What an Obummer

I note with some alarm that most of the e-mails I have been receiving lately have concerned themselves with our current president. Further alarm is triggered by the fact that none have placed him in a favorable light. This, of course, is probably due to the fact that all my previous liberal contacts have faded away into the night as it has become more and more apparent that he is so far in over his depth that it would be laughable if it were not so disruptive to our joint common sense.

The latest e-mail is a forward from the former mother-in-law of my daughter. A few samples---

If any of our former presidents had doubled the national debt in one year, would you have approved?

If any of our former presidents had criticized a state law that he admitted he had never even read, would you have approved?

If any of our former presidents had reduced your retirement plan holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?


I don't know about you, but these are very serious charges to me, and, yet, each is very provable. There are about three dozen of these charges levied in the e-mail, and I cannot find a single one that does not have an actual basis in fact. Yet our liberal friends seem totally unconcerned about them, and in point of actual fact, seem to approve.

I recognize that our country is in serious, serious trouble, and yet this president seems, like his supporters, to be totally unconcerned with the mockery he has made of the presidency. It would seem a small thing that he bows to the king of Saudi Arabia, that he presents a set of videos of himself to the queen of England, that he has consistently downplayed the role of the US in the governance and well being of the entire planet - if it were not for the fact that he really honestly believes that he is performing his duties in a wise manner.

His buffoonery is intolerable to any thinking American. He is what he is, a street organizer; and that is all he ever will be, whether he holds higher office or not. He is simply incapable of understanding that his actions are deleterious not only to himself, but to all persons upon this earth. He is, after all, the leader of the free world - or his position commands that he be. At present, he is the leader of only the Democrat Party and its coterie of far left ultra liberal loonies.

He has been unable to form any kind of coalition between the Democrats and Republicans in Congress and in the country at large. Indeed, he has been disruptive to that entire process. He has failed utterly to lead, but has relied upon his gang of 32 czars to formulate policy and given them their head to place such policies into effect by regulation, thereby bypassing any Congressional review. He has forced legislation to be passed without any review by the 600 plus members of Congress. The leadership of the Senate cannot get anything passed unless the matter is decided by a 51-49 vote. The House does pass numberless bills but the Senate will not even bring them to the floor.

Gridlock.

That is what the current president has provided to the US populace. Gridlock.

I thought the country under Carter was a travesty. Under Obama, it isn't even that good. Under Carter we were dealing with a man who could not make up his mind what it was he thought would move the country forward. Under Obama, we have a man that doesn't know and apparently doesn't care what he does to the 330 million, only what is best (in his eyes) for him. And that surely is not what is best for this country.

This country WILL survive his ineptness. I have no doubt of that. He WILL go down in history as the worst of all so far. But the travail that he leaves in his path will take decades to erase.

And in the meantime, we talk of entitlements (which aren't, by the way, as dedicated taxes have been and are being paid for Social Security and Medicare, for Unemployment and Workers Compensation, etc.) We talk of cutting federal expenditures, we talk of raising taxes on the rich, we talk of a 'super committee' which will do nothing, we battle over the debt ceiling, and we talk ad nauseam. The real description of gridlock. Talk. Talk. Talk.

OK.

The time has come to get off our collective asses and DO. The malaise that has overcome us has to be ended. And the only way to DO that is to vote for anyone other than this popinjay that is holding the office now. I don't see a lot of difference between the current crop of Republican hopefuls. But I'd vote for Bill the Cat if it would ensure that Obama is removed from the presidency.

Occupying My Mind

There is nothing new under the sun.

Recently, and now, and for the foreseeable future, the protestors that title themselves as Occupy anything will be with us. They are similar in many ways to others we have seen marching the streets of America, and yet there is a rather dramatic difference in them.

In the Thirties we had Cox's Army and their fringe in the streets of Washington. In the Sixties we had the Civil Rights marchers and their fringe all over the country. In the Seventies and Eighties we had the Vietnam War protestors and their fringe all over the country. Today we have the Occupiers all over the world, but centered primarily on Wall Street.

Similarities? Well, each of these movements were pretty well organized - except for the current Occupiers. And each of them were centered on a specific issue - except the Occupiers. They each prevailed in their goals -it remains to be seen what will happen with the Occupiers.

The Occupiers are not organized, they have no specific issue. And until they do they will remain disorganized and will not prevail.

My favorite songwriter, Tom T. Hall, seems to have had the right idea, long before the Occupiers arrived on the scene. In looking at the human condition in the United States, Hall wrote "We got too many do-goods and not enough hard working men, we have too many hands out and not enough lending a hand..."

A few weeks ago I read a blog that excoriated the Occupiers, and answered their demands point by point, a great entry, and it got me to thinking about this rag tag group. At the time I also wrote a dissertation about them that went much deeper into their demands and answered each one. I will not bore you with it, if you want a copy get in touch with me through this blog and I'll send you a copy - just give me your mail address (postal address please, I'll not place it on e-mail.)

The upshot of my response was as I have just indicated, they are too disorganized for anyone to take them seriously, have no set of specific demands but the ones they have put forward are simply impossible or too darned stupid to even be considered. I'll pick just one for discussion here (and a short discussion, too.)

According to the published demand, the Occupiers feel that it is a must that ALL debt be cancelled. Immediately. Personal debt, student loans, municipal debt, state debt, federal debt, interbank debt, IMF debt, country to country debt - the entire gamut of debt, as they say "planet wide" must be obviated NOW.

Well. That is a pretty big demand. And wouldn't it be wonderful - if it were possible!!

They assign no responsibility for who is to do this, only that it be done, with no regard to the obliteration of every economy in the world. It just won't play in Peoria or anywhere else in the world, and specifically within the US. Just think, if General Motors needs $3 billion to have steel on hand to produce the autos and trucks that the world needs, they would have to pony up that $3 billion upfront - and the question immediately arises, where are they going to get it since all personal and corporate debt has been eliminated and all those millions indebted for $25,000 for that car or truck and GM won't get it. They could not even say they would pay upon delivery, as that in and of itself creates debt. Taken as a demand that one falls so far short of any reality it is laughable.

As is the whole 'Occupier Movement."

Any person with a reasonable grasp of basic economics must understand that their whole movement is being prodded by those who do not have such a grasp. Indeed, I was unable to find a single one of their demands (these were just the ideas of one person, by the way, God knows what others may be thinking) that have any basis in reality.

As Hall said, "...we have too many hands out and not enough lending a hand." My basic instinct tells me these wild-eyed pie in the sky Occupiers would do better to go home and grow up - and go to school and learn some of the facts of life. No one has a debt to these people who refuse to better themselves. Personal responsibility has been the guiding quality of Americans for three centuries. I expect it will remain so for any successful people throughout the life of our republic.

I view the Occupier Movement as no more than a hair on a pimple on a wart on the otherwise fair face of this country. If they want all these things, then the answer is to go out , get a job, make the money required and then put their ideas into effect.

But - they won't. they are too much into gimme, gimme, gimme.

But Hall also wrote about that, too. In one song he relates the story of an old man who told him, "Folks will tell their kids, now I don't want you to have to work the way I did. They don't - and folks will tell you it's a shame. But you've got to think - before you place the blame."

Yeah. You've got to think before you place the blame.