Politicians Use Fear to Get Their Way

Politicians use fear to motivate each other and the general public.

The President is wrong to use fear to motivate Congress!

In California the governor, Jerry Brown, used fear to motivate voters to vote for a .25% sales tax increase and an income tax increase on the wealthy. It worked! Now there are indications that the state may be able to restore many programs that had been canceled and save others that were scheduled for major reductions. The problem is that the additional state income may be spent on unnecessary new programs.

The city of Los Angeles wants voters to approve another .5% sales tax increase to bail out their shortfall. Their fear motivation is that the city will go bankrupt without the higher tax. That will be decided in a March 5 election.

President Obama is using the same tactic in his campaign to stop sequestration. The threat is long lines at airports, reduced food inspection, criminal illegal aliens will be let out onto our streets, companies doing business with the government may have to layoff half of their employees, we can’t send patrol ships to the Persian Gulf, etc. All of this the result of a 2.4% reduction in this year’s budget that must be absorbed in the next seven month.

The stock market is not panicked and we can only hope that it doesn’t panic. There are no demonstrations in the streets. Mr. President, you are alienating the public when you use fear as a tactic to get your way!

Did the Pope Resign as the Result of Child Abuse/Sex Abuse Cases?

There are suspicions about the reason for Pope Benedict’s resignation. After all, no pope has resigned in about 600 years. The others all died in office. I am sure that many of them were in poor health but continued as best they could. So why did the current pope believe he could no longer perform the duties required of the position?

CNN posted this on the bottom of their screen during “Reliable Sources” today. “Italian media are buzzing with reports that the pope’s resignation was tied to a secret report on gay priests. The Vatican strongly condemns the allegations, calling them ‘deplorable.’ The allegations may be deplorable (synonym for unforgivable) but are they accurate?

Here are the cardinals involved in sex abuse case cover-up:

Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York
Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles

Instances of abuse listed on Wikipedia. Even if these cases are exaggerated the extent of abuse is overwhelming.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas paid $30.9 million in 1998 to twelve victims of one priest.^[21] In July 2003 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville paid $25.7 million to “settle child sexual-abuse allegations made in 240 lawsuits naming 34 priests and other church workers.”^[21]

In 2003 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston also settled a large case for $85 million with 552 alleged victims.^[87]

In 2004, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange settled nearly 90 cases for $100 million.^[88]

In April 2007 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon agreed to a $75 million settlement with 177 claimants and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle agreed to a $48 million settlement with more than 160 victims.^[89]

In July 2007 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a $660 million agreement with more than 500 alleged victims, in December 2006, the archdiocese had a settlement of 45 lawsuits for $60 million.^[23][90]

In September 2007 the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego reached a $198.1 million “agreement with 144 childhood sexual abuse victims.”^[91]

In July 2008 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver agreed “to pay $5.5 million to settle 18 claims of childhood sexual abuse.”^[92] The Associated Press estimated the total from settlements of sex abuse cases from 1950-2007 to be more than $2 billion.^[23] According to BishopAccountability reports that figure reached more than $3 billion in 2012.^[6][20]

In the late 1980s allegations were made of physical and sexual abuse committed by members of the Christian Brothers, who operated the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

In June 2010, Belgian police raided the Belgian Catholic Church headquarters in Brussels, seizing a computer and records of a Church commission investigating allegations of child abuse.

In April 2010 it was reported that former bishop of the Norwegian Catholic Church, Georg Müller, had confessed to the Norwegian Police in early January 2010 that he had sexually abused an underaged altar boy 20 years earlier.

In November 2010, an independent group in Austria ^[82] that operates a hotline to help people exit the Catholic Church released a report documenting physical, sexual, and emotional abuse perpetrated by Austrian priests, nuns, and other religious officials.

In 2012 an Australian police report in the Victoria state jurisdiction detailed 40 suicide deaths by people who had been abused by Catholic clergy.

Perhaps Pope Benedict is so dismayed that he can’t bring himself to lead the church any longer. Perhaps he too is guilty of some of the crimes. We will never really know. It is sad that one of the world’s greatest religions has this horrible mark on its history. What other marks does it have?

CalPERS plans 85% rate hike for long-term-care insurance

When we get old it’s difficult to perform everyday tasks. For those of us who are alone there is no one to help with making meals, bathing, and the other assorted things that are part of daily living.

I have written about this before. https://coastcontact.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/long-term-care-insurance/. There has been an issue about the climbing rates for this type of insurance and the fact that many insruance companies have raised the monthly rate for those already enrolled.

Now CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System), the second largest organization offering long term health care insurance, will be raising their rate by 85% in 2015. The article in the Los Angeles Times advising of the planned rate increase tells of a retired 82 year old man who calculates his new rate will be $785 a month.

As I wrote in my previous commentary this is insurance that only the rich can afford. As Consumers Reports advises “One percent of those ages 65 to 74 live in a nursing home, 4 percent of 75- to 84-year-olds, and 19 percent of those age 85 and older.”

If CalPERS can’t control costs what makes you think your insurance company can do the job? That agency has more than 148,000 policyholders in its long-term-care program.

Sequestration to Make You Feel Guilty

Barack Obama is a master politician!

President Barack Obama wants to shock Congress into not implementing sequestration. To motivate Congress he has directed cut backs in employment of workers and critical military support just to get your attention.

Federal spending for both 2012 and 2013 is planned at $3.8 Trillion for each year. Ten percent of that number is $380 Billion. The Budget Control Act (called sequestration) of 2011 imposed caps on discretionary programs that will reduce their funding by more than $1 trillion over the ten years from 2012 through 2021. That does not mean $1 trillion in 2013. It means one tenth of that amount each year or $100 Billion a year.

Somehow Congress decided the first year’s reduction must be $109.3 Billion. That works out to 2.8763% of $3.8 Trillion budget. Is this a big deal? NO. However to make it a big deal the administration has decided to do as much damage as possible by layoffs and furloughs that will make everyone in Congress feel guilty. This is all in the hope that Congress will enact laws that will defer the cuts to some date in the distant future.

When hundreds of thousands of people receive their reduced paychecks in March, thanks to a four day work week, the anguished crying heard at congressional offices will receive immediate attention. Congress will cave into the Obama idea of finding another way to reduce spending. Then again perhaps his objective is no reduced spending. Either way he is likely to get his way.

Los Angeles Needs to Grow Up

Major cities throughout the world are noted for their skyscrapers. Los Angeles lacks that distinctive architectural image.

The tallest building in Los Angeles today is the 73-story U.S. Bank Tower, which rises 1,018 feet (310 m) in Downtown Los Angeles and was completed in 1989. Among the next nine tallest buildings none are more than 858 feet (262m) tall. They are 52 to 55 stories high. Among that group of ten the last one was completed in 1992. Among the 34 buildings that are at least 400 feet (122 m) tall two were completed in this century and the rest were primarily completed in the 60’s, 70, and 80’s.

Korean Air’s $1-billion hotel skyscraper. Rendering of the 73-story Wilshire Grand hotel and office building to be constructed in downtown Los Angeles. (AC Martin Partners)

Cities either grow or shrink. Los Angeles has filled its land space with low rise structures. If we are to grow it must be up. When you add the new Korean Air 73 story building to new high rise developments in Hollywood and elsewhere you know the city is in growth mode. These new structures will be magnets for more new business. Most of us want to be part of a growing economy.

A proposal for two skyscrapers that would flank the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood gained the approval of the city’s planning department Tuesday despite push-back from dozens of disgruntled residents.

An artist’s rendering of the project near the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. (Handel Architects)

Those who continuously fight against tall buildings, public transportation and other elements of large metropolises are dreaming of another time when land was plentiful and the idea of big city life was something that only those east of the Mississippi could appreciate. Los Angeles has the second highest population in the nation. Metropolitan Los Angeles encompasses more than 10 million people. It’s time we started acting like a very big city.

Bar Joke

Guy goes into a bar in Louisiana where there’s a robot bartender! The robot says, “What will you have?” The guy says, “Whiskey.” The robot brings back his drink and says to the man, “What’s your IQ?” The guy,” 168.” The robot then proceeds to talk about physics, space exploration and medical technology.

The guy leaves, . . . but he is curious . . . So he goes back into the bar. The robot bartender says, “What will you have?” The guy says, “Whiskey.” Again, the robot brings the man his drink and says, “What’s your IQ?” The guy says, “100.” The robot then starts to talk about Nascar, Budweiser, the Saints and LSU Tigers.

The guy leaves, but finds it very interesting, so he thinks he will try it one more time. He goes back into the bar. The robot says, “What will you have?” The guy says, “Whiskey,” and the robot brings him his whiskey. The robot then says, “What’s your IQ?” The guy says, “Uh, about 50.”

The robot leans in real close and says, “SO, . . . you people . . . still happy . . . with Obama?”

Los Angeles Mayoral Race

This article in the Los Angeles Daily News tells that “Traditionally, voter turnout for mayoral elections is less than 40 percent for runoffs and less than that for primaries. Some city elections have drawn less than 10 percent of the 1.7 million eligible voters.”

Why vote when the likely winner for mayor is someone who cares more about the labor unions than about the city? I took the 2013 Los Angeles Budget Challenge at the city web site and to my dismay learned that the city has projected revenues of almost $4.7 billion and still cries for more. I have not heard one candidate for mayor talk about living within our means. That of course would require some straight talk and no one wants to do that. The public is disgusted and a majority see no worthwhile candidates.

My highest priorities are police and fire protection. Everything else is one, two or three steps below those priorities. At the end of the survey the results are provided with the most favored allocation of money to my choices and the current budget plans.

My choices resulted in a lower spending plan than the most favored choice and well below the current plan. Still my ideas would leave the city with a deficit of $50.1 million.

So what are the candidates for mayor and city council saying? Nothing about balancing the budget. Even worse they lack any vision for the city. The leading candidates for mayor are One Republican with no city government experience and Three Democrats all with city experience are all tied to their past and all with connections to city labor unions.

Is it any wonder that turn outs for city elections rarely exceed 50% of registered voters.

Republican Party Tearing Itself Apart

We are watching the Republican Party going through some very troubling times. Democrats could not be happier. Those in the “progressive” party should not be watching with glee. The commentators on MSNBC ought to do more reporting and less celebrating. The two party system has worked well for most of this nation’s history.

I find it surprising that I would back Karl Rove for anything. Compared to the Tea Party he is a moderate. There are no photos of Tea Party leaders. I do not know who their leaders are. And finally Huffington Post has created a Karl Rove page that is at least fun to read.

I subscribe to the Tea Party Patriots e-mail letter system to keep abreast of their thinking and campaign plans. This morning I received this plea for money (every organization does that) and their campaign against Karl Rove. I have deleted the money pleas lines but the rest of the e-mail tells me that the GOP may be about to break into two parties. The highlighting, underlining, and bold font is theirs.

Dear Patriot,

Karl Rove’s new “Conservative Victory Project” is nothing but an anti-Tea Party hit team that is gunning for our candidates.

So, grassroots conservatives must now all band together and fight back. We must defend the Tea Party!

We formed this brand new PAC to help Tea Party candidates challenge entrenched big-government Republicans for the nomination.

But, in light of recent events, we need to also be ready to defend our conservative incumbents as well.

The establishment is gunning for us. They want to crush our movement. We have to fight back!

Just last month a former top GOP aide in the House called for the purge of Tea Party-supporting congressmen from the Republican Party.

Then, last week an anonymous senior Republican declared to the Politico news website that their plan was to “marginalize the cranks, haters and bigots — there’s a lot of underbrush that has to be cleaned out.”

That’s what the liberal GOP establishment thinks of people like you and me. They believe that ordinary citizens who dare to stand up and fight for our country are “cranks, haters and bigots.” To them, their fellow Americans are “underbrush” that needs to be cleaned out!

Karl Rove and his cronies say they are now going to “pick” our Republican nominees. He said in a Fox News interview that he’ll even try to drive incumbent conservatives out of politics if he personally doesn’t consider them electable enough!

The Republican establishment is going to spend millions on private investigators, opposition researchers and a torrent of negative ads aimed at destroying every Tea Party conservative candidate or elected official in America.

Rove will target their personal lives, he’ll dig into their family backgrounds. And, if necessary, he’ll simply make up some dirt to smear any Tea Party candidate who gets in his way.

He’ll never debate issues. He’ll never provide solutions to the big-government mess he and his establishment buddies helped create.

Rove and his liberal allies only believe in the politics of hate and division, and they want to crush the Tea Party!

If Karl Rove and his cronies have their way Rand Paul, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Mike Lee, and Tim Scott will all be driven out of Washington on a rail so that Rove and his big-government buddies can continue to enrich themselves at the expense of you and me!

Patriot, the fate of our movement is at stake. We must be prepared to fight back. Our country cannot survive much more of this.
We will support good conservatives who want to shake up Washington against entrenched liberal Republicans who want to continue to ruin America.

And, if necessary, we’ll support any Tea Party incumbents who are targeted for defeat by the establishment’ political goons.

Unfortunately, our opponents have lots of money. They’ll raise millions from liberals who share their goal of destroying the Tea Party. And they’ll raise even more from special interests that benefit from big government.

We can’t hope to compete with Rove or allies in the spending race. But we can out organize and out hustle them. However, I need your help to do just that.

We are going to organize and train local Tea Party groups to win primary elections.

We are going to support good conservative candidates who will go to Washington and help fix our fiscal mess.

And we are going to call out “Republicans” who vote like liberal Democrats with ad campaigns that blanket their districts or states.

Once again, we are on our own. It’s the Tea Party versus the corrupt Republican establishment. And the fate our great nation is at stake.

President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union Speech

It’s easy to listen to a one hour speech and believe you understand every word. Reading the president’s words at your own pace might provide further more complete comprehension of his meaning. He said, “nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime.” You should read his proposals and try to understand how that is possible.

The complete transcript is here.

Liberals must be thrilled. Moderates are less enthralled and conservatives are most likely appalled. I am in the less than thrilled category. Obama appears to be a replica of LBJ. Remember the “war on poverty?” Lyndon Johnson also brought us the Vietnam War. Obama appears to be bringing us the Drone Wars.