Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Occupy What-Ever, The GOP

Herman Cain has come under considerable scrutiny lately as all Presidential contenders should. Some of the scrutiny is justified. I think the scrutiny helps the candidates to solidify their positions and clarify the message they want to communicate. But Mr. Cain has come under much ridicule because he hasn’t sought the Presidency the way he is “suppose to” and that is what really sticks in the craw of people like Carl Rove and Bill O’ Reilly ( more so because he is doing well in the polls). I will admit I am a big Herman Cain fan. I like the man and his politics. I for one do not want another Machine Politician occupying the White House or any office for that matter. I think that the fear of someone like Cain is that if he wins the Presidency doing it his way he won’t be beholding to the “Good Ole Boys and Girls”. And that my friends scare the Hell out of The Establishment (to use a 60’s term). In retrospect the one thing I liked about Obama was the hope that he was going to be a better President in terms of openness and honest. That hope was dashed very quickly.  

My second favorite is Newt Gingrich, Newt is the smartest guy in the room period, and I like much of his New Contract with America. Gingrich’s problem is going to be his baggage. My humbled advise to Newt is to talk and write about these issues  now so that when it come up as it surely will it is “Old News”.

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) or Where-Ever has gained a lot of press coverage, much more that the Tea Party did. Maybe OWS is more interesting to cover and appeals to the Left leaning press. I think OWS have some valid points and perfectly understandable criticisms of Wall Street and the Government. They have just seemed somehow to forgotten that it was the Presidents and Congress that gave the Wall Street Socialists the big bail outs. This week I heard an analyst (sorry I forgot his or her name) that said something like “Wall Streets types are Capitalist when it come to profits and Socialists when it come to losses”. That about says it all, except that they need a willing and richly  funded tax-payer Government to make the Socialist part work. I think OWS should be more upset with our Government than the Wall Street Socialist. Lets face it, did we expect the Wall Street Socialist to turn down the offer of a bail-out? Wall Street types only serve one master and that master is Greed.

I do not have an axe to grind concerning Perry or Romney to me they are just the same old thing that has been shoved down our throat year after year. They both like to have the “position of the moment” if you get my drift. Honestly, the way I feel now is that if my choice is Perry or Romney v. Obama I think I’ll go fishing on Election Day. This sounds like a radical position and I admit it is but maybe this country needs to take a real beating before we turn things around and the list of Presidential contenders listed in this paragraph  are on tract to serve up that beating.  

Newt's new contract

This is well worth the time to watch. Thanks to http://thewiredjournal.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/real-solutions-for-america/#respond The Wired Journal


"http://www.youtube.com/embed/_hd23sdf4CE"

9-9-9

Herman Cain’s Tax/job plan is being soundly and loudly attacked by many of the Republican hopefuls. Michele Bauchmann was very critical of the plan. She drew on her experience as a tax lawyer to point out alleged flaws in Mr. Cain’s plan. It sounded like she was defending the current tax code. Her answer seemed to be that all we needed was a minor adjustment to the current code, for instance lowering the tax-rate to make things right. Kinda sounded like she was defending her old job (Tax Attorney)  not seeking a new one, you know, in case the presidential deal doesn’t work out for her.

I don’t know if Cain’s plan is rock solid or not. I do know that I love the idea of starting over and doing away with the mess we now have.

There are a number of people endorsing the 9-9-9 plan including the financial wiz-kid Paul Ryan.

It looks like the Republican’s may self-destruct. The only plan or ideas  they seem to agree worth are their own individual ideas or plans and if it isn’t their own it is worthless no matter how good it is. Newt seems to be the only person big enough to give credit to his opponents.

Abdulmutallab, The Underwear Bomber Convicted

Eric Holder the Attorney General made the following statement In reference to the guilty plea of Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber.

"Contrary to what some have claimed, today's plea removes any doubt that our courts are one of the most effective tools we have to fight terrorism and keep the American people safe. Our priority in this case was to ensure that we arrested a man who tried to do us harm, that we collected actionable intelligence from him and that we prosecuted him in a way that was consistent with the rule of law.”

Mr. Holder, the courts did not keep the American people safe in the above incident. The ineptitude of the terrorist,  the passengers, perhaps Air Marshals  and the flight crew kept America safe. The courts are there to punish people after the crime. And as far as intelligence gathering, you will never know what might have been revealed with more aggressive interrogation.

My major point is that each of us has a right, if not a duty to protect ourselves, something that seems to be fading from the American psyche. 

I have just returned from a weeks vacation and will have a few more posts in the coming days. 

Unions or Not

Among many Conservatives unions are viewed about as favorably as a diagnosis of cancer. Progressives on the other hand seem to believe that unionism is akin to Manna from above. Neither extreme is accurate in my opinion.

To listen to many conservatives one would think that if we just didn’t have unions our economy would flourish and that workers would reap the benefits of increased opportunity along with abundant and lavish benefits. Yea Think?

To listen to Unions one would come to the conclusion that if workers were paid on par with the managers they would do a better job, support the company without question and spread they wealth so that the economy flourished. Yea think?

The Unions have taken a beating in the Right leaning  segment of the media lately, for instance Fox News. Some of that thrashing is well deserved, but there is a place for Unions. Lower income and less skilled workers need union representation more than most.

I’ll use as my example of an Employer running a landscape company that just so happens to hire lots of illegal’s to do the labor. What would be the motivation of this Employer to hire illegal workers? Let’s all take a few guesses. First off being able to pay them substandard wages would be at the top of the list, lets not forget no health insurance, the US Taxpayer will pick up that tab for both the employee and the employer. Then there is the ability to fire a worker for any reason because the worker has no recourse due to fear of exposure of this illegal status, I doubt there would be many Work Compensation claims for the reason stated. So, does this set of workers need representation? I know some will say “No!, they need to get out” and I partial agree with that. But my point is that there are many Employers out there, as in the above example, which will abuse employees for their own greed with no thought to equity or fair dealing. As a side note if our factious landscape Contractor is willing to do that to his employees, wouldn’t it seem reasonable that he would treat his customers with the same ethics if given the chance?

My point is that there is a place for Unions, where and how much power they wield is the real question.

Anwar al-Awlaki Killed

This is the American born senior Al Qaeda leader killed in Yemen today. It isn’t clear if it was via drone strike or other methods at this time. It also isn’t being revealed who exactly did it but all seem to agree that the US was heavily involved at the least.

I am certain this was a tough call because al-Awlak was an American citizen and to just kill him brings up all sorts of legal questions. I have mixed feelings about it but in the end, if it were my call I’d have given the order too.

I  feel certain that the path to get him took years to complete and I will also venture a guess that some, like Eric Holder would have argued against the strike. In the end, no matter where the trail started or what objects were posed President Obama’s finger was on the trigger and he pulled that trigger.

WAY to GO Obama!!

Choosing a Side

In the interest of keeping my vast viewing audience fully informed of my political leanings I am disclosing to you that I have joined the Herman Cain team and have even donated a few dollars to his campaign.

My main reasons for supporting him may seem obscure to some but they are my reasons. First of all I sense honest and forthrightness in the man. This was evidenced to me when he was asked a question on withdrawing from Iraq or Afghanistan in one of the early debates and his answer was that he didn’t have all the information necessary to make that decision at the time. His response was simple, honest and direct, insightful and void of double-talk.

He has proven that he can lead a large organization Burger King among them and that he understands a balance sheet. But the main reason I am supporting him is that he is not a politician. We keep being told by the Washington Insiders that one can’t win or succeed without a history of holding elected office. That’s because the Insiders want to narrow the playing field to “Club Members”, you know the Good Ole Boy thing (which happily includes women now). I also very much appreciate that he likes to define the problem or the issue in the simplest of terms, he seeks the root of the problem. I could go on but these are my thoughts at the present time. Go Cain!!!!!!!

http://www.hermancain.com/

For people with opposing views please understand I endorse Mr. Cain he doesn't endorse me.

Muffin Eaters

Back to taxes, if the tax-loving uber-rich love taxes and the government so much why do they give millions and billions to private charities instead of sending it to the Government? Like I said before if Buffett (Warren, don’t know about Jimmy) wants to pay more taxes, send it in  the IRS will accept it. But don’t make that decision for me. Make it for your own wealth, or in my case lack thereof.

While on the Right on things politically I might be persuaded to pay more taxes if the extra was going to reduce the deficient and not going to be used to increase spending.  But then I can defeat my own argument because the people who run things are going to borrow the money if they don’t have it coming in as taxes. The Debt-Ceiling  is a joke, there is no ceiling to it. Spending cuts (see my blog (http://aseasonedview.blogspot.com/2011/08/bobs-budget.html) are another government 3 Card Monte Act.

I would like to give you my assessment of the major difference between the Right and Left in this country as far as taxes are concerned. The  Left “thinks” with the heart, the Right tries to use the brain, sometimes in vain. When we talk about Welfare the Left sees a poor homeless mother and child the Right sees a balance sheet. Neither side is totally correct or totally wrong.  Also please keep in mind  it is so very easy to spend someone else’s money. Ask the $16 apiece muffin eaters.

The Underwear Bomber

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the wannabe underwear bomber, you know the guy who peed his pants so much prior to the attempted bombing his bomb wouldn’t go off, requested that he be tried using Islamic Law which I assume would be Sharia Law. The Judge denied his request. I think the Judge should have split the difference and allowed his sentencing, if convicted to be under Sharia law

A Few Recent Observations and Opinions

The Republican debate on CNN was excellent, particularly in light of that dismal MSNBC failure. The candidates kept to policy/position/qualification issues with no real mudslinging. The debate was spirited and informative. I didn’t miss the Brian Williams “gotch’ type question at all. What a panderer he is. I have to agree with Bernie Goldberg if that same type of question would have been asked of a Progressive in terms of abortion there would have been mob violence ( mob violence is my assessment). I really liked Newts reference to   Jeffrey R. Immelt, CEO, Chairman of GE when he was asked about Big Oil and taxes. President Obama has got to get rid of Immelt, he (Immelt) is a world class hypocrite and it is insulting for Obama to keep him on his staff in any position.

People in Israel have to be very concerned with the events of late in the Middle East. If the free world (read that USA)  doesn’t get out in front of these attacks on Israel’s embassies among other transgressions the attacks will soon be on the Israeli homeland and  that my friends will lead us down a path to a real war in the Middle East. I don’t think Israel is going to sit back and just let itself be destroyed. Maybe American Jews will not support the Democratic Party in such great numbers (that still bewilders me) in the future. The Senate election in NY yesterday may be an indication of that change.

NLRB, hey people good job. Now Boeing might move the jobs to China (like GE has) and not South Carolina. But then you made a payment on your boss’s beholding to the unions so I am sure you are sleeping soundly at night.  

a blog worth looking into

Please take a moment and view this blog. While I don't agree with many of the author's positions we all need to get out of our box and have a dialog

http://thebutchtrucks.blogspot.com/

10 Years Ago Today

10 Years Ago

I was in Washington DC on 9/11/2001. I was stuck at a subway station for hours right after the  first attack . Later the smoke from the Pentagon drifted past my hotel window. I was stuck in DC for days. I was on one of the first planes allowed to fly after that tragic day.

When you were “there” it was so much more real. It wasn’t a TV show. The local news carried stores that wrenched the heart that didn’t make the national news. I will tell you one.

The local news was at the Pentagon shortly after it was struck by the airliner. People were still exiting the building. I remember seeing an army  colonel jogging from the building holding his hands up in front to him, his uniform smoldering in spots. As he got closer to the camera we could see that both his hands had been completely severed mid-palm. The paramedics ran up to him to help him. He said “No…No Help someone who needs it’ and continued running past them. That man exemplified all that is good and noble not only with our military but with our country.

President Obama, please keep our military not only strong but the strongest on Earth.  Please understand that there are far too many people in the world that interpret politeness and courtesy as weakness and traits of their prey.

We are so fortunate that we have not suffered many attacks since then, thank you Presidents Obama and Bush.

I try to stay away from inflammatory posts but on this day I can not. While our government has helped keep us safe from most additional attacks, the real reason we haven’t been attacked again is that nearly all the Terrorist are cowards. Let’s face it, two airliners were not blown up because the terrorist ran out of courage (thank God). One couldn’t light his shoe bomb and the other may have peed his pants so much the bomb would not detonate. I think it must be very difficult to recruit people who will actually carry out a suicide attack. At the last second most reasonable people would think twice about that 72 virgin BS. I also think that people loony enough (no insult to the loon bird intended) would have a difficult time acting “normal” enough to get past security.

I could go on and on, I’ll spare you and leave you with this final thought. I regret that I am and was too damned old to get in a situation that would allow me to draw a bead on a terrorist.

Operation Fast and Furious the Gun Running Sting

 A brief history: the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms) ran a “sting” operation near the Mexican border in an effort to catch or track firearms being smuggled into Mexico to the Drug Cartels. The ATF required legal US gun store operators to sell firearms to suspected gun runners.  A number of the guns involved in the sting ended up killing innocent people including a Border Patrol agent.  

I think the idea may have had some merit. Perhaps if they would have sold a few dozen weapons things would not have gone south (pun intended). But selling 1418 isn’t that a little excessive?

We currently have no way of knowing how far up the chain of command authorization for this went. The ATF and Justice Department seems to be less than cooperative. Here is my take on it.

It sounds like a law enforcement action that the Obama administration would love. It’s a “Border Enforcement Action” that doesn’t involve protecting our border, it protects Mexico’s border. How high up did authorization go? We don’t know yet but here is a difficult to dispute observation. If Eric Holder didn’t know this was going on he should have and that alone is reason for him to be sent back to his private firm defending terrorists.

Kinky Friedman quote

I quote Kinky Friedman

“Obama did for the economy what pantyhose did for foreplay”

Now that just about say’s it all.

I'll be posting more soon

Some Quickies

Some Quickies

The type of person we need to lead this country can not get elected because they have to be a machinery politician to even get the nomination. And that my friend is a trait both parties not only share but cling to.

Wouldn’t Allen West make a great president? It is difficult for me to express the admiration I have for that man. And as  for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.  she should polish his shoes and beg forgiveness. But then Class Warfare is about the only arrow the Democrats have in the quiver.

Why does it seem we are following the European example of economics while they are moving away from the “social welfare’ model?

I heard our beloved President comment on the inequity in foreign trade. Didn’t he go on a big world tour to encourage trade and renegotiate some of the inequities in our exports and come back virtually spanked by every country he visited?

It seems everyone I hear from Bill O”Reilly  to the Union Activists  to our politicians beat the economic drum that serves them best.

The 12 person Debt Committee is doomed to failure. Lets be honest John Kerry has publicly express disdain for the Tea party and anyone who shares their ideas. Nice pick Harry! Maybe we should have put the caveat on the committee that if they didn’t reach a deal in the allotted  time  they all had to resign with no pension. 

The riots  in England went on way to long because the police  there were  timid. Just watch the news clips. And being timid invites attack (note to President Obama).

Gay People in the Military

Having served in the military and having people close to me who are now serving and others who have served I wanted to share my thoughts on this issue.

I start off by asking you to take Judicial Notice of the fact that women, straight and gay have been serving for decades with little or no public issues or even much notice. It is gay men in the military and straight men’s reaction to them that has brought on the controversy. This may cause us to ask “why that is”. How come gay and straight women can co-exist while the male gender can not do so or do so only when forced by political leaders to do so.

I think the answer is rather simple, although not quite politically correct. Generally men are more sexually aggressive than women. I am talking about straight and gay men, they both share that trait.

As   “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” ends we will be faced with the open (key word) inclusion of gays in intimate physical proximity to people that they are sexually attracted to.  The rebuttal to this from the proponents’ of doing away with the ban is, “gay men are not going to go around approaching people in the barracks”. Really you actually believe that? Okay label me a homophobe and get that out of your system. But be cautious, people who know me know that isn’t true. I think there will be lots of instances of unwelcome sexual advances. Let's face it we are talking about young men at the heights of their sexuality. These guys make the 1990's Bill Clinton look like an impotent eunuch.

What if a pre-op transgender male wants to serve? Do you allow him to serve with the men or the women? That leads us straight (excuse the pun) to the answer. Do away with all gender or sexual-orientation  division in the ranks totally. In the future we wouldn’t have restrooms labeled “Men” “Women” and “Officers” it would be simply “Enlisted” “Officers”.  Shower time would be worthy of a reality show. Straight men won’t approach females in the showers with any more regularity than Gay men approaching males. Right? It might be the mother lode for recruiting. I actually think this is the way it will turn out in the years ahead.

One final thought, perhaps we could install foam machines and strobe lights in the showers for that extra ounce of excitement.

This decision puts theoretical “civil rights” ahead of national security.

The New Debt Ceiling

It  looks as if we have a deal on a new figure. I watched a number of cable and local news shows and heard quite a few commentators and politicians talking about the deal. I listened to opposition to the new statue and I listened to those in favor of it and everything in between. I also heard talk of when we will raise it again (no smirking).

What strikes me is what I didn’t hear from any side. I did not hear one word about not exceeding it so we didn’t have to raise it again. So it seems the shell games just keeps going on.

My numbers my not be precise (as if any government numbers are) but my understanding is that we raised the debt ceiling by about $2.5 Trillion and we have $2.4 Trillion in spending cuts over 10 years  (see Bob’s Budget below). But the cuts aren’t really cuts any more than saying you saved $40K today because you thought about buying a car and decided not to do so.

What drives me nuts over this whole deal is the Orwellian way we have come to use language. It looks like nearly everyone just seems to go along with the distortions with a little winky-winky and pat on the back to each other.

Bob's Budget

Bob’s Budget

I have been spending way too much and my credit card  are reaching the limit. I had a long talk with myself (I might add it wasn’t a totally friendly talk) and came up with the following cost saving measures for the next 2 years.

The following is a list of my cuts.

1. Cancel new car purchase

          savings $40,000

2. Cancel World cruise with 4 person entourage.

Savings  $120,000

3. Cancel new Goldwing.

Savings $30,000

4. Cut down eating out from 6 nights a week to 5 but add an extra lunch.

Savings $1.27

Total Savings $190,001.27

Of Course I will have to increase my daily  budget for the next two years  by the same amount I did last year, which was 96%. My budget last year was $35,000 so this year I get to spend 68,600 and next year I get to spend $134,456 for a total of $203,056. But I have “saved” 190,001.21. My expenditures is only $13,055  Now will you please raise my credit card limit!

Or I could just print some money.

Some Topics I Plan on Visiting in the Near Future.

Unions and Unionization

Made in America (or not)

Illegal Immigration

Travel

The Debt Ceiling

I didn’t want to start this off with politics but it is unavoidable. I know I am not as smart or knowledgeable as our highly esteemed leaders in Washington so please forgive my lack of understanding.

Why do we even have a Debt Ceiling? It isn’t like it truly means anything. We just raise it at will.

I think the American people would consider tax hikes ( I mean,  on themselves, not just on the “other guy”) if they could see that there was significant will in Washington to not keep going deeper and deeper in debt. Let’s face it,  saying Washington spends like drunken sailors is an insult to drunken sailors.  Case in point; we borrow money from China and pay them interest on the debt and owe them the principal.  We then take the money they lent us and give it back to them as  foreign aid. No amount of spin and fast talking can make sense of that.