H. Resolution 365

House Resolution 365 (linked above) is something many of you out there may have never even heard of before. I will not lie, I just heard about it right before writing this blog because an old friend of mine on Facebook had posted a petition for others to sign to get this resolution moving. Although the Resolution does nothing itself to change any kind of law or reason inside Washington, the premise is simple: Pass this resolution to say that the Congress is supporting a forgiveness of student loan debt. While there are other parts to this resolution which you can read on your own and form an opinion on, for this blog I want to stick with why I believe a plan of action like this could, in the end, hurt America more than actually help America and its economic troubles.

In a time when the President wants to raise taxes on everyone in this nation, a Democrat sponsoring a bill that would forgive student loan debt seems to defeat the purpose of raising revenue, at least in my eyes. Students take out loans from the government and promise to repay them, and in turn the government makes money off of those loans. That is the way it is supposed to be, but we all know that these loans, many times, are not paid back and the government loses a lot of money on student loans. To forgive a large portion of the loans taken out by the young adults in this country because many cannot find a job is going much too far, and is taking away any kind of revenue jump you may be able to get out of the program in the future. If this was a one time sell-off where the government was getting out of the loan game, it would be much different. But this resolution would call on the President and the Congress to pass immediate legislation to make sure that the loans keep coming while those who are out of school and cannot find work would have their loans forgiven by the government.  read more »

NATO Extends Libya Mission For Another 3 Months

What were we told when this mission in Libya started? We were told by our President that it would last only days and this battle would make the world safer. I do not believe, after looking at the facts, many people actually believed that knowing many of our enemies were sneaking into Libya trying to take out the Libyan regime. Many months later and a lot more money down the toilet for a President, that while campaigning, was anti-war, there is a three month extension to keep the fight against Gaddaffi up and to take him out. One has to not only ask themselves why we got into this in the first place but why the President and others feel the need to keep it up after they have complained so much about wars in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade. I know they will try to point out the differences here, but the fact remains that the United States, for all intents and purposes, IS NATO, and we are going to be on the hook for more money over the next few months when we cannot even get people back to work here in the states.

This is another example of the President wanting to play by his own rules and not allow anyone else to have a say. The American people are screaming for the government to step aside and allow businesses to do what they choose to do to create jobs, but while they beg for a little room the government wants MORE regulation, MORE taxes, and they want to spend money on more wars that really do not make much sense to many people out there in this country. While Bush had a hard time selling Iraq and still does to an extent, President Obama can never explain away why he told Congress that this operation would last days not weeks, and it has lasted MONTHS. There is no explanation coming from the White House, and the press pool does not seem to be concerned with it at this point in time. They are more worried about the White House and another scandal that they believe could bring this President down. The press is there to tell the people what is happening in this nation, and that is ALL of that is happening in this nation. We can read about more than one topic in a sitting, and we can understand when we are being fooled into believing that this war in Libya is going to come to an end soon. We are teaming up with our enemies to fight a foe who, for all intents and purposes, did what the United States told them to because they were afraid something like this could happen. President Obama comes to power and he rocks the world with his stance on other nations and their leaders, and as we look at the world it is much different than it was even just a year ago.  read more »

AP Fact Check: Are the Rich Taxed Less Than Secretaries? 

I have to say I am very surprised to even see the AP take something like this up. They usually steer clear of doing fact checks like this because they know it will hurt the Left, but this time they came out, hit the nail on the head, and have shown the American people that the President, along with Buffett, is not being truthful to the people of this nation. The truth is right there in black and white for the President to see, and the truth is that the rich are already paying their fair share. The fact that there is not enough money left to pay for everything is not the fault of the rich not paying enough, but the fault of Washington spending too much. Taxing the “rich” even more is not going to solve our problems, fixing the tax code and making it fair for everyone is the only way to go.

The facts are what they are, and the AP has laid them out for everyone to understand. 10% of the households with the highest income pay more than half of the federal taxes in this nation, which shows that the President is not telling the whole truth when he goes out stumping for the new tax increases that he is looking for. The other argument is that the tax code is set up to benefit those of higher incomes. This is the case in a few instances, but the IRS reports that only 1,470 house holds in America with income over $1 million paid no federal taxes in 2009, while there were 237,000 returns that were at the $1 million mark or over (AP). That is less than ONE PERCENT of those making over $1 million a year, something you have not heard from the President, have you?  read more »

I refuse to post this video in my blog and actually give it the attention others have given it, but I will post the link for those who have not seen it and are a little confused as to what I am talking about. The video, uploaded by a YouTube member named “MoneyMaineNGP“, is a rap song about an EBT card and what can be done with the EBT card. In the video you see the “artist” (and I use that term as loosely as possible) going to the store and buying a huge amount of chips and snacks with the money while talking about how good it is to have an EBT card. This is America 2011 everyone, are you happy with your change?   read more »

President’s New Revenue Plan Built on Taxing the Rich

We all know the line by now “paying your fair share” and we have all really have become tired of the same rhetoric from this President day in and day out. We never get anything knew in the way of ideas or the slightest reason to believe he is willing to make a deal to get something done that will better the American people. We hear the President speak about how the rich have to pay their fair share, but the fact of the matter is he deals with companies that visit him in the White House that pay NOTHING in taxes. To say that he really cares about revenue would be the laughing stock of the internet. What he really cares about is trying even the playing field in his party and make himself look more electable when he knows his plan will never bring in the revenue he wants it to. This is what the President has been doing since he hit the campaign trail, and he keeps on promising what he cannot deliver. I think the people are catching on.

If the President, and even Congress for that matter, wants to make sure everyone “pays their fair share”, all the have to do is fix the tax code and get rid of the loopholes that exist. If we want to live in a nation with a tax system that is fair, a lot of work must be done to gut the system we use right now and unveil a new system that will be fair to those who are low-income earners as well as those who make a lot of money and run this economy. If we look to tax those who are trying to hire people in this economy, we will only see worse effects than we have seen thus far. I know many of you have your own ideas about how to fix the tax system whether it be a fair tax or flat tax system, but no matter which one you are in favor of we must look at these options and pressure Congress to do something about it right now before it is too late. Taxing those small businesses who create the jobs in this nation will do nothing to help the economy and we will see a recession to end all recession if we follow the President’s plan. He may say pass it right now, but I say step back and look at better options because everything this man has been behind has failed. Why give him the chance to redeem himself when there is just no money left. The plan I see from the President MAY shore up some more money to spend on other ventures, but that is not the government’s place.  read more »

GM, UAW Agree On New Deal

As if GM should be making any kind of deals with unions to get them more, they have done just that and, in my mind, cemented their place as an automaker that will be looking for another bailout by the government that owns them in the very near future. The government and the unions do not understand economics and will never understand economics, or they would understand all this plan does is make for more problems in the future. We have to look at why the problems that GM faced in the first place came to be, and one of the major issues was the unions who wanted more and more and GM who kept giving them more. The unions were like crack heads looking for another fix, and the heads of GM at the time were the guys who were throwing money at the crack heads to get their fix. After a bailout that cost the taxpayers BILLIONS of dollars of money that we did not have to spend, we are back in the same position as we were before the bailout, with the unions getting more bonuses and pay increases for workers who already make so much money it would make our heads spin.

As the taxpayers go on with their lives and watch television to make up for their dull lives otherwise, GM (a company that has lost billions in taxpayer funds and continues to lose more with every dip in their stock) continues to make deals that support the unions more than the business. The individuals running GM right now have to understand this is the dumbest move they could have made, but when you have the unions down your throat the right answer is not always the good answer. The unions have the deck stacked at GM and know they can get what they want, but they should also know that the next time GM is about to fail there will be no more money left to bail them out again. The government needs to get out of the business of owning priority stake in auto companies, especially when those auto companies are run by individuals who are out to help the unions more than the individual worker. It is not about what kind of work a person does anymore, it is about what kind of union they are in and what that union can do for them which will determine the price of their labor. This is, in my eyes, the biggest reason for the collapse of GM and the new collapse that we could see within a year, I believe.  read more »

California Schools Turn Away Students Not Vaccinated

With all of the talk during the Republican debates about vaccines and if they should be forced onto children and also their parents who may not believe in it, this article (which is linked above via Breitbart) stood out to me like a sore thumb. There are parents that choose not to vaccinate their children for one reason or another, and that is their choice to do so if they wish. While schools in California have turned away students because they did not get the required vaccine (which was for whooping cough) the state also says that parents can fill out a form to have their children opt out of the vaccination. The question here is not if the vaccine is bad or if it is being forced on the population of students, but what the parents are doing, or not doing, to educate themselves and make the right call.

There will always be the parents out there who believe everything the state and the schools tell them, and they would send their kid in to get a shot of heroin if the school said it would stave off diseases. The problem is with the other parents who have not decided one way or another if they want their child to have this vaccine or if they do not want to them to have it. The parents must be allowed, which they are in this case, to make the final choice when it comes to their children. The state has said children should have this shot before entering middle-school because of the rise in cases of whooping cough over the past few years. If the parent feels that their child will not fall to this illness, then do not get the vaccination. On the other hand, if the parent feels it is in the best interest of the child to get it, then the child should get the vaccination. It is time for the parents to step up and take control, but that is not all they should be doing in this case.  read more »

Mayor Bloomberg Predicts Riots in the Streets if More Jobs are not Created

I do not think Bloomberg is that far off in his assessment of the American people if they do not get some jobs and get them very soon. The plans for “creating” jobs have not done enough to make sure those coming out of college have employment, and those young adults who are not looking for work cannot find it. We have seen in other nations how the youth can rise up and take the fight to the government in the way of protesting in the streets on a massive scale, I am just not sure how much longer it will be until those younger people finally rise up, take their voice to Washington, and refuse to leave until something is done. Some of you may think this is not the best idea and in some ways I agree, but there is more to worry about in this nation than some college students who want to voice their opinion and voice it loudly. If they can keep it civil and refuse to leave and do not bring the violence as other nations have seen with their youth, then maybe this is the best thing that can happen to America.

What we have to understand about the youth in this nation (those who are recently out of college and cannot find work in their field) is that they are ticking time bombs waiting to go off. They were groomed from an early age to expect to graduate high school, go to college, graduate, and then go off to work for the next 35-40 years of their lives and start a family. This is the American way and the American way has been disrupted by politicians who do not have the best interest of the people at heart. More importantly, however, is what happens when the status quo changes. When you change the course of events that people are used to, they get angry. For example, if the media ran a news report saying that Congress just passed a bill into law that would cut food stamp rolls by 50%, you would immediately see people in the streets with signs, and some that would be looking to cause trouble. This is the way the world works. Take away what people expect to have, and sooner or later you will be left with chaos. All we have to do is look to European nations and we have a prime example of what happens when the government is forced to take programs away from the people. What happens is that cities burn and the younger people are out in the forefront of those acts.  read more »

TSA Says Fewer Patdowns For Kids

While this story is a few days old, I always like to keep up on the happenings at TSA, because if we realize it or not it does effect a large portion of the population. Today it is the air system that we are inconvenienced with, but tomorrow it will be that local bus and trolley service that you all use to get back and forth to work. In an environment where more and more people are looking to public transit to save some money on the commute they make every single day, this is the best time for TSA to ramp up their searches and get people prepared for more of the same down the road.

This time there is word from Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano that children under the age of 12 will no longer have to take their shoes off at the airport. This will also coincide with a different pat down procedure for those under the age of 12 as well, since there has been an outcry over the past many months to change the way TSA deals with children when they go to the airport. Can you imagine having to explain to your child why they are being searched in parts where if anyone else touched them there they would certainly call the police? I do not have children and I cannot begin to imagine the anger of the parents that have had to go through this type of conversation with their young kids.

The more important question (at least for me) is why the TSA is not changing the way they search everyone at the airports. This would not be a difficult task to accomplish, of course they would have to hire individuals who were prepared to do the right kind of searches on the people that should be searched. We are still living in a country where political correctness rules the day, and because of that we have gone away from searching those we know could be a threat and searching those who, in many people’s minds, would not hurt a hair on our heads. A nun, child, older lady or gentlemen, or a person who is not able to get up and do things for themselves do not need to be pulled aside and made a fool of just because we have this fear that we might be attacked again. We could be attacked at any time and if we are going to be a nation of people who are afraid to live, then this is the kind of treatment that the people of this great nation will stand behind. If we are a nation of people who are not afraid to stand up to an enemy and call a spade a spade, then we will not only win the war against our enemies but we will also live the way free American’s should be living.  read more »

There have been many commentators taking this question on for the past couple days or so, asking, “What will it mean for the President if the Democrats lose a seat they have held since 1923?” Many times in politics we can look too deep into something when it really does not mean anything at all, but in the current economic and social climate that we are facing here in this nation, I believe this election to say more than even most pundits may agree with. This election has told the President that he must work with the other side and use their ideas or he will never come close to winning another election in this nation again.

Some of you who are reading this may not take it to mean as much as that, but we have to look at the facts of this district and then make our call on how much it means. This district has been held in Democratic hands since 1923, has been held by many prominent Democrats such as Chuck Schumer and the late Geraldine Ferraro, and went strongly for Barack Obama in the last election, with the President winning 55% of the vote. In the latest polling, the people of the 9th district in NY are not so favorable to the President, with him polling at around 33% in a district that has never been a problem for the Democrats to grab up. The President needs to be worried, and he needs to get together with his people and figure out how to save his Presidency because it is imploding onto him.

These are the facts of the matter, and the President knows it. The White House and other Democrats are trying to downplay it as they downplayed the election of Scott Brown, but the fact of the matter is that the President just does not have that way with the people as he did when he was elected. He has learned the hard way one of the rules of politics: Never promise too much when you cannot deliver. To some extent that is not the fault of the President. How could he have imagined that the Congress, full of Democrats that eventually passed health care reform, would do nothing else but sit on their butts and fight with the other side about legislation they could have passed without the Republicans. In some way he was denied a first term that could have got him re-elected, but now he only has himself to blame because he has decided not to work with the other side. In fact, he has decided to tell the Republicans what they NEED to do, and that is to pass the American Jobs Act before anyone knows what is included in it. This may have worked with the Democrats in the House before the last election, but it will not work now.  read more »