the newspaper editor AKA: Man from ARSE


Dear Editor

I continue to wait for the latest shoe to drop in the ongoing saga of the Fall River Mills Community Services District. And it cannot go un-noticed that no matter what they do, the District Board of Directors seem to be continually accused of being in violation of The Brown Act. Like somehow the Brown Act is the Holy Grail of Public Service, guardian of all that is necessary to protect the citizenry.

Meanwhile, over $250,000 evaporated under the watch of the local newspapers over the last ten years. Most of it was a result of violations of the Brown Act in previous administrations. But I don’t recall THOSE headlines.

It cannot go unmentioned that our current CSD Directors have lives, beyond the CSD, and obligations that prevent them from being scholars of the Brown Act, and who serve, without compensation, just like previous Boards. What sets them apart from other Boards is that these directors serve for the BENEFIT of the District. They have chosen to sacrifice a considerable amount of their time serving this community, when few others care to show up for meetings, except when their water bills get too high.

The question here is, whose interest here is being served with the ongoing criticism over the Brown Act? The best interest of a community whose CSD was in peril, with a few hundred dollars in the bank just 2 years ago and near financial collapse, because a previous manager was squandering money, right under the nose of the local press, in violation of the Brown Act?

Or a Press who is more interested in creating controversy out of whole cloth in order to sell papers. A Press who uncritically and without verification of facts, simply parrots rumor and innuendo.

I would submit there should be a similar binding Brown Act for the Fourth Estate. Like the Accuracy in Reporting, Spelling and Enlightenment Act or ARSE. Nevermind that many stories over the last 2 years contained provable falsehoods, fabrications and outright character assassination, in what can only be described as reporting at its worst.
You see, while hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear more Editorial complaints about the Board’s efforts to secure sound fiscal footing going forward, I don’t recall a printed peep about illegal pay raises and outrageous benefit packages, failure to comply with State reporting or even failure of past management to comply with Grand Jury recommendations and CPA warnings of lack of “internal controls” on spending……for the previous 10 years.

And it can’t go un-noticed the lack of reporting about the facts that OUR District now has the liability of paying 100% of unemployment insurance to previous employees out of cash flow, to the tune of thousands of dollars, because previous managers failed to inform the Board of the lack of unemployment insurance coverage: and failed to make SDI payments from District payroll, which is a violation of State Law.

I don’t seem to recall THAT being a headline in the local papers, that is until new Board members pushed for a forensic audit which unearthed irregularities that were being performed right under the nose of attending reporters, who (not withstanding the Brown Act) had every opportunity to review District finances under the Public Records Act.

Apparently, the Press also failed to report that there were several violations of Prop 218, by illegally raising rates in the District without due process. Instead the Press makes sensational headlines about harried Board members handling mundane administrative duties expeditiously over the phone instead of declaring notice of a special meeting and rearranging schedules in accommodation and delaying the execution of vital business.

But thanks to the crack reporting of local papers, a lot of things were going on at ratepayer’s and taxpayer’s expense which obviously wasn’t contained in the Brown Act and was far more damaging than failing to post notice of a ‘closed’ session 72 hours before a meeting, or expediting prudent solutions by phone.

No my friends, “sinning by silence, when they should protest, DOES make cowards of men“. But constantly criticizing those who had the fortitude and courage to confront the corruption and mismanagement and turn the District around, is wearing thin. Better that you should reserve your protests for those that brought this District to its knees.

Biting the Hand

You know, when you are in deep water and going down fast, and someone is there to throw you a life-ring, you don’t spend a lot of time carping about the savior‘s outfit, makeup or hairdo. You just reach out and grab the damn ring. On the other hand, in the case of Sarah Palin, there’s a lot of folks that are spending precious time bitching, moaning and complaining about her Tina Fey impersonations. Point being, never bite the hand that is throwing you a life saver.

Until John McCain introduced Palin to the world stage, in the run-up to the ‘08 elections, America was on an irreversible path into the abyss. Nobody at the controls was doing anything to right our course, much less Mr. McCain himself. But here comes a breath of fresh air, with some very revolutionary concepts, originally scribbled down in that seldom reviewed but often ridiculed U.S. Constitution, and suddenly Palin is in the crosshairs of “establishment” politicians, hair-brained Liberals and delusional Moonbats everywhere. So what’s the deal?

Palin walked onto the center stage in Ohio during the fall of 2008. Her opening salvo was a mixture of patriotism, honor and common sense that rocked the audience and rocketed her approval rating to almost 80%. This phenomenal opening night popularity has now dwindled to 40%, with an “unfavorable rating to over 50%. So, what’s changed?

Perhaps we should review what has taken place since September ‘08. The woman? No. She is the same Sarah Palin that walked onto that stage two years ago. She still hunts, fishes and land levels her political opponents wherever she goes.

The message? No. She still advocates adherence to the Constitution, smaller government, less regulation, lower taxes and developing our own energy resources. And this is perhaps where her train started heading off the tracks. Because when you advocate the exact opposite of what’s going on, you are unfortunately going to begin rubbing crossways those who worship at the alter of Big Government.



No, Mrs. Palin did the unthinkable. She advocated sanity in the midst of madness, order among chaos, and common sense to quell the self inflicted delirium that is Washington D.C.. And she did it with a smile, which just drove The Establishment, the Looney Left and Enviro-Nazis nuts. So it didn’t take long for Hollywood, the MSM and media maggots everywhere to dig into their bags of dirty tricks and begin the slow, methodical and flamboyant movement to grind Sarah into dust. And it’s working!

Thanks to the Nutroots, her ratings are in the tank. But the good news is, mass media has pulled the curtain back on their own political manipulations and bent towards seeing the USA turned into a Socialist/Elitist/Utopia, nevermind that history tells us that the Socialist Model always ends in abject failure. But that hasn’t stopped the Leftards from turning Sarah’s image into that of a gun totting, festering pustule irritating the backside of both Big Government and the Progressive bowel movement, all to the delight of Middle America, the Tea Party and all those that love America and what she stands for.

Specifically, the Left condemns Palin for hunting wolves from a helicopter, but doesn’t bat an eye at an abortionist stuffing surgical scissors into the brain of a partially born baby and pureeing the brains into something resembling the scrambled grey matter used by Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann each night on the Maniac, Screwball, Nutbag, Blowhard and Carbuncle Network. Liberals think nothing of paying millions every month flying Nancy Pelosi back and forth to her home in San Francisco, but criticize Sarah for getting paid for a book that she actually wrote.

It has gotten so crazy that they actually blame Palin for her daughter getting pregnant, by her boyfriend. Like that doesn’t happen about a thousand times a day in America. You just can’t control teenage hormones, like you can’t control the K street lobbyists, greedy politicians and runaway cost overruns. Like anybody’s trying to control them. But by God, it’s Palin’s fault that she left her daughter to the whims of nature.

And how dare she take the Tea Party message of smaller government, lower taxes and personal responsibility on the road to support like minded candidates around the country. Isn’t she supposed to be home baking cookies and Moose stew, while monitoring the chastity belts on daughters. Willow and Piper (You know, you can’t start too young in the Palin family).

No America, Palin has become a punching bag not because she is an uneducated, unqualified hick from the sticks of Alaska, but because she is a sensible, sexy, sane, antidote to most of what’s wrong with Washington D.C. today. And if Liberals and the Establishment are to maintain the madness, they must destroy her, even though she has done nothing that isn’t muttered every day across America.

So people, it’s up to you to decide if you are going to leave your future to the likes of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid or even John (illegal alien loving, first Amendment hating) McCain, or grab a whole bunch of hope from a mother of five from Wasilla, who did it her way, the hard way, into the hearts of those that love America.

Forclosure Full Circle

Now let me get this straight. First, the Community Re-investment Act forced bankers to lend to folks that did not qualify for mortgages.

Second, American bankers weren’t lending fast enough, so Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Company upped the anti and told Fanny and Freddy to backstop every mortgage that came across their desks, damn the torpedoes.

Third, with the full knowledge that “anything goes“, bankers, mortgage brokers and lending officers were processing loans, but not demanding such trivialities as dotting “I’s” crossing “T’s” or bothering to check out financial statements, verifying income or even confirming employment.

Fourth, not satisfied with the quick cash being made on billions in commissions, some very shrewd mortgage bankers, investment bankers and assorted other carnival barkers-come bankers decided it would be clever to bundle up these worthless pieces of crap with other good loans, then chop them up in chunks and sell them off to other greedy investment gurus that back stopped registered securities with the contaminated bundles, chunks of bundles and these re-packaged kibbles and bits.

Fifth, so when the wheels started coming off the gravy train, the brokers were long gone with their commissions, having peddled them off to little old ladies, college endowments and pension fund managers as “SOLID” investments. But when things went Dixie everyone turned around and said, “this is a mess, we need a bailout from the American taxpayer, so our economy won’t collapse“. And who was their for the bailout? You got it, Barney and Chris along with a paralyzed Congress.

Sixth, then the banks that were made whole after their employees had already been paid tens of billions in commissions and bonuses, gave their CEO’s hundreds of billions more in golden parachutes--not unlike Goldman Sach’s Hank Paulson, who walked away with a $500 million severance.

But when the banks started foreclosing, (because those that lost their jobs began defaulting due to the inevitable financial meltdown), started by, wait for it, BANKERS, there was a problem. Seems that the bankers had failed to keep required control of the paperwork, necessary for foreclosure (Probably because they were too busy counting their money).


So now we need another bailout for bankers (that started the meltdown in the first place) along with some new laws to clean up some old mistakes.

And that folks is how we got to where we are.

You and I fail to produce documents in court, we take our lumps. Bankers fail to produce documents and they get a pass, new laws and more of our money.

If this isn’t clear to you, you need to stop watching the alphabet networks and have your mommy explain it to you. And more importantly, if you don’t believe me, just re-elect all the incumbents and any socialists running and let them finish what they started.

What my Daddy Said

My daddy always told me that I should say nothing, if I didn’t have anything good to say about someone. Well, you can add that to the other smart things my dad said to me, that I didn’t listen to. And today is no different.

He often told me--in the 60’s, when there were scores of lumber companies in the pacific northwest --that there would be a handful of lumber companies, by the 70’s, that would monopolize the private timberlands in America….and he was right. He also said that these same timber giants would use the “government” regulatory process (press ganged later by the eco-Nazis) to stifle competition and discourage entrepreneurs from entering into the timber business…he was right again.

And this scenario is repeated over and over again from industry to industry.

Oh, my dad wasn’t a brain surgeon, but he was no dummy either. You see, he saw what was happening well before it happened, and not unlike you and I, he could see it coming, but couldn’t do a damn thing about it. So maybe it’s better that he isn’t around today to witness the hijacking of the greatest nation on the earth. As the ones being hijacked are the very ones participating in the hijacking.

I mean who wasn’t bombarded with tales of titillating distraction of Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan or Alec Baldwin, while Barney, Chris, Nancy and Harry were systematically plundering America’s financial future. Who was all busy watching American Idol, Jay Leno and John Stewart, while our U.S. Congress and the White House was transforming America from a beacon of hope and success and into a Chicago style pay for play, socialist state of entitlement addicted junkies.

No folks, most of America sits by glued to contrived events designed to distract us in the name of free enterprise, while the same forces are complicit by silencing those who would report the calamity being thrust upon us.

A little reflecting

After a few days of “opinion” silence, the Dumbplumber realized that all his ranting and railing probably hasn’t changed anyone’s mind about the abysmal state of our nation. Now I don’t want to imply that the ranting wasn’t without merit, but in the big scheme of things it hasn’t produced any measure of accomplishment, as to the goal of enlightening anyone who isn’t already enlightened.

This became painfully apparent with a visit to family a few weeks ago, when I was asked by a favorite auntie, “please tell me you don’t like Sarah Palin”. To which I answered, “what’s not to like?” My immediate thought was, what has Sarah Palin done to anyone?

The silence was deafening. I then proceeded to ask her what she knew about the current state of political affairs in the western world. Her response was that she wasn’t very informed at all. To which I continue to wondered why she has an opinion at all, if she is that uninformed.

Then hit it me. She is an entitlement junkie, living primarily off of a military pension and benefits left by her late husband, some 30 years ago. And since then she has spent her life in a secure cocoon, indulging herself with endless continuing education and merrily skipping through life in blissful ignorance of how all this security is provided. But not unlike many of her widow contemporaries, Auntie has shunned remarriage, as she knows full well it would end her “tax payer provided” gravy train.

No, I suspect that my Liberal kin will continue to get their Liberal political influences from the likes of academia, the Alphabet Networks and Oprah. And no amount of common sense, historical clarity or documented refutation will change their minds, even though the road they are driving down is taking down America.

The Liberal aunties, nephews, nieces and uncles of this world are basically tattooed with an ideology of those that would replicate centuries of failed societal models, that are painfully unsustainable in any context. And it has come to me that until they are jerked aback with the cold reality of our inability to maintain this farce, their relationship to the obtuse will remain intact.

Whitman’s Gamble

So what’s the big whoop about Meg Whitman? I mean it’s her money, let her spend it the way she wants. Has anyone asked the ad folks, the networks, the local T.V. stations, the print shops, the campaign office landlords? Oh hell no. They just look at $100 million spent and cry EXCESS! SHE’S TRYING TO BUY THE ELECTION!!

Well now, let’s reflect. When Steven Spielberg spends $200 million over six months, writing, producing and promoting a movie that makes $600 million, we don’t hear a peep.

When we find out that Charlie Sheen makes $800,000 per episode for 2 and a Half Men, that only about 2 million of us watch, I see yawns. Or when we discover that Jay Leno makes some $750,000 every weeknight, we just wonder how many cars he will buy this month. Now that’s Leno making $100 million every six months, or so, and nobody cares.

But Meg Whitman gambles her own fortune to save the State of California from inevitable insolvency and disaster and eyes roll all over America. Well you bunch of short sighted A-holes.

Has the notion that this woman might just be willing to spend much of her considerable fortune, endure endless and baseless personal attacks, as well as have her character assassinated, all to save the state she loves, ever occurred to anybody but me? No, I didn’t think so.

How about we all just take a deep breath and let the show go on? How about we put our partisan grudges on hold, or at least into context for the next 49 days and you won’t be watching her spend any more of HER own money, so foolishly? Quite frankly, anybody that criticizes her for her efforts is just a short sighted, Liberal hack, lacking any historical perspective for her efforts.

After all, she is just attempting to do something that the Legislature in Sacramento has been trying to undo for over 20 years…save the 8th largest economy on the planet.

Talk Is Cheap

Talk is Cheap

So here I sit listening to the Sunday morning talking heads debate our sad economic existence and how we’re going to get things straightened out. Funny though, the only thing that’s being discussed is continuing or not continuing the Bush tax cuts. Hoookaayyy! Like that’s the magic bullet.

So, here I go one more time, weighing in on what a small businessman sees as the problem and solution. To keep this simple, so that even the most seasoned mouthpiece understands it, Dumbplumber is going to use a metaphor. (For the folks at MSNBC that means a figure of speech to make a point.)

Let’s say our economy is an overloaded donkey stuck in a muddy ditch. Now it’s bad enough that he is knee deep in thick goo that has doomed many before him. But this poor beast has a burden upon him that was all that he could carry, even in the best of times. (That my MSNBC loving friends is all the taxes, regulations, fees, permits, levies, duties, tributes, tolls, tithes, dues, obligations, codes, decrees, edicts, unions, ordinances, statutes, agencies, duplicitous bureaucracies, (did I mention laws?), etc., etc. AND etc..

Now, for the sake of this conversation, is where our economy is right now. So what do all the experts say to do? Well, the Right want to cut taxes and let things take their course. On the other hand the Left wants to heap more taxes, regulations (just 70,000 this year alone), and government bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy and sell it to us as job creation. Then to maintain the façade of respectability, they want to borrow more trillions from China and hand it over to unions and State governments to maintain the bloated bureaucracies they already have and call it saving jobs. Oh yeah, how‘s that working for you?

The Dumbplumber hasn’t heard one word about taking the load off the donkey, getting him out of the ditch then return a load that he can pack under his weakened state. No, they just want him to magically claw himself out and keep on truckin‘, while the ‘experts’ stand on the sidelines and debate a remedy. And this Pilgrims is the difference between the Donkey and Jackasses.

Here Comes the Train Wreck

Ok, now I’ve had it. On Sunday’s Fox News Sunday, with Chris Wallace,
the first 20 minute slot was assigned to the Democrat Party head, Tim Cain, and Fox’s own Republican mouthpiece John McCain (who I’m sure has his own parking spot at Fox, as he is on it so much), each performed their shticks on America’s economy without using the words “union”, “Obamacare”, “deficit” or “national debt” once. Now a conversation about our economy without referencing the above is the equivalent of discussing global warming without mentioning the sun.

So, you’ll pardon me if I begin to doubt whether or not any of these two clowns understand just how deep in feces America is. Nevermind that if we DID roll back every spending measure signed into law in the last 18 months, we can’t continue to carry the debt and regulation we already have anyway. Of course, Cain was spouting the political tripe you would expect: “We’re digging ourselves out. Things are getting better, but not fast enough, yada, yada”. This you would expect.

But McCain!!! Not one word about any of the lunacy from Obama, Pelosi and Reid. Just McCain with his “shtop shpending”, “build the damn fench” and “America ‘ish’ angry“. Well, duh! Hey John, exactly WHY America is angry might have been informative here!!!! Doofus.

NO, America isn’t interested in the status quo. We don’t want to be led by the Party of NO. Middle America (and those that love her) wants you guys to undo about 20 or 30 years of overreaching and then go to work fixing the 30 years of un-Constitutional behavior before that. Our message to you is DO YOUR JOBS ACCORDING TO OUR CONSTITUTION AND NO MORE!!!! Stop ignoring your governing document, stop taxing and spending and stop regulating every moment of our lives. Then begin to unravel the mess left by your predecessors.

Believe me when I tell you that returning Social Security and Medicare to its roots would be a giant step forward in rebuilding your brand. And although there is NO Constitutional basis for either’s existence, we made this contract under good intentions, took the money, then ‘bastardized’ their
mission until they are not just unrecognizable, but basically just piggy banks for deadbeats and politicians.

Oh, there have been the calls for privatizing Social Security, reforming Medicare and abolishing the Education Department along with any other duplicitous bureaucracy, but those calls are already being labeled radical by both party leaders. No, we are so busy trying to stop the spending binge of the last 4 years (note, I dragged Bush in this mess), that our leaders aren’t even looking beyond the hangover.

And with the latest announcement that Mitch McConnell, senator from Kentucky, is poised to take the leadership of the Senate, I have severe reservations about the major overhaul this country needs. So, I envision the Boehner, McCain, McConnell scrum huddling up and running roughshod over the new incoming Turks and pushing them aside to spend the next two years squandering more of our money saying NO to Obama. Not exactly what America needs while it peers into the abyss.

Therefore, with the old dinosaurs at the helm, the Liberals might just be right. The leadership of the GOP has NO plan. Yes, I said it. Beyond “enough is enough”, they have no plan, except for the likes of Michele Bachmann, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and Senate hopeful Sharon Angle, only Chris Christie, governor from New Jersey, has actually taken on the Enemies of the State-- unions, bureaucracy and taxes. Other than them, I haven’t heard much from anybody else except for NO.

So unless the Tea Party and Libertarian leaning Republicans take over the Republican Party in November, you can expect more business as usual from the ruling Congress, which I doubt will take on the 70,000 new regulations enacted just in the last year, not to mentions the tens of thousands of others over the past generation.

But if there is any good news, we will have screwed ourselves so deep into the ground, those solar flares generating the magnetic storms predicted in 2012, paralyzing everything it hits, will be the least of our worries.

It’s Your Party

A crumbling economy, ballooning debt, omnipresent taxes, oppressive regulations, a rabid Congress and crowing Administration are all center stage for an upcoming disaster reality show…..The Crushing of America.
Every time I see Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel or, yes, even John McCain I want, not to take a shower, but get exfoliated.

But hey, what’s the downside? Well, we could re-elect the “Jackwagons” that brought us here, for a start. Oh yeah, let’s send back the “professional” politicians to, not just finish the job, but peddle off the crumbs, when the cake is gone. And the sad part is that in some quarters the voters are doing that very thing. It is however one thing to elect someone who knows where the congressional bathrooms are. It is quite another to return the same folks that are putting our future into the toilet.

On the other hand, as an eternal optimist, I submit that the right, charismatic, conservative, with a compliant Congress and some common sense could turn our situation around, on a dime, and give us 5 cents change. Yes Pilgrims, 20% of our malaise is due to government intrusion and self inflicted, nonsensical depression, while 80% is voter incompetence, self-delusion and the antipathy of voting against the entitlement self interest. Yes, we have painted ourselves into a fiscal corner, because we didn’t stop the entitlement gravy train long ago.

But all is not lost. Studies show that the ballot box isn’t visited by nearly the number of “entitled” as by the hard working taxpaying patriots. So, our salvation is at the ballot box, not in the corridors of today’s Congress. If you’re tired of being used like a two dollar hooker, you might show up at the next election and exercise the only power you have left. That is unless you are the Left and then you can just stay home and keep cashing those entitlement checks and working on picking your next tattoo.

After November, you have no one else to blame but yourselves for the inevitable train wreck. Everything you need to know is available, right now, in print or online. You just have to pull your head from your posterior and separate the political self-interest from your self-interest. Vote for your future, not a politicians.

Dumbplumber

Our Economic Donkey

And so we are to wonder what the hell is going on with America. As I type, the Dow has just dipped below 10,000.…again. I cannot help but ponder just how we got here. Oh, I know, the Dow is just a handful of key corporations delegated as a bellwether of how things are and in some cases, how they are going to be.

The Dumbplumber likens our economy to a donkey, a very overloaded donkey. You see, right now we have a 300lb. donkey with an 800lb. pack. And therein lies the problem. Since the last Depression we have been heaping more and more of a burden upon our economic donkey until now we have overloaded him and he is not ‘gonna’ take it any more.

Our burdens are regulations, taxes, mandates, more regulations, fees, permits, oversight, more taxes and more regulation, into infinity and beyond. Add to that economic neighbors siphoning off our productive businesses, corporations and brainpower to enhance their economies at our expense. And who is to blame? Well, the mirror is a good place to look.

Yes my tree hugging, bicycle seat sniffing, solar panel packing, windmill hypnotized jackasses it is us. We have, under the guise of safety, safety nets, the environment and protecting the unions simply larded our little donkey with a load so outrageous that, if we stopped larding today, he wouldn’t move another step.

In fact, if he moves at all it will be down hill, backwards, just to get some of the heap off his back. You see, we are at the point of, no, past the point of no return. So until we see some of these oppressive regulations, usurious taxes and endless government interference, out of our lives, this donkey just isn’t going forward.

My suggestion for local crystal ball gazers is to look at another state’s economy, that’s booming, and do what they do. Take a look at Montana, North Dakota or even Indiana and ask yourself, why aren’t we like them.

So until that little nugget takes root, the Dumbplumber will wait quietly on the sidelines for the incandescent bulb to come on.

So, Tell Me Again

Okay people. Time to swivel your heads, roll your eyes and say auwmmm, auwmmm a few times. Cough, gargle plug your nose and clear your head of all the nauseating ad nauseum gobbledygook you have heard about the Muslim mosque planned for the site near Ground Zero. Stop thinking about the posturing politicians, the whimpering survivors, the pookey disturbing talking heads stirring the pot about the sensitivity, the conspiracy, and the notion that this facility is a “trophy” for bringing down the Twin Towers.

You can stop now because the Dumbplumber is here to easy your angst, your anxiety, your media driven phobia of the Shariah Temple of Lower Manhattan. Get over it pilgrims, it ain’t gonna happen and I’m here to tell you why.

Unions are why. Yes, I said it. Unions are not gonna allow this abomination and it’s the only thing I really like about them. Call them any thing you like but don’t call them late for dinner or lovers of Islam.

Here’s how it works. Sham Ala Ooom Bom Bang wants to build a mosque at ground zero. He first hires some towel head architects to scribble some lines in the sand with a stick and tells the City that they will build it pronto.

Well folks, that is where the rubber leaves the road. Seems that City Hall wants to see some paper with ink, some engineering data, seismic studies and load calculations. Oops, they got blown away with the wind. Now, there are the palms to grease, the inspectors to bribe and the politicians to schmooze. Oh darn, now we have a problem. But not nearly the problem they are going to encounter when someone tries to start the project.

Now I don’t want to go out on a limb here, but demolition in Manhattan isn’t aiming a shoulder mounted rocket or a Boeing 737 at a building and yelling Allah Akbar. There are the beginnings to a string of destruction and construction unions you have to deal with and most are run by the Mafia( read as Stars and Stripes waving Italian Americans) So here we go.

You don’t level a building, you don’t haul it away, you don’t excavate the footings, you don’t dig the new foundations, you don’t deliver anything to the jobsite, you don’t lay the rebar, you don’t pour the concrete,
Cont.

you don’t erect the steel, you don’t build the forms, you don’t pour the footings, you don’t operate the cranes, you don’t string the conduit, you don’t pull the wire, you don’t plumb, you don’t remove the debris, you don’t operate the backhoes, the dump trucks or the fork lifts, you don’t deliver the supplies, you don’t cater the site, you don’t drywall, you don’t paint, you don’t carpet, you don’t glaze (that’s install glass for you from Mississippi and Alabama), you don’t wallpaper, you don’t poop in a port-a-potty that you don’t involve a union member. In short: YOU DON’T DO SHIT THAT A UNION WORKER DOESN’T DO IT.

So you will forgive me for my cerebral shortcomings, but tell me again just how some Allah loving, Shariah sucking, cave dwelling, mutton munching, Quran thumping, freedom hating goobers trying to blow us back into the 12th Century, think they can build a monument to their “one off” box cutter armed nut bags, who took advantage of our Liberties and Freedoms to bring down America’s largest symbol of international capitalism. No sir, I didn’t think you could.

You see, without Freedom, Liberty and Capitalism there wouldn’t be economic development, a booming private sector, OR UNIONS. So, to help build this Mosque would be the moral equivalent of a standing ovation for 9/11. So the only thing left to understand is why the print, digital and video media is wasting so much time debating something that just isn’t going to happen.

Prop 8 Ain’t Heaven’s Gate

While we’re all distracted with the nonsense of granting the station of “Marriage” to folks with the same plumbing, we are losing the bigger picture. Hey PEOPLE, THE WORLDS GOING TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET AND WE’RE CONCERNED THAT BARNEY WANTS TO PLAY HOUSE WITH GOOBER. Geesh, you gotta be shitting me.

Now I don’t want to pick nits here, but while we’re all busy spending millions plucking around in the Constitutional weeds, we are ignoring major elements of the greatest governing document in history. I don’t recall many lawsuits around the ‘bankrupting of GM and Chrysler’ at the expense of bond and debt holders, then handing the companies over to the UAW, after shoveling them billions in taxpayer money to bolster their pension funds and as seed money. Gee, where’s the Constitutional outrage!!!

And I don’t see David Bois or Ted Olsen lining up to sue the Obama administration over mandatory health insurance, pushing Card Check, diverting 100% of our Stimulus dollars to “Union” contractors and employees (when only 18% of America is unionized) or taking over control of ‘Energy’ by placing established reserves off limits to development.

No sir, we are all about making sure that Bruce can “marry” Steve instead of cohabitating with all the privileges of marriage in a civil union and, I might add, with all the downside of divorce. Go figure. But if that’s what it takes to take our eyes off our march to Armageddon, let the party begin. I may not be a political genius, but I seriously doubt that legalizing “gay marriage” will pull us out of this self-inflicted nosedive.

People, I don’t want to go on a rant here, but when you have the likes of wanna-be Conservative, Peggy Noonan, the New York Times and any number of quivering Liberals predicting a revolutionary backlash to government in general, and Obama in particular, for marching us to socialism, I would submit that it didn’t take a crystal ball to figure that out.

No folks, given our financial, moral and political situation, Huntley-Brinkley said it best. Good Night and Good Luck. Dumbplumber.

The Party’s Over

Now let me get this straight. We have gone on a $2.5 trillion dollar stimulus spending spree, that only enriched 18% of the nation‘s public and private sector unions . But NOW, we are ALL going to feel the pain. So, tell me again just how that works? 82% of taxpaying America gets the bill for the party that only 18% went to. Yeah well, let’s just see how that plays in November.

We are telling less than one quarter of America that they can keep on keeping on, while the rest of us get to tighten our belts and pay for the band that we never got to listen to. Oh yeah, nothing quite like delivering the beer to the party, then never getting to blow the foam off a cold one, we get the privilege of hauling back the empty kegs.

Are you shitting me? WE ALL HAVE TO SUFFER because a handful of greedy bankers and corrupt politicians plundered the system, taking us to the brink of the abyss, then some other D.C. “Einsteins” said to hell with the bankruptcy laws and our Constitution, let the ‘little’ people pay, then drove this runaway train so far into the ditch that we will be decades clawing our way out. We all have to share the pain, My Ass.

But not to worry, our leaders will have us digging through the sofa cushions, under the car seats and in our laundry baskets for any loose change to keep those government jobs, union retirement plans and Air Force One fully funded. Nevermind that while the rest of America is being “shoe-horned” into Obama’s electric cars (thereby spending about one fifth of the rest of our lives waiting to charge batteries), the powers-that-be will be busy shuffling around their yachts, hiding their Escalades and “borrowing a friend’s Jet“, because things are getting tough out there.

Oh it may take a little longer, but even the dumbest among us will soon discover that this dog just won’t hunt.

Yessir, the Chickens are about to come home to roost. There are some that you can help, some you cannot help and some too stupid to help. Come November 2nd we will have an accounting of just how many are too stupid to help.

Arizona Blowback

In the words of my hero, Marion Morrison (aka John Wayne): “Wahl Pilgrim, what’s good for the goose, is good for the gander”.

If a federal judge in Arizona says that States cannot enforce Federal laws, then I guess that Counties and Cities can’t either. Time to draw a line in the sand. Time to make D.C. eat some crow.

Let’s see now, bank robbing is a Federal Law. Let the Feds handle it. From now on, if you see a robbery in progress, offer them a ride. They might give you a tip, especially if you’re in a low rider, with your umba-pa going.

Like a nice new shiny FBI, US Forest Service or IRS Escalade, Lincoln or Chevy pickup? No problemo. Just find one with the keys inside at a crime scene, gas station or job site and help yourself. Local yokels and County Mounties have no jurisdiction, let the Feds deal with it.

Need some timber for that new lodge or just to make a few extra bucks? Just fire up the Homelite or Stihl and drop all the old growth you need and haul them away. No need to fear a Fed showing up, because they’re all out looking for their missing trucks.

So, uncle Bernie is investing his millions in gold coins, (“hawked” by Vinnie on T.V.) and having them delivered by the Post Office. Hell yeah, just drive by Bernie’s mailbox a few times until that plain brown wrapper arrives and ‘Ca-Ching‘, it’s pay day. It’s only 175 miles to the nearest FBI office, but their Chevy Suburbans are up on blocks being “redistributed” to the more needy

But not to worry, our president and his Justice Department leaders all have 24/7 bodyguards, chauffeurs and other assorted security to protect THEIR stuff, so: Nothing to see here, move along.

Yessir, this whole Federal Law stuff should make our future, if not less secure, at least a whole lot more interesting. Now all I have to do is change my name to Juan Garcia, so I can get in line for my entitlements. Sorry, gotta go. Just saw a primo Silverado with my name on it

MSM Picking the Losers

Gee it must be campaign season again, the Lame Stream Media are out picking the Republican candidates to run against Obama. Just to put this into perspective, they last picked McCain and we all saw how well that worked out, especially after he picked a real candidate to provide the Red Meat to the MSM and Saturday Nite Live.

No, it’s Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich and Palin, not necessarily in that order. Nothing quite like having Mike Tyson picking three Boy Scouts and a boxer to be his next contender. Geesh, let’s review.

Romney is the perennial first loser, the one with the most money to throw away being the first lamb to slaughter. The MSM will pick him to be the top dog then throw a bone under the moving bus of Mormanism and watch him chase it into historical oblivion.

Huckabee, is little more than a preacher, who was once a governor. He is a gravy drooling goober that can’t control his wild weight swings, much less than a White House staff or the Executive Branch. But they pick him to be the second loser. His biggest contribution to civilization is dragging third rate, has been rockers into his Fox studio to make fools of themselves trying to lip synch to music of Huckabee’s Little Rockers.

Gingrich spent years galvanizing himself into the role of the Conservative Lightning Rod. He then shot himself in the foot, when he walked away from his wife of many years and took up with his “assistant”. No, no, I’m sure we won’t be hearing anything about that in the near future, along with accompanying video clips of his sanctimonious quotes about family values.

And then there’s Sarah Palin. She tends to come in fourth in most polls, but I can’t find anyone that could come close to her in a Primary. Oh I dunno, maybe it’s because she is the least made-over, most maligned, least respected (by the MSM), while most feared by any and all Democrat contenders.

Name another Conservative that can get one million people to a rally in D.C.? No I didn’t think you could.

Mass Distraction

So now we are high centered on whether the Arizona Illegal Immigration law is constitutional, into infinitum. Add to that we are still quibbling as to whether passengers passing through the new nudie x-ray machines can place nasty messages over their nipples and if it is okay to stand in front of a video camera and promote the “killing of crackers and cracker babies”, as a way to appease the New Black Panther Party.

Well, it apparently is NOT okay to tell someone you will shoot an intruder or burglar on your property. That is according to any cop or District Attorney anywhere. But according to our U.S. Attorney’s office, you can legally stand in front of a polling station, tap a baton in your hands and intimidate voters, when your day job of promoting the killing of “Cracker Babies” drys up. Yessir, I’m starting to see a pattern here.

Nevermind that when the dust settles down, folks will begin looking around at what this Congress and this Racist, Socialist, Narcissistic, Capitalist Hating, Back Stabbing, Latte sipping, Siding Salesman of a President is doing to America. It’ll be time to distract our attention, once again to what poor Lindsay Lohan is having for breakfast for the next 23 days, how many layers of “white” will be on Bristol and Dipshits wedding cake and just how many Face Book women have made marriage proposals to the Barefoot Bandit.

Yes folks, get ready for 110 days of mass distraction. November 2nd may be a turning point in America’s future, but you can bet your booties that the MSM and Liberal Cable News will be working 24/7 to remind you of the mess that Bush left for our beleaguered Barrack. And look for them to dust off and tune up Tina Fey for some more Palin bashing.

Whoa, look over there, Katie may be going to NBC. Keith comes out of his dungeon to smack Bill O’Reilly around for pounding the crap out of him in the ratings. And Chris Matthews discovers that that tingle running down his leg is a Llama relieving himself. Nevermind that we will be dragging Andrew Breitbart out every week or so to disassemble what anyone with eyes and ears can figure out for themselves. It’s gonna be a hoot for Breitbart, now that he is being treated to the Palin Effect. But don’t think for a minute that he won’t drag out his checkbook again to shame the Liberals.

Hey Fatso!

So, while we’re all busy NOT paying attention to the shenanigans going on in Washington, D.C., we are being bombarded with “shiny things” to look at. The latest “shiny thing” that we are being distracted with is, AMERICA IS TOO FAT.

Well, guess what bucko, I’m fat and you’re stupid. Tomorrow I’ll go on a diet and you’ll still be stupid.

There is no secret that America spends over $2 trillion a year on healthcare. But what nobody is talking about is WHY we are spending that much. Apparently Twinkies, BBQ and RC Cola are big on Obama’s list of culprits draining America of precious resources. But let’s review.

Medicare fraud costs American taxpayers from $60 to $74 billion annually. And that’s just the storefront scam artists, not individuals milking the system illegally. They probably haven’t figured that one out yet. And don’t get me started on scooters for those who need to get off their asses and walk a little, diabetic testing supplies that tells you when you’ve had enough beer and pretzels, and the catheters that all of America owes to those struggling to pee freely.

We mustn’t overlook smoking related illnesses costing America’s healthcare over $137 billion, alcohol illnesses $174 billion, while other drugs weigh in at over $114 billion. And don’t get me started on those idiots, whose last words were, “hey, watch this” or “this’ll be on YouTube”. But we don’t hear the clarion call for America to stop smoking, hang it up before that second case of Bud, don’t use drugs, or maybe ask your mommy if this is the smartest thing you can do without a helmet.

Oops, I almost forgot the impact that illegal aliens impose on our bulging budgets. Hundreds of billions would not be an exaggeration.

Lawsuits, on the other hand, increase healthcare costs $124 billion a year, with another $50 billion going to repetitious defensive medical testing. In short, 10% of every healthcare dollar goes to defensive medicine and liability. You also don’t hear that small business bears 69% of tort liability but takes in only 19% of America’s revenues, while creating 75% of the new jobs. But we haven’t heard a peep on tort reform.

No sir, apparently fat people are a far greater threat to America than Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who have collectively just cost America several trillion bucks. But I haven’t seen any legislation that can reign in this gang of confederates, much less than put them in jail, where they belong.

But putting taxes on what fat people might eat will cure the budget shortfall. Yeah right, I’ll let you make that call. Meanwhile it’s business as usual. Hey, lookey over here, I see something shiny. Dumbplumber

Stop and Let Me Off

It was during one of our Sunday cruises around the valley, that I realized that the wifey and I have more money than our Government. Yes folks, like many others, we-- who have had our own struggles during the economic downturn-- now have more discretionary cash on hand than either California or the U.S. Government. Let’s review.

The State of California is currently $30 billion upside down on its budget. But the dirty little secret is that it has over $500 billion in unfunded pensions, that a whole lot of public workers have no intention of walking away from. Add to that billions more in waste and mismanagement, exorbitant rents, bloated agencies and redundant bureaucracies and you just can see bankruptcy from your porch.

Unfortunately it’s ditto for the U.S. Government. If we sold ever square foot of Federal lands, leased every oil and gas reserve we have and allowed logging and mining on every productive site, we couldn’t get near the $100 plus trillion we have in unfunded mandates. For you folks in Entitlement America that means taking money from productive citizens and giving it to YOU! And when you are over a hundred trillion in debt with a $12 trillion GDP and less than $5 trillion in assets, you have redefined insolvency.

And to just illustrate how crazy it is becoming, since January, we are borrowing money from China and giving it to union pensions, union contractors, bankrupt States, Cities and Counties, and now foreign countries that have been overrun by socialist entitlement recipients demanding their dole. Recovery, under these circumstances, is about as likely as Michael Phelps winning another gold medal with an anvil tied to his foot.

Yessir, it is time to stop the locomotive and let some of us off. We’ve been predicting this train wreck and don’t want to see how it ends. We’ll just cling to our guns and bibles and let the Harvard graduates show the rest of us just how smart they are.

Meanwhile, wifey and I will go quietly on our way enjoying our beautiful valley, knowing that we are far better stewards of our finances than the 536 madmen in Washington or a cigar chomping ex-muscleman in Sacramento.

What About Us White Guys?

Well now, we can’t profile Blacks, Hispanics or Muslims because that might violate their Constitutional rights. So what about us taxpaying white guys? I mean we are pulled over every day for such heinous crimes as cracked windshields, trailer ball obscuring license plates or “wear bars” showing on our tires. Then the inquiring officer asks us for driver’s license, insurance card and AARP membership certificate. Now that’s profiling.

So where’s our Rights?

Meanwhile, our officer is writing us up for our infractions, while a carload of San Jose gang bangers, in an $80k BMW, zooms by, with totally blacked out windows and marijuana wafting out of the windows. And the other way goes a plain wrapper Dodge van driven by a gentleman in classic Muslim suicide bomber garb talking on his cell phone, to Allah knows who.
But does our Barney give them so much as a glance? No. No. and Hell no. He can’t, that would be profiling. Meanwhile, he discovers a small crack in one of my backup lights.

In the midst of writing me up for my growing list of infractions, four African American males, between 18 and 35, have a flat tire, pulls over and parks not 50 yards in front of us. But they remain in the car, talking with agitated hand signals. Nevermind that none of them have shoulder belts, have an expired registration, two broken tail lights and four bald tires, Andy of Mayberry is unmoved and continues to write my ticket. I’m feeling better about this profiling thing every minute.

Then, just when I thought this whole thing was over, there drives by a big rig, driven by another fat white guy, and low and behold, Ranger Rick’s head rotates like Linda Blair avoiding Communion. Hastily ripping the ticket from his book, he tosses it at me, saying, “did you see that?” “The font size of his DOT Permit number looks a little small to me, gotta go”.

Whew, and I thought he might spot my busted license plate light. Good that I don’t drive at night. Dumbplumber

Salt in the Wounds

The real enemy of the Constitution….stare decisis.

Stare decisis is the legal principle by which judges are obliged to obey the set-up precedents established by prior decisions. "Maintain what has been decided and do not alter that which has been established".

Has anyone but me realized that the real enemy of our Constitution and its included Liberties and Freedoms is our courts and not necessarily our Congress? Thanks to ‘stare decisis’ our freedoms under the Bill of Rights have little or no resemblance to the stated words and phrases of our Founders. For instance:

Our government’s prohibition of “establishment of a religion or prohibition of the exercise thereof” has been bastardized into the mantra of “Church and State”, which is slowly removing any reference of God, the Ten Commandments, or anything else remotely uttered in the Bible from everything remotely associated to government. Which is clearly NOT what the founders said, but stare decisis has established over decades of court decisions.

Additionally, stare decisis hasn’t removed a citizen’s right to redress of grievances from government. But it has rather made the effort far outweigh the reward of justice or compensation from such grievances.

Ditto for the 2nd Amendment, which in essence said that the right to keep and bear arms shall NOT be infringed. But that has what has been going on since day one. Registration, restrictions, prohibitions and outright banning is not the exception but the rule today.

Probably the most maligned Right is the tenth Amendment, where, “rights not specified to the U.S. Government are reserved for the States and citizens thereof“. Yeah right. The Federal Government has grown to be omnipotent. They’re almost everywhere, and where they’re not, they’re filling in the gaps. Now they want to regulate “salt” in food. So tell me again how the Feds are a limited government. And if you try to sue the Feds for over- reaching, and you somehow make it to the Supreme Court, just try to get past stare decisis.

Not Me or Mine

You would have thought that with the financial meltdown (spurred on by the housing debacle), two wars (where our adversaries advocate the death of everyone NOT a radical Muslim), the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, the ongoing inability of the Post Office to live within its means (due to spiraling salaries, bonuses and health care costs) and the inability of our Congress to recognize that we are in a financial crisis…created by them, that president Obama would have had plenty on his plate some 14 months ago.

Add to that an exploding population of illegal aliens tapping our entitlement programs (exacerbated by a porous border enticing illegals to come here for handouts), then “cube” this folly with hundreds of billions (of our money)being handed out to trillion dollar banks (at no interest) to be loaned back to us at low interest, and hundreds of billions more being funneled directly to 18% of our “unionized” population (but given by 100% of the taxpayers), masquerading as stimulus money to ‘kickstart’ a financial recovery. But no.

No, this Bozo decided somewhere between breakfast in Chicago and dinner in D.C. that he is way above all that. He doesn’t believe that we are spiraling fast enough into oblivion, so to speed things up he takes over the Auto industry, the Energy industries, the health insurance industry and the financial industry, nevermind that the government already regulates the airlines, communications and our domestic energy resources.

If I were a cynic, I would start to believe that the government has more interest in controlling America than protecting it. As there is no nook or cranny they don’t seek to regulate and/or tax. And not to point out the obvious, government does all this under our Constitution of a limited Federal government, which confers to its citizens all rights not otherwise granted to the states.

So when the president goes looking for money to pay for all this folly, he can look somewhere other than here, since nothing that has brought us to this point involved me, mine or anybody I know.

Green Shoots

I am really starting to hate all those “ever optimistic” folks that think things are turning around. It is mostly among Obama supporters that I hear of things getting better daily, but there are some Conservatives that are doing it as well. Now don’t go all Galt on me here, but when a fire is put out, there is always a new beginning as well. It is at once the End and the Beginning.

By America’s very nature, we always are looking to rebuild, whether it be hurricane, fire, earthquake or financial holocaust. Like beavers, without explanation hopeful people begin putting things back together, picking things up and cleaning in the corners, looking to bring some sense of order back into their lives. And this financial tsunami is no different.

The ‘green shoots’ everyone talks about are more obvious in the vacant parking lots of closed factories, but never-the-less is being touted as sprouting up in all sorts of places, places no one would have ever suspected 6 or 8 months ago. By our very nature, Americans are industrious and creative. And at the same time, not every American is living week to week.

Many simply stopped spending when things went Dixie and now are again jingling the coin in their pockets thinking about starting to live normal lives. Time to clean up the yard, slap on some paint, fix that gate, even maybe buy a new car, or at least paint the old one. You see, most folks didn’t lose everything in this calamity. What they lost was courage. They pulled in their horns, folded their hands, put their marbles back in the bag and went home. But now, bored to tears, looking at all the great deals available and seeing their neighbors out barbequing and polishing their cars, they are beginning to see some stability and ready to dip their toes back in the pool of life.

No folks, this isn’t about a turn around in the economy, due to efforts by Congress or the White House. You don’t turn around an economy by placing more obstacles in front of it. It’s about people with money, ideas and ambition being bored out of their wits and ready to get back in the game. But when they get in this game, it’s with a new understanding that government has far less interest in their success and more interest in their taxes. So, it’s just a matter of how well we increase one and lower the other

Senseless Census

Under the, “You can’t make this up department”. I asked at our local Post Office today, when we were going to get our Census Forms. The nice lady behind the counter said she didn’t know. Because she has returned hundreds of forms back to the Census Bureau, due to them using the physical locations instead of P.O. boxes.

You see, the U.S. Post Office will not forward mail addressed to a physical address, even though the recipients are known to the Post Office. Apparently, the U.S. Census Bureau didn’t get the memo, because they sent tens of thousands of Census workers around America jotting down every physical location, then sent out the Census forms to those addresses.

As for bureaucracies not recognizing P.O. boxes, this isn’t my first rodeo. Many regulatory agencies will NOT send documents to P.O. boxes. But yet the U.S. Government spends hundreds of billions every year maintaining tens of millions of P.O. Boxes they won’t send mail to. Go figure.

So, instead of sending people out to actually count the folks on the first go-round, they accumulate addresses, mail out forms then wait for the forms to come back undelivered, then go back and count the folks, which they could have done the first time. Rube Goldberg would be proud.

Now, these little clicker people are going to come to my house, in the middle of the day, while my wife and myself are off working (like millions of other self-employed people) and leave a cute little bag hanging from my door handle, with hopes that I will actually care enough to sit down and fill it out completely. Yeah right.

Other than about 150 quail, several dozen other welfare recipient wild birds and one schizophrenic cat, there are just two Americans living here. And the neighbors could have told them that….on the first trip.

But not to worry, with 2900 pages of regulations, 159 new agencies and hundreds of thousands of new full time government employees, I firmly believe that Obamacare will go much smoother.

Dumbplumber Prognostications

Dumbplumber Prognostications

Get the News Here 2 years in advance


This just in from Fox Business, “Government workers have 70% better benefit programs”.

Gee, who could ever see this coming. Well, the Dumbplumber did….2 years ago. He elaborated on the excessive pay and benefit packages that were being extorted by the unions from the public sector. But that isn’t the only news that’s coming to you late.
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Dumbplumber posted about the same time that abuses in Medicare and Medicaid would bankrupt these programs. Specifically, Dumbplumber made reference to the 400lb. Twinkie popping, chain smoking, scooter jockeys and all their kindred spirits would bankrupt the finest health care system in the world. Well, don’t look now but Medicare and Medicaid are trillions out-of-round and sinking fast.
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And as little as 3 months ago Dumbplumber predicted that our Treasury auctions would start slipping, beginning a climb in interest to stimulate sales. Hello!! It is now cheaper for Lowes and GE to borrow money than the U.S. Government. You might check and see when the last time that happened.

Now, Dumbplumber will go a step further and predict that some time soon, buyers of our debt will insist on backing bond sales with gold.
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And last but not least, we are learning that Native American sex offenders will continue to get taxpayer provided Viagra, under Obamacare. So I am expecting that sex change operations for misunderstood, cross-dressing Muslim taxicab drivers couldn’t be far behind.

Our Living Monopoly

It is becoming rapidly apparent that differences between the Obama Administration and U.S. citizens will have to be settled at the business end of a bazooka or over a marathon session of Monopoly. And since Barack has inherited a heavily subsidized railroad system, holds the mortgages on everything from Baltic Ave. to Park Place, and completely controls all utilities via administrative and environmental regulation, I think that the bazooka may be the only way to go.

Now, we are being inundated by Liberals, who have suddenly developed an aversion to harsh criticism and aggressive rhetoric, demanding Republicans conduct themselves with decorum, reason and civil debate. Seems to me that train left the station well before Obama bought and paid for his election with fraud, corruption, intimidation and illegal campaign contributions.

But with Obamacare we apparently have the element that is galvanizing freedom loving Americans. The 2,900 page Obamacare Bill, that was passed without one legislator reading it, is revealing itself as NOT what was represented by the platoon of siding salesmen “Yesmen” recruited to peddle it. Nevermind that not one Republican, Conservative or politician with an IQ above a turnip would support it, nevermind that the vast majority of Americans vehemently opposed it, nevermind that the financial track record of government bureaucracy successes reads like the survivors list of the Heavens Gate trip to the Mothership, the U.S. Congress, in Pelosi and Reid, steamrolled a few weak-kneed, back stabbing weasels to get it passed.

One wonders what happened to common sense. But with the wheels coming off the Pennsylvania and B&O, while the Reading and Shortline both jumped the tracks, due to some shenanigans by the Unions, common sense was never in the game. This was Chicago Style extortion, fraud and bribery, plain and simple.

About the only thing left to save this game is the taxpayer’s Community Chest, represented by the Tea Party. And about the only thing left for Obama is his bullet proof limos and his ‘Get Out of Jail’ Free cards.

First Day for the Rest of Your Life

Now let me see, bribery, extortion, vote buying, intimidation, violation of Oath of Office and some could argue treason. So tell me again why aren’t these people in prison. Oh yeah, it’s politics.

Guess the moment got the best of me, when I was witnessing the biggest heist in the history of the World, all in the name of politics. Obama, Reid and Pelosi are about to screw the entire United States and the taxpayers won’t even get a kiss. Obama is about to go where no Democrat has ever gone before, giving over 50% of Americans entitlements and government jobs.

So tell me again why I can’t go out and shoot a Congressman in the name of politics. In fact, why don’t we all just stop obeying laws and treat THEM with the same respect as Congress and the President.

You can sue everyone you want to stop the madness in Congress. But no amount of high powered lawsuits can get near what a few well placed high velocity rounds can accomplish.

If there are any skilled patriots out there, that have taken their Oaths of Office seriously, we should see some real casualties of this “Obamanation” soon. On the other hand, if we don’t, then they aren’t the patriots they would have us believe.

And for those of you who have not yet figured this out, let me put it to you this way. Pelosi, Reid and Obama are drinking Champagne, but they’re serving the rest of us Kool Aid.

Let the games begin.

Seems the pinheads are spinning today. Apparently some “ethnic” House leader thought he heard an overzealous Tea Party participant say, what the rest of them were thinking. And if that weren’t enough, Barney Frank (the Hose Monster of the House), overheard someone refer to him as a “Faggot”. Or was that Homo. Or maybe Queer. Or was that Fudge Packer. Well, it was one of them, but they are all accurate. Now the Libs are screaming racism and homophobia to the high heavens. Like that’s going to turn heads away from the biggest heist of personal wealth in the history of man.

Apparently the eco-Left forgot about their behavior at the Obama Inauguration where they left behind some 20 tons of garbage. Guess they forgot all about the “Die Bush Die” chants from the Left over Iraq. It must have slipped their minds that an army of Left Wingnuts were calling for the assassination of Bush and Cheney. And who doesn’t remember the “Idiot Chimp” description of Bush, even though his grades and IQ was higher than his “Lurch” impersonator opponent, John Kerry.

But what is most amusing is that while putting the “SEIU” boot to the little man selling “Don’t Tread on Me” flags in St. Louis, landing him in the hospital with serious injuries, barely made the MSM news, uttering “nigger” or “homo” seems to cross the line of Liberal tolerance.

Heaven forbid someone should utter, “It’s a Baby Killer”, even though that is exactly what will be provided from the der Leader, who has actively sought funding for late term abortions, as U.S. Senator.

No folks, you cannot make this up. It cannot be argued that the chasm between the Left and Right is getting larger. But the ability to satirize the spread between reality and lunacy is getting harder and harder.

Stepping on your Pee Pee

Paul Krugman takes note in his New York Times column of what he calls "the incredible gap that has opened up between the parties":

“Today, Democrats and Republicans live in different universes, both intellectually and morally.”

"What Democrats believe," Krugman says, "is what textbook economics says":

But, here's what Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, had to say when defending Senator Jim Bunning‘s recent filibuster of a one month extension to unemployment benefits:

“Unemployment relief doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work.’"

Krugman scoffs: "To me, that's a bizarre point of view--but then, I don't live in Mr. Kyl's universe."

So, what does textbook economics have to say about this question? Here is a passage from a textbook called "Macroeconomics":

Public policy designed to help workers who lose their jobs can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect. . . . In other countries, particularly in Europe, benefits are more generous and last longer. The drawback to this generosity is that it reduces a worker's incentive to quickly find a new job. Generous unemployment benefits in some European countries are widely believed to be one of the main causes of "Euro sclerosis," the persistent high unemployment that affects a number of European countries.

It turns out that what Krugman calls Sen. Kyl's "bizarre point of view" is, in fact, textbook economics. The authors of that textbook are Paul Krugman and Robin Wells. Miss Wells is also known as Mrs. Paul Krugman.

Game, Set, Match. Blogs Rule. Dumbplumber

American People: Stop Irritating Me

I don’t know about the rest of you folks (and personally, on this subject, I don’t really care), but the Dumbplumber has just about had it with people that say “the American people”. Now to be fair, there are probably plenty of times that that saying, “American people” is probably appropriate, like when you are talking about other nationalities, other countries or even other planets. But when you are talking politics, to other Americans, it is really irritating to continually hear “American people”.

The repeat offenders are mostly politicians--of both parties--who are trying to make their point, about ANY given subject. But why on God’s green earth must they continually repeat “the American people”? Like, who else do they think they are talking too….Egyptians?

First, saying “American people” is superfluous. In America, Americans are people and people are Americans, no need to stick them together like peanut butter and jelly. Just say, Americans or People. Because if you’re from Canada or Botswana, it doesn’t apply to you anyway. So just ignore it like you do the Shamwow commercials.

This “American people” has become so annoying that when the Dumbplumber becomes King--you know, just after Obama is dethroned--it will be his first edict. No more “American people” said throughout the Kingdom.

Then the second edict will be that Representatives actually represent their constituents instead of just bloviating about it.

Wake Up and Do the Math

Wake Up Call

Ok, let’s cut to the chase. Whatever the U.S. Government says something is going to cost-- I don‘t care if it‘s aircraft, aircraft carriers, trips to the moon or any new entitlement--you can just about triple it….going in.

However, if you’d have told Franklin Roosevelt 80 years ago that in 2010, Social Security would have an unfunded liability of over 6 trillion dollars, he would have said, “not to worry, we are going to war with Japan, blow them to smithereens, then make them loan us money to pay for our Grand Plan.

I suppose if you would have told Lyndon Johnson that, in less than 40 years, the Medicare Bill he signed in 1965, would have unfunded liabilities in excess of $34 trillion, he would probably have told you he would not run for re-election, then he’d blow the crap out of Vietnam, so that a Republican could be blamed for it and everything else Democrats have done to drive America into the dirt.

So I don’t think it would be much of a stretch to tell Barack Obama that his “revenue neutral” Obamacare would cost America closer to 30 trillion in the next 20 years. Or in other words, what do you think will happen when a hundred million people find out that 30 or 40 million are going to get handed free medical care, just for asking. Yeah, I didn’t think you thought about this.

Well, there’s just one little problem…..money. There isn’t enough money to pull this off, if you bankrupt every wealthy person in this country. And you can forget about the middle class, because without an upper class, you don’t have a middle class.

You see, when you hold up these schemes to the ‘mirror of history’, the reflections don’t look so rosy.

Of course, Hugo Chavez has pulled off the perfect solution. But I doubt Americans will go that way without a fight.

Who is Obama

There’s a lot of moderate Republicans and Independents that are bending over backwards trying to relate--read understand--the thinking of President Obama. After a year of campaigning and another year at the helm, some just can’t understand the man and what he’s trying to accomplish. Even Fox’s Bill O’Reilly has turned himself into a pretzel giving latitude for our leader’s painful and destructive executive style.

Let’s review: Obama admits his formative years were influenced by terrorists, communists and Left Wing zealots. His only private sector experience was practicing law for a multi-millionaire slum lord and an army of community organizers. He spent all of six months as a State Senator, (before he began running for President) where he voted “present” 90% of the time.

He ran for President on a platform of HOPE and CHANGE, but openly admitted he was for re-distribution of wealth. His first act as President was ordering the closing of GITMO and his second act was to borrow $826 billion from the Chinese and hand it over to unions, state employees and States to shore up their Medicaid liabilities. Since he has been in office, his every venture is to pay back political hacks, enrich union pensions, expand the role of unions in America, pad trial lawyers, a take over of the private sector and make Federal Government and its cost bigger and bigger.

In fact our president has done nothing to lower the cost--or size-- of government; nothing to lower the taxes, obstacles or anxiety confronting private sector businesses; nothing to wean the States off Federal dependency; nothing to calm the fears of non-union, non-government Americans; and most certainly nothing to garner the respect or admiration of those respecting the Constitution.

Call him a Socialist, Fascist or Obamanist, but you can’t call him a pro-Capitalist, smaller government, fiscally responsible, non-intrusive, fan of America and her values.

And his Harvard education not withstanding, hasn’t helped Bill O’Reilly see what is painfully clear to the rest of us.

Obama’s Business Plan

Social Security, which was developed to provide a safety net for workers after their retirement, hardly resembles it’s original intent. It has been morphed, modified and mangled so that it has become a gargantuan agency unaccountable, uncontrollable and omnipresent to the extent that it now harbors well over $5 trillion in unfunded (and I would argue unfundable) obligations. Includes SSI…. Social Security’s ugly stepchild.

Medicare/Medicaid, Medicare, was created as a safety net for senior citizens with or without medical insurance, to ease the blow of medical costs in retirement.

It now provides basic medical services, under Medicaid, to include many who have spent a lifetime abusing their bodies with drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Them along with those who spent all their money on tattoos, gambling and body piercing now have Carte Blanche access to almost any procedure the rest of America has been paying insurance for their whole lives.

Medicare/Medicaid has over $34 trillion in unfunded obligations and it is growing at billions per month.

Federal Deficit : The Federal deficit is somewhere north of $14 trillion and now moving at warp speed. With the most recent fiscal year at only 3 months young, and Congress was already out of money and raising the debt ceiling another $1.9 trillion just to keep the lights on. Now in theory this should keep the heat on till the November elections, when either sanity prevails at the polls or (God Help Us all) the Democrats hold congress.

So now we are staring Obamacare right in the face. Two trillion just for starters and everyone knows any estimates by the Congress will be multiplied by 3.

Then it’s Katy bar the door, throw away the cork and fire up the Barby because there’s gonna be the biggest going away party you’ve ever seen

Please Remind Me

“Please remind me again why it’s a crime for us to lie to our elected representatives, but it is not illegal for them to lie to us.”

There has been a lot of chatter lately about the U.S. Constitution. Most of the hubbub is about how we are veering off the path painstakingly prepared for us by some very smart, courageous and patriotic Americans. Americans determined to NOT repeat the mistakes of The Articles of Confederation, other governments or civilizations, all the way back to the Sumerians.

Now I don’t want to give anyone a history lesson here on the Constitution, but rather an idea of what it took to create and execute it.

In May of 1787, after it was determined that the Articles of Confederation wasn’t getting the job done, the Framers gathered in Philadelphia to hammer out, what would arguably be, the finest governing document ever written. It wasn’t until September 1787, four months later, that the Constitution was completed. Later, New Hampshire was the 9th (and necessary) “state” to ratify the Constitution, in June 1788. But it wouldn’t be until March 1789 that the new governance was to go into effect.

So, it took 22 months to draft then adopt our governing system. Folks, we can’t bring a “confessed” murderer to trial in that amount of time, thanks to the laws, lawmakers and lawyers and we have today. And the Framers crafted it with such economy (with small print) you could write the entire Constitution on a tee shirt.

History reveals that the Articles of Confederation was a far more Libertarian system. So in typical legislative fashion, before the ink was dry, on the new Constitution, lawmakers began bastardizing it. Nevertheless, “The Articles” are to our Constitution what a daisy air rifle is to a WMD. However, neither is worth a Tinker’s damn, if our representatives don’t adhere to it.

There is no argument that our Framers created the finest Constitution of any country, in the world, even with 200 years of butchering. No wonder Barack Hussein Obama wants, “to change it”.

Stack’s Last Stand

It’s only been a day since a Texan flew his Cessna into an IRS office in Austin, and I’m already sick of the story. Sick because it has already been politicized and segmented into sound bites that are virtually unrecognizable from reality.

As the story goes in the MSM, he was angry at the IRS. Well folks, he was --by his own words--mad at a lot of people, including but not limited to George Bush, the Tea Party, Congress (for not passing Obamacare), Republicans, Libertarians and a host of other conservative people and organizations. And not to digress, but who isn’t mad at the IRS?

However, if you click on over to MSNBC or the Left Wing Blogs, you will be hand fed the notion that he was a disgruntled Right Wing Nut, with Tea Party affiliations and a compulsion to destroy Dick Cheney. Unfortunately, the IRS office was closer and easier to hit with a Cherokee.

No, the facts are clearly spelled out in his manifesto. He was an angry, hateful, clearly suicidal victim of the IRS, and more clearly, himself. Not unlike many of us, he was a casualty of an economy NOT necessarily of his own making. But the cold reality is, is that there are tens of thousands out there in the same boat as him, who will at some point consider, if not act, toward an outcome much like his.

People, the road Mr. Stack took was not built on anger or violence. It was his path of despair paved with the absence of hope. It was the concept of hope that kept him clinging to his illusions, long after the rest of us figured out the Ship of State, have abandon it, and are now drifting in our life boats.

Palin Not Qualified?

Palin Not Qualified
So our latest narrative by Liberals is that, “Sarah Palin just isn’t ready to be president”. I say they are absolutely right.

She isn’t ready to raise taxes or the debt ceiling. She isn’t ready to make a mockery of our war on terror, by trying foreign terrorists in Federal Court, with all rights granted to our citizens. She isn’t ready to funnel hundreds of billions “just” to unions and union dominated jobs. She doesn’t owe trial lawyers, the SEIU, UAW and AFL-CIO anything. She doesn’t owe political hacks, domestic terrorists or mobsters anything.

Her college transcripts, private sector employment, political accomplishments, her love life, her family foibles and clothing choices are all a matter of record (thanks to flaming Liberals and a smoking hot book). In fact, short of her gynecological exams, we know just about everything there is to know about Sarah Palin.

And what we do know certainly disqualifies her to be president. For instance: She wants America to become energy independent by tapping our own vast energy reserves. She wants to lower taxes to spur business development and innovation. She wants to stop the endless, senseless and prohibitive environmental obstructions that thwart initiation, development and expansion of viable businesses. And most of all, she wants to end the abusive influences that comes with the incestuous relationship between big business and big government.

And as the Dumbplumber sees it, Palin wants to return to the Constitution with a smaller “limited” federal government, and more “States Rights” and “Individual Rights”. Now that’s the death knell to any politician today.

Yessir, Palin is definitely not cut out to be a president. She knows there are 50 states (not 57), she knows the difference between corpsman and “corpesman” and she knows that the upcoming Obama “recess” appointments and executive orders will be his test run as the Dictator-in-Chief.

Jumping Ship

With Evan Bayh jumping ship, there isn’t much time for the rest of them. In fact, there’s about another 529 (give or take) that need to go before November. Whoooa. With less than 270 days left, incumbents need to pick up the pace soon. I mean if we don’t see some piggy backing very soon, the “resignations, retirements, moving to the private sector and spending more time with the family” leavings will soon sound more like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir than the well spaced exits being taken by some very savvy politicians. Can we say “Rats leaving a sinking ship”?

On the other hand, getting rid of 535 incumbent lawmakers (complete with pensions and health benefits) is a better deal than leaving them there to finish the job they started, turning us into a 3rd world dictatorship.

Daily Ditties: Miscellaneous Thoughts

So, let me get this straight. Eighty percent of the Stimulus money already spent--which is from 40 to 60% of the $826 billion approved--went to saving government jobs(cops, firemen, office workers, etc.), paying for Medicaid to the states, padding existing programs and basically throwing money around to the usual suspects. If you don’t want your head to explode, don’t read the following:
http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-plan-a-detailed-list-of-spending

Ah, nothing quite like the smell of burning tax dollars in the morning.
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I don’t usually disagree with Stuart Varney or Fox Business, but this morning was one of those times. Mr. Varney made the statement that over $1trillion is needed, by the states, to fulfill pension promises to retirees.

Well now, ain’t that special. When you say “promises” in the same sentence as “labor negotiations” or the very warm and fuzzy term, “collective bargaining”, you could also refer to Somali pirates as unregistered guests on hijacked cruise ships.

The “promises” go something like this, “If you don’t guarantee my union employees a defined benefit pension plan (where member pension losses due to economic downturns will be made whole by taxpayers), we will call for a strike against you and take your business or government to a grinding halt until our demands are met. Have a nice day.”

So you see (as Mr. Varney does NOT) that “promises” mean different things to different people. Moreover, as luck would have it, these “promises” are usually extracted from either very large companies or public entities, where either taxpayers or stockholders have too much to lose to deny the demands.

Well, we now see what happens when “promises” are made that don’t consider the perfect storm of high unemployment, poor revenues or taxes, a recession and an Administration planting barriers to optimism at every turn.

I Told You So!

Told You So
Here’s the word of the day that you won’t hear anywhere near Washington, D.C. ,or Sacramento for that matter….“unsustainable“. There, now I’ve said it. The word’s out, no taking it back.

You would probably like to know how I discovered this word. Well, to make a long story short, I heard it from my wife (a financial advisor) about 2 years ago, when she described to me the meaning of, “Defined Benefit Pension Plan”. It was put into the context of the reason why the State of California, her counties and her cities were all going bankrupt. To be more specific, it was about when Vallejo, Ca. was planning bankruptcy.

You see, these “Plans” began when Public Employee Union goons figured out that they could extort criminally exorbitant benefits from negotiators who represented taxpayers in employee “collective bargaining” sessions. (Ah, collective bargaining. Sounds so sweet doesn’t it?)

Collective Bargaining is the moral equivalent of making a condemned man chose between the gas chamber, the electric chair, firing squad or the noose. No matter what, the outcome is the same. Seems that those highly educated, shingle packing, pencil pushing economists missed that day in class when the lesson was about, combining an exploding retirement class, a lowered retirement age, a double dipping employment epidemic and an economic downturn…together.

Yeah, we’re figuring it out now. Right? But we’re figuring it out with a platoon of Harvard lawyers reminding us that these people now have “contracts”. Unbreakable. Unbendable. Never ending. Pay up or get sued!!

Well, Public Employee unions have done something that no other entity has ever done. And they have done it with conviction. They have forced many very intelligent people to consider having the State of California secede from the Union. They are considering it because by statute California cannot go bankrupt, so the only other alternative is to return to a Territory to eliminate these “unsustainable” benefits.

Now that’s a lesson in civics. I told you so, Bruce Ross.

Hatfields and McCoys: Political Environment

I don’t know about the rest of you folks, but all this conversation over political bi-partisanship, civil debate, unimpassioned discourse and constructive discussion is just a bunch of “bull“. I mean since the teams were drawn up during the Bush administration where the Conservatives were on one side and the Liberal loons were on the other, with the rest of us in the middle paying the bills and sucking eggs , we haven’t had a reasonable conversation about anything.

I mean, the train has left the station, the Hatfields are staring down the barrel at the McCoys and Bufford T. Justice just watched the Bandit steal his daughter-in-law to be. So I think that the chances of a constructive dialog between today’s polar political opposites is about as likely as Elvis walking into a Burger King in Butte, Montana and ordering up a Bacon Burger and fries. And here’s why.

Fox News and Conservative Talk Radio is why. For years CNN, MSNBC and the MSM had a field day creating and controlling the narrative. They were feeding us crap sandwiches and we were swallowing them, lock, stock and pimento loaf. Talk Radio has been warning the rest of us of what middle America has known for decades: “We are moving toward Socialism people, Wake up!” However with the entrance of Fox News (the only conservative voice on television) the lines were redrawn. Now American patriots are getting a front row seat on television, a glimpse if you will, of just how they have been manipulated by both ends. So, as the polls show, it isn’t a pretty picture for those on either end now.

Oh, we will continue to be abused by Corporate Pigs and Bureaucratic bagmen for years to come, but now at least their mystical powers of deception will be recognized and rewarded with the failures they deserve. We will at once be the masters of our destiny and the executioners of the purveyors of our fears. The cat’s out of the bag, the fat lady is singing and the curtain has been pulled back on the man at the controls of Oz.

You would think that somebody would be reading the tea leaves, but with moderate Republicans crossing the isle to kiss Harry Reid’s ring, the bloodbath in November is now a sure thing.