Saturday, April 26, 2008

Hurry Up and Wait

For those of us who have children we are eminently familiar with the term "hurry up and wait." It now applies to the mess of a primary season. The millions spent to get to the front of the line was much ado about nothing. Rushing the electorate to be the state to nominate just fizzled.

It is going to come down to maybe Indiana and North Carolina and not all those states that rushed to judgement to be the one to nominate. Speed and/or being first is not always a good thing.

Look at all we have learned about the two candidates for the Democrat nomination by going through this discourse. We should wag our fingers at all those politicos who moved given states primaries to try and get to the front of the feeding trough. I am glad they are now in wait mode. Have we learned anything, probably not. Perhaps the rush next time will be to be last. What is it the children's story taught us. Slow and steady wins the race.

Just one more thing our Mother's taught us that if we would just remember them life would be much easier on everyone. Next post will highlight, if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The debate, the Ambush and the Why.

For those of us who have seen clips or watched the last debate in Pennsylvania why is no one saying that George S. is still embedded in the Clinton camp. It seemed obvious to me that as an old family friend and former employee the Greek from ABC must have had a debt to repay. He sure settled it the other night. To me it was obvious that it was a predetermined hit on Barack Obama, but no one else is saying so, because the media wouldn't report on one of it own, would they?

It is obvious from when I used to watch George's Sunday show that he is still attached to the Clinton's and certainly to a liberal agenda. Who else would continually have Ms. Vandenhoevel on their program. She is an embarrassment and now so is George.

Our media is becoming the best thing money and/or influence can buy. There are friendships and loyalty and then there is good journalism. At the last debate the journalism was sorely lacking.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Perhaps Lou Dobbs is right?

545 People ……By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank. I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ. If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation' or 'politics' that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!


Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper