Mud Slinger

There have been some interesting developments in the republican presidential primaries of late and the newest came yesterday with Rick Santorum and his strategy to do robocalls to democrats urging them to vote for him because Romney didn't support the bailouts of Chrysler and GM. Now I will have to say that it is an odd move considering Santorum doesn't agree with the bailouts either. By asking someone to vote for you because of your opponent's stance on an issue would usually make that voter come to the conclusion that you have the opposite view. But in this case Romney and Santorum pretty much agree. So this is a strange tactic by Santorum.

The real irony of the situation though, is what Romney said about the tactic. He said that it was an "outrageous and a terrible dirty trick." Romney also said, "this is a new low for his campaign and that's saying something." Now is it just me or is this the "pot calling the kettle black?" Romney has ran, by far, the dirtiest campaign yet. His whole platform is mud slinging. He can't run on his record because he is way too moderate and when he ran against Kennedy for Massachusetts Senator he was running as a progressive and attacking Kennedy from the left. Now Romney claims to be the only true conservative in the race even though his record doesn't show it. That is why, whenever another candidate gets close to him in the polls, his platform is to tear the other person down.

Real Unemployment

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting that the unemployment numbers have improved by .2% (down from 8.5% to 8.3%) . Even though it is talked about by a lot of talk show hosts, a lot of people don't realize that the BLS unemployment numbers are misleading. When Bill Clinton was president he had the BLS stop counting the unemployed who had been so for more than 12 months and had given up finding work. It also doesn't count the people who need a full time job but are only finding part time jobs. The true unemployment rate is much higher than is being reported. I have read a lot of different statistical studies that have the true unemployment rate somewhere between 16% and 22%. That is absolutely astounding.

Unemployment Line

It does look like there is a little life in the economy. The stock market is starting to look a lot better and is closing at it's highest point in a few years. But we need to realize that we are not out of the woods yet. Unemployment is still terrible and we need to realize that the "degressive" democrats in congress wrote a lot of the bills passed in Obama's first two years so they wouldn't go into affect until after his first term (hopefully his only term) as president. The economy won't start feeling the affects of Obamacare or the "Stimulus" Bill for another few years. I just hope that the average citizen can be educated on this before election time. If the the stock market is still looking good come November I can assure you that it will be a big part of Obama's platform.

Oil Reserves

Once again the "progressive" left (I like to refer to them as regressive) refuse to let us become self reliant when it comes to oil. Experts believe that we may have more oil in ANWR then they have in Saudi Arabia, but the government refuses to permit the oil companies to drill there. And even though the keystone pipeline would be bringing oil in from Canada it would still be a better option than shipping it here from the middle east. It would keep us from sending money to governments that help fund terrorism.

Both drilling in ANWR and building the keystone pipeline would also increase the oils supply in the US, therefore forcing the price for oil down. That would be better for everyone. It would drive down costs on everything because it would cost less to ship products across the country. It would also create more high paying jobs in the oil industry.

The Obama Corporate Tax Cut

I know I am not the only one to see this tax cut as a political move. He is hoping it will help him get re-elected, something he seems pretty confident is going to happen. Clinton made a move to the middle to get re-elected too. Most of it is just for talking points though, so he can say he cut taxes. We will still have the worlds fourth largest corporate tax rate and there will also be more regulations added to corporations with less tax deductions. I'm sure that after the election taxes will go back up again.

Iran Sanctions

I was surprised that Obama and his cabinet actually took a stand on the issue of a nuclear Iran. But I am worried that when push comes to shove, Obama won't want to take the steps necessary to protect our country and the rest of the world. It seems to me, he is hiding behind the sanctions, or that they are blinding him to what is going on. Sanctions aren't going to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Just as accommodation didn't stop the Soviets from building up their arms reserves during the cold war, sanctions aren't going to stop the Iranians from reaching their ultimate goal, using nukes to destroy Israel and the US. Nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranians is a very scary proposition indeed.

Identity Politics

Once again the democrats are using identity politics to try to get what they want. Senator Harry Reid said this in response to the fact that Marco Rubio was holding up the confirmation of Mari Carmen Aponte.

“In Nevada, ambassadorial nominee Mari Carmen Aponte is seen by the Puerto Rican community, the Hispanic community, as really somebody who is an up-and-rising star. … I just think it’s a mistake for someone who is supposedly representing Hispanic issues to do what [Rubio] has done”

Why is Marco Rubio supposed to be representing the Hispanic community? I thought he is a senator. I thought he is supposed to represent the American people and in particular those in Florida. And the last time I checked, Florida has a diverse population full of people from various socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. He is not supposed to represent hispanics just because he is of Cuban descent. He is supposed to uphold the constitution.

FINALLY!!

I had been leaning toward Rick Santorum for the last month or so and now I am behind him 100%. We have needed a candidate that will come out and talk about the issues that matter and to do it with common sense.

The use of the words "income inequality" is a ploy used in class warfare. To ask for income equality is to ask for tyranny because it requires the government to control outcomes. And the only way they can do that is through force and coercion, to take, usually by taxation, what one man earned through his own hard work and ability and to give it to someone else. As Milton Friedman once said:

" a society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both."

What is so great about our country, and this is precisely how our founders intended it, is that there is equality of opportunity. It allows people the freedom to take risks and become successful. True, some fail but they often pick themselves back up and try again. Most successful people didn't get there because it was handed to them, they learned from their failures. A great example of this is the wealthy people in america. The majority of the most wealthy people in this country didn't get there because they inherited it. If you look at Forbes list of the ten wealthiest American's, only the Walton's inherited their wealth. What this means is that the rest earned their wealth through hard work and innovation, something that would be impossible in any other system of government. I will end it with another great quote from Milton Friedman:

"The only cases in which the masses have escaped from...grinding poverty...the only cases in recorded history, are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. If you want to know where the masses are worse off, worst off, it’s exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that. So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear, that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by the free-enterprise system."

Backbone

When the story broke that the senate would support military action in Iran to keep them from getting nuclear weapons, I was a little surprised. But then I realized that a lot of the senators backing the action where democrats, I was completely shocked. Democrats with a backbone?! You just don't come across that very often.

Thank God for that

About a couple weeks ago President Obama said this in an interview with Matt Lauer. It was very shocking. Not only is that the way it was intended to be, but he makes it sound like he didn't realize it until now. It's called "separation of powers" and the founding fathers made it that way to prevent tyranny. They didn't want too much power in the hands of either one person, a minority, or the majority. That way every person has equal representation as well as protection for their individual liberties.

Fascism in America

I came across this poster the other day and it is quite frightening. I am sure that most of the agitators involved in the occupy movement aren't aware that the movement they are lobbying for is fascism. But that, unfortunately is how all of these eventual totalitarian movements start, by what Lenin referred to as "useful idiots." The word fascism is so often misused and thrown around today (usually by fascists or other types of socialists, ironically enough) that most people don't realize that they are using the word incorrectly. I don't have time to get into the entire history and nuances of fascism here but I can explain how it relates to this poster.

A large part of the history of fascism can be traced back to a man by the name of Georges Sorel. Here is an excerpt from the book "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg. He articulated Sorel's contribution better then I can.

"...Sorel's greatest contribution to the left--and Mussolini in particular--lay elsewhere: in his concept of "myths," which he defined as "artificial combinations invented to give the appearance of reality to hopes that inspire men in their present activity." For Sorel, the Second Coming of Christ was a quintessential myth because it's underlying message--Jesus is coming, look busy--was crucial for organizing men in desirable ways.

For syndicalists at the time and, ultimately, for leftist revolutionaries of all stripes, Sorel's myth of the general strike was equivalent to the Second Coming. According to this myth, if all workers declared a general strike, it would crush capitalism and render the proletariate--rather than the meek--the inheritors of the earth. Whether the implementation of a general strike would actually have this result didn't matter, according to Sorel."

This poster calls for a "general strike" against the 1%, another myth created by the occupy movement.

If the occupy movement really wanted to reign in corporate corruption they should have joined the "tea party" movement. The best way to limit corruption is to limit the size and scope of government so Wall Street, corporations, or any other special interest is rendered incapable of lobbying for preferential treatment through legislation.

Susan G Komen

I had never even realized that the Susan G Komen foundation was donating money to Planned Parenthood until this whole scandal started. Why would an organization that focuses mainly on abortion and birth control need money from a breast cancer foundation? Especially when evidence has shown that abortion can increase a womans' risk of getting breast cancer.

At first I was glad to hear that they stopped donating money to Planned Parenthood, then a little upset that they changed their mind. Now I will never donate money to the Susan G Komen foundation. I do understand, after I did some research, that the money Planned Parenthood receives is for breast exams. But any of their own money that they don't have to use for breast exams, or any other service they offer, will ultimately go to fund abortions and I want no part of that.