Something for Nothing… and Sometimes Even Less – OPINION
August 31, 2010
Sometimes it is hard to get excited about living in Northern California. Though I love being here I have begun to have “battered conservative syndrome”. Residing in the area has certain perks. We are in relatively warm weather most of the time yet near the snow if we want winter activities or surf if we want to see the ocean. What I am talking about is not our wonderful mountains, sea and weather, it is the people… liberals, to be specific. Everywhere I look from advertising in print or on television or bumper stickers on the backs of beat up Honda Civics, etc., all I see are liberal platitudes about environmental issues and slogans of peace and love.
Question: how does having the word “peace” stuck on a bumper sticker achieve the goal? Shouldn’t these people be going to countries where human rights are in jeopardy? I say, “Shut up and go do something.” But I digress…
On three out of four corners of Camino Alto and Blithedale and the south bound freeway exit in Mill Valley we now have various races of homeless people begging for money. One of these days I am going to buy an hour of one of the more coherent of them and find out how much money and services they are getting from all the welfare programs available to them; federal, state, county and city. I’ll bet it’s a lot when you add up subsidized housing, food programs, health programs, etc. These people are in their situation, not because there is no opportunity in the US. It is because of other problems like mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse. Very few of them are there because of life circumstances, and of those, rarely do they find themselves permanently in the ranks of the homeless.
Don’t get me wrong. Many of us have problems. Every third commercial on the conservative radio stations is about legally discharging debt while keeping the goodies that got them there. Tax attorneys are advertising about how they can get the government to forgive all or part of a tax liability. Nobody seems to have any responsibility any more. It’s sad when you think about it. Even during the depression, people took make-work jobs because they were too proud to receive hand-outs. Oh, if only that sentiment existed today. Now the Obama government is talking about forcing lenders to forgive any home loan that is underwater where people are unable to pay their mortgage. What about those of us who are struggling to make our payments to keep our credit in good stead? It’s catastrophic what will happen to the housing market if Obama does this as his October surprise. Talk about chaos!
In the meantime, many of us are banging our heads to secure new employment or renegotiate contracts to keep the work we have. How long before we too give up? After all, why should we pull the cart while so many freeloaders are piling on? What’s our incentive? After all, aren’t we conservatives the bad guys even when we are paying the bills to keep the lights on? And what happens when the rest of us stop pulling and jump in the cart with the rest of the country? Do yo think those rich people running Congress and the Senate will have to start putting money in to keep the scam going? Will it be government workers who are now being paid more than their private sector counterparts? Doubtful. Government will probably just print or borrow more money.
But wait! Don’t jump off the bridge yet! Here’s why I have hope. Most people in the United States don’t want a handout from the government. The prevailing sentiment is that we still live in the greatest country in the world, even if the news media is telling us otherwise. Tea Parties and other protests are continually springing up all over the country put on by people who don’t normally go out and do this. All predictions for the elections in the fall say Republicans (mostly conservatives) will win handily.
A word of caution: winning the election is just the beginning. Once elected, we must insist they govern like conservatives. Will this happen, or will the old “John McCain” return? Right now I see 4 Republicans who stand in the way of real victory: Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Of course there are others like Charles Grassley who could throw a spanner in the works. But make no mistake; the shift is starting to happen. And that gives me hope.
FedUpEditor
Letdown? OPINION
July 16, 2010
It seems to me there has been a bit of a let down in the intensity of the conservative movement lately. Maybe it’s just me. It could be because I had to go back to work and have not had time to opine like had been doing. But \it could also be because people only have so much emotional reserves. Unlike liberals who seem to get up every morning frothing at the mouth about every political topic under the sun, we on the other side have to make a living to support those who can’t or won’t!
One of the articles I have in the works is an opinion piece called “Something for Nothing… or Even Less” which will be about how lucrative it is to continue to stay unemployed. After all, the cruel United States of America has provided all sorts of safety nets for its disadvantaged, so much so that it almost pays to be a bum… sorry, I mean homeless person. Unfortunately, I was stuck in the welfare system back when I moved here from Iowa. But the benefits were so little that I had to find work… and quick! Now, I can almost make as much not working as I can in an entry level minimum wage job. Not to mention the additional benefits of health and dental care paid for by the taxpayers. How sad is that? I even contemplated going on unemployment when my census stint ended. Who knows how long they will extend the benefits?
But back to the emotional intensity issue. Perhaps people are having a letdown after the primaries. Although they didn’t put as many conservatives on the ballot as we would like. For example, there’s no way I will ever vote for Abel Moldonado for Lt. Governor… or anything for that matter. But the “moderates” who made it (Fiorina and Whitman, for example) have a good chance of winning in California’s political climate. The alternative Democrat choices (Boxer and Brown) are disasters we’ve already seen in action and have a proven track record of failure. Then we have Jim Judd for Congress and Robert Louis Stephens for Assembly who stand a good chance of winning according to a generic poll I just saw today.
On the down side, the Marin County Republican Central Committee was unable to remove the “moderate” Chair, Sashi McEntee, from her position, even though there was an apparent sentiment of anger over her choosing to openly back open primaries with a newspaper editorial. Regardless of the outcome, we have shown that grass roots groups like the Marin Conservative Forum and the North Bay and Bay Area Patriots actually can have as much or more influence than the local Republican Party. If they clean house next year that could change, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I, for one, am getting worn out with all the bad news coming out of this administration. It seems like there is a daily effort to undermine the Constitution, and none of our elected leaders seem to challenge Obama about it. Why do we even have a legislative body when many of the mandates the President is handing down are not privileges given to the Executive Branch? The recent health care mandate to demand insurance companies provide FREE services to their customers is a perfect example of Executive overreach. How is that even legal? These orders bypass the very congressmen and senators who were elected to pass laws. Yet Ms. Pelosi is mum about the usurpation of her powers by our President. Maybe because they are of the same mind and political party? I hardly see her standing still if Bush were trying to do the same thing. But that argument requires intellectual honesty; something liberals seem to lack.
Look at the race issue with the election tampering in Philadelphia. If that had been white people intimidating black people in front of the polls instead of the other way around, that’s all we would be hearing about on the mainstream media. Instead, about the only place we can hear about the incident is in alternative media or on Fox news. That is a sad commentary on the state of race relations in the United States. Watch the movie Invictus (whether factual or not) and tell me that Obama is following the same prescription that Mandela did in bringing his country together. Mandela, at least in the movie, was a man of principle and intellectual honesty. He knew that the law had to be color blind before race relations would improve. Instead, Obama is allowing the New Black Panthers to disobey the election laws which can only the, that is if people actually hear about it!
During the day I listen to shows like Hannity and Limbaugh when I can and am amazed at the people who call into the show supporting the administration’s handling of the incident… which is basically ignoring it. Again, no intellectual honesty. And in my opinion, this constant barrage of negativity leads to a let down to those of us who are pulling the cart. I’m sure that is the goal. By wearing us down, it’s easier to get us to stay with the status quo.
The perfect example came from my accountant who is a conservative. He said, “When it all comes down to it, Republican or Democrat, they are all the same!” Then he used an expletive.
Are they?
FedUpEditor
Who’s To Blame?
May 24, 2010
There is an old saying, “Losers fix the blame; winners fix what caused the problem.” It is as true now as it has ever been.
Day in and day out we are being presented with stories about the oil leak in the Gulf with finger pointing as to who is to blame for it. Industry blames regulators, and regulators blame the various industry players; the players start blaming each other. Why isn’t the environmental lobby being implicated? After all, if it weren’t for their strict no-drilling policy in other “safe” places, would we have to go so far off-shore to retrieve oil with dangerous deep-water drilling techniques? The answer, of course, is no.
But put all that aside. Just because there have been a few disasters related to oil production, refining and transport, does that mean we should stop drilling altogether like Arnold Schwarzenegger has concluded? With that same logic, any time a plane goes down, we would discontinue air travel. It is as stupid and predictable as those anti-gun zealots who think crime will stop if we ban firearms. All or nothing.
And if we stop drilling, does that mean the rest of the world stops drilling? No! In fact, other countries are ramping up their domestic oil production because we are not. Seeing us as the suckers we are, they know there is no other alternative energy source right now, and they have leverage over us.
Lynn Woolsey is leading the charge against big oil and big coal. Google reported many news stories over the last couple of days mentioning her name and quoting her, not like the lame representative she is, but as if she is riding in on her white horse to save us all. Her committees have been especially harsh on these two industries because of the recent problems; the mining disaster and the oil spill in the gulf. It’s almost as if Woolsey thinks she can legislate our way to never having another disaster or another lost life. Could this be considered a “God” complex? After all, she has been in the House so long I’m sure she thinks she is invincible. I hear she is so confident (or is that arrogant?) that she will not campaign here this fall, but will go out and help other Democrats get elected. Is she counting her chickens? But I am getting off my point.
Let me ask a few questions of Lynn Woolsey. If everyone starts running electric vehicles like you propose, where will the electricity come from? Have you thought that far ahead to consider that California has brown outs almost every summer as it is? Are you offering any alternative solutions to producing electricity in our state or in the nation? You talk about wind and solar as if they are our salvation. But I hear environmentalists are against putting solar panels in the desert to preserve its pristine beauty. That would make wind farms out of the question as well. How do you, Ms. Woolsey, propose to supply our country’s energy needs? Get back to me after we put you out on your rear end this November.
Now let’s look at our President. We are 18 months into his presidency, and Obama is still pointing to the failures of the previous administration for our woes today. It is wearing thin, as polls show. For Heaven’s sake, he has had more than enough time to do at least ONE thing right, but day after day he continues to lay blame and make excuses. The only solutions he has are to raise taxes, spend more money, create more government welfare and pass the buck. Is that what we want from our leaders?
I, for one, am tired of it. I know most of you are too. So is the country, and polls show there will be a huge surge to the right in November if the trend continues. Dick Morris says we stand to pick up 10 Senate seats (including California where he thinks Boxer is especially vulnerable to Chuck DeVore). This is because people are tired of the blame game.
No matter how you dress it up, people are waking up to the fact that government, you know, the ones who caused these problems, are certainly not the ones to solve them. If anything, people are learning that actually solving problems is not in the government’s best interest. Only saying they are going to solve them is business as usual. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd can blame whomever they want for the housing crisis, but they should be pointing into the mirror when doing so. Let’s send them back to the Minor League this Fall.
- FedUpEditor
Woolsey Again?
May 23, 2010
Ms. Woolsey should be concerned about the death of her Democratic Party. Once again she fails to realize that many good things have come from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But like true liberals, she believes the absence of war is peace. WRONG. Look at other places on the globe where dictators are killing people who disagree with them. Yet Woolsey looks the other way.
It’s true we are spending lots of money on the two wars, but not nearly as much as the money we are spending here at home on worthless government jobs and their benefits. It is killing our economy, and the war will now be brought home. Woolsey thinks her seat is safe, so much so that she will not campaign in her own district this fall. Pure arrogance.
What she fails to realize is that people (even Democrats) are tired of the endless spending and want to move this train wreck off the tracks and rebuild our engine of economic prosperity. With unemployment hovering at nearly 10% (and ready to climb as the recession drags on) Congress is set to extend unemployment benefits once again. This will disguise the real number of people out of work. As the printing presses whirl away kicking out endless supplies of more and more devalued dollars, Woolsey thinks she can buy her seat.
Woolsey doesn’t understand that people of Marin and Sonoma Counties are the ones producing so that others can feed off their hard work. The ones I have talked to are tired of it… both parties. After 17 years in Congress, are we better off now with Democrats running everything? You be the judge.
In the meantime, take a look at Jim Judd for Congress and see what you think. He is a commonsense guy who thinks both party establishments are to blame. Woolsey is going to be surprised come November!
My Take on Mort Sahl’s Pacific Sun Interview
May 6, 2010
If you haven’t seen Mort Sahl’s interview, you should at least take a look. Fortunately, it’s still online at the Pacific Sun. Though I disagree with some of his political opinions, he isn’t very happy about most politicians, except perhaps Ron Paul whom he mentions favorably.
I was surprised. His take on Obama is right on. After all the promises to do it differently from Clinton or Bush, Obama is still in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He also hasn’t closed Guantanamo. Not that I am against either one, I am just agreeing with his point that Obama, in spite of promises for hope and change, he is more of the same.
Where I also disagree with Sahl is that these two wars are just like Vietnam and that enemy combatants shouldn’t be tried by the military. I was nearly drafted in the Viet Nam War… Drafted. There is no draft. All these soldiers in the Middle East are volunteers so that makes the current wars much different than the one in 1968. Sahl also talks about bankrupting the country, but doesn’t blame entitlement spending which is much more than any war we have fought. He blames paying for the wars as to why we are in debt. WRONG! And why should enemy combatants be tried in civilian courts and given the same rights as citizens? WRONG AGAIN!
Regardless of our political differences, I believe this is one person you could have a sane conversation. Apparently he frequents the Piazza D’Angelo’s in downtown Mill Valley. Who knows? I may have even seen him there and not recognized him!
- FedUpEditor
Open Letter to Chevron and BP (British Petroleum)
April 30, 2010
Chevron and BP
Dear Marketing Department,
I have been a supporter of big oil companies and your right to drill off shore, in spite of public opinion being against you. However, for some reason, your commercials (at least here in California) are aimed at people who will NEVER support what you do. In fact, they think you are the scum of the earth.
Right now with this oil spill in the Gulf, you are their number one target. These people want to shut you down so you can never drill again. They say your product kills plant and animal ocean life; you are an affront to God himself (not that they believe in God except when it’s convenient.)
The Chevron plant in Richmond, CA has been under assault by environmental groups who are going so far as blocking retrofits of outdated plant facilities which would actually be good for the “environment” by making oil and gas transport safer and less prone to leakage.
Regardless of how many commercials you produce that talk about alternative energy and other “green” subjects, radicals will never think what you do is okay. They believe the only green you care about is the money you make from peddling what they believe is a dangerous product. So why cater to them and tug at their little environmentalist hearts while insulting people like me?
I, on the other hand, get nauseous every time I am assaulted on television by the “green” agenda pap you are spewing and would prefer you start aiming your commercials at the rest of us who like and appreciate your products.
Finally, I would like to point out that we have become a culture of celebrity. People tend to believe everything they see on television is true, including commercials. For that fact, your insistence in supporting the “green” agenda, even though the movement has been shown to be a political sham based on flawed studies, reinforces people’s erroneous beliefs that global warming is actually happening. The worst part about that? They think it is being caused by you and your product.
Education is the key. Please reconsider your marketing perspective and get back to telling people how much our country needs petroleum products. We would not have become the greatest country on earth without it. Please explain to them all the uses oil and its derivatives have. Tell the television audience how much of the Prius (like plastic parts) is actually made from oil products that does NOT go into the gas tank!
Most respectfully,
- FedUpEditor
A Petroleum Loving, Sports Car Driving Citizen
Lynn Woolsey is NOT for the common folk!
April 25, 2010
Democrat Lynn Woolsey says she is for the working man and woman, but how can that be? When a vote comes up for cap and trade or any other environmental bill that raises our energy costs by not allowing domestic production who pays the price?
As a regular guy, I see my price per gallon on gas creeping up or my energy bills (gas and electric) climbing upward, I know it is becuase of Lynn Woolsey and Democrats like her, all pandering to the far left environmental fringe, that are to blame.
Now they want to introduce a VAT tax. Who do you think will hurt the most? With components taxed at every level of production, big screen televisions will be all but out of reach for most poor and moderate income consumers.
Look at Woolsey’s voting record, and you will see she is beholden to special interests like big union and environmental groups that she is too wrapped up in their concerns to begin to address her constituents. She has to go. There will be other choices out there. Hopefully one of them will take her place.
- FedUpEditor
MORON (More On) VAT Tax , the Economy and Turning Lemons into Lemonade – OPINION
April 21, 2010
As I sit in Realtors’ sales meetings, I hear all this talk about how to maximize a down market. It’s like settling for mediocrity as if it’s noble to aim lower. Short sales are becoming the new “money making” thing. It’s hard work, but there’s money to be made doing it.
And after all, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth making a profit at it, right? You wouldn’t think so to hear some liberals talk. And what amazes me is the number of San Francisco Realtors who really think this administration and our Congress is doing a good job while the rest of us in the outlying areas are being put out of business.
Why do they support him? Because the really bad market hasn’t hit them yet. Yes, San Francisco sales are down, but that has happened in other years. No big deal. So again it’s a case of, “it’s all about me.” It’s selfish and it’s un-American. Being economically naive, they don’t realize that what Obama and his Democrat pals in Congress are doing and planning on doing is going to take us into that double dip recession experts have been talking about. Just because it’s not bad yet doesn’t mean it can’t get that way… and fast!
Ask me if big government and over-regulation are bad, I say yes they are. But the market is very dynamic. Eventually it finds equilibrium. Regulators have put all sorts of restrictions on business for years. Usually, once things calm down, the business figures out a way to get back to doing business. When things are stable, business owners can make plans even if the government has made bad decisions and sticks with them.
But what has happened during this administration is the constant changing of rules so that, in this chaos, none of the businesses have a chance to regroup and figure out how to turn that profit. With new Health Care regulations, Cap and Trade around the corner and a VAT tax on the horizon (even though the Senate passed a resolution against it), we could be in big trouble because businesses can’t make plans. It’s like building a house on shifting sand. It can’t be done.
Think of it. A national sales tax at every level of production, in addition to the ones already in effect, will drive up costs for everyone. After all, to stay in business, a company has to have a profit to be a going concern. A national sales tax of 0.05% doesn’t sound like much until you start talking about really big numbers. And we all know that just as compound interest can make us really rich, so can compound taxes can make us really poor.
If this bunch of politicians were purposely trying to send us into a depression, they are doing all the right things. Raising taxes during a recession will only stagnate our economy and could possibly cause it to fail. More businesses will lay people off because it will be just too expensive to keep them with the shrinking margins. Other businesses will give up and go under creating new unemployment. With people out of work, unable to pay their mortgages and property taxes, foreclosures will increase dramatically.
Short sales might be a new “industry” for Realtors, the lemonade made from lemons in this case. But what if we prefer caviar? More on this later.
FedUpEditor
Beginning of the End or End of the Beginning? – OPINION
April 13, 2010
Recently there was an article posted by Mark Steyn, written by another author, regarding the resurgence of America. It was the topic of discussion over two days on the Rush Limbaugh show.
In the post the author pointed out many of the signs we are seeing today parallel what happened in 1776 before the Revolutionary War. The percentage of people who are in the Tea Party surge today is roughly the same as what it was in those early days of the Republic. Though they were not a majority of the country, these were the great thinkers and founders of the country; the ones who made it work. This gave the author great hope that we will turn this around in the next election. That our best days are ahead of us. Young readers of the story who commented on his post had a different take.
The general feeling from young conservative bloggers was that their peers have turned into an entitlement generation and are more about “what’s in it for me” than what is best for the country. In their minds, sports figures and movie stars are the ones to look up to, and that it’s better to be notorious than invisible. They felt that with abundance their generation had become lazy and willing to accept our young President because he seemed “cool”. The teen bloggers chastised their generation for not knowing about the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, what they stand for, the greatness of our country; that the freedoms they enjoy are only possible because of these factors, not because of anything they have done for themselves. These are some of the reasons they thought the US is beyond salvation. I think they are dead wrong, and here’s why.
First and foremost, there are still fine young people willing to sign up for military duty and go overseas to protect our country’s ideals in foreign lands. Even if they don’t know what’s in the Constitution, that spirit of freedom and the knowledge of right versus wrong is in their hearts and is a part of them.
The second reason is that government giveaway programs are only possible because of the promise of taxes taken from a hard-working middle class; you and me. We are the people who make the country work by creating jobs and paying taxes. And make no mistake, these are the people now participating in Tea Parties. Without us, the government would have no tax revenue to hand out in entitlements. That is why I believe we will succeed. They need us to pay for the programs and jobs the government creates. And fortunately, we still get to vote!
- FedUpEditor
Beginning of the End or End of the Beginning? – OPINION
April 8, 2010
Recently there was an article posted by Mark Steyn, written by another author, regarding the resurgence of America. It was the topic of discussion over two days on the Rush Limbaugh show.
In the post the author pointed out many of the signs we are seeing today parallel what happened in 1776 before the Revolutionary War. The percentage of people who are in the Tea Party surge today is roughly the same as what it was in those early days of the Republic. Though they were not a majority of the country, these were the great thinkers and founders of the country; the ones who made it work. This gave the author great hope that we will turn this around in the next election. That our best days are ahead of us. Young readers of the story who commented on his post had a different take.
The general feeling from young conservative bloggers was that their peers have turned into an entitlement generation and are more about “what’s in it for me” than what is best for the country. In their minds, sports figures and movie stars are the ones to look up to, and that it’s better to be notorious than invisible. They felt that with abundance their generation had become lazy and willing to accept our young President because he seemed “cool”. The teen bloggers chastised their generation for not knowing about the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, what they stand for, the greatness of our country; that the freedoms they enjoy are only possible because of these factors, not because of anything they have done for themselves. These are some of the reasons they thought the US is beyond salvation. I think they are dead wrong, and here’s why.
First and foremost, there are still fine young people willing to sign up for military duty and go overseas to protect our country’s ideals in foreign lands. Even if they don’t know what’s in the Constitution, that spirit of freedom and the knowledge of right versus wrong is in their hearts and is a part of them.
The second reason is that government giveaway programs are only possible because of the promise of taxes taken from a hard-working middle class; you and me. We are the people who make the country work by creating jobs and paying taxes. And make no mistake, these are the people now participating in Tea Parties. Without us, the government would have no tax revenue to hand out in entitlements. That is why I believe we will succeed. They need us to pay for the programs and jobs the government creates. And fortunately, we still get to vote!
- FedUpEditor
