Thursday, November 10, 2011

What U Don’t Know That U Need 2 No

 

Ads are hitting the airwaves stating that Congress wants to cut Medicare payments to hospitals.  Medicare was a gift.  There was nothing in the original SS legislation that applied any of your earnings to medical care.  That was a gift from another Congress in another time.  Why do I call it a gift?  Because those who passed it at the time knew it wasn’t and couldn’t be supported by earnings contributions that were already overextended.  They did it for electability. 

I understand that and retirees should too.  What you also need to understand is that Medicare could be manageable.  It could be feasible for us to support Medicare IF (and that’s a big if) we did not have to support every whiner in the world with Medicaid.  That’s where the little ditty of an ad veers off course.  At the end of the ad Medicaid rears it’s ugly head. 

In America we support non earners (those who don’t or can’t work) with an income.  Then we give them food stamps so they can eat.   Then we give them subsidized housing so they don’t have to live in boxes.  Then we not only meet their basic medical needs we provide them with medical care that many wage earning taxpayers cannot afford.

If that’s not enough we also give these benefits to anyone who comes into this nation  legally or illegally until they get on their feet.  Unfortunately the system is too big and no one can actually keep track of who truly deserves help and who doesn’t.  It is a common practice for illegals to work off the books or for low wages and still be supplemented with all these gifts.  Where does the money come from?  IT CAME FROM THE FUNDS YOU PAID INTO SS UNTIL THAT WAS ALL GONE THEN IT WAS BORROWED.

Those who support taking care of our elderly as I do get disgusted when Medicaid is lumped in with Medicare.  But remember Medicare is a gift.  You never paid for it.  All you paid for was a Social Security check every month when you reached retirement.

BUT (and this is a big but) that’s not the only thing that is bleeding dry the funds we could be funneling into Medicare to care for the twilight years of our elderly.  Get on the SSI bandwagon.  Do you think anything was paid into any fund to support anyone with a disability?  No.  Do you think anything was paid into any fund to support survivor benefits? No.  Please do the math.  There is no way that a man who dies at thirty years old has paid enough into his social security account to provide  $400 a month for  his 2 and 4 year old until they turn 18.  It’s a gift from some distant congress who wanted to get re-elected. 

What is going unspoken in these ads is that Medicaid doesn’t stand a snowballs chance in hell of getting any support so they lump it in with Medicare because it’s a big lobby.

We can support our seniors.  We can’t support every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants a free ride.  Hospitals and Doctors and insurance companies cannot tote the load.  The Republic is broke and has about reached it’s borrowing limit.  Stop Medicaid.  Stop disability payments and Seniors stop allowing advertisers to lump you in with a corrupt system.

Lift the maximum earnings limit and get rid of the Medicaid freeloaders and seniors won’t have to worry about benefits being cut. 

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The Slippery Situation that is Greece

 

Eurozone On the Edge of Disaster | TheBlaze.com

For those of you who have investments in the stock market (no one I know) this is the top story for several days that is actually eclipsing OWS in the MS media.  Interestingly enough this sparks my interest not because I am a Euro groupie (those Americans who think everything in Europe is better, smarter, more urbane or just generally uber-cool) but because I find myself actually applauding the Prime Minister George Papandreou for choosing to offer a referendum on the EU bailout for the citizens of Greece to vote on.  What a novel idea…Actually allowing citizens to vote on an issue and then for government to actually abide by that vote.

It used to work that way in America.  When you voted for a Representative you knew that person would actually go to the seat of government and reflect the opinion of the majority (those who elected him) in his vote.  Not anymore. Now we speak clearly through our votes, our chosen representatives go to DC where they drink the water, get brainwashed or for whatever reason ignore the wishes of their constituency and vote with the herd.

Everyone assumes such a referendum would lead to Greece thumbing their nose at the EU by refusing the austerity measures attached to a bailout of their country.  Those who believe themselves to be in the know could be surprised  there might actually be a majority of Greeks who would want the EU interference.  It’s not likely, but it has become apparent in this country that the one squeaky wheel that is getting all the grease does not necessarily reflect the sentiments of the other three smooth rolling wheels.

Personally I think it would be a great idea for Greece to vote against the austerity measures.  They would then 1) Choose to default on their debts and probably bring about the eventual demise of the European Union and it’s price fixed monetary unit the Euro, 2) Choose to sell their Geek souls to some wealthy nation such as China whose strings would (in time) prove to be many times worse than austerity, or 3) Choose the Icelandic Effect which says if you knuckle under, cut back and pay your bills you can actually come out a stronger; better nation.

Whatever happened it would be the choice of the voting citizens of Greece that made the decision.  That is a basic principal of Democracy a word according to Wikipedia (…which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) "people" and κράτος (Kratos) "power"…)  means rule of the people.

The rule of the people is being largely ignored in our Republic.  Our elected representatives are sitting idly by allowing the Executive branch of our government to operate totally unchecked thereby placing us under the rule not '”Of the People” but by the Executive pen of one man.

How simple it would be to pass a law revoking the use of Executive Order.  I wonder why they aren’t doing that?

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Atlas is Shrugging

 

Gibson CEO Says Feds Told Him Problems Could be Avoided with Madagascar Outsourcing | TheBlaze.com

Doesn’t this bother anybody?  An American company that employs American workers is being persecuted and told that if they would just do it the Fed way their problems will go away.  This administration has done every crooked underhanded thing they can think of to put American business’ out of business. They are pumping money out left and right to unions and banks and Dem contributors, they have rammed through laws and instituted policies that place undue burdens on states and are killing business’.  They have pursued avenues that have resulted in American citizens dying while refusing to enforce American law because they believe it to be unfair.  They have deliberately pursued policies that are shutting down American business’ and causing more American’s to be unemployed while encouraging people who are in this country illegally to stay here and compete with unemployed citizens for the sparse amount of jobs that exist.  They have killed communities, jobs and whole industries to save a fish.

If you haven’t seen the light by now, then you need to read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.  This book is not only a play by play description of the anti capitalism that is happening in our nation at this very moment I believe it is a script for the Obama Administration right down to words they speak.  When Napolitano makes a statement about what FEMA will do for the Irene victims reference is made to the Federal Family. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=57520  Well read pages 662 through 664 of Atlas Shrugged and you will see exactly what I’m talking about.

This cannot continue and for those of you who think you are immune to the bias and discrimination of this administration I want you to think about this. When GM & Chrysler were bailed out they denied the shareholders the right to go through bankruptcy and have a chance to recoup their investments.  In the government takeover dealerships were closed without an obvious consistency other than they were republicans or conservative. No one did anything. Judges could be considered complicit in bypassing bankruptcy laws all in the name of “saving jobs and the industry”. No one did anything to stop them. Well you survivors who have been supporting these corrupt actions word is your next. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/14/chrysler-dealers-closing-_n_203460.html

In 2009 California’s Central Valley was turned into a dust bowl because of a fish http://beetlebabee.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/dead-and-dying-californias-central-valley-dust-bowl/ The story is not any better in 2011 http://hotair.com/archives/2011/01/13/video-federal-policies-failing-the-central-valley/

This administration took our strategic oil reserves and put them on the auction block for the world. http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/06/24/1296681/obama-europe-tap-oil-reserve.html  Doesn’t it bother you that our tax dollars paid for that oil and it was intended for us in the event of an emergency and not other countries?

Doesn’t it bother you that we and NATO actively support Libyan rebels in driving Gaddafi out just so Europe could potentially have the oil?  http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief-cover/881881-race-oil-has-begun  Doesn’t it bother you that this was done at a time when we can ill afford to participate in another “Kinetic” exercise?

Doesn’t it bother you to think that if these are the things we know about, what is going on behind our backs that never makes it to the surface

I know.  You’re a good little democrat.  You’re a progressive, a  socialist, a communist.  You belong to a union.  Your safe.  They’ll never touch you.  They just go after the republicans, conservatives, Christians, Jews and tea parties.    Well guess again.  They stopped you in San Francisco http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/08/13/bart-board-member-speaks-out-against-phone-jamming-during-planned-protest/  they will stop you again.

Let me tell you what you are.  You are non-essential.  You are merely a means to an end and I really don’t think you’re going to like your place in the N.W.O.

So what can be done?  Demand that things drastically change.  No more executive orders.  No more Czars.  No more departmental mandates.  No more bureaucratic boards making policy.  No more free rides. No more union heads directing government or policy. Repeal the Lacey Act, Dodd-Frank, the Health Care Act and other business killing legislation.  Demand a FLAT Tax. Demand enforcement of our laws especially by the Executive branch that is charged with enforcing our laws. Demand that judicial appointments be scrutinized and rejected for any hint of bias or social engineering.  Demand that corrupt politicians be expelled and prevented from receiving ANY taxpayer funded benefit.  Demand that no organization receive taxpayer funding.  The list is endless, but you know what is right and what is wrong and you know that NO taxpayer dollars should ever go to anything that could possibly be considered partisan. 

Our Constitution gave us rights and we need to demand that our representation protect those right through adherence to our Constitution.  If ANY branch oversteps it’s Constitutional bounds it should be stopped cold and ejected without a legal battle. Atlas is shrugging and the Liberal/Progressive/Socialist/Communist union has memorized the script.  If you intend to survive you’d better read it so you can recognize the cues when they’re given.  The powers that be underestimated you.  They believed their superior educations and intellects would trump your common sense and moral sensibility.  They counted on you being dumb and surprise, surprise…you’re not.

Gibson CEO Says Feds Told Him Problems Could be Avoided with Madagascar Outsourcing | TheBlaze.com

Friday, August 5, 2011

I’m Not Green Obscene, But I Do Care

 

As the EPA tries to bypass Congress (not that they’d act on anything anyway) to impose Cap ‘N Tax on the energy industry.  While POTUS tries to force green vehicles on us and uses taxpayer funds to subsidize the global “green machine.”  I have to make an observation.  Water.  Potable water is one of our most precious resources.  In times of drought it becomes even more precious..

I’m not “Green Obscene”, but I do care about our environment.  From the time fifty years ago that a teacher pointed out to me that natural resources are not finite.  Unless they are managed properly eventually everything God gave us will run out.

I’m sitting right in the middle of a major drought (not the first I’ve experienced in my life and certainly not the last) where rivers and lakes are drying up and wildlife and livestock are struggling for hydration and the potential for fire is frightening.  Most years it’s very dry where I live come June, July and August so it has long been my practice not to water my grass.  I’ve got this “survival of the fittest” attitude when it comes to grass.  If it want sto survive badly enough it will put down deeper roots and that will benefit it even when there is no drought.  But this year I realized that wasting water on ornamentals was a pretty bad idea.  I made the decision to allow those ornamentals to perish in the drought and heat.  I could not justify wasting water on pretty flowers and attractive trees.

I determined instead to let nature take it’s course and replace those ornamentals next year with edibles.  I don’t have a problem with watering my garden.  We eat that food which in turn provides us with a good deal of hydration. So decision made I am determined to replace every ornamental in the yard with something edible.  I won’t cut down existing shade trees that were here when I got here, but they are all full growth and I am applying my SOTF theory to them. 

Decision made I’ve been mentally plotting next years plantings.  I do this mostly when I’m going from one place to another in my car.  I ruminate.  As I was making and an early morning grocery store run my ruminations were interrupted by the Social Security office’s sprinkler system showering my windshield.  I glanced over to see that most of the water they were applying to their grass was hitting the street.  “Call and have them adjust the sprinklers”, you say.  I could, but that only solves the one problem.  I began to notice on my occasional forays into town that there’s a whole lot of watering going on at all local, state and federal buildings.  You can’t stop them.  They don’t want the grounds of their buildings to appear blighted.  They will water regardless.  But how about if we actually put our tax dollars to good use for a change? 

I think all new construction  for any government building should require that only edibles be planted.  Berry bushes, fruit and citrus trees and even vegetables.  They could plan raised beds into their construction that would offer seating for people eating lunches or taking breaks or just those that have to wait in long lines at DMV’s and court houses.  Governments often contract to yard services for maintenance on their grounds.  Why not allow community groups to plant and service these gardens and turn the produce over to food banks.  If this were as successful as I think it could be a lot of the harvest could be used to supplement our federal cafeterias and lunch rooms.

I like this idea a lot, but more than anything I truly hope that anyone reading this realizes it’s time to stop wasting our water and start putting it to good use.  Don’t water your grass, don’t wash your car until the rains come and plant something you can eat.  Garden plants are really very attractive and a little goes a long way.

Friday, July 29, 2011

They Might Have Been Giants

 

Today the House of Representatives had the opportunity to walk erect with heads held high.  They might have been giants.  They could have listened to the people, heeded the voices they heard and walked in the footsteps of history to claim their place in the sun.

Instead they thought they knew best.  They believed they were smarter and more clever than the people who chose them.  They thought they could defeat the evil trolls and their leader the Deceiver, but they failed to understand that without the will of the people, victory (even if won) would always be hollow.

The people knew they could not win against the trolls and the Deceiver.  Those who have no principles have no enemies except principles.  Those principles must be the bedrock on which decisions are made. To stray from those principles even with the best of intentions always ends in loss.  It is like doing battle with a dragon who says,  “If you lay down your sword, we can talk about this”, but as soon as you lay that sword down the dragon consumes you in fire.

Our forefather’s knew that they had to stand on their principles.  They had little else to stand on.  They rose to the challenge.  They stood against a tyrannical empire and they emerged beaten but free.  Free to be fair and just and honorable.  They went into battle as David's and emerged as Goliaths.  Giants among men who would still be remembered by those who held true to their principles 235 years later.  Last November the People gave the House a directive,  “Stop the spending, represent us as we want to be represented and we will be loyal, support and cover your six”. 

Today the House made it’s choice.  They chose to attempt to out maneuver  the trolls and their leader rather than heed the People.  They were amazed when it didn’t work. 

There were 22 giants and 218 that might have been giants. 

I’m Just Sayin’…

I'm beginning to think that there has been subversion brewing since the 2010 election. We know the Republican Party didn't like the Tea Party candidates, but they wanted to wrest control of Congress from the Democrats because they had been effectively neutered.
Isn't it interesting that everyone's (including the old guard republicans ) demonizing the newly elected.  They are now being called conservatives (as if it were a dirty word) by their own House members.  Could it be because it was the intention all along( if they could not be swayed to join the dark side) to demonize them, paint them as extremist: discredit them so that Republican's and Democrats could get back to business as usual.  You know lining their own pockets, padding their resume's with pork and voting themselves yearly raises and benefit packages.
Since when did having principles, standing strong for those you represent, and having the courage of your convictions become a bad thing?
I believe if this situation (if analyzed) could reveal the republican's were behind Obamacare all along.  I believe they saw it as the only way out of toting the load on Medicare and Medicaid without offending the poor and the elderly.  I believe that parts of that legislation actually went so far past the scorched principles of some in congress at the time that they had to be paid off to make it more palatable (ex: the Nebraska Purchase), some even determined to retire as they could no longer stomach the legislation they were party to passing.
Now we are back in the middle of rhetoric with "A Crisis" situation and we must pass something.  There will be arm twisting, cajoling, name calling and (if what we hear about the Boeing/NLRB situation is true) outright threats.
I am proud of those new voices we sent in November.  I am proud of people like Jim DeMint, Louie Gomer, Michelle Bachman and others who have been in Washington for years and yet still hold onto their convictions and refuse to compromise them.  I thank you all and tell you that while they all are accusing you of being "CONSERVATIVES" I thank you for having backbone and being PATRIOTS who truly love your Republic.

Cheri H Dorbritz

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

John Boehner is Not Our Friend

 

I think this would need a great deal of tweaking to be considered acceptable.

The Budget Control Act of 2011, S. 627 as amended

FIRST-YEAR CUTS. The bill would provide caps on non-emergency discretionary spending for FY 2012-2021. The cap for FY 2012 would be $1.043 trillion, which is a $7 billion reduction compared to FY 2011. The House's appropriations process has been on course to reduce such spending by $31 billion, a number which many RSC Members felt was insufficient (The RSC budget would have reduced this spending by $71 billion). Per the bill, the discretionary cap for FY 2012 is $24 billion above the current FY 2012 House appropriations plan.

TEN-YEAR DISCRETIONARY CAPS.The bill sets discretionary spending caps that increase gradually over the FY 2012-2021 period. According to the sponsors, the total spending cuts compared to the baseline are $1.2 trillion. However, the spending cap rises from $1.043 trillion in FY 2012 to $1.234 trillion in FY 2021. This is measured as a cut because CBO's baseline assumes growth with inflation, instead of using zero baseline budgeting. Within the cap, there is a firewall protecting defense in FY 2012 and FY 2013, but not from FY 2014-2021.

BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT. The bill would require a vote on (not passage of) a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) in each house of Congress during last three months of 2011. If one house did pass a BBA, the other house would have to take up that BBA as-passed within 15 days. Nothing in the bill conditions the debt limit increase on a Balanced Budget Amendment being sent to the states.

EMERGENCY SPENDING OUTSIDE OF CAP. The bill allows emergency-designated spending or funding for the Global War on Terrorism to fall outside the caps. In order for spending to fall outside the cap, the President would have to designate it as an emergency and the Congress would have to so designate it in statute.

DEBT LIMIT INCREASES. The bill would grant the President an automatic $400 billion debt-ceiling increase if he certified before the end of calendar year 2011 that the federal debt is within $100 billion of the debt limit. Presumably such certification would come immediately upon enactment of this bill. The President would get an additional $500 billion debt-ceiling increase if the Congress failed to pass a resolution of disapproval, subject to expedited procedures in the House and Senate (similar procedure to McConnell plan). If the resolution of disapproval passed, the President would presumably veto it, and the Congress could only override it with a two-thirds vote in both houses, pursuant to Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution. If, after the debt ceiling is increased by $900 billion, the President later certifies that the federal debt is again within $100 billion of the debt limit, the President could request up to $1.6 trillion in additional debt, subject to the same disapproval procedures above. This debt limit increase would be contingent on the joint committee described below leading to enactment of a deficit reduction package in excess of $1.6 trillion.

JOINT COMMITTEE. The bill would create a twelve-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which would be required to provide original recommendations (including legislative language) to "significantly" improve both the short- and long-term fiscal imbalance of the federal government, as well as to consider the recommendations from existing standing committees of Congress. The goal of the committee would be to reduce the deficit by $1.8 trillion. A majority of the committee (seven members) would be able to report its legislative recommendations for reducing the deficit before Thanksgiving, and such legislation would be subject to expedited consideration in both houses. The bill does not prevent the joint committee from reporting legislation to increase taxes.

MANDATORY SPENDING.The legislation provides funding to fill a shortfall of $17 billion (over two years) for the federal Pell Grant program. The bill more than offsets this spending by terminating Direct Loan Repayment Incentives, as well as subsidized loans for graduate students. Beyond that, the bill envisions any mandatory spending changes being done via the Joint Committee described above.

I think it is clear that John Boehner is not our friend.