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!

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.

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.

The State of the Union – 2013

Sorry Mr. President. Very few of your ideas will become law.

President Obama told us of his dreams to enhance American life. For the most part they are dreams that are unlikely to become reality. He offered ideas that “will not cost government a dime.” How does he propose to provide early childhood education for every child that is four years old? Where will the money come from to provide high school tech training?

His answer is take the money out of defense spending, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Tell that to AARP and the defense contractors.

We are in for four very difficult years in Washington.

The Playbook

“keep secret its legal justification for killing without a trial”

Barack Obama is the enhanced George W. Bush!

Newsweek’s latest edition (February 1, 2013) on iPad, Android, and PC only, offers an article that describes the protocol for the targeted killings conducted by drones. According to this article the U.S. administration has been developing “explicit rules and procedures for when lethal force is justified.” Justification includes the legal right to conduct such killings of bad guys even if they are American citizens. This set of rules is referred to as “the playbook.” Newsweek reports that the playbook has evolved from the targeted killings that have been conducted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen. Playbook killings could be conducted, according to Newsweek, wherever the United States detected terrorists that are a threat to the American homeland. The playbook goes into detail about who the targeted individuals might be and does exclude drivers, cooks and others who are part of a support staff within a terrorist group. Thus Somalia, Mali, or any other place on Earth could be part of the playbook’s rules and procedures.

Not addressed in the Newsweek article is the legal justification for killing Americans who appear to be traitors, such as Anwar al-Awlaki, without a trial. The administration, I believe is skating on thin ice. The Huffington Post reported January 2, 2013 “The Obama administration will be able to keep secret its legal justification for killing without a trial an American suspected of joining al Qaeda after a federal judge on Wednesday dismissed most of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times. Both the ACLU and The New York Times plan to appeal the decision.”

Wow! If the government can keep the justification secret then what else can the government do to its own citizens? al-Awlaki was clearly a traitor to the United States but killing him without due process is a stretch.

Is it any wonder that there are people in the United States who want to have all weapons at their disposal?

Economic Facts

I have waited to write about this until this weekend hoping that economists and responsible government officials could offer reasonable explanations. They have not!

The United States economy is in trouble and no one wants to talk about it!

The U.S. economy shrank by .1% in the last quarter of 2012. That number would not be too bad if it weren’t for the fact that the economy grew by 3.1% in the third quarter of the year. That is a change in direction of 3.2%. No one wants to admit the economy is in trouble. Instead all the talking heads and all the government leaders are talking up positive data. The reasoning appears to be “if we ignore the situation maybe it will go away. Let’s be positive.”

Some worthwhile points:

Every wage earner saw his take home pay decrease by 2% thanks to the expired payroll tax holiday.
Companies don’t expand and don’t hire when there is no demand for their products.
The real unemployment rate is not publicized because it is too frightening for most people (especially those in government) to confront. It is the “Total unemployed…” from a monthly labor report in Table A-15 called U-6. The rate was 14.4% for January. The number has been unchanged for the past three months. This real unemployment rate peaked at 17.1% in October 2009. The historical typical rate has been between 7% and 8.5%.
The United States must add more than 200,000 jobs a month to reduce the unemployment rate. 150,000 new jobs simply meets the requirements of the growing work force. This fact has been repeated on newscast after newscast. Thus 157,000 new jobs in January are not satisfactory.
Housing prices may have leveled off but they are far from those that existed in 2007.
Corporate profits are for the most part up and that has been great for those who have significant stock ownership. Most Americans consider themselves well off if they have a $200,000 in retirement savings. Government statistics indicate most families have $50,000 in savings. Most people are not major beneficiaries of the past year’s increased S&P 500.
The coming sequestration or budget cuts will result in contractor and federal government employee layoffs. Both political parties seem to have settled on this event starting March 2013. There will be a cut of $85.4 billion of both defense and non-defense spending. That is the law that congress passed.

Our Congress needs to start developing solutions rather than arguing. Politics are destroying this nation.

Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Weapons Ban Legislation

This proposed law may never be passed by Congress but Senator Dianne Feinstein has nothing to lose and everything to gain. If passed, this legislation will help reduce the homicide rates in our nation.

It has been reported that the Administration is focusing on high-capacity magazines because they are the real issue and it is believed that there can be agreement on that issue.

Assault Weapons Ban of 2013

The legislation bans the sale, transfer, manufacturing and importation of:

1. All semiautomatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one military feature: pistol grip; forward grip; folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; barrel shroud; or threaded barrel.

2. All semiautomatic pistols that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one military feature: threaded barrel; second pistol grip; barrel shroud; capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip; or semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm.

3. All semiautomatic rifles and handguns that have a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.

4. All semiautomatic shotguns that have a folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; pistol grip; fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 5 rounds; ability to accept a detachable magazine; forward grip; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; or shotgun with a revolving cylinder.

5. All ammunition feeding devices (magazines, strips, and drums) capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.

6. 157 specifically-named firearms (listed at the end of this document).

The legislation excludes the following weapons from the bill:

a. Any weapon that is lawfully possessed at the date of the bill’s enactment;

b. Any firearm manually operated by a bolt, pump, lever or slide action;

c. Assault weapons used by military, law enforcement, and retired law enforcement; and

d. Antique weapons.

The legislation protects hunting and sporting firearms:

i. The bill excludes 2,258 legitimate hunting and sporting rifles and shotguns by specific make and model.

The legislation strengthens the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and state bans by:

ii. Moving from a 2-characteristic test to a 1-characteristic test.

The bill also makes the ban harder to evade by eliminating the easy-to-remove bayonet mounts and flash suppressors from the characteristics test.

iii. Banning dangerous aftermarket modifications and workarounds.

iv. Bump or slide fire stocks, which are modified stocks that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire at rates similar to fully automatic machine guns.

v. So-called “bullet buttons” that allow the rapid replacement of ammunition magazines, frequently used as a workaround to prohibitions on detachable magazines.

vi. Thumbhole stocks, a type of stock that was created as a workaround to avoid prohibitions on pistol grips.

vii. Adding a ban on the importation of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.

viii. Eliminating the 10-year sunset that allowed the original federal ban to expire.

The legislation addresses the millions of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines currently in existence by:

i. Requiring a background check on all sales or transfers of a grandfathered assault weapon.

ii. This background check can be run through the FBI or, if a state chooses, initiated with a state agency, as with the existing background check system.

iii. Prohibiting the sale or transfer of large-capacity ammunition feeding devices lawfully possessed on the date of enactment of the bill.

iv. Allowing states and localities to use federal Byrne JAG grant funds to conduct a voluntary buy-back program for grandfathered assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices.

v. Imposing a safe storage requirement for grandfathered firearms, to keep them away from prohibited persons.

vi. Requiring that assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices manufactured after the date of the bill’s enactment be engraved with the serial number and date of manufacture of the weapon.

List of Firearms Prohibited by Name

Rifles:
Pistols:
Shotguns:
Belt-fed semiautomatic firearms: