Obama press conference

Obama:  “Tax cuts for the rich is the Republican’s holy grail”

My Holy Grail is the carpenters cup, because I don't want my face to melt off.  Fan of the Fraulein though.

Don't choose poorly 

Speaking of Indiana Jones, Obama is like an action hero when it comes to annihilating straw men.  None can stand in his path.  If only he was as harsh against, maybe, our enemies as he is to the false arguments and talking points he assigns to people who disagree with him about the role of government in life.  He called Republicans "Hostage takers" and "Bomb throwers" today.  This is after Menendez from NJ called compromising on tax matters with Republicans "Negotiating with terrorists."  I thought this was a new era of politics, no?

Just to be clear, addressing where Obama got his start in politics, in the parlor of an unrepentant murderous Weatherman terrorist and his unrepentant murderous Weatherman terrorist wife and addressing another long time friend of Obama's ties to the PLO are completely inappropriate, dog whistle, racist, fear mongering attacks.  Got that.  But if you don't think the government should raise taxes because you disagree with Keynesian economic theories due to recent empirical evidence (see Trillion dollars, Stimulus of) you can be called a hostage taker or bomb thrower by our post partisan president and a terrorist by his allies in the Senate.  Did I sum that up right?

Tax Compromise

They told me if I voted for John McCain that:
Gitmo would still be open
Patriot Act would still be chugging along
Drone kills of people who have not even been tried in military tribunals let alone Manhattan court houses would increase
We would be surging 30K troops to Afghanistan
The tax cuts that were responsible for ruining our economy would be extended

Guess they were right?

A little more snark, if the tax cuts work and the economy stars rolling again are they now going to be called the Obama Tax Cuts, which are pure and wholesome, written on rainbows with unicorn horns obviously, rather than the dastardly Bush Tax Cuts written with the blood of poor children?

As much as I love seeing the progressives howl about how they were sold out, this is only a small step in the right direction.  I hate the fact that conservatives lose the language battle so thoroughly, these were not tax cuts that we just enacted.  We prevented an increase in taxes, the mindset that whatever money that Washington let's us keep is a gift from our benevolent, enlightened leaders is the problem here, the fact that professional politicians do not see it as our money.

It is a small step, but a good one.  The 13 month extension to unemployment benefits is a joke, but Nancy Pelosi  said that is the best way to stimulate the economy.  I wish someone would explain to me why an administration being absolutely pilloried over their treatment of jobs and the economy would extend a program that dis-incentivizes people to, you know, look for work?  The deferral of the debate for another 2 years is another strategic pants pooping by the Left.  In what world is raising taxes a winning issue?  What is their argument going to be?  "OK, we cut taxes and there was gridlock in Congress so we couldn't pass any other truly destructive bills and the economy started to turn around.  Now we should raise them."  Or is it going to be "The economy was too bad two years ago to raise taxes and it has gotten worse.  Now we REALLY need to raise them."  The two year delay puts the debate squarely in the 2012 Presidential election cycle, is that really what they want the debate to be about?

Final thought on taxes, screw Warren Buffet.  Screw Hollywood liberals and everyone else clamoring for taxes to be raised.  They say that the CAN afford to pay higher taxes and it is the price of living in a functioning society.  Well listen Warren, there is a huge difference between "I CAN" and "You MUST."  Why do liberals feel the constant need to buy spiritual indulgences with other people's money.  The more aggravating part about this is the fact that Warren Buffet, as a massive player in the life insurance industry, is one of the biggest lobbyists in support of maintaining the death tax, while he sets up a massive trust with Bill Gates to get around it.  Taxes are for the little people, right Warren?

I think people should practice what they preach, so here is a little incentive to all the bleeding heart liberals out there.  Looking at you Krugman with your unhinged rants about how the stimulus was too small, John Kerry with your yacht, Claire MCCaskill with whatever it is you are talking about here, or any of the "tax me more" Bill Gates and Warren Buffet crew.  Here is the address to send donations to the government:

Gifts to the United States
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Credit Accounting Branch
3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D
Hyattsville, MD 20782


Post the receipt and I will match as a % of income the most generous giver.  I can put my money where my mouth is, can these other clowns?

David Brooks reads my blog!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/opinion/03brooks.html?_r=1

Well, maybe not, but his tax reform ideas appear very similar to my own, although they look a little different because he has an "editor" that "cares" about "grammar" and "punctuation."

While I completely support his tax reform ideas, I have no faith in his vision of Obama as someone who can make a pivot and address this issue that could be a huge winner for him.  I do not think he has it in him to forsake 30 years of idealogical commitment and activism as a professional leftist community organizer and the most liberal vote in Congress.  I would love to be proven wrong here for the sake of the country. This would paint him as sympathetic to everyone who pays taxes, (insert snide comment about Democrats only liking to spend other people's money here) and could be a real factor in getting the economy moving again.  I don't want Obama to crash and burn, I am unwilling to immolate the country just to get him out of office.  If he can read the writing on the wall and tack right like Clinton there are things that he could accomplish that could be really positive.  Clinton's welfare reform was one of the best pieces of legislation passed and I doubt that any Republican President could have gotten that through.

More Multi-national organizations run amok

Spoiler alert, I am a huge soccer fan and will occasionally make points in that context.  Skip this post if you do not care

Russia and Qatar given 2018 and 2022 World Cup respectively.  Soccer is supposed to this universal game that everyone can play.  The people who run the sport resist all change to any kind of technology, microchips in the ball to see if it goes over the line, instant replay or additional officials because they want to to be accessible to everyone on all levels, sounds all happy and granola groovy, right?

What happens if Israel qualifies?  FIFA already makes Israel qualify through Europe (amazing geographers those heads of FIFA) because Israeli athletes are not allowed to enter various countries in the Middle East, including Qatar.  There was probably a reason that South Africa did not get the World Cup until after Apartheid.  Can you imagine if the USA got the World Cup and did not allow Muslims?  What is the difference?  Would we even be allowed to apply?

Further food for thought, it's not just in the Middle East

Don't we do enough for them already?

If this CNBC article about the US agreeing to fund an EU Stability fund is true I make puke all over the recliner that I have not left today

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40454469

We already subsidize the entire European continent to an enormous extent.  The only reason that it has taken their effete, soft democratic socialist organization this long to collapse is they have not had to spend any money on defense since WWII.  They depend on their gauche, rude cousin to the west to take care of all the bad things in the world while they look down their noses at us about our methods.  I am not an isolationist by any means but for the life of me I cannot understand why we continue to shield these clowns with our troops stationed on their soil.  This brings me to another rant about the UN and other countries in general.  If people don't like us and do what we say why are we giving them a dime of anything.  I understand helping countries in crisis like the Tsunami or the earthquake in Haiti or the floods in Pakistan but day to do funding and aid given to countries that spit in our face or regions that danced in the streets on 9/11 is reprehensible.

Why should we be bailing out Europe when they admit countries that do not meet the fiscal requirements?  It is bad enough that Germany is bailing out Greece while the Greeks riot about raising their retirement age but now the rest of the PIIGS too?  I would love to help the Greek and Italian economies.  I have free time and want to travel, I would be more than happy to take trips there and spend my dollars if they dropped out of the euro-zone and devalued their currency to pesos.  What good does artificially propping up a failed system do?  Finally, why are we following the statist blueprint provided by Europe rather than using their failure as a preview as what will happen when the government controls health care, auto companies, banks and the economy in general?  Wasn't the argument that they were more civilized and advanced and had it figured out and we were living in the dark ages by not having the enlightened programs headed by gifted technocrats to take decisions out of the hands of the unwashed public?  Why are they coming to us with their hands out now?

Sorry for the hiatus

I have been busy doing some high level analytics, inventing shots, and getting into pushup contests at bars.  Living the dream, but I have a few things to cover now.

First, me and all my buddies at the NYT (You're my boy Krugman!) balanced the budget this past week, you can check out what I did here

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html

I was able to do it with minimal tax increases, the only ones really coming from the closing of loopholes to simplify the tax code that led to a small real increase in the rates.  I have some problems with this, like the fact that we can only cut foreign aid in half and we can only cut federal payroll by 5% but this does not seem that hard if people are willing to make tough choices.  I even made military cuts for Greg, although I would prefer an option that brings every soldier stationed in Europe home immediately and let those self righteous socialists take care of themselves for the first time in a century.

I also would have liked an option to boot the UN out of NYC and never give another dime to that criminal organization.  Between the sex crimes, the corruption, the antisemitism and the legitimization it gives thugs and murderous leaders and regimes as part of a transnational body, it just makes me sick.   This clip from earlier this week gives a picture perfect example of everything that is wrong with this kabuki theater and the current administration.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/11/027741.php

Obama sends these people to prostrate themselves and by association our entire country before the altar of transnational organizations, political correctness and collectivism.  They sit there, get lectured on racial relations by Cuba, by Human Rights by Iran, Women's right by Saudi Arabia and God knows what by Venezuela.  The message here is that America is not exceptional, that we have been and are bad, mean, racist, unilateral and unpleasant. The only thing that can ever hope to redeem us is the fact that we were smart enough to elect Obama, if only briefly The One just told us that we are currently too stupid to appreciate how awesome he is.

Finally, I would like to extend a big thank you to Al Gore.  While I think he is dishonest, creepy and incredibly dull, he has had a few redeeming moments.

1. Inventing the Internet
2. Bringing the phrase "Release my second Chakra" into the vernacular, which got me and the entire desk through a few weeks of work as the best pick up line in the history of the world.
3. Admitting that ethanol is a joke and is just a larger, more aggressive form of farm subsidies that no one will touch because there are Presidential primaries in Iowa.

Things like ethanol and earmarks and NPR are not going to balance the budget, there are hard decisions about programs that people care about and to some extent depend on that are going to have to be made, but if these small somewhat symbolic (when did billions become small and symbolic?!??!) cuts cannot be made to the budget then what can actually be done?

Veterans Day

Mike Royko on Veteran's Day, hits it on the head

Thank all of you for your service, especially the Marine's where my Pops served on Guadalcanal and Okinawa

If you are so inclined this is a charity I care about to give my own money to, not just government cheese, you would be hard pressed to find a better cause.

Marine Corps Scholarship Fund

I just phoned six friends and asked them what they will be doing on Monday.

They all said the same thing: working.

Me, too.

There is something else we share. We are all military veterans.

And there is a third thing we have in common. We are not employees of the federal government, state government, county government, municipal government, the Postal Service, the courts, banks, or S & Ls, and we don’t teach school.

If we did, we would be among the many millions of people who will spend Monday goofing off.

Which is why it is about time Congress revised the ridiculous terms of Veterans Day as a national holiday.

The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans.

So how does this country honor them?

By letting the veterans, the majority of whom work in the private sector, spend the day at their jobs so they can pay taxes that permit millions of non-veterans to get paid for doing nothing.

As my friend Harry put it:

"First I went through basic training. Then infantry school. Then I got on a crowded, stinking troop ship that took 23 days to get from San Francisco to Japan. We went through a storm that had 90 percent of the guys on the ship throwing up for a week.

"Then I rode a beat-up transport plane from Japan to Korea, and it almost went down in the drink. I think the pilot was drunk.

"When I got to Korea, I was lucky. The war ended seven months after I got there, and I didn’t kill anybody and nobody killed me.

"But it was still a miserable experience. Then when my tour was over, I got on another troop ship and it took 21 stinking days to cross the Pacific.

"When I got home on leave, one of the older guys at the neighborhood bar — he was a World War II vet — told me I was a ----head because we didn’t win, we only got a tie.

"So now on Veterans Day I get up in the morning and go down to the office and work.

"You know what my nephew does? He sleeps in. That’s because he works for the state.

"And do you know what he did during the Vietnam War? He ducked the draft by getting a job teaching at an inner-city school.

"Now, is that a raw deal or what?"

Of course that’s a raw deal. So I propose that the members of Congress revise Veterans Day to provide the following:

- All veterans — and only veterans — should have the day off from work. It doesn’t matter if they were combat heroes or stateside clerk-typists.

Anybody who went through basic training and was awakened before dawn by a red-neck drill sergeant who bellowed: "Drop your whatsis and grab your socks and fall out on the road," is entitled.

- Those veterans who wish to march in parades, make speeches or listen to speeches can do so. But for those who don’t, all local gambling laws should be suspended for the day to permit vets to gather in taverns, pull a couple of tables together and spend the day playing poker, blackjack, craps, drinking and telling lewd lies about lewd experiences with lewd women. All bar prices should be rolled back to enlisted men’s club prices, Officers can pay the going rate, the stiffs.

- All anti-smoking laws will be suspended for Veterans Day. The same hold for all misdemeanor laws pertaining to disorderly conduct, non-felonious brawling, leering, gawking and any other gross and disgusting public behavior that does not harm another individual.

- It will be a treasonable offense for any spouse or live-in girlfriend (or boyfriend, if it applies) to utter the dreaded words: "What time will you be home tonight?"

- Anyone caught posing as a veteran will be required to eat a triple portion of chipped beef on toast, with Spam on the side, and spend the day watching a chaplain present a color-slide presentation on the horrors of VD.

- Regardless of how high his office, no politician who had the opportunity to serve in the military, but didn’t, will be allowed to make a patriotic speech, appear on TV, or poke his nose out of his office for the entire day.

Any politician who defies this ban will be required to spend 12 hours wearing headphones and listening to tapes of President Clinton explaining his deferments.

Now, deal the cards and pass the tequila.

- Mike Royko

Election Results a week later

How did I do?


I went 50-50.  McClung, Kelly and Bielat all lost while Gibson, West and Schilling came through with victories.  The money that I have to Bielat was a lottery ticket at best because of the district that he was running in can best be described here by Frank J. of IMAO


"We have people with absolutely no qualifications whatsoever screwing with American businesses and there is no way to stop them because they live in districts where everyone is retarded, like San Francisco or areas of Massachusetts. In a just, capitalistic world, Barney Frank would be living on the streets covered in his own excrement, but instead he gets to screw up business after business with no accountability because apparently he lives in a district where the citizens are constantly being outsmarted by squirrels."


The rest are really frustrating.  McClung and Kelly were close, especially McClung who came within a few thousand votes of winning.  


Now that I have gotten the sour grapes about MA out in the open, let's review what happened.


The biggest swing in the House in two generations.  In a cycle where the seats up for election dictated a defensive strategy the Republicans made gains in the Senate, attaining concrete filibuster with the sweetener of taking home Obama's old seat.  Key Governor's races and state legislatures all broke towards the Republican side, which will have long repercussions in redistricting votes and presidential primaries down the road.  This is a historic ass kicking which feels somewhat disappointing because there were seats left on the table that could have been won.  The Blue Dogs were put to the sword, to the surprise of no one, because they were the embodiment of Obama's politics.  When nothing was on the line they would talk about of both sides of their mouths and entertain conservative ideas that their constituents favored, like him running a centrist campaign on a net spending and tax cut.  However, when push came to shove, they would toe the line and vote however Pelosi demanded.  Good riddance.


In the near term this means that Card Check, Cap and Trade and amnesty for illegals are all off the table.  In the long term what it means is that Republicans have another chance that I am not sure if they deserve.  I do not think they spent enough time in the wilderness to merit a return to power this quickly.  They squandered their authority in the early 00's by expanding government spending and debt with "compassionate conservatism" that was, in reality, Democrat-Lite.  The first thing on every mind as they enter the new term of Congress must be that they were sent their to reduce, by any means necessary, the massive government of the country rather than to merely administrate it.  


There are tough decisions ahead.  Popular programs like college aid, Social Security, Medicare and all sorts of farm and business subsidies are going to have to be cut drastically.  Grown up decisions are going to have to be made by politicians who need to talk to us like adults about the realities of the world, rather than mouthing platitudes that belong on bumper stickers while promising us double rainbows and unicorns at no cost to anyone making under 250K.  


I do not think that Obama has it in him to tack right like Clinton did in this situation.  Choking back vomit, I watched his press conference after the election and it was obvious he still just does not get it.  He blamed the losses and backlash not on his policies, but on the fact that he did not communicate clearly how awesome his policies are.  Basically, we are not smart enough to understand how lucky we are to have this super awesome Dear Leader ramming policies that are opposed by the majority of the population down our throats.  If only he used smaller words, we could comprehend how lucky we are to be living in such a time.  His arrogance and condescension know no bounds.  


The bottom line is, elections have consequences, and I am going to go get myself a Slurpee and enjoy 

NRO again!

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/251932/report-front-jonah-goldberg

My story from this morning made the corner!  They should just let me post there at this point

Report from the Front November 2, 2010 12:32 P.M. By Jonah Goldberg       From a reader: Lincoln Park, bright blue, empty polling place.  We have to vote twice for the Senate, one for the remainder of this session and one for next.  When I described the remainder as a “Lame Duck” session the 4 democrat poll watchers all sighed and looked like they had just sucked on a lemon and said “We prefer to not call it that.”  The other 2 people voting laughed when I told them that denial was not going to save them.

Vote Please

Do something about this

The Lowest Common Denominator

Kenny Powers: Sure, I've been called a xenophobe, but the truth is I'm not. I honestly just feel that America is the best country and all the other countries aren't as good. That used to be called 'patriotism'

In my experience, one of the biggest differences between liberals and conservatives is their opinion of the abilities of their fellow man.  In debates ranging from health care to education to social security to warning labels to welfare and unemployment the conversation will follow a similar path

Me: "(insert name of giant inefficient government program here) should be slashed/privatized/criminalized/abolished."

Liberal friend: "Well yes that would be fine for you and me but what about all the stupid/uneducated/redneck people?  We cannot trust them to make the right decisions thus the government should make the decision for all of us."

This is the heart of the conflict in my eyes.  Some people are stupid so the government, with the wise technocrats from all the finest Ivy League schools, should make the decisions for us to save us from ourselves.  I find this incredibly insulting.  I believe that people across all walks of life are eminently able to act in their own self interest when empowered to do so.  I think that the solution to many of our problems can be found through increasing individual accountability and self reliance.

For instance

Health Care
High deductible HSA accounts to deal with catastrophic events and insurance plans that allow people to shop across state lines.  I have had one of these plans for years and call doctors offices to get pricing on everything I have done.  I get the tests I need at the best price because I have skin in the game.  It is in my interest to get the best price because I keep what I do not spend.  It benefits me to be informed about what I am having done and what I am paying for it.  If more people were so inclined, it would force price competition across the sector and ensure competitive rather than monopoly pricing.


Education
Choice Choice Choice.  While health care is only on the way to a government imposed monopoly, we get a preview of how well such things function when we look at our public schools.  Dominated by bloated unions with ironclad job security whose response to any attempt at reform is to hide behind the children of the country as human shields, the system is a mess.  Whether the solution is choice through charter schools, vouchers, scholarship programs (good job killing the DC scholars program Obama!), the abolishment of the teachers unions and institution of merit/performance pay (yes!) or some combination of all of the above, anything would be an improvement over the status quo.


The conversation then follows this path

Liberal Friend: "You are a Darwinist! What about the people left behind, who takes care of them?!"

My response to this is twofold.

One, I completely agree, a modern society should take care of those that cannot take care of themselves.  No  reasonable person would disagree with that.  How do you define that?  What portion of the population falls under that definition?  I have no idea, but I do know that 47% of the country paying no income tax does not seem right.  I also know that 35% of the country receiving the majority of their income through government redistribution programs seems way too high also. If 1/3 of Americans are truly unable to support themselves without government cheese we are really in trouble.  It is another classic example of unintended consequences, when something is subsidized, you get more of it.

To me there is something fundamentally wrong in the fact that half of Americans pay nothing in taxes and not only that but 35% live only off of what is taken from others and given to them.


Ok, so we agree we need to help the people who truly need it, whoever they are.  Now the second part of the answer is how?  We live in the most charitable country in the history of the world ever.  Disasters domestic and foreign receive giant outpourings of support, both from private donors and from the government in the form of aircraft carries coordinating the relief efforts in Haiti or in the Pacific after the tsunami.  We give through public and private charities at rates that put the rest of the world to shame.  My question is, why do we give through public means at all?  Private charities are required to publish data on how much of the money they raised actually gets passed through to the intended recipients, while the public side just dumps billions after billions into bureaucratic systems that are incredibly inefficient and rife with fraud.  Transparency, accountability and efficiency are anathemas to government systems and should be required before we commit any of our money.


Basically what it boils down to is people adapt to the society in which they live.  If they are told that they are too dull to choose their own school or doctor and should just focus on choosing between their 1,000 channels of cable TV they will do so.  If the marginal increase in pay between government benefit programs and a real job is minimal they will do the cost benefit analysis and keep the free time and the easy money.  This is what needs to change.  This is why I think this is so important.  A society is at it's best when everyone is working hard in their self interest to provide a better life for themselves and their families.  Unlike liberals, I believe that the vast majority of people in this country are more than capable of succeeding in their endeavors.  I am optimistic for humanity.  I think people thrive when it is their responsibility to do so.  When their fate is in their own hands rather than that of a paternalistic, all powerful government that takes care of them from cradle to grave.  The same programs that take away risk and consequences from people at the same time rob them of dynamism and ambition.

Deadbeat Celebrity!

check it out!

Thank You … Nancy Pelosi?

October 26, 2010 12:18 P.M.

By Kathryn Jean Lopez      

“Conservative Deadbeat” last night contributed $85 to National Review. It’s his duty, he explains:

Nancy Pelosi said unemployment benefits are the best way to stimulate economy. I am trying to prove her right. I was fired a month ago and am donating my unemployment checks to conservative candidates and blogs so we can undo everything she and her buddies have done and turn this economy and country around. You guys do a great job, keep fighting the good fight!

Sean Bielat in Massachusetts and Allen West in Florida, among others, have also benefitted from his generosity with his unemployment checks.

Second Round of Donations

Thank you guys for my massive avalanche of followers (7) and spate of comments (2), it really means a lot.

Time for the Second round of donations and to redistribute other peoples money into ways that I think it will be better utilized (Hey Barrack I understand now, this is fun!).

For new readers check out the idea of this blog here, or just scroll down to the first post

Two of the three candidates chosen today are from the comments, which I cherish, so here we go

#1 Ruth McClung from AZ

You know how when Obama was running we were constantly assured about how smart and capable he was?  How he had the credentials of someone who knew about the world and was gifted with a mind to match his oratory?  When he said things like 57 states in America, that inflating our tires and getting regular tuneups would solve our dependence on fossil fuels, or used failure of the Post Office vs UPS and Fed Ex as a justification for nationalizing medicine we were told Shut Up.  He is smarter than us.  He went to an Ivy League school.  It always really bothered me, I am not impressed by Ivy League educations (Sorry Dad) and especially degrees in Political Science.

However, I am impressed by Rocket Scientists, like Rush McClung.  Worked her way through college on a combination of a tennis scholarship and the night shift at Del Taco.  Now works as a rocket scientist while her and her husband try to start their own business.  Again, the recurring themes, out of the political establishment, small business owner and veteran will keep popping up here.  Maybe a rocket scientist can translate what in God's name Joe Biden and Barney Frank are talking about.  Explain how expanding health coverage over 50 million new people will make things cost less.  How we have to spend money to stop ourselves from going bankrupt.

Further, she is trying to unseat Raul Grijalva, who is at the top of the Progressive Caucus.  He actually called for a boycott of Arizona, the state that he represents and lives in, as a response to the AZ immigration law and he supports expanding federal funding of ACORN.  Good enough for me

$100 her way.  Read more and Donate here

#2 Jesse Kelly AZ-8

This is from the comments and from Ace.  Veteran, Small business, and political outsider.  Jesse decided to run for office the day Obama signed the Stimulus / Generational Theft Act.  Small government conservative who is against Obamacare, the stimulus amnesty etc etc.

Really like his take on bipartisanship also

"People want their representatives to work together in a bipartisan way to get things done," said Giffords, who touts her 2009 rating by the nonpartisan National Journal as the most centrist member of Arizona's congressional delegation. "My opponent has said some remarkably tough statements such as, 'Hopefully, there will be no Democrats left in Congress' after the election and that he wants to 'crush liberals.' That's not my approach. To be a community leader, you need to bring people together."

Kelly, an Iraq war veteran who grew up in Montana and has never held elective office, scoffs at the idea of bipartisanship.

"Bipartisanship in Washington means Republicans selling out their conservative principles in order to appear nice on MSNBC," he told a town-hall meeting at the Oro Valley Country Club.

Kelly blasts Giffords for voting for health-care reform. He also criticizes her votes on an energy bill that sought to reduce global warming but which critics said would increase energy costs. And he said the $787 billion stimulus bill that Giffords supported has not created jobs.

"Gabrielle Giffords has provided four years of failure - on the border, on unemployment, on the deficit," Kelly said.

$100 His way.  Read more and Donate here

#3 Allen West of FL

He was not supposed to give a speech, this was mostly off the cuff, give it a listen.  Listen to the way he riffs on American Exceptionalism and the founding of this country,  I get goosebumps from stuff like this.  

Conservative veteran who is unflinchingly patriotic and proud of his country.  Speaks with passion and cites founding fathers, historical dates and events and leads chants about bayonets.  What more do you want?  Fiscally conservative and strong supporter of Israel.  Get on board.

He was fined during his time in Iraq, not court martialed.  Basically, there was an up tick of ambushes and IEDs in his sector and his men were being killed.  He took over an interrogation that had been going nowhere and told the prisoner if he did not talk he was going to shoot him.  He counted off the paces and fired a shot over the guys head and, after crapping himself I assume, the terrorist talked.  Two more insurgents were captured and the attacks stopped.  Resigned his commission when he came home.  Listen to this whole thing, the money line is here

"When I was asked if I would do this again I clearly stated if it was about the health and safety of my men I would go through hell with a gasoline can."

How refreshing and inspiring is this when you have a President that is such an effete pantywaist he has to convene a panel of experts to determine whose ass he should kick?

$100 his way, Read more and Donate here

For the blog this week its going to go to NRO

I read The Corner and the Campaign Spot all day long.  Great sources of election information, pop culture nonsense and Friedman and Krugman bashing.

$85 their way

What is the difference

Between Juan Williams

“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”


and Obama?


“The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity, but that she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know (pause) there’s a reaction in her that doesn’t go away and it comes out in the wrong way.”


I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.


I dont see much to choose from between the two.  And I thought Eric Holder told me that we were a nation of cowards for not being able to have a conversation about race. No?


Either way, I do not give a rats ass what is on NPR, they can kowtow to the CAIR and institute sharia, its not like anyone listens to them aside from cab drivers who are on their cell phone anyway and pantywaist liberals.  They can all wear Che shirts and talk about Mao, just get them off the public teat.  If that is not the first thing we can agree to defund to shrink the size of government it has to be at least in the top 5.  I would choose Dept of Education first, but that one is a little harder to gain traction

Making a Point and or Sending a Message

I was doing some GOTV work with a very conservative woman.  She could not have been any nicer, she referred me to a number of intellectual conservative groups in Chicago that sound really interesting and we got along great.  The one area that we disagreed was on the upcoming IL Senate race.  She refuses to vote for Mark Kirk and I completely understand.  Kirk voted for Cap and Tax and voted against the surge in his time in the House.  He is a classic RINO, cut from the exact same cloth as Snowe, Collins, Graham or McCain.  Worships at the altar of bi-partisanship which, in his eyes, means conservatives forsaking their principles so the Times and MSNBC will say nice things about them.

That is why on election day I am going to wake up, vote for Mark Kirk, then hit the phone banks for 4-6 hours to make sure as many people as I can reach do the same thing, then go home and take an hour long shower with steel wool and bleach.

I agree with wanting send Mark Kirk a message but I think of this the way we used to think about foreign policy.  That politics stop at the water.  I am fully behind rough and tumble primaries that define the idealogical direction of a party or a campaign but once that is decided vote for the guy who won.  Or at least the guy who is not a mobbed up failed banker like Alexi.  I plan on campaigning like hell for Kirk because he will take office in November and serve through the lame duck term and will be another speed bump for any nonsense that the Dems attempt in that time.  I will also campaign like hell for any real conservative that challenges him in the next primary.  Take your medicine and deal with it.

PS.  Wish Murkowski Castle and Crist would subscribe to this school of thought.  The entrenched establishment  Republicans needs to go but it needs to happen in a primary, not electing criminals to Congress out of spite.

First Round of Donations

Approved for my unemployment benefits of $385 a week.  As Nancy said, this is the best way to stimulate the economy.  My experiment/way of not feeling like a complete deadbeat is to donate this money to conservative candidates who will stimulate the economy by undoing everything Pelosi, Reid and Obama are doing.  Now let's get to the good part, the donations.

First is a completely visceral decision.  There is no politician that bothers me more than Barney Frank.  If you are reading this blog and need a primer on why Barney Frank is despicable, you are probably in the wrong place and should head back to tmz.com, but I will give a quick recap.

Out of touch with the real world and realities of the market, especially in the housing market, encouraging FNM and FRE to "roll the dice" by taking on more subprime risk.

Refuses to acknowledge his and the governments roll in the crisis and demagoguing class warrior.

On top of all this, just an arrogant, blustering, condescending jerk with an overinflated sense of entitlement.

My first $100 is going to Sean Bielat, to retire Barney Frank.  Marine who builds robots to kill terrorists when he is not killing them himself.  Real world experience, leadership on the battlefield and in the private sector.  Experience building business and willing to speak like a grown up on budget and entitlement realities.  Check out his site for more details and to donate.

Barney is ahead, but hes scared.  He is raising hell to get Obama and Bill Clinton to make campaign appearances for him in the one the deepest blue districts in MA.

Second $100 donation is a little more local for me.  Bobby Schilling is a small business owner trying to unseat Phil "The Constitution does not matter to me" Hare.  Bobby quit the corporate world and opened a pizzeria with his family that has grown from a storefront to multiple locations (military vet and small business owner are going to be recurring themes in where my donations go as I think those are two of things that should be pre reqs for office).  Whereas Bobby has experience meeting payroll growing a business, Phil Hare thinks that the massive federal debt is fiction.  I would rather my state be represented by someone living in a reality based world.  Learn more about Bobby and donate here

My next $100 is a bit of a cop out.  Victor David Hanson is one of my favorite writers.  He teaches Classics at Stanford and writes books about ancient Greece, western thought and political commentary.  If you are a military history geek like I am, his books are a can't miss.  I think he is one of the smartest, coherent and engaging writers in the political word today.  He also rarely raves about specific candidates so when I read this about Chris Gibson I was sold:

[A] rare American -- war hero, author, West Point instructor, retired colonel, conservative-- Chris Gibson is running neck and neck in New York's 20th Congressional District [against incumbent Scott Murphy]. I don't get involved in political races per se; but I met Chris during his one-year stay at Stanford, and found him a rare Renaissance figure -- yet another of these idealistic first-time candidates without a political resume who are entering the fray to save this country. I think pundits have not appreciated the fact that this is not quite a red/blue, Republican versus Democratic race, but a historic election in which many of the Republican candidates are first-time politicians, beholden to no one, and not part of the Republican establishment. Their ascendancy should make things very interesting. Chris is a rare candidate, whose integrity is as unquestioned as his talents are boundless. It was an honor to be called his friend. He is an investment in our collective future.


read the whole thing 

Find out more about Chris and donate here

Last $85 is not going to rehab for my knee or mortgage payments but to my favorite blog, Ace of Spades HQ,  This angry blog with creepy ewoks, a Valu-Rite vodka problem and hobo-homicidal tendencies is smart, funny and completely over the top.  They are also partnering with freedomworks for a grass roots GOTV effort.  This is incredibly important if you have the time and inclination give a few hours, every little bit helps.  It is not all hard work and misery, I was solicited in Spanish by a prostitute when I was out putting up signs this weekend.  So there are perks.

Once again, I welcome any input from anyone in the comments or email.  Tell me about someone who is an exceptional candidate or going against someone particularly distasteful who is close and could use the cash.

Tax day

I got an extension on my income taxes and paid today, hours before the deadline and I feel ill.  The amount of money I had to give to the government is gross, especially for someone recently unemployed.  I wonder how many million of hours and tens of billions of dollars are wasted on the tax code.  How much more efficient would things be if we had a flat tax, or just a VAT.  Think of the hundreds of thousands of people who spend their entire lives looking over spreadsheets and trying only to maximize return and minimize cost.  These are not helpless people, these are quantitatively adept, detail oriented people that could be doing something useful (I am aware of the rank hypocrisy of an unemployed trader calling into question the contributions other professions make to the world, thanks).  They could be contributing to the country and economy not just battling with each other over excel and deductions and EBITA, one side trying to take it all and the other wanting to hold on to it.  As a trader at least I was only being useless to the world on my own.  I did not require hundreds of other traders on the other side to counteract what i was doing.  It just seems to me like a massive waste of a lot of smart people in an endeavor drains mountains of resources from both sides.

http://www.nsba.biz/content/printer.2864.shtml

$13 billion for the IRS, but that is just a drop in the bucket.  The amount every business needs to spend covering it's ass about taxes must be astronomical.

My best solution would be if you could pay your taxes on a post card.

What did you make _________
multiply by .25
What you owe: __________

Have a nice day!

No deductions, HSA forms, declarations dependents just simple math.  Done and Done.  Hell, we may not even have to pay that high of a % if we don't have to hire tens of thousands of people to enforce the current byzantine system we have.


Anyway, got approved for unemployment today, will decide on where the first batch of donations are going by the end of the week, try and keep the debate civil in the comment section guys.

Help me prove Nancy Pelosi right!

First some background:


I was fired from my job as a trader three weeks ago and had knee surgery the next day, leaving me with a lot of time for contemplation, I had this idea while reading my favorite right wing blogs ranging from the civilized, the beta male friendly, to my personal favorite, the wildly inappropriate and angry Ace of Spades HQ.


I am extremely conservative and feel the next two election cycles will be pivotal moments in the direction that our country takes in the future.  I love this country and appreciate the gifts and blessings that come from living here in the freest, most tolerant, most charitable and upwardly mobile society in the history of the world ever.  I am the embodiment of the American Dream, the grandson of plumbers and the great grand son of goat herds, the son of the first member of the family to attend an Ivy League school.  I realize that there are no other places in the world where this is remotely possible and I worry for the future of this great nation.


Now the idea


I have always felt this way, but I now I am doing something about it.  I am volunteering for local campaigns and GOTV efforts and gave to candidates that I like, Rubio, Miller, Angle, Bielat and West among them. I was thinking about what else I could do to help and I remembered that Nancy Pelosi said that the best way to stimulate the economy was through unemployment benefits.  I completely disagreed with her point at the time but I think I can prove her right.  The best way to stimulate the economy would be to get rid of Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and the rest of the morons running the show in Washington.  To that end, I am going to give my generous unemployment checks from now until the election to candidates that can help turn Congress, our economy and our country around. 


I would like input from anywhere, the closest races where my dollars can make the difference, I want to use these funds as efficiently as possible to retake Congress and turn the tide.  Either the strongest conservative names or the ones with the best chance to take down someone truly despicable, like Alan Grayson.  


I will post the results and reasons so people can (hopefully) follow my lead