Politics made easy

Grab a shovel and dig this...politics made easy!

Let's set the ground rules. We have to understand where each party is coming from.

First the Republicans; They are free market, small government, low regulation on business. Republicans think that allowing business owners to keep their money will allow them to expand their businesses and increase their profits and expand their companies and hire more people. Thus raising the standard of living for all through innovation and job growth.

Now the Democrats; They believe in big Government, strong regulation on business, higher taxes on the rich, redistributing that money to the "less fortunate" in order to make everyone equal. Thus insuring that business will not grow for fear of taxed even more. Stagnating the economy!

Okay, maybe not a catch 22. I'm not a Republican or Democrat. I disagree with the Republican social agenda, and absolutely disagree with the Democrat governing style. But, if I had to chose which party would best help this country excel....I think it's pretty obvious.

Republicans want to allow innovation and business to raise the standard of living of all those willing to participate in the free market.

Democrats want to punish those same businesses and take their profits to distribute to those they feel have been wronged by said businesses. Basically bring down everyone to mediocrity, to make everyone feel equal.

This country was founded on one thing thing...the freedom to excel and innovate without government intrusion or sit on your ass and do nothing, again without government intrusion. But, if you decide to be a slug, it's not the responsibility of those who chose to excel to support the lazy.

We have the freedom to do what ever we want, within the bounds of the law. I should be able to make as much money as I want. Others should be allowed to sit on their ass and contribute nothing. But I should not be required to give the fruits of my hard labor to support those that chose not to contribute.

The Gitmo Debate, and why it's BULLSHIT!

On Jan 21, 2009, President Obama appeased the base of his party by signing an executive order closing the Detainee camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba! Arguing that these prisoners had habeous corpus rights to trials, even though they were illegal combatants apprehended on foreign soil.

These detainees have been treated with kid gloves as far as POW's are concerned. They receive meals in accordance with religious beliefs, all of them have gained 15 pounds (on average) since being detained. They receive their own personal Koran, and are allowed to pray the customary 5 times a day, with arrows in each cell pointing toward Mecca. They routinely harass guards without retribution. They have been allowed military tribunals to determine their guilt or innocence. These tribunals have been modified and approved by the Congress 3 times. As far as being a POW, sounds like a pretty good gig.

Why do I bring this up? Where are our POW's? How are they treated? What kind of military tribunals are they offered by our enemy? The answer to that is, we have no POW's! They aren't offered any hearings! They are summarily killed by these butchers that we want to grant Constitutional rights to! How does this make any sense?

Two Navy service members disappeared and were captured by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan late last week. The body of the second service member was found killed today. The first was found earlier this week, also killed. In 2005 2 soldiers were captured by Iraqi insurgents, only to be found having been tortured and beheaded, one of which was booby trapped to try and kill more of our service members.

You can not reason with savages! The only thing they understand is violence in pursuit of their goals. Justice at the point of a gun or edge of a knife. Why is there no out cry for the treatment of our POW's but, out pouring for the so called mistreatment for their POW's in our custody?

These people are animals and need to be treated as such. Our service members are their pray, and they have no concern for collateral damage. They have killed more civilians then our forces, and have no concern for killing their so-called brothers in the attempt to achieve their goals.

It's time we stop pussyfooting around with what we are fighting. It's not a War on Terror, terrorism is a tactic. It's not an "Overseas Contingency Operation". It is a battle against a force of Islamic radicals that have perverted a religion into a political ideology! This ideology is not only prone to insurgents, Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah all subscribe to this thinking. These are Middle Eastern governments and leaders of governments that want only one thing. The downfall and destruction of our way of life. This is not a game! Diplomacy is a non-starter! They only understand one thing...death! Be it theirs, or ours!

So, the next time someone complains to you about why Gitmo is still open and our harsh treatment of POW's, simply ask them how they feel about the treatment of our POW's. It's a question that can't be answered in any serious way!

R.I.P. Mr. Stienbrenner

As a life-long Oriole fan, I can't stand the New York Yankees! I hate them, despise them, get somewhat physically ill when they sit atop the AL East or make appearance after appearance in the post season! Suffice it to say, I don't like the Yankees.

That being said, we lost a great American yesterday. With the passing of George Stienbrenner, this country lost yet another piece of what the American dream is. Mr. Stienbrenner was the epitome of what America is about. Realizing your dream and being successful because of one's self determination.

While I didn't like his antics and bravado, I always respected his drive. He wanted only one thing, SUCCESS!! not only for himself, but those he surrounded himself with. He wanted only the best, and got those to buy into his ideas of how to achieve and succeed. He purchased the Yankees for a song in 1973 and struggled through the 80's (when the Orioles were the team to beat, but I digress) and cultivated a winning attitude and mindset that allowed them to flourish and achieve during the 90's and 00's.

Those that say he bought those Championships, weren't paying attention. Players like Jeter, Whetland, Canoe, Hughes, Chamberlain, and Rivera, to name a few were drafted by the Yankees and brought up through the farm system. Guided and developed to buy into a system meant to achieve. Directed by one man...Mr. Stienbrenner!

For all of his bravado, he was one thing...a LEADER! Something this country is sorely lacking! In all realms of life! This country would be much better off to have more people like him. It has nothing to do with money, and I don't think it had anything to do with his success. Did he have the means to do it, absolutely!! But it was his drive for success. He could have been the manager at your local 7-11 and it would have been the best 7-11 in the country. Because he would have inspired his people to believe that they were the best 7-11 EVER!

The American Dream is rooted in individualism and vision. To reach that dream personal responsibility and discipline are needed. We are owed nothing and entitled to nothing, except the freedom to pursue our own dreams, without the interference of government!

I find it ironic he was born on July 4th! He was a true American!

Rest In Peace Mr. Stienbrenner!

Arizona's Immigration Law Absolutely Constitutional!

Grab a shovel and dig this! I was perusing the Constitution today and it seems the founders thought it was a good idea to allow states to protect themselves, at least that's how I read it! Article IV, Section 4 states: "the United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence."

Drug smugglers are setting up snipers on the border to protect drug-runners. Phoenix now ranks number 3 in the world for kidnappings. Ranchers are being killed on their own property by illegals. Sounds like an Invasion to me!

My reading of this article, the Government has failed in its duty to protect this state. They are well within their right to protect themselves in that absence. As well as all the other states on the border.

If the DOJ can use the Supremacy clause to fight against the Arizona law, Arizona can use this to show the Governments failure on this issue!

Random Thoughts

Spent last weekend at a friends in Greenville, SC to do a little golfing. When we left his house, he plugged in his Garmin GPS so we could find our way since neither of us had been to that course before. Once we were there my friend broke out his GPS to navigate the course. It gave us distance to greens, how far to sand traps and water hazards. Of course it didn't help my game, when the biggest handicap in your golf game is your swing, no amount of technology will help! It did get us talking about how far technology has come so quickly.

It is amazing to think where we are now as compared to 20 years ago.

It's frustrating to stand in line at a store behind someone yakking on their cell phone. It's even more frustrating to watch that same person pay for their groceries with "food stamps". Me thinks somebody has their priorities abit screwed up!

I love the hypocrisy of the ADT, Brinks, Broadview commercials. The stats don't back them up. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not paying attention.

The argument used to support raising the minimum wage is ridiculous! If someone's skill set is such that they can only get a job earning the minimum wage, perhaps they should have thought twice about increasing the gene pool!

Could someone in the White House please tell the President that the campaign is over, he won, it's time to LEAD!

Congratulations to the University of South Carolina baseball team on winning the NCAA Championship! Maybe it will help cover up the dysfunctional political landscape of the state! I doubt it!

Why does it seem that all golf holes that dog-leg, do so to the left? My ball goes right, that doesn't help!

The South Carolina Educational Lottery has "supposedly" generated millions in funds for our educational system, yet we still dwell in the bottom of the country. Perhaps they need to re-think the system as a whole, instead of trying to throw more money at a broken entity.

Speaking of money, when will politicians realize that "sin taxes" (cigarettes, alcohol) only serve to hurt the poorest among us?

Just some things I think about when I home alone and the cable's out! Hope you enjoy!

First Greece, Now France...

...could we be far behind? The scenarios are eerily similar. Greece's' national debt was wildly out of control, due mainly to it's appeasement to national unions. The retirement age in Greece is 54, with guaranteed retirement benefits for life. When the Greece Government tried to reign in the benefits and raise the retirement age, those benefiting from those nanny-state policies rioted! Germany stepped in to ease the tension with a bailout (sound familiar). That didn't save Greece's debt from falling to junk bond status!

Today, the French Government of Nicholas Sarcozy is now at odds with national unions, as they try to raise the retirement age there from 56 to 62! As well as get pension spending under control. All to avoid the fate of Greece. Again, the nanny-state recipients are crying foul, and have went on strike, shutting down the schools, train services and other various government run entities.

Could it happen here? Absolutely! It will be a bit slower though. It will start with individual states. Those leading the way are California, Illinois, Michigan and New York. Their debt is unsustainable and the public sector unions are unwilling to make consseccions to help balance their budgets and relieve the debt! The same scenarios are shaping up all over the country. Once these states can no longer support their debt, they will come to the feds, for yet another....wait for it...BAILOUT! Only this time it won't be federal control of private industry, it will completely demolish state rights as the feds will now own state debt. Paid for by our tax dollars!

Our national debt is also at point of crisis, so we will have to try and borrow even more money from people that don't really like us, to assist in those bailouts.

Paranoid Conspiracy theory? Maybe! But all the signs are there. We have been following the French model for years, they are now reaping what they've sowed. How long before we reach that tipping point?

You can't make this stuff up!

Here is part of the speech given by the head of Communist Party of the USA, Sam Webb, at the 29th annual CPUSA convention on Jun 3, 2010..

What a difference between now and five years ago when we convened in Chicago! At that time, a Puerto Rican woman raised in the South Bronx didn't sit on the Supreme Court. Then the president didn't call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Millions had no health care... Global warming wasn't on the White House agenda... And, an African American wasn't president. Now an African American is president, and much else has changed as we convene our 29th convention...


"[T]he long night of rule by the most reactionary groups on the political spectrum has ended...we contributed to the historic victory in 2008...


"In hindsight, I overstated the nature of the election victory... A decisive defeat of the right - signified by larger Democratic majorities... will profoundly alter the political landscape...


"Others (teabaggers and all) are captured by lies, half-truths, and hate-filled rhetoric steeped in a subtext of racism...


"Arizona's draconian and unconstitutional immigration law...Florida's governor [Charlie Crist] vetoed a rightwing-inspired overhaul of public education... The campaign for jobs and against Wall St. initiated by the AFL-CIO... The near-victories by Rick Nagin and Rudy Lozano in recent election campaigns are a sign of the times...


"You could easily say there was one mood before the health care bill passed and another mood afterwards. In fact, viewing the struggle through a dialectical lens, the bill's passage was not only a victory on its own terms, but it also changed the larger political dynamics of Washington and the country in a positive way...


"Yes we can!...


"For more than a year, the main issue that captured our energy and the energy of millions of others was health care reform. With the signing of a health care bill, our attention is shifting to job creation... It is urgent to win immediate legislative battles - unemployment compensation, the Harkin education jobs bill, the Miller Local Jobs for America bill, the Murray bill to help veterans find jobs, etc....


"The other key arena is the Congressional elections this fall... It's pretty clear that if the Democrats lose their majorities in Congress both the president and the broader people's coalition will be weakened...


Only an incredible grassroots effort... will turn back rightwing extremism and increase the Democratic majority in both chambers in Congress. Any less than that is playing with fire... We will join with the broader movement, including new formations like Organizing for America and MoveOn...


"I would argue that a relationship to the Democratic Party at this stage of struggle is a strategic necessity and later on probably a tactical requirement... In 2008, there was no other way to defeat the right without such a relationship. The same could be said about the health care struggle...


"[T]he Republican Party, which has turned into an instrument of unabashed racism - not to mention militarist, obstructionist, anti-working class, anti-immigrant, anti-women, homophobic, anti-democratic, anti-scientific, and so forth...


"Let's be blunt: there is no progressive alternative [to President Obama]. If the president loses in 2012, we will lose too, and the country will once again be in the hands of rightwing extremism. There is no option to the left of President Obama...


"In my view, President Obama is a reformer... whose agenda creates space for the broader people's movement to deepen and extend the reform process in a non-revolutionary period...


"When our movement is on the level of the popular upsurge of the 1930s and 1960s, we will be in a better position to say if his views are elastic enough to accommodate more deep-going change, as Roosevelt and Johnson did...

So, the leader of the American Chapter of the Communist party believes that they should follow the agenda of the current administration to achieve their goals...what does that say about this president?