Friday, October 19, 2012

My View

Random ruminations from your resident curmudgeon...


The political season is a time of claims and counter-claims and positioning by the candidates. Accomplishments are touted and refuted, and we as voters are left to sort out the truth from all the noise an political spin. Well, here is some truth, and it is pretty grim. According to the Congressional Research Service, spending on social welfare programs is approaching the $1 TRILLION mark. Stunningly, nearly one-third of the U.S. population- 100 million people- receive some form of aid from a means tested welfare program each month. Under the Obama administration, federal welfare spending has increased more than a third. CAUTION: do not read this next sentence if you have a weak heart or are prone to high blood pressure. There are over 80 federal welfare programs that provide assistance for food, housing, medical care, etc. and only two- TWO- of those had any kind of a requirement that the recipient work or look for work. Now before you say that I am just a hard hearted conservative that doesn't care if people starve, let me be clear that I believe there is a place for these programs that assist those individuals and families that are genuinely in need. Welfare spending as constituted today has gone far beyond all of that and has become a massive entitlement game that is transferring the wealth of the productive to those that are not. Now that statement may sound harsh, but consider this: if we converted all the welfare programs to cash and distributed it to the recipients, it is more than FIVE times the amount of cash needed to eliminate all poverty in the United States. Let that sink in for a moment.  Here is the reality we face- spending on social programs has exploded because it gives those in Washington the power to collect votes and control people. This has to be changed, not only for the betterment of all our citizens but because economically, our nation cannot continue on this course.

Would you call an eye doctor in Alaska an "optical Aleutian"?

We all know how liberals love to characterize themselves as tolerant and accepting. Take a look at the following sample of tweets off the social media site Twitter:





Sorry for the unfiltered language, but you can see the level of venom and vitriol from the so-called tolerant left. And make no mistake, I am certain that you can find similar remarks about Obama from those on the right. So what is the point? Simply this: until we learn to talk to one another again and thoughtfully engage competing ideas, we will further fragment as a nation. And in so doing, we make it more difficult to make the hard decisions about what is right for our country rather than for a narrow self interest group.

Women love men with confidence. At least, I think they do.

One of the objectives of the Obama administration was to move the country toward "green energy", and there is nothing wrong with that. Except when the government is picking the winners and losers- mostly losers- in this area. Since Obama became President, the federal government, primarily through the Department of Energy, has been picking companies in the green energy market to receive government grants and loans. So far, 36 companies that have received taxpayer dollars have either filed bankruptcy or have laid off most of their work force as they head toward bankruptcy. And this has cost you and me billions of dollars. Oh, yeah, most of these companies are donors to the Obama campaign and Democratic causes. The latest bankruptcy filing came from automobile battery maker A123 Systems, whose President David Vieau has received 5 invitations to White House functions with President Obama and is a notable contributor to his campaign. These green energy fiascoes demonstrate that the government shouldn't be picking winners and losers in any industry, and when they do, the potential for corruption is incredibly high.

If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.

And that, my friends, is my view.


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