Can They Handle Complicated Legislation Or Not?

President Obama says he, his administration and the Democratic Congress can indeed take care of such complicated matters quickly. A major makeover of the financial industry and oversight of it, major makover of health care, major stimuli to the economy, taking over major industries, improved international relations, better running of the war(s), etc, etc.

So how is it they can't make any significant progress securing our Southern border with Mexico? What's 'complicated' about a stinking fence? What's 'complicated' about adding sufficient (and properly equipped/armed) police and other enforcement there? Hey, if Democrats want to stimulate something, how about putting some of the stimulus money to use hiring Americans to build that fence and otherwise protect the border, accomplishing two things at once that a large majority of Americans actually WANT them to do(!) ... putting Americans to work AND securing the border. Hello?

Common Sense #1: Tanning Beds Cause Cancer

Just saw on msn.com: a STUDY just concluded that the use of tanning beds greatly increases the chance of contracting cancer of skin and eyes. Here's my thinking on that ... well DUH! With respect to those who've been harmed by these things, why do we need a study to prove that? Let's see ... we know excessive exposure to sunlight causes skin cancer. Hmmmm. Maybe blasting light into your skin and cooking it browner with a high intensity light from a few inches away could do that too? Gads ... who'd have thought?

I understand we need such a study in order for government to regulate our use of something that's obviously bad for us (and we should therefore know better!) but it seems to me that common sense would convince us that's true so that there'd be no demand for the beds and companies making them would just go out of business.

Guess what's next? Lawsuits of course! Lots and lots of lawsuits suing tanning salons and tanning bed manufacturers to hold them accountable after we've CHOOSEN to do something that's obviously, by any reasonable amount of common sense beforehand, not good for us. C'mon folks! Let's use more common sense to motivate us to stop doing things that are bad for us ... or do them in moderation. An added benefit of doing that would be lower medical and insurance costs. Oh, but that will create a problem too. We'll live longer which means we'll need social security and medicare longer. Hmmmm.

Common sense tells us that this 'new' information will lead to: 1. government will 'regulate' this by requiring big labels with dire warnings (like those on smokes); 2. all companies making tanning beds will put even bigger signs of their own on their beds telling us that we're using their product at our own risk (to help them avoid being sued); 3. tanning salons will display even bigger signs telling us that we're using their service at our own risk; and 4. people will go right on using them anyway ... and getting cancer anyway.

37 Very Good Years!

It's our 37th wedding anniversary today. They've been such good years! Karen blesses me every day of our marriage by her unconditional love, kindness, support, and encouragement. She has a good heart.

She's been a wonderful mate. She's also been a wonderful mother to our two sons ... just as loving, kind, supportive, and encouraging to them as to me. God Bless Her and God Bless Our Marriage!

I Love You Hon! :-) XO!

Obama Inherited This Economic Mess From A Democratic Congress, Not Bush

As are most Republicans I'm upset how Republicans failed to control spending during Bush's two terms. President Obama in particular likes to remind us that he inherited this economic mess from his predecessor. There's just this one pesky little problem with that argument however. According to Section 8.1 of the Constitution (Enumerated Powers of Congress), Congress is responsible for taxing and spending, not the president. That means that when Democrats took over control of the House and Senate 2 1/2 years ago they (not Bush!) had Primary authority and responsibility for taxing and spending ... and, therefore, for any resulting surplus or debt.

For two years prior to this disaster Democrats had total control of EVERY Senate and House committee and sub-committee that had oversight responsibility for all the institutions and regulatory agencies that let us down. It's was THEIR JOB (per the Constitution), not Bush's, to see this coming AND do something about it.

It's Constitutionally (ie, factually) incorrect for President Obama or any other Democrat to claim they inherited this economic mess from President Bush as if they bear no responsibility for it. In fact, Obama himself(!) was a member of one body (Senate) that had responsibility and authority during Bush's last two years. Doesn't that mean that it's technically more accurate for President Obama to claim he inherited this mess from himself since, per the Constitution, he had more responsibility for spending and taxing than Bush his last two years?

If you take issue with the argument that Obama is more responsible than Bush, you must at least agree (because it's completely, factually and Constitutionally true) that Obama inherited this 'mess' from Democrats, not Bush, since (via majority control of Congress) they had 100% of the authority and responsibility for spending and taxing (therefore debt or surplus) during Bush's last two years. It's at least disingenuous for Democrats in Congress to complain about 'the mess' Bush handed them when, in fact, they had two years being in control of it to make changes that would have prevented the mess but didn't. If nothing else, they deserve at least an equal share of the responsibility for what's happened.

I suspect most Americans don't know this division of responsibility or forgot it or just haven't taken the time to think this through. It's easier to just accept what Democrats and the media are feeding us, right? Our ignorance of the Constitution can be a dangerous thing, a risk to our future in fact. After all, how can we hold the proper people responsible for anything if we don't understand who's responsible for what? For that matter, what does it say about Congress, the President and the media that they don't seem to know this? I encourage everyone to bone up on 'government' and get more involved in getting our current problems properly resolved.

San Jose CA: Ridiculous Crime Rate

My wife and I raised our boys in San Jose CA. I say that with significant regret. I think I should have picked somewhere else due to the incessant property crime there.

We were immediately attracted to a middle-class neighborhood in North Valley when my wife and I started looking for our first home in 1977. After we moved into a smallish 3 bed 2 bath home the San Jose version of Welcome Wagon greeted us in less than a month ... while we were sleeping a man broke into our home via the garage, apparently with burglary on his mind. Thankfully the police showed up quickly and he left through the back yard over the fence. It could have ended badly because he dropped an axe by the back fence that I had used to chop wood in the garage the previous evening. We should have taken a lesson from that but we hoped it was an anomalous event in an otherwise peaceful and reasonably crime-free neighborhood. We were wrong. Man, were we wrong!

Over the years living in two different houses in that area of town we experienced a property crime about every two years which included: the aforementioned attempted home invasion burglary, another attempted burglary, three car break-ins (various stereos and musical equipment stolen), bike stolen from the garage, motorcycle stolen from driveway, the grill removed from one of our cars, stolen camera, two stolen wallets, and a hit and run car accident. I think I've missed a couple of crimes but you get the idea.

We bade good riddance to San Jose when we retired and moved to Oregon two years ago. We were happy to leave the crime behind us. However, one of our sons still lives there and we just heard his motorcycle was stolen (2nd time!) from his carport yesterday (in a complex that claims to have good security). So, our family's record of experiencing a property crime about every two years in San Jose continues unabated.

Why anyone would want to live in San Jose CA is a mystery to me.

Congress: Where It's Fine Not To Learn From Mistakes

The first stimulus package isn't working as advertised. Wow! What a surprise!

The unemployment rate is now higher than President Obama said it would be if we had done NOTHING! Huh? Everyone involved in this shennanigan is now admitting "it hasn't done what we thought it would". The key people responsible for it are saying that's because "we didn't really understand what was going on in the economy". Oh yeah, that makes me feel better about it!

The self-proclaimed experts guaranteed us that we HAD TO do something immediately. In fact, it was so urgent that they chose not to take time to read the bill! Assumed it would work because you-know-who created it. Didn't have the necessary expertise or knowledge to construct a bill that would actually work and didn't have time to try to understand and discuss what it would do once it was written? Doesn't that represent incompetence and irresponsibility on a mind-boggling scale? Hello?

But that's not the best part! Now they say that just means they need to do it again! Huh? Where is the logic in that? First they admit incompetence at understanding the problem, then they say they want to do it again. This result shouldn't be a surprise because every time government has tried to fix an ailing economy in the past via an increase in taxing, spending and debt it didn't work. Every time it has tried stimulating the economy by decreasing taxing, spending and debt it has worked. Let's see, what should LOGIC and COMMON SENSE tell us about this? Hmmmm. Is this Bizzaro World or what?

President's and Congress' Objectives: Mislead Americans

How to pay for President Obama's Health Care Reform is the burning question. We've heard for months that he intends to pay for it by raising taxes on people earning more than $250k as if that's no big deal for the average American. Opponents claim that tax increase is a huge financial hit on small businesses and will put lots of people out of work. Obama responds with "relatively few businesses will be affected by this tax increase." Sounds contradictory. So what's the truth? Wouldn't you like to be able to make your own judgement how bad this is for the economy based on ACTUAL impacts?

Turns out they're both correct but Obama's claim is deliberately(!) misleading to give the impression that it's not so bad. It's true that "relatively few small businesses will be affected" (ie, about 1/3 of them) as he says but those 'few' businesses employ 2/3(!) of the total small business employees. In fact, according to IRS(!) data, those 'few' small businesses most likely to be hit by this tax increase employ about 25% of the entire (emphasize ENTIRE) US workforce!!! IN ADDITION, 68% OF ALL MANUFACTURERS file as individuals and their average taxable income is well above $250k.

So, the FACT is that some 1/3 of all US workers will see their employers' taxes increase. What does an employer do when his taxes increase which drives his profit down? He fires people. He also spends less on capital expenditures ... so other companies make less off him and those other companies also have to fire people.

Taxing 'only' people making more than $250k sounds 'safe' for most of us but it affects the employers of about 1/3 of the US workforce. Is that as trivial as the President makes it sound? Do you feel misled, if not lied to? I do!

Electronic Medical Records Being Oversold

One of the most prominently mentioned benefits President Obama and his supporters describe every time they promote his Health Care Reform plan is electronic medical records. That may help prevent errors although most 'medical errors' I've experienced or heard about would have happened regardless because existing records were correct ... people just screwed up. But they've also promoted this as a big cost-savings.

Guess what? The Congressional Budget Office, responsible for estimating costs and cost-savings of legislation, refuses to document a cost-savings estimate for going to electronic records ... because it's such a small amount!

We all need to pay attention to claims our elected representatives are making about the huge changes under way. Based on the non-performance of the last 'stimulus' package we should be more skeptical from here on. There's much at stake and the results are falling far short of promises.

What Nature of Person Does This?

Top pic above: headed West on highway 89 in California about 30 miles before you get to McCloud ... beautiful scenery including Mt Shasta in the background.

Bottom pic above: HUGE pile of trash right next to highway 89 a mile or two from where I took the top picture. What nature of person does this? It's disgusting. It's sad. Sad to think a person can live in this great country God has blessed us with and do this. Sad to think what it means about the country we're becoming. (I had no way of cleaning up a mess of this size so I reported it to the Forest Service.)

More Government = Less Freedom

Just finished reading "Glenn Beck's Common Sense". I particularly appreciate that he included Thomas Paine's "Common Sense". To understand what's so wrong today it's important to understand the context in which our federal government was formed.

We need the perspective offered by Glenn's book because we've truly lost focus on and appreciation of what made our country so unique and what's so bad about where we're headed politically. To regain that appreciation we need to understand the history of our country and what our founders intended for and hoped from our various governments.

The individual's spirit and potential were seen as paramount then but we're becoming a nation of dependents and whiners. We need to understand the insideous sapping of the spirit of the individual by Progressive (Republican and Democratic) agendas over the past 100 years or so. We also must understand the speed with which those efforts are accelerating and the extent to which they are becoming successful. There's is much about our way of life that is at risk.

The most progressive of our states is now bankrupt and is paying bills via IOU's (in effect, they're basically printing their own money which is unconsitutional). It's debt is greater than most state's entire budgets. Shouldn't that tell us something? European countries led the way down the progressive road and progressives here in American have long envied them but the Europeans finally came to understand the cost and are now reversing course (while we move more rapidly down that path). Shouldn't that tell us something?

The fundamental question is: isn't it JUST COMMON SENSE what's happening to us and why it's bad for our future? We're becoming irresponsible, dependent on the government and materialistic at great risk. We ALLOW our government to pass major Progressive-based reform legislation even though they don't read it (much less understand it's content or consequences) and in spite of the fact that most Americans are opposed to major aspects of the legislation. We ALLOW our elected representatives to treat us with disdain and disrespect, forgetting they work for us. They patronizingly tell us what they're doing is too complicated for us to understand as justification for doing what they and special interests want. They think it's their job to 'take care of us'.

Are you aware that ours is no longer a representative form of government? Are you aware that 40% of Americans have NO representation instead of a 40% say in what gets done? Are you aware we are a ONE PARTY government now that Republicans are shut out of all participation in major legislation that's bringing government control to every facet of our lives? Regardless your political party affiliation you must be uncomfortable having one political party control everything at the federal level. Common Sense tells us something's not right with that and that it's fundamentally not good for the future of our country.

Wife's Back From Her Trip!

Life is 'right' again ... Karen's back home from her trip visiting family. I'm glad she went but it's good having her back home. Was getting pretty lonesome around this ol house.