Interesting article on health care

Sweden's Government Health Care
by Walter E. Williams

Government health care advocates used to sing the praises of Britain's National Health Service (NHS). That's until its poor delivery of health care services became known. A recent study by David Green and Laura Casper, "Delay, Denial and Dilution," written for the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs, concludes that the NHS health care services are just about the worst in the developed world. The head of the World Health Organization calculated that Britain has as many as 25,000 unnecessary cancer deaths a year because of under-provision of care. Twelve percent of specialists surveyed admitted refusing kidney dialysis to patients suffering from kidney failure because of limits on cash. Waiting lists for medical treatment have become so long that there are now "waiting lists" for the waiting list.

Read it all here:

http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2009/03/04/swedens_government_health_care

Resume Rewrites

With the current economy, this article I wrote recently may be of help to you or someone you know. Please send them the link if you think so. ~Bob

Resume Rewrites
Robert A. Hall, MEd, CAE, FSA Scot, FSR

In my 36-year professional career, I’ve always been the hiring authority, both in my first post-college job as a state senator, and for the last 26 years as a non-profit executive. In that time, I’ve seen a lot of resumes. And, since I’ve been with several organizations, I’ve also sent out more than a few. I’ve developed some strong opinions about resumes, but if you know me, you know I’ve developed strong opinions about damn near everything.

I think it’s safe to say now has to be the toughest time for job seekers since I applied to and was accepted by the United States Marines in 1964. If I’d had a resume then it might have said, “Cocky, bright, good work ethic, will go to any hell hole you say and get my hands dirty to get the job done.” It probably still should.

If you’re applying for jobs in today’s economy, especially if you are “between situations” (as I was for half of 2007), you want your resume to be perfect.

Bad news: there is no such thing as perfect. Resumes not only come in many styles and formats, but they are a lot like websites—very subjective. You can spend a barrel of money having an expert design either one, and the next five “experts” who look at it will say it’s terrible, and needs a makeover. (Usually by them for even more money.)

So my first tip is to get the resume you are comfortable with. Don’t let a resume writer fill it with puffed-up clichés, which have little meaning, and don’t sound like you. I’ve interviewed people who I could tell had someone else write their resumes, once I talked to them. I never found out if they’d have been good employees.

While you should remember that free advice is worth the price, here are some other thoughts that might help you make your resume a keeper:

Review colleagues’ resumes: Read every resume you can from colleagues in your field, especially from those who have landed jobs. Skip the guy who’s been looking since the Harding Administration. There are often things you can borrow, phrases you can use, and ways of presenting things that are new.

Objective: I don’t believe in putting an “objective” on a resume. Your objective goes in your well-crafted, one-page cover letter. It is to secure this particular position, for which you are the perfect fit, because of the following highlights from your resume. A resume “objective” is either so broad as to be meaningless, has obviously been tailored to the particular opening, or is limiting. I’ve often received resumes where the objective had nothing to do with the position I was trying to fill. Like finding typos, that made it easy to pop them in the “no” pile.

Profile/Summary of Qualifications/Skills: I’ve never used one. I can see the value to catch the attention of a reviewer who has a large pile of resumes on the desk. But so many of those I’ve read are heavy on the clichés. Aren’t you turned off when a salesperson oversells you? If you do start your resume this way, I think under-stated and straight-forward will make a better impression, e.g., “Manager with successful record in customer development, fiscal management, employee relations and…..”

Clichés and jargon: “Seasoned Professional.” (Garlic? Hot peppers?) “Change Agent.” (So were Hitler and Stalin.) “High Impact.” (When dropped from a plane.) “Hit the Ground Running.” (He’ll never get any better than day one.). I find resumes as full of words that sound good and mean little as a Chicago Politician. And if one more candidate tells me she/he “is a people person,” he/she will make a “High Impact.” You are turned off by clichés; don’t you think the hiring authority is as well?

Jargon is also likely to turn off the reader. I often help transitioning Marines with their resumes. Usually their first draft is terrific—if they were applying to be a senior Marine leader. I help them speak civilian.

Don’t get fancy: Resumes with graphics look childish to me. Resumes with pictures make me wonder why they think that matters. Fancy paper suggests to me it is needed to titivate the content—I’ve done just fine on white copy paper, thank you. (Chances are the headhunter—excuse me, Search Consultant—will put it on copy paper to distribute to the organization anyway.) Skip the color rainbow. And two fonts are the maximum: a nice, common sans serif like Ariel for heads and a serif like Times New Roman for body text. You may be tempted by gimmicks in this economy, but they make you look desperate and unprofessional.

Action Verbs: “Responsible for the budget” is weak. I always want to ask, “Yeah, but did you do any of the things you were responsible for?” Words like managed, implemented, supervised, planned, presented, increased and developed are action verbs. They say that you did something.
Be specific: “Responsible for membership development” versus “Increased membership by 42.3% over three-year period.” Which candidate would you interview? And remember the accountant’s rule for expense reports: $15 for lunch looks made up, while $16.43 looks exact, so don’t round off numbers.

Take appropriate credit: If during your tenure sales, income and production all increased, claim it. They will know it was a team effort, but it was your responsibility on your watch. You’d get the blame if they went the other way! On the other hand, if you were the Director of Sales, taking credit for production increases might be a stretch. The “Incredible Hulk” has a career, the “Incredible Employee” doesn’t.

Length: I like the old rule. One page for under ten years experience, two for 10 to 20, and three pages for longer careers. But unless you’re an academic, thus expected to list every conference and publication, never longer than three. This depends on your circumstances, of course, but a three-page resume for a twenty-year-old looks pretty puffed. I do believe in including additional information with my resume and cover letter, usually a list of references (I like to list several), and a list of my published management articles, sometimes with an appropriate writing sample. (But not the poetry, fiction or opinion columns I’ve also published.)

Affiliations and credentials: Again, list what is relevant to the position. I list professional associations, but not the many veterans, Scottish and other organizations I belong to. I put CAE behind my name, but not FSA Scot. (Extra credit if you figure that one out!) Claiming credentials (or experience) you don’t have, or from degree mills, is, of course, unethical and stupid. But I understand it’s widely done. If that’s your style, I can credential you as a fellow FSR* for only fifty bucks.

Personal information: Generally skip revealing that your hobby is knitting or that you love to garden (unless, of course, you are applying to a gardening or knitting organization!). I do include personal information I think is relevant. Last time I was job hunting, I reported “No missed days for illness in five years,” but I’m at an age where age discrimination is a possibility and wanted them to know I show up for work. I’d also list things like “free to travel” and/or “willing to relocate” if true and you think they may be relevant to the employer.

Leaving out information: Always a tough call. I leave out one job, because I was there only long enough to find A. I’d been lied to, B. The reserves didn’t exist, C. The leadership wasn’t committed enough to change and D. A new job. I figure all I learned there was to do better due diligence, it was a while back, and it doesn’t leave an obvious gap. But I reveal it if asked. Once you lie, you’re sunk.

Order: The rule used to be that your education was listed first. I think my experience is more relevant, so I list it ahead of my education. But if neither is impressive, then you have my permission to use graphics, colors, clichés, ten fonts and fancy paper. Who knows—it might work.

Good luck. Remember that persistence counts. Write if you get work.

*Full Service Rogue

Bumper Sticker

Gotta find room for another:

http://patriotshop.us/product_info.php?cPath=52&products_id=938

Health Care & Taxes

This is worth reading:

Health Care & Taxes
John Goodman, President, National Center for Policy Analysis

The worst idea candidate Barack Obama had during the presidential campaign was his pledge to finance health reform with taxes on capital. To be fair, he didn't word it that way. Instead, he promised to pay for universal health care in part by rescinding George Bush's "tax cuts for the rich."

Bush didn't cut taxes for the rich, however. He lowered the tax rate on capital gains income and substantially lowered the tax rate on dividend income for all taxpayers, many of whom have high incomes. Bush also lowered the top rate on wage income; but for high-income earners this is also frequently income from capital (pass-through profits to owners of small businesses, for example).

Obama is now proving that he keeps his word and then some. Overall, his new budget includes a slew of new taxes on businesses and investors totaling almost $1 trillion over the next 10 years (and that doesn't even count the $646 billion "cap and trade" tax). He proposes to "bank" a portion of this for health care to be matched by difficult-to-make health care spending cuts and by health care "savings" that virtually all independent analysts agree are unlikely to materialize. The only thing certain so far is the taxes.

What's wrong with paying for health reform by taxing investment income? It is always bad to tax capital to pay for consumption. Capital is the seed corn that grows businesses, creates jobs and generates the income that makes consumption possible. Taxing capital to pay for health care consumption is especially bad, considering that health care spending at the margin is already very wasteful.

Read the rest here:

http://www.john-goodman-blog.com/health-care-and-taxes/#more-2463

I'll be rich

Who knew having a blog would bring offers of big money?

My Dear,

I am indeed glad to be in contact with you,I am Mrs.Joceline Prisca Bouku from Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire. I am a widow being, lost my husband few years ago in the air crash with Airways on his way back from Jordan from a business trip and was to connect to Ethiopian Airline to Abidjan from Khartoum capital of Sudan.

Before his death my late husband had an account in one of the bank here with a tune of $6.2M, which he told the bank, was for the importation of cocoa processing machine.

I want you to do me a favour to provide to me your banking particulars to receive this money to a safe account in your country or any safer place as thebeneficiary.and i will give you 20% out of the total sum as your ownpesentage.I have plans to invest this money into business in your country underyou.

This is my reason of writing to you if you will be of interests toassist me, I will be very grateful as you indicating your interests byreplying soonest with your private phone and address for properly update.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Joceline Prisca Bouku and son

My Books

A couple of people who have written off-line have asked why I don't write a book. Well, I have. Two are published, but I think they would be of little interest to the readers of this blog.

One is The Good Bits, a collection of my Marine and political stories, that I put together for my granddaughter, and put in book form through a print-on-demand company. Pretty boring if you don't know me, and has probably only sold 100 copies. On the other hand, I make $4 on each book (if they still print them) and haven't broken even yet on the set-up charge, so feel free. But you were warned.

http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=34780

The other book is on Association Management, published last summer by ASAE. It's entitled Chaos for Breakfast and is available through their website and on Amazon. It will only be of interest if you are in non-profit management. Cover is above. All royalties go to educational foundations, so I'm not getting rich on this one either.

http://www.asaecenter.org/Marketplace/BookstoreDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=36447&Topic=&WebFlag=New&TitleAlpha=&AuthorAlpha=

I have written two others.

CYA: Protecting Yourself in the Modern Jungle is a short humor/advice book.

Susie's Mommy Votes is a non-partisan (really!) children's book educating kids about voting. My thought was to teach them how to think about politics, not what to think, so they could make informed choices. Probably an approach that wouldn't be favored in our schools.

I have them out looking for a publisher, but they may never see the light of day. People seem to prefer my writing when I don't charge for it!

You'll do better for both entertainment and education to read the Sowell books, or America Alone that I recommended in my last post.

A Letter from a Working Person

This is worth reading:

A Letter from a Working Person

Dear Chris Matthews,
build your own business and see if it feels like work.
By Dan Kennedy
Business & Media Institute
3/3/2009 11:59:50 AM


Imagine my surprise to hear Chris Matthews, on his February 26 broadcast, enthusiastically announce that President Obama is “promising to tax the rich people in order to pay for health care for the working people.”
Dear Mr. Matthews: maybe you are a rich person who doesn’t earn your money and doesn’t work. Since I see you working on TV all the time, perhaps you secretly feel that cheerleading for Barack Obama isn’t really “work.” I’m willing to accept your critical self-assessment.
But I and all the other people I know earning over $250,000.00 a year – and into seven figures – well,we are definitely working people. Most of us work longer hours than our employees do, take more work home to do in evenings, and work more weekend hours than our employees do. Many of us travel and spend a great deal of time away from our families. Many of us bear enormous executive responsibility and the stress that comes with it.

Read it all here:

http://www.businessandmedia.org/commentary/2009/20090303115413.aspx

Thanks for Reading and Responding

I’m a tad over-whelmed with the number of posts, followers and e-mail messages that have resulted from my “I’m tired” post, below. I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to answer all the messages. I’ve worked 12 days straight, over 120 hours, so it’s been hard to keep up. (And one guy responded that I should get a real job! No thanks--this is enough.)

I have the weekend off to do shopping and chores and go to a Marine vets dinner, so I should get to a few more of the in-box.

I moderate the comments to try to avoid most foul languages (I let some mild ones through, as I hate to reject comments, but it doesn’t help the writer’s case). I try to reject double posts.

For those who thought “I’m Tired” meant I had “given up,” or was just “bitching,” I’m sorry I don’t write well enough to get my message across. What I was trying to do was to inspire people to support change. Change that would defend free markets, which despite their flaws, have giving us a life style that tens of millions would trade places with you to get. There are a lot more people trying to get into America than out. Change to support limited government, because the larger our government, the less our freedom. Change to support individual responsibility. Change to support protecting our country and freedoms against forces that, as so often in the past, would obliterate it.

And, yes, I know Republicans are part of the problem. They are among the worst offenders using our money to buy our votes through "earmarks." Yeah, I remember the good old days, back last fall when even Barack Obama was against earmarks. Welcome to Washington, Mr. O.

For those who would like to understand the corrupt politics here in Blagobamaville, I recommend reading the columns of John Kass in the Chicago Tribune.

They are on line at http://www.chicagotribune.com/. Search for Kass.

Here are a couple:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-05-mar05,0,6490448.column

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-bd01-mar01,0,5255665.column

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-27-feb27,0,4458821.column

For those concerned about the future of freedom, I recommend America Alone, by Mark Steyn. Entertaining but scary to read, Steyn looks at the unfunded social liability programs in Europe through deficit spending, the declining birth rates of the native population, and the growth of the “guest worker” Muslim population (many on welfare as well). With the native populations all having children below the replacement rate, and with Muhammad being the most common baby boy’s name in large European cities, the chances are that European freedoms will be extinguished by the tyranny of Shari’a law in the not distant future. Buy a burka for your granddaughter—she’ll probably need it.

Don't believe it? Google "Honor Killing."

For those who would like to understand economics better, I think Dr. Thomas Sowell’s terrific book Basic Economics should be required reading to graduate from college or hold public office. His autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, about growing up in a poor black family in NC, working his way through Harvard, and becoming perhaps the most respected market economist in the country, is inspiring. Also not to be missed are his Economic Facts and Fallacies, The Quest for Cosmic Justice and Black Rednecks and White Liberals. His website is www.tsowell.com.

For those who urged me to run for office again, thanks for your support. I did that five times from 1972 to 1980, successfully, for the Massachusetts Senate. But I live in Chicago now, my chances would be zero, and I have a family to support.

And at 63, with a persistent cough, bad ankles and a tad over my fighting weight, I probably can’t take up a rifle for Uncle Sam again. So I do what I can: vote, contribute a few dollars to good candidates, urge people to get involved and write.

Thank you for reading. You do me honor—even those who disagree with my points of view. Isn’t it great to live in a country where you can still speak your mind? They are going to try to outlaw that, as well. They’ll call it “Hate Speech.” Meaning you are saying things they don’t like.

And to all my brother Marines who wrote, it was a privilege to wear the same uniform you did. I thank everyone who served, in all branches.

Random Thoughts

I’m just back from a business meeting in Las Vegas. I think I did better than most—I found a dime on the floor walking through the casino.

All that fake opulence in Vegas—built from the dollars spent by the losers. What is the upper limit on casinos and slot machines in America?

Wandering around the casinos, I was struck that someone should apply for federal dollars to do a research study to determine if—as I suspect—the average IQ of a woman with breast implants is inversely proportional to the size of the implants. Other than to correct a deformity caused by disease or accident, it strikes me as the most foolish surgery possible.

It used to be you tipped a bellman to take your luggage from the cab to the room. Now you tip one to take it from the cab and another one to take it to the room. This is better service how?

Even the casino profits are down 10%. I wonder if they’ll get a bailout, being in the home state of Harry Reid?

I think the Republicans and the media need to give President Obama a break. Yes, he’s had a rocky start. But he’s a rookie. He only has four years Washington experience (and most of that he was out running for president). And he has a lot less executive experience than, say a two-year governor. Especially if the governor was a mayor first. So with a couple of years of on-the-job training, I’m sure he’ll do better. Be patient.

Am I the only one who grows furious as soon as I hear, “Please listen carefully, as our menu has changed.” It’s because I know what I’m calling about will likely NOT be on the menu. No organization that has a machine answering incoming calls can claim to have good customer service.

Have you noticed that left-wing groups who claim to speak for “the people,” would never want “the people” to vote on things like affirmative action, or guns, or increased welfare spending, or funding for the arts or a lot of other things dear to their hearts? Here in Illinois, the Democrats have done back flips to avoid letting “the people” vote on a replacement for senator Obama.

And the same folks who speak of the people much prefer political decisions to be made by bureaucrats through regulations or by the courts, because they are protected from losing their jobs if “the people” don’t like the decisions and want to vote them out of office.

And have you noticed that “public” TV and “public” radio is mostly set up to use tax dollars to produce programs the elites love, but that the public wouldn’t pay for, if given the choice? That’s the same reason they have to use tax dollars to fund the arts. The elites like it, but “the people” wouldn’t pay to see it, if given free choice.

If the IRS audits me this year, how much can I claim on the “honest mistake exemption”? Or is that only available to Obama appointees?

As the desire of the left to ensure that every murderer gets every ounce of possible due process drags out court cases for years and year, neither the death penalty nor the threat of prison is a deterrent. And the clogged court system, thanks to the lawyers, has huge costs, in that many criminals walk or plea bargain out, to commit more crimes we all pay for, as victims or through insurance and higher costs for goods. These burdens fall most heavily on the poor and minorities, the folks the left claims to care so much about. I am surprised we don’t already have a lot more vigilantism. It’s coming.

Did you notice that it took President Obama longer to find a White House Dog than to line up most of his cabinet? I assume he was looking for a pup that had paid taxes. Maybe a vet should vet his appointments?

I’ve been hoping Europe would be the canary in the coal mine for us. Their social welfare programs are far larger, their unfunded liability makes Social Security look like a good investment, their native population is having children well below the replacement rate, their Muslim “guest worker” populations are growing rapidly (the most common baby boy’s name in many European cities is Muhammad) and much of it is on welfare. With their governments spending around 48% of the GDP, I think I may live to see the collapse. But the deficit and having the League of Leftwing Lawyers in charge here means we are catching up, and government spending here may soon reach 40% of GDP.

Have you noted how often people speak as though “Democracy” and “Freedom” were the same thing? But they aren’t. A majority can vote to send armed police to take away your home to build a shopping mall or your income to spread the wealth around, or can vote stop you from saying what you want by outlaying anything it considers “hate speech.” Hitler and Hamas both came to power through elections.

It doesn’t matter what your kids will pay for the bailout in twenty years, as long as your Congressman gets reelected in 2010 by spending your money. It’s why Obama was lying about stopping earmarks—he can’t and get the Congress to go along with his programs.

People talk about “public funding of campaigns.” But what, really, are earmarks but spending tax dollars to get Congresscritters re-elected?

If people really hated lawyers, would they have voted to put lawyers, and only lawyers, in complete charge of all branches of the federal government?

A last tip. If you are staying at a fancy hotel, they give you nice bars of soap. Take along a zip lock bag and bring them home when you leave. They throw used soap out. You’ll save money on soap and help protect the environment. I wonder if Al Gore does that on his trips? Or am I “Greener than Gore” in that way too?

Historical Figures look at the Stimulus Bill

Given that the $800 Billion “Economic Stimulus Bill” is so controversial, as someone with a master’s degree in history, I naturally wondered what some of the great figure of history would have to say about the bill. So I asked them. Here are their responses.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. –Plato

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. --Thomas Jefferson

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him. –Charles DeGaulle

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them. --Frederick Douglass

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. --H.L. Mencken

Laws are like sausages. You sleep far better the less you know about how they are made. --Otto Von Bismark

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. Sir Alex Fraser Tytler (Editor’s note: I had a bad connection, so can’t be sure it was actually Sir Alex I was speaking with.)

We must all live so that our children do not have to pay for our deeds. --Andrejs Upits

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual). --Ayn Rand

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. --Thomas Jefferson

The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy. --Theodore H. White

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity. --Irving Kristol

In a democracy the people get what the majority deserves. --James Davidson

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. --Ronald Reagan

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. –Thomas Jefferson

Every time that we try to lift a problem from our own shoulders, and shift that problem to the hands of the government, to the same extent we are sacrificing the liberties of our people. --John F. Kennedy

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be lead to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. --H.L. Mencken

The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. - Ronald Reagan

Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread. --Thomas Jefferson

Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder. –Arnold Toynbee

The laws of economics tell us that the expansion of the central state can't go on forever. Its limit is reached when the looted turn on the looters. --Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." --James Madison

I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. --Thomas Jefferson

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. - Ronald Reagan

If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand. --Milton Freidman

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money. --Margaret Thatcher

We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. --Thomas Jefferson

It is vain to do with more what can be done with less. --William of Occam

If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy. --Thomas Jefferson

In America, the President reigns for four years, and journalism governs for ever and ever. –Oscar Wilde

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill

I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition. —Thomas Jefferson

So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot. –George Orwell

Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies. -- Charles De Montesquieu

The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys. --Thomas Jefferson

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.--George Bernard Shaw

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. --Frederic Bastiat, French Economist

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. --Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.--Edward Langley, Artist

At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to state this or that or the other, but it is 'not done'... Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. --George Orwell

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it. --Woodrow Wilson

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. --Thomas Jefferson

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. --Judge Gideon J. Tucker, 1866

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. --Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. ---Mark Twain

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. –Voltaire

Put not your trust in princes, nor in any human power, for there is no help in them. --Psalm 146.

There you have it folks. The ink is hardly dry, and the corrupt have hardly wet their beaks in the biggest boondoggle in history—but we already know what history thinks!

I'm Tired--some updates

I’ll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I’ve worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven’t called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there’s no retirement in sight, and I’m tired. Very tired.

I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth around” to people who don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.

I’m tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to “keep people in their homes.” Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I’m willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the leftwing Congresscritters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them—with their own money.

I’m tired of being told how bad America is by leftwing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the religious freedom and women’s rights of Saudi Arabia, the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Gay people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won’t multiculturalism be beautiful?

I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family “honor;” of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t “believers;” of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for “adultery;” of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an and Shari’a law tells them to.

I believe “a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin.” I’m tired of being told that “race doesn’t matter” in the post-racial world of President Obama, when it’s all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois. I think it’s very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less in an all-knowing government.

I’m tired of a news media that thinks Bush’s fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama’s, at triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush’s military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin with two years as governor for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.

Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn’t vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.

I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.

I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore’s, and if you’re greener than Gore, you’re green enough.

I’m tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don’t think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I’m tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana. Update: People have written to tell me I'd have more sympathy if this was close to me. It is exactly having seen the destruction of alcoholism and heroin addiction in my own family that makes me pretty intolerant of people who are willing to destroy the people around them to indulge themselves.
I’m tired of illegal aliens being called “undocumented workers,” especially the ones who aren’t working, but are living on welfare or crime. What’s next? Calling drug dealers, “Undocumented Pharmacists”? And, no, I’m not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic and it’s been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I’m willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person who can speak English, doesn’t have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military. Those are the citizens we need. Update: A few people have taken this to indicate some bias against Catholics, based on events 400 years ago. While I think they are either too touchy or fail to understand, I was only trying to say that I have zero problem with Catholics wanting to come to the US, but that I have great concerns about Muslims, as a good % of them do want to kill me, or force their religion and moral code on me.

I’m tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years—and still are? Not even close. So here’s the deal. I’ll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we’ll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear. UPDATE: It has rightly been pointed out to me, several times, that I should have included Canadian, Australian and New Zealand troops here. My apologies for slighting these gallant allies of freedom.

I’m tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers—bums are bi-partisan. And I’m tired of people telling me we need bi-partisanship. I live in Illinois, where the “Illinois Combine” of Democrats and Republicans has worked together harmoniously to loot the public for years. And I notice that the tax cheats in Obama’s cabinet are bi-partisan as well.

I’m tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I’m tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn’t have that in 1970, but we didn’t know we were “poor.” The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I’m real tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives and actions. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I’m damn tired. But I’m also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I’m not going to get to see the world these people are making. I’m just sorry for my granddaughter.

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate. He blogs at www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com Update: Someone attached a picture of Robert D. Hall, an actor, to some versions and forwarded it on, saying that I was on CSI. We are two different people, and I am not an actor--unless you count running for public office.

And to the folks who said I'm Old and should die and get out of the way, I have IPF, so will comply soon enough.

How many women must die?

This woman who was murdered for disobaying her husband, who founded the network designed to protray Muslims as peaceful! But the political philosophy--shari'a law--behind the murder cannot be mentioned. So more must die.

When will the media and Americans have the courage to speak out against ritualized and condoned abuse and murder?

Look at the pictures of the victims of honor killings on this site.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/02/losing-our-heads-.html

Outrage

Republicans are acting all surprised and outraged that Senator Roland Burris (D-Blagobamaville) apparently lied to the Illinois Legislature about contacts with former Governor Blagojevich before Burris was appointed to the Senate.

Republicans should just say, "Get over it. He's a Chicago Pol. Of course he lied."

Meanwhile, Democrats who were terribly outraged at deficit spending under Bush (even when they voted for it), are now saying the much larger deficit spending in the "stimulus bill" is good for the economy. So, wasn't Bush's deficit spending good for the economy back then? If this deficit spending is good now, think how much worse the economy would have been without Bush's deficit spending then, right.

I assume they'll apologize to him any day now.

But I note cartoonists, editorial writers and Democrat politicians--much the same, come to think of it--having few Republicans in power to knock, are still knocking Bush, out of habit.

If that meteor strikes the Earth in 2035, some editorial writer will blame it on Bush just before everyone dies.

The 2016 Olympics

New Games for the Chicago Olympics
Robert A. Hall

As all the world knows, Chicago is one of the cities bidding to be the site for the 2016 Olympics. For those of us who live here in Blagobamaville, the prospect is thrilling. Millions of dollars in revenue, thousands of new jobs, wonderful entertainment and not a cent of taxpayer money at risk—what could be finer?

Oh, sure, other cities that have hosted the Olympics or the World’s Fair have had financial troubles, corruption and crime. But there’s no danger of that happening here, because Illinois in general, and Chicago in particular, has a national reputation for solid management, fiscal prudence and gold-plated integrity that extends all the way to the White House.

Speaking of the White House, the word on the Chicago street is that, with this being the home of the new President, the fix is in—figuratively speaking, of course.

As a resident of Crook County, I’m delighted at the prospect, and looking forward eagerly to 2016, when the Chicago Olympics will make the last year of President Obama’s media-guaranteed second term even more to be anticipated than usual.

To do my part, I have several new games to suggest to the Olympic Committee, which will add a real Chicago Flavor to the Olympics.

The Guano Gambol: Erstwhile politicians attempt to emulate the feat of our new President by tiptoeing barefoot across the cesspool of Chicago/Illinois politics without noticing the stink, mentioning the manure or soiling their tootsies. While it’s a violation for Olympic Athletes to be paid, this is Chicago—surely there’d be no harm in Tony Rezko helping the winner get a discount on a new home?

The Drum Cram: Contestants honor the Chicago Outfit by dismembering a six-foot mobster and cramming the body into an oil drum. Points for time, style and creative hiding of leftover bits.

The Musical Senate Seat: Hosted by former Governor Rod Blagojevich. Contestants dance around a bleepin-golden chair, whispering in Rod’s ear how much sitting in it is worth, trying to convince him to stop the music at just the right spot. Contestants may be assisted by teammates based on ethnicity. Contestants caught on tape are disqualified. Winner gets to serve a cold crow lunch to Harry Reid and other Democrats in the US Senate.

The Patronage Plunge: Contestants are giving a billion dollars in “stimulus” funds to spend on public works and government programs in Chicago. The object is to hire the most friends, campaign workers and relatives without the media catching on. Winner receives a trophy known as “The Daley.”

The Pocket Pick: While one contestant distracts gullible taxpayers with visions of world-class sporting events, free-flowing dollars and wonderful jobs, a teammate must deftly slide out the enthralled folks’ wallets, extract all the cash and credit cards, and slip them back into the fans’ pockets undetected. Victory goes to the team that contributes the most taxpayer cash to cover the inevitable Olympic fiscal nightmare. Winning team receives the Gold Chumbolone Award, presented by Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass.

I don’t know about you, but 2016 can’t get here fast enough for me.

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate. He blogs at www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com

Letter from a Quaker

This is worth reading:

http://www.mcldet186.org/other.cfm?mc=let1

My new income tax strategy

I finished my taxes yesterday. It was pretty easy this year, due to my new tax strategy.

See, in the past, I’ve always been a straight arrow, claiming only what I could document, paying everything I owed. But I discovered that I was being, as Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass says, a chumbolone.

Now I have seen the light. The middleclass, working, Republican centrist approach to taxes is for, well, chumbolones. So this year, I decided that following the example of those working-class heroes Tim Gaither, Charlie Rangel, Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer was the way to fame and fortune.

Yes, I forgot to pay taxes on my many vacation homes, on my compensation as a consultant from international organizations, on the car and driver provided me out of “friendship” as “gifts” from big political donors I’ve supported, or taxes on the many nannies and domestics who staff my mansions. I now know that being for the poor and powerless clearly pays off better than working for a living and paying taxes.

I put a note to the IRS in my return, saying that while they might not agree with my decisions, I’d remind them that this type of thing is just a “hiccup,” according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Who are they to argue with a fine lawyer like Harry or the many lawyers on his team who now run the Congress?

Now all I have to do is wait for a job offer from President Obama, and I’m off to Washington to fight for the little guy. If it turns out as lucrative as these other folks’ careers, a couple of my nannies may even be able to give up their day jobs at Hooters.

Taxes? They’re for the chumbolones!

Change we can believe in

Let’s look at the record so far.

Bill Richardson withdraws as Obama’s choice for Commerce secretary, after it is revealed he is being investigated for the same kind of “Pay to Play” deal that forced Gov. Rod Blagojevich (endorsed twice by Obama for Governor) from office.

Eric Holder is confirmed as Obama’s Attorney General, despite having guided the “Pay to not Pay” pardons of billionaire fugitive financier Marc Rich and other questionable, but connected figures at the end of the Clinton administration.

Tom Daschle is nominated as Obama’s Secretary of Health & Human Services, despite forgetting to pay a lot more taxes than the Democrats pilloried poor Joe the Plumber for, after he dared to ask candidate Obama a question. Update: before I posted this, Daschle withdrew. Guess now he doesn't have to pay his back taxes!

Tim Gaither is confirmed as Obama’s Secretary of the Treasury despite his failure to also pay thousands in taxes. (He did pay the back taxes, for which the statute of limitations had run, immediately before being nominated, the kind of fine coincidence the Obama administration is becoming noted for.) If Joe the Plumber had been an Obama guy, he’d probably be an ambassador now.

Rahm Emanuel becomes Obama’s Chief of Staff, moving from the Congressional seat formerly held by Rod Blagojevich. Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass reports Emanuel won the Blagojevich seat because of the support of the Daley machine, which provided the illegal help of thousands of city-employed campaign workers. Obama investigates and clears Emanuel of involvement in the Blagojevich scandal. (Will Dick Chaney investigate and clear Scooter Libby next? And will the media quietly accept that?)

Hillary Clinton is confirmed as Obama’s Secretary of State, where she will doubtless deal very firmly with foreign dictators who have pumped millions into the Foundations of Bill Clinton. Guess it depends on what the meaning of “conflict” is.

Ray LaHood, a Republican with long ties to the “Illinois Combine,” is named as Obama’s Transportation Secretary. John Kass reports in the Chicago Tribune that LaHood, “will have billions of federal dollars to dole out in state grants for contracts for roads, bridges, airport modernization—all the sugarplums the guys behind the guys dream about. One such guy is the indicted Republican boss of Springfield, William Cellini, a wealthy developer and executive director of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association. LaHood is a Cellini guy.” The drool must be causing flooding in Springfield.

This is just what we know about the Obama team so far. They have a free hand to spend hundreds of billions of dollars, due to the economic collapse started in the housing industry by the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Yeah, yeah, I know, there were enough greedy Wall Street and banker types piling on to do it without that. The collapse in Asia and Europe can hardly be blamed on either party, not that the voters don’t always blame the guy in the White House. There’s plenty of bi-partisan blame to go around. And, as noted about, the Obama administration is certainly hiring questionable characters on a bi-partisan basis.

No one seems to notice that every dollars the government spends on the economic stimulus, it has to take out of the economy, in taxes, borrowing or inflation by printing money, so you and I don’t have that dollar to spend on economic stimulus. The answer is that we might not spend it, we might put it in the bank. But didn’t the government just put billions in the banks through the bailouts, to prop them up? Why is our putting money in the bank bad?

America wanted change, any kind of change, and is certainly getting change. Can we loot the public treasury in a bi-partisan way? Yes, we can!

Update: Missed this one. "Nancy Killefer, Obama's nominee for the newly created position of chief performance officer, also stepped aside because of a tax problem." Performance Officer?

Team Obama: Bi-partisan bums!

Political Digest November 28, 2009

PoliI post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.

Taxes going up? Voters: yup
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Taxes-going-up-Voters-yup-74863202.html
Excerpt: Just as my column appeared, pollster Scott Rasmussen reported that 48% of likely voters expect their taxes to go up and only 9% expect them to go down. That’s a vivid contrast with the responses back in January, when only 29% expected their taxes to go up and 21% expected them to go down. About half of American voters, it seems, have caught on to the Democrats’ stuff-the-beast strategy: raise spending to previously unheard of levels and then raise taxes to reduce the deficit. Moral of the story: never underestimate the perceptiveness of the American voter.

Obama Shatters Spending Record for First-Year Presidents
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=6770
Anyone who didn’t expect this on November 4, 2008 just wasn’t paying attention.

Obama meets Hu, says Tibet part of China
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/Obama-meets-Hu-says-Tibet-part-of-China/articleshow/5238752.cms
Well, so much for those “Free Tibet” bumper stickers—the One has spoken. Excerpt: "We did note that while we recognise that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue" between the Dalai Lama's representatives and Beijing," Obama said after his meeting with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. Chinese President Hu Jintao hailed US President Barack Obama's recognition of sovereignty issues dear to China. "China approves of President Obama's repeated reiteration of the one-China principle," Hu told reporters.

Comment from a Marine buddy: Tibet has had a totally different language and culture from China for thousands of years, and has never been identified as part of China. It was taken over by brute force decades ago, many thousands killed then and still since, the culture subordinated to Chinese, the children forced to learn Chinese, Chinese immigrants as appointed "managers" (read rulers), no civil liberties, freedom of the press, freedom to dissent, etc. For an American President today to recognize Tibet as part of China would be like FDR recognizing Silesia and the Sudetenland as parts of Germany after the Wehrmacht marched into those places. I am totally appalled at this, there is no excuse for making such a statement, it is a gross betrayal of the basic American commitment to human rights. It is more than puzzling for Obama to do this. And he got nothing whatsoever for this, the Chinese will not really join in on reduction of hothouse gases (they're building coal fired plants faster and faster), they won't revalue their money to realistic adjustment to the dollar, and they lecture us on being more responsible. Essentially it was a social visit, an exchange of niceties, but zip in the way of any accomodation to Obama's programs. So why throw the Tibetans under the bus, and thereby tell every other small country that they cannot depend on the US to even talk about their rights when the bigger, well armed neighbor nation decides to pound them or take them over? Very, very, very sad. So much for moral leadership among nations. –Del

PC-ed to death
http://www.wtoc.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=4285612&h1=Editorial%20-%2011/09/09&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=186467&LaunchPageAdTag=News
Nice to have a TV editor tell it like it is. Gotta love this guy.

Timely Medicine – Not
http://www.galganov.com/editorials.asp?id=1181
Excerpt: As America rushes headfirst into Government Run Healthcare, here are a few realities Americans should not ignore. As a Canadian, I was raised since the mid 1960’s on a diet of Government Paid Healthcare. In a single statement: IT WAS TERRIFIC. But, I have to emphasize the word WAS.

Why Obama Isn't Changing Washington http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704779704574555471947300090.html
Excerpt: Why has the president's publicly expressed vision of a kinder, gentler Washington failed to materialize? I think Mr. Obama—while hardly the only person at fault—is chiefly responsible. He might have spawned a different Washington, a less divided town with Democrats firmly in charge but Republicans actively involved. The bonus for Mr. Obama and Democrats would be higher popularity and better prospects in 2010 midterm elections. Instead, the president made three strategic mistakes—or, really, misreadings of the political landscape—and they've come back to haunt him and his party. First, Mr. Obama misread the meaning of the 2008 election. It wasn't a mandate for a liberal revolution. His victory was a personal one, not an ideological triumph of liberalism. Yet Mr. Obama, his aides and Democratic leaders in Congress have treated it as a mandate to radically change policy directions in this country. They are pushing forward one liberal initiative after another. As a result, Mr. Obama's approval rating has dropped along with the popularity of his agenda. Mr. Obama should have known better. The evidence that America remains a center-right country was right there in the national exit poll on Election Day. When asked about their political beliefs, 34% identified themselves as conservative, 22% as liberal, and a whopping 44% as moderate.

Kill the Bills. Do Health Reform Right http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2009/11/27/kill_the_bills_do_health_reform_right
Excerpt: The United States has the best health care in the world -- but because of its inefficiencies, also the most expensive. The fundamental problem with the 2,074-page Senate health-care bill (as with its 2,014-page House counterpart) is that it wildly compounds the complexity by adding hundreds of new provisions, regulations, mandates, committees and other arbitrary bureaucratic inventions. Worse, they are packed into a monstrous package without any regard to each other. The only thing linking these changes -- such as the 118 new boards, commissions and programs -- is political expediency. Each must be able to garner just enough votes to pass. There is not even a pretense of a unifying vision or conceptual harmony. The result is an overregulated, overbureaucratized system of surpassing arbitrariness and inefficiency.

Bomber may have been heading for Eilat
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1259243014035&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Didn’t get the Religion-of-Peace memo. Excerpt: An IDF bomb squad detonated a 15-kilogram explosive seized during a search conducted along the Egyptian border on Thursday. Late Wednesday night, IDF troops on a routine patrol of the border area spotted a suspicious figure carrying a bag containing what was later discovered to be a 15-kilogram bomb. The soldiers ordered him to stop and fired several shots in the air. However, the man fled the scene back into Egypt, dropping the bag in his haste.

Iranian pilgrims stage hajj protest http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iam54ei_bV1lRaMhZ81HgJjTR4kg
Didn’t get the memo. Excerpt: “Death to America, death to Israel," thousands of Iranians chanted inside a huge tent on the Arafat plain.

Be thankful that you are breathing
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/dum-spiro-spero.html
Excerpt: Jihad attacks and attempted attacks inside the U.S. have sharply increased. In response, the entire government and media establishment hastens to assure the world that the root cause is not the root cause. And the President of the United States rushes to make more concessions to the jihadis and their sponsors and allies. Eight years after 9/11, and fewer people than ever know or care about what we are really up against. But...you are alive. You are breathing. You can read this. You are not beaten.

Find a gun, turn it in, go to jail
http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-paul_clarke_and_british_zero_tolerance.html
Zero tolerance in the UK

How to answer the census
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XtuPvwBa2U
Very funny.

Creating wealth by magic!

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. -Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

This is from the daily e-mail briefings by the National Center for Policy Analysis. You can sign up for free at www.ncpa.org.

They send you 5 or 6 short summaries of important stories on the economy, government and health care every day. It's free.

THE STIMULUS TIME MACHINE

The stimulus bill currently steaming through Congress looks like a legislative freight train, but given last week's analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it is more accurate to think of it as a time machine. That may be the only way to explain how spending on public works in 2011 and beyond will help the economy today, says the Wall Street Journal.

According to CBO estimates:

A mere $26 billion of the House stimulus bill's $355 billion in new spending would actually be spent in the current fiscal year.

And just $110 billion would be spent by the end of 2010.

This is highly embarrassing given that Congress's justification for passing this bill so urgently is to help the economy right now, if not sooner, says the Journal. Even worse, it seeks to act like a time machine in the sense that it's based on an old, and largely discredited, economic theory: As Harvard economist Robert Barro has pointed out, the "stimulus" claim is based on something called the Keynesian "multiplier," which is that each $1 of spending the government "injects" into the economy yields 1.5 times that in greater output.

There's little evidence to support this theory, says the Journal, because it assumes that the government can create wealth out of thin air; if that were true, it should spend $10 trillion and we'd all live in paradise, says the Journal.

The problem is that the money for this spending boom has to come from somewhere, which means it is removed from the private sector as higher taxes or borrowing. Barro wrote about this way back in 1974 in his classic article, "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?":

For every $1 the government "injects," it must take $1 away from someone else -- either in taxes or by issuing a bond.

In either case this leaves $1 less available for private investment or consumption.

The government spending will be a net stimulus only if its $1 goes to more productive purposes than those to which private investors would have put that same $1.

There are some ways we may want the government to spend money -- on national defense, say -- but that doesn't mean it's a stimulus, says the Journal.

Source: Editorial, "The Stimulus Time Machine: That $355 billion in spending isn't about the economy," Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2009.

For text:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123292987008414041.html

For Barro article:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1830663

For more on Federal Spending & Budget Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=25

Democrats and Republicans--the difference

Q: What the Difference between Republicans and Democrats?

A. You only need to read the papers to find out. Republicans are extravagant, wasteful and obscene. Democrats are wonderful people who do great things.

Q: Can you give me some examples?

A. Sure. When President Obama raised over $100 million in campaign funds in one month in 2008, the media hailed it as a great achievement. But when George Bush raised than half that in a month in 2004, the media called it obscene.

When President Obama spent $150 million on his inauguration, the media said he sure knows how to throw a party to cheer up Americans in the midst of a recession. When President Bush spent about $45 million in 2004, the media called it wasteful, and suggested the money should go to Hummers for the troops in Iraq or to the poor.

When President Obama works out twice a day, the media calls it a wonderful way to relieve stress and set a healthy example for Americans. But when President Bush worked out frequently, the media said he was taking time away from his important duties, and we didn’t need a president at that level of fitness.

When Congressman Gary Studds (D-MA) had sex with a 17-year-old male page, he was allowed to serve six more terms in Congress, and to become a committee chairman again. But when Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) sent e-mails with sexual content to under age male pages, he had to resign, and the Republicans lost control of the Congress that year, due to media attention.

Q. Is that fair?

A. No. Foley should have gone to jail for sending such obscene e-mail to boys under 18. Studds merely had, as he said, a "consensual relationship with a young adult." Not the same thing at all.

Q. I don’t understand.

A. You need to watch more TV. Republicans who raise and spend money are greedy, Democrats are not, because they are Democrats. Republicans who have sex are hypocrites, and must be punished. Democrats are only making their usual lifestyle choices, based on diversity. That’s why former Congressman Mel Reynolds was pardoned by Bill Clinton. Reynolds was convicted of 12 counts of sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. Later he was convicted on 15 counts of bank fraud and lying to the FEC and SEC. But he was a Democrat and thus deserved a pardon, so the media didn’t make a big deal of it. What Foley did was disgusting and much worse.

Q. Now I think I get it. Democrats good, Republicans bad. Right?

A. Exactly. That’s what the media says, and you know they are independent, and determined to bring us the truth, no matter what or who gets exposed. So it’s no wonder that as a candidate President Obama sent tingles up the legs of our unbiased, hard-nosed, cynical, guardians-of-our-rights in the media.

Q. But, if Republicans are so awful—and reading the papers or listening to TV, it sure sounds that way—how do Republicans ever get elected to public office? I mean when we can have leaders like Congressmen Charles Rangel, William Jefferson, Mel Reynolds and Gary Studds and Governors like Rod Blagojevich, all great Democrats?

A. Beats me. I guess some people don’t like Kool-Aid.

War on Terror Over!

I Guess Terror Won.

Do you feel safe with the "War on Terror" Over?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/22/AR2009012203929.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Put me down agreeing that "War on Terror" was a bad name, though I used it as a heading for a column predicting September 11, 2001 published in August of 1998. (It’s in the blog achieves below.) "War to preserve American constitutional liberty against Islamofascists who want to subjugate everyone, especially women, under the brutal tyranny of Shari’a Law” is probably too long. But we will find a better name after the next 9/11.

As Israel learns again in Gaza, because you stop killing them does not mean they will stop killing you.

Only when an American city lays a smoking, nuclear ruin, or tens of thousands innocent Americans lie dead in the streets from a bio-war plague will America get serious. Denying foreign terrorists their “constitutional right” to plot murder on their cell phones without US Agents listening in will be the least of it.

And we will remember who let our guard down.

Wonder what caused this?

The Stock Market is supposed to go up on good new!

Sell-Off Is Sobering Welcome From Wall Street

By Binyamin Appelbaum and Heather Landy
Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, January 21, 2009; Page A01

As Washington celebrated, New York fretted.

The Dow Jones industrial average yesterday fell below 8,000, shedding 4 percent, its bleakest performance on any Inauguration Day since the index was started 124 years ago. Nasdaq and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index both plunged more than 5 percent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/20/AR2009012003261.html?wpisrc=newsletter

The World Turned Upside Down

The World Turned Upside Down
Thomas J. Hall, JD
January 17, 2009

On January 20, 2009, the United States will joyfully inaugurate “the politics of change.” It may prove to be the most momentous transition since Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown . The American Way is about to become the Chicago Way.

The “ Chicago Way ,” of course refers to a particular style of bare-knuckled politics, exemplified by quick-witted, “Take no prisoners!” operators such as Rahm Emmanuel, soon to be White House chief of staff.

Indeed, the Way is a political proving ground nonpareil. It rewards intelligence, commitment and hustle—but, most of all, loyalty to the Boss. In Chicago , it’s “who sent you?” not “who are you?” The greatest proof the efficacy of the Way is the meteoric rise of Barack Obama. Despite a resume bereft of substantive accomplishments, he out-maneuvered Hillary Clinton at every turn and reduced John McCain to the desperate ploy of naming as his running mate an attractive woman almost as inexperienced as Mr. Obama.

Yet the Way is not without its flaws. It provides no immunity to human weakness, as demonstrated most recently by the arrest of “Gov. Blago.” And the conviction of former governor Ryan. And former governor Walker. And former governor Kerner. And former congressman Dan Rostenkowski. And Obama confidant Tony Rezko. It appears a requirement of high office under the Way to be indicted, or at least closely aligned with a felon. Yet to question Mr. Obama's personal integrity based on such facts would be “guilt by association” and wholly inappropriate by the standards established by the Media from Democrats. But, his Cabinet nominations thus far suggest an administration that will set an entirely new standard:

Eric Holder, for Attorney General. A lawyer's lawyer known and admired for his deft handling of the sale of numerous potentially controversial presidential pardons at the end of the first Clinton administration.

Hilda Solis, for Labor. A California congresswoman who has told the Senate that she is “not qualified” to answer questions about right-to-work laws, even though she would be called upon to administer those laws.

Timothy Geithner, for Treasury. An accomplished executive who committed the innocent error of failing to pay $34,000 in taxes. He did, however, correct the oversight, days before his nomination was announced.

Leon Panetta, for CIA. Mr. Panetta has vast political experience and may be the one person who was ever able to impose discipline on Bill Clinton. Critics note that he knows nothing about running an intelligence agency, but he may have a more compelling qualification: knowing where the political bodies are buried.

Hillary Clinton, for State. The Secretary of State is America 's official representative to the world and must be able to speak truth to power and uphold the highest standards of integrity and American idealism. Mrs. Clinton's commitment to outspokenness and truthfulness are already well documented. In addition, her effectiveness should only be enhanced by her marriage. After all, her husband appears to be on the payroll of virtually every thug or despot with whom she may be called upon to deal. Such pre-existing relationships are certain to be invaluable.

To borrow a phrase from an earlier administration, Mr. Obama is building a Cabinet that “looks like Chicago ” - tough, shrewd and goal oriented. That Bill Richardson, a proven leader, was bounced from this team is perplexing. Perhaps he did not grasp the Prime Directive of the Way: “Cut it out, or cut me in.”

*****

Blogger's Note: Posted with the author's permission. Since he's an attorney, to avoid his suing me for tarnishing his reputation, I should note that despite the last names, we are not related.

Chicago Way Wins

Illinois’ Chicago Way upsets Washington Hot Air!
Robert A. Hall, Sports Reporter

In a stunning upset, a fired-up Illinois team, The Chicago Way has upset the highly favored Democrat Hot Air from Washington, DC on their home field. The Way is owned and often coached by Richard “Boss” Daley.

Harry “Empty Suit” Reid, quarterback of the Dems, had been trash-talking the Chicago team for weeks. “Them tainted bums won’t score a point,” Reid had scoffed, in one of sport’s greatest misstatements, “The door is shut.”

The key play came when Illinois quarterback Rod “Bleepin’” Blagojevich ran an option with only seconds left on the clock. The Hot Air blitzed, and it looked like Bleepin’ was going down, but just as they swarmed him, he tossed a Hail Mary pass to wide receiver Roland “Blacker-Than-Barack” Burris.

Burris, who hadn’t started for Chicago in several years, came in at wide receiver when more experienced players refused to play with Blagojevich, claiming Bleepin’ was “tainted,” a charge Hot Air players used to taunt him. Fans were disappointed that the team salary cap wouldn’t let them suit up favorite Number Five, Jessie “Junior” Jackson, who badly wanted to start.

But the experienced Burris snagged the pass, despite playing in a cold rain, and turned up field to face what looked like an impenetrable Hot Air line.

Then, out of nowhere, Chicago Fullback Bobbie “Race-Card” Rush threw a terrific block that flattened the entire Hot Air team. Linebacker Dick “Double Your Lawsuits” Durbin was so disoriented by the hit that he switched sides and started blocking for Burris, forgetting that, though he played for Chicago for years, he was now Co-Captain of the Hot Air Eleven.

With the way cleared by Rush and Durbin, Burris danced into the end zone untouched for the winning touchdown, where he was flagged for excessive celebration. But the penalty didn’t count as time had expired, leaving Blagojevich and The Chicago Way with the upset win.

Reid was gracious in defeat, calling Burris, “One of the game’s great players” and inviting him to play for the Hot Air team. Burris accepted a two-year, no cut contract, with an option to renew, and will suit up with the Democrat Hot Air for at least the next two seasons.

Barack “Changin’ Hussein” Obama, another former Chicago Way player now with a starring role in the Hot Air organization, originally had refused to indicate which team he supported, saying only that he would be “present.” However, Obama missed the game, because, as he said, “There can only be one quarterback at a time,” but professed himself delighted with the Chicago win that brought Burris to his team. “He’s exactly the caliber of player we need,” Obama gushed, “With Burris and Al “Funnyman” Franken in our lineup, people will know what Democrats are made of!”

Bleepin’ Blagojevich’s triumph may be short lived. Fans and members of The Chicago Way farm team, which plays in Springfield, IL, were still demanding that he be canned, with Pat “Pushover” Quinn taking over the quarterback role.

But no one can take this sweet victory from Blagojevich, because, as he said, “It’s Bleepin’ Golden.”

Disconnected from Obama's America

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/15/AR2009011504254.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Economic Freedom still benefits people the most

Three interesting articles on the economy

Freedom Is Still the Winning Formula
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123180425194675361.html

Trade Gap Plunges; Feel Better Now?
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=316742243165184

"Shipping Jobs Overseas" or Reaching New Customers?
Why Congress Should Not Tax Reinvested Earnings Abroad
http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/FTBs/FTB-036.pdf

Treasury Nominee Accounts for Own Tax Errors

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011302033.html?wpisrc=newsletter

He said he thought his employer was paying the taxes. Must not be able to read a W-2, which is where I look for that info when doing my taxes. And he's going to be in charge of the economy & the IRS. Wonderful.

PS: Sen. Reid, if not paying thousands in taxes is a "hiccup," you won't miss a few hundred bucks off mine at all, will you?

Update: Great funny video on the topic:

http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=3211

Three interesting WSJ articles

'Libel Tourism' Threatens Free Speech
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154880692170007.html

California's Gold Rush Has Been Reversed
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154816733469917.html

Heroin Program's Deadly Toll
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154657089469819.html

Democrats cave on Burris

See this great Washington Post column:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010703521.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Gee, who could have predicted that Democrats who vowed that no appointment by the innocent-until-proven-guilty Governor Blagojevich would be seated, would fold when the Black Caucus got behind Burris?

Ok, who other than me in a post last week (published in the Wisconsin State Journal, Saturday, December 3, 2009). Here's what I wrote in that column:

"Q: But suppose black leaders like former Black Panther and now Congressman Bobby Rush start criticizing the Democrats for not seating Mr. Burris?"

"A: That changes everything. If enough black leaders criticize the Democrat senate leaders, white liberals may give fewer dollars to the Democrat Party. Then the Democrats will cave and seat Mr. Burris."

To read the full column, scroll down to "Your Blagojevich Scandal Questions Answered."

There's a rumor that Obama called Reid and said, "Make this problem go away."

Ya think?

New Question. Supposed Governor Blagojevich (B-eBay) had appointed an equally-or-more-qualified white guy. Would he be on the verge of being seated?

Answer: Not if it was Gandhi.

We can't say we weren't warned about the fiscal crisis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnSp4qEXNM&NR=1

Another "Pay to Play" scandal

Another Democrat governor. Another "Pay to play" investigation. When will we end the Democrats' "Culture of Corruption"?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/05/AR2009010503047.html?wpisrc=newsletter

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/government-inc/2009/01/pay_for_play.html?wprss=government-inc

But even if his phone is bugged, Richardson is miles smarter than Blagojevich, so will probably walk.

Politics Trumps Security

President-elect Barack Obama stunned the national intelligence community by selecting Clinton White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta, a longtime Washington insider with little intelligence experience, to serve as the next head of the CIA.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/05/AR2009010503050.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Articles worth reading

Combining the candidates Heath Care Reform proposals
http://www.john-goodman-blog.com/a-health-plan-for-barack-obama/#more-1603

Was 2008 the "Worst Year" for the country?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/01/there-have-been-worse-years/

New Jersey is the perfect bad example
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123059756486341161.html

Taking Chance

A "must read" Marine officer's story of escorting home the remains of a brother Marine KIA.

http://www.blackfive.net:80/main/2004/04/taking_chance.html

Get your Cabage Patch Doll of the Reformer from Chicago

People were sick to death of the Republican incumbent. They wanted change. And then, from Chicago of all places, along came a new type of politician, pledged to change and reform. He was elected overwhelmingly and brought the promised change.

Now, for a low price, you can have your very own cabbage patch doll of this reformer. Don't miss out!

New Bumper Sticker

Your Blagojevich Scandal Questions Answered

Q: Was Rod Blagojevich legally elected governor of Illinois?

A: Yes, he was, in 2002 and again 2006.

Q: Did President-elect Obama (D-Camelot) endorse him?

A: Yes, he did.

Q: Is Blagojevich still legally Governor?

A: Yes, he is.

Q: Does the Governor of Illinois have the authority and duty to appoint someone to fill a vacant US Senate seat?

A: Yes, he does.

Q: Could the Democrat-controlled Illinois legislature have passed a bill providing for a special election to fill President-elect Obama’s now-vacant US Senate Seat?

A: Yes, they could have.

Q: Why didn’t they?

A: You’d have to ask them. The speculation in the newspapers is that they were afraid the people of Illinois, if they had a chance to vote, might elect a Republican, which would have been un-Democratic.

Q: Is Governor Blagojevich’s appointment to the senate seat, Roland Burris, legally qualified to serve?

A: Yes, he is. He’s a registered voter in Illinois, a citizen and over the minimum age of 30.

Q: Congressman Bobby Rush has been saying that the Governor should appoint a black person to Obama’s seat. Is race a legal qualification for serving in the US Senate?

A: No, it is not.

Q: The newspapers have been saying that Burris is an “empty suit,” whose only qualification is that he’s black. Can someone hold high office if that is his or her only qualification?

A: Obviously.

Q: Has Governor Blagojevich been convicted of anything?

A: No, he has not.

Q: Doesn’t the United States Constitution hold that a person is to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law?

A: Yes, it does.

Q: Haven’t the Democrats been picturing themselves as defenders of the constitution against Republican attempts to trash it?

A: Yes, they have.

Q: I don’t understand. If Governor Blagojevich is innocent until proven guilty, and is still legally the Governor, and the Governor has the legal authority to appoint a new senator, and he has appointed Mr. Burris, and Mr. Burris meets the minimum qualifications to serve, by what legal authority can the Democrats bar him from serving?

A: If following the constitution might make the Democrats look bad in the media, politics trumps the constitution. Everyone knows that.

Q: But doesn’t barring a legally-qualified and legally-appointed black person from serving also make them look bad?

A: Only with black voters, and they are going to vote for Democrats no matter what the Democrats do. So the Democrats don’t have to worry about what they think.

Q: But suppose black leaders like former Black Panther and now Congressman Bobby Rush start criticizing the Democrats for not seating Mr. Burris?

A: That changes everything. If enough black leaders criticize the Democrat senate leaders, white liberals may give fewer dollars to the Democrat Party. Then the Democrats will cave and seat Mr. Burris.

Q: Is President-elect Obama involved in all this?

A: No, he is not. He conducted an investigation himself, and cleared his staff of any wrong doing or involvement.

Q: Isn’t that like Vice President Dick Chaney investigating and clearing Scooter Libby?

A: No, it is not, because the media wouldn’t accept that uncritically from a Republican.

Q: Does anyone benefit from this scandal?

A: Yes. Late Night Comedians. Republicans whom Speaker Pelosi famously accused of being part of a “culture of corruption.” Former Congressmen William Jefferson (D-Cold Cash) and Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-Property Taxes), because everyone has now forgotten those scandals.

Q: A final question. Will this scandal hurt President-elect Obama?

A: Not unless the media finds out he’s an Illinois Politician.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Peggy Kinnane's Irish Pub

in Arlington Heights, IL