It's a Day 300 Million Under Par Thing

Dear America,

happy gilmore girl day.

 

I don't have much time; so in celebration of the notion, for every action there is a reaction, get a load of this new ad, care of Nike and Tiger, go here.

 

 

Doesn't that just say it all?

 

It's official; it's a new day in America.

 

Let's just say, as America has evolved, true, effective, consequences from our actions have become compromised, if not totally inconsequential. 

 

What's it matter if Tiger got his kicks off the links turning tricks with countless women outside the fidelity of his marriage -- so what if in fact he lost everything, "winning takes care of everything."

 

What's it matter that for the last forty or fifty years, traditional marriage and the family unit has taken its share of hits, left and right, by virtue of the omnipotence of progressives, feminists, socialists, anarchists, atheists, and even some really cool sports dudes and celebrities,  taking over our perceptions about everything -- compromising upon the virtues of our founding principles and values all along the way.

 

There are consequences when both parents work full time outside the home.

 

There are consequences when our children are managed by prescription drugs (goes double when parents are equally medicated).

 

There are consequences when our children are not given the opportunity to connect with a higher power, in school, with a moment of silence for reflection and prayer for inner guidance, to understand a greater, deeper, sense of soul and self.

 

There are consequences when our children come home to an empty house...without a loving, supportive parent, or care person, ensuring the cookies are served, the homework is finished, and the chores are done.

 

There are consequences when our children are forced to deal with a parent's addiction, abuse, absence, or just bad behavior that gets displayed across headlines and twitter.

 

There are consequences when we collectively stoop to the behavior of the lowest common denominator or the deterioration of society, in the general or in the specific, take your pick; but to relieve the action of it's consequences, to dismiss the aspects of personal integrity and responsibility, is that progress?  

 

The only way we can truly have "everything" is by giving something up...it's simply a natural law of cause and effect.

 

But sense when have we decided that the consequences of our actions no longer apply, or even matter?   Sense when does a cocky response take care of everything, leaving nothing to be ashamed of?

 

Are you kidding me, Nike?

 

Does it?  Does it?  Does winning take care of everything?

 

It's an offensive ad, a reprehensible commercial use of an ass -- all for profit -- and coming at the expense of our culture and foundation.  These days, appearing 300 million under par, every little bit counts. 

 

Make it a Good Day, G 

 

 

It's Something to Talk About and Teach Thing

Dear America,

hippo birdie to me, hippo birdie to me...
so good day all.  and yes, I have officially cracked.

It's my birthday; a birthday celebrating the downward slope in years and the upward slide in thoughts, musings, academics, growing into a certain wisdom only time can give.

Matter of fact, a little thing I just learned the other day is where the word 'education' comes from, with regards to it's Latin roots; it means, to bring forth from within.

Willing to bet, besides the obvious requirements stemming from the instrument itself --  quality teachings, wisdom of the ages, and teachers of sound mind and moral character --  nothing can replace the quantity of hard earned time, the life experiences that begin to add up and create a sense of knowing and understanding.

Real wisdom grows over time, like interest, compounding and becoming the invaluable, timeless, essence of old age.  It's only fair, considering the wrinkles and the gray hair that comes with, right.

Real wisdom comes from instruction, insight, inspiration, words of truth.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, in the Old Testament of the Bible, speaks of this; it actually makes a splendid read upon the annual celebration of the day we are born.   (Only a suggestion)

One of our local preachers, Dr. David Jeremiah, offers a Sunday morning televised sermon each week; this week, he centered upon the message of Ecclesiastes, thought to have been written by King Solomon of Israel.    Most famous, possibly, for it's chapter 3-- the one revealing a time for everything under heaven -- the meaning of life is fully examined.

So, in awe of the word and in respect to time and space, let's aim on making a long story short:   Solomon makes the point that although the things of the material and physical world may seem all too important -- nothing, but nothing, can fill our hearts as being in relationship with God.  

God wants us to live abundantly, honestly, in integrity, in community with one another -- and remember from where it comes.

"Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole, duty, of man. 

For God

will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,

whether good or evil."

pretty straightforward, pretty simple.

That still, small voice we hear in the day to day -- it is God, leaving an impression upon us, nudging our every thought, word and deed; when we are not living in relationship with the Almighty, then we are missing something.     Something deep inside us remains unfilled, empty, and we become lost and sometimes broken.  And naturally, the ill effects become evident in our daily experience.

Quickly switching gears to another favorite place of mine for inspiration, The Patriot Post has highlighted stunning testimony of Robert Steed, resident of Newtown, Connecticut, when speaking before the State Legislature.   I am going to copy the whole thing as The Patriot Post selectively edited -- and, of course, you are welcome to link up to see the video, also made available at The Post.

"This is the third day I've taken off of work to come here to, like so many of the rest of us, plead to you for us to keep our guns because of the actions of some wing-nut in Newtown, Connecticut. If that isn't inherently wrong, I don't know what is. That these bills are even in proposed form is scary enough. That any of you could be possibly undecided is scary enough. ... I can't for the life of me understand how this state can have as many gun laws on the books as it does and have members of its legislature need to take firearms 101. And as far as the, what I felt were potshots taken at the NRA earlier today: They've done more for gun safety -- they'll do more for gun safety this weekend than this committee will do in your careers. ... Sometimes things are beyond your control. You can't control everything. Evil exists. Adam Lanza commits a crime, and I'm here to grovel and plead for my rights and explain to you that my firearms are kept safely? I keep hearing the word 'solution' -- 'we need to find a solution.' You're not going to find a solution, it doesn't exist. You can't find a broad brush solution to evil. ... The reason that your jobs are becoming so difficult is that you're coloring outside the lines of constitutional parameter[s]. That's the bottom line. You are trying to marriage up public safety with constitutional rights. The Constitution did not guarantee public safety, it guaranteed liberty. And sometimes what comes with liberty is tragedy, unfortunately."  Robert Steed

Steed reminds his state legislators, "You're not going to find a solution, it doesn't exist.  You can't find a broad brush solution to evil."

For it is true -- mankind cannot fix a broken man; only God can fix that.   That is the way the world was made, just as that is the way man was created.

It's just a dimple in the way all things are divined.

An impression everlasting is made, only to be filled with the love of God... over time.

A broad brush solution to evil is a life living in relationship with God.   And the duty of the individual -- the man, the woman, the child -- is to eat, drink and be merry in this life of faith and atonement with the word, recognizing the fullness of blessings come with great duty and responsibility through honoring life itself, and God wholeheartedly.

Our children will never make this connection unless we teach them, starting young; but given good council is widely available, we must ask ourselves -- just why is society such an abomination these days?

It seems we are no longer teaching from the root, up.

It also seems we have dismissed the wisdom of the Ages. 

And yet, we hunger for it -- as evident by the blowout audience of The Bible series on The History Channel.

Perhaps this is a mixed bag of ideas today; blame it upon the arrival of a brand new year.  It's seems the celebration of the mid-life is being assaulted with a barrage of questions and summations fit for a child --  a child of God wondering what on earth are we doing to ourselves, what is my purpose, where do I go from here, how can I serve God better today than I did yesterday?

A real education is to bring forth that Something, something from within; that Something is The Thing Itself, and every single one of us can do it.   And allow me put it another way, America is depending upon it.  It's how good wins over evil.


Make it a Good Day, G 

It's About an Immediate Need for a Pop of Sunshine and a Smile Thing

Dear America,

it's a new day.

 

How many ways can we be better people?

 

If you really think about it, all our issues, problems, corruptions of character - fiscal stability - spirituality - health - peace of mind - future, can be resolved by being better people.

 

The tragedy that we spoke of just yesterday is one of them; just don't drink and drive.  Hello?

 

While the ramifications of the out-of-control, overzealous, irresponsible, governing body of people -- immediately qualifying every administration, large and small, of the last hundred years -- is another.

 

If men were angels, right?

 

You know what I'm feeling right about now?  I'm feeling an immediate crisis of confidence coming on, only to be upstaged by my blood boiling when I hear idiocy like this: 

 

SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER: "We do not have an immediate debt crisis..."

exsqueeze-me?

"But we all know that we have one looming." 

Hello?  It's been looming for at least a decade.

And that's after it made a rather uncomfortable foothold in the decade before. 

And even that's after absurd changes were administered and mandated into the American economy, by way of the creation of entitlements to begin with, dating back a century -- and, of course, not to be out done by a brand new health care entitlement, commonly recognized as Obamacare, that is projected to now cost Americans 6.7 Trillion dollars.

I can understand Boner.  I expect this kind of nonsense coming from him.

But this?

"To borrow a phrase from my friend Erskine Bowles, we are the healthiest-looking horse in the glue factory. That means America is still a step ahead of the European nations who are confronting a debt crisis, of Japan, that’s in its second lost decade. It’s probably because of our resilient economy, because of our world currency status. So we do not have a debt crisis right now. But, we see it coming. We know it’s irrefutably happening. And the point we’re trying to make with our budget is, let’s get ahead of this problem.”

This is incredible; it's obscene to the conservative ear.  For this clip is out of the mouth of one of my personal favorites -- Paul Ryan.

Oh my, people, as you know, we are like 17 trillion horse lengths behind -- while these bureaucrat jockeys think there is nothing to worry about "in the immediate" because their confidence lies upon our economic resiliency and our "world currency status?"  

Seriously?  
That "world currency status" is built upon sand --  bad debt, printed money, shady deals under the table, and a system built by a corrupt power elite where only the bookie wins -- the little people get squeezed out, bamboozled, buried, and broke.   Hello?

"But, we see it coming," he says, "we know it's irrefutable happening."   What the bleep is the difference, Mr. Ryan?   It's "irrefutable"  -- doesn't that mean , it can't be disproved?   Isn't that an occasion where an IMMEDIATE response is warranted?   Don't we then heed the warnings --  immediately --  so that it doesn't come?   Are you really saying the debt crisis is irrefutable, but it can wait?

You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't have an "immediate crisis of confidence;"  it's more like an immediate sense of feeling pissed off.

You know, if we just froze our spending today, at today's budget (as crazy big as it is @ 3.6 Trillion dollars), we might have a fighting chance -- but it would be a long shot, you know, given that men, who are clearly no angels, are in charge.  Only then, can we progressively keep moving forward. 

And then, keeping a decent pace, if we just cut 1%, across the board, every year for the next ten, perhaps --  getting to the finish line by a nose is foreseeable, doable. 

For the thing we must do --  immediately -- is stop the growth of the government we've got.  

And then, we can easily reform the tax system, the big three federal entitlements...as we repeal Obamacare and abolish federal departments that are grossly mismanaged, bureaucratic cesspools.

But the thing is, every thing is in the immediate.

We've basically crossed the line from celebrating the wealth and hard work and patriotism of the Greatest Generation, to becoming what may turn out -- in the history books that is -- as the Suckiest Generation; just look at what we have created and  MANufactured for ourselves, only to be outdone by what we are leaving to our children and grandchildren.   

At this rate, we belong in the glue factory -- we are total losers -- that's my immediate response to that.


Believe it's time to focus on building the better bureaucrat, statesman -- along with boldly, being, building the bigger, better human being, in general.  (Can you say 17 trillion dollar man?) So we will do that here, in earnest, in the days ahead.

But now, recognizing my immediate crisis in time management, I must stop right now, right here in the middle of the track. 

However, make no mistake, that immediate crisis in confidence, the one growing into that immediate sensation of feeling puckered up pissed, just might be with me all day. Let's pray it goes away with just a pop of sunshine and a smile.

Make it a Good Day, G 

It's a Day to Be Still with the Cunningham's Thing

Dear America,

it's a Tuesday, and already after ten am; in other words, a late start.

We've had a tragedy hit our community over the weekend.  A woman, Alisa, coming home with her three daughters -- Taylor, Jayden, Logan -- were hit by an oncoming vehicle on one of our local freeways; the other driver, suspected to be intoxicated.  He died upon impact, while the mom and her girls are still in the hospital battling serious injuries, with one girl in a coma.  Occurring around 9 pm on Sunday evening,  the 30 year old driver was driving east on the westbound side of the highway.

The husband and father, Will Cunningham, is a coach for Cathedral Catholic High School -- and Alisa, a math teacher at San Diego Christian College.   Cathedral Catholic will be holding a mass for the family in less than an hour from now.

Among possibly too many things to count, something like this becomes a senseless, unfathomable reminder how sacred life truly is.

My heart goes out to the family this morning.

In America, "an average of one alcohol-impaired-driving fatality occurred every 53 minutes" -- at least according to data from 2011." And those stats were found here..."alcoholalert.com, describing itself as a place offering 'intervention at the point of consumption.'

In 2011, 9,878 people were killed by alcohol-related traffic incidents.  But something more stunning, is the number at the head of the chart, beginning in the year 1982.   In that year, there were 43,945 fatalities on the road, with 26,173 of them (or 60%) being directly related to alcohol consumption and intoxication.   

Just look at those numbers again!   In 1982, nearly 45,000 people were killed in traffic accidents -- and a little over half of them (26,000) were due to someone's excessive consumption of alcohol, leading to driving impairment, leading to the death of innocents and maybe even, themselves. 

But just look at how that number changes over the years...as organizations like MADD begin to gain a foothold on personal behavior, community responsibility and overall awareness and attention.  Of course, local jurisdictions changing laws and stiffening the consequences for DUI goes hand in hand.

The alcohol was not taken away -- the vehicle was not taken away -- but the emphasis on greater, life changing, expensive, devastating consequences and fines grew to a point of saturation within communities far and wide; the macro-consciousness reached a greater understanding and respect for life itself, especially before getting behind the wheel.  

Not only for the sake of one's own life, but for the lives of others, lifestyles and habits were altered forever, and responsible people began to make broad changes as to when, where, and how much alcohol they consumed, if at all.

And yet, knowing all that we know now -- tragedy still happens.   Going back into that chart -- although the number of accidents has come down (32,367), it shows that we are still experiencing 38% of traffic fatalities due to alcohol.

So we must ask ourselves, how can that be?  Forty years later, wiser, more advanced in information available and countless agencies offering assistance at our beck and call -- the improvement factor seems to have settled into a rate of only about thirty percent since the eighties.

The Cunningham's  -- along with their entire family and friends -- are in the midst of experiencing heart-wrenching pain and emotional trauma, that will surely last long after the headlines have disappeared, all because another human being lost all self-control, and any respect for the community at large, for a self-induced, temporary, unconscionable high. 

The recklessness of his actions reach the tangible and intangible in proportions unimaginable, seen and unseen.

But let's be clear just to make a public policy and cultural point -- no one is calling for prohibition.

Sure, everyone is shaking their heads, hanging their chins down in prayer, wondering why on God's great earth something like this could happen.  Not now, not again, not today.... how can this be?

But no one is calling for prohibition.  No, all is quiet on that front.

And yet, even if we had prohibition -- who's to say things like this would not still occur?   [Can you say, been there, done that]    Bootlegged booze created a culture of underground speak-easy's, a mob rule bringing violence, crime and chaos, as it manipulated and operated a black market economy revolving around the commerce of alcohol and all things illegal, unlawful, and corrupt.

My girl will be getting her driver's license this Friday.

I am already frightened out of my skin for all the things that could happen down the road.  And yet, as a little mama, it wouldn't make any sense to run around afraid for what may or may not, if ever, come to harm my baby.  To live in that manner would not be living at all, now would it? 

As scary as the world can be at times, in places unfamiliar, in roads not taken -- we must live to our fullest and brightest, without hindering the landscape with what if's and what-about-this and eventually entering around-a-bout's that just send us in emotional circles, to the point of spinning ourselves into oblivion where we all fall down.  There, motionless, life gives us nothing to live on nor sustain us. 

No, we have to keep going forward, taking with us whatever life brings our way.

And our children must learn to do the same.   It's how we all grow up, hopefully.

The Cunningham's are still now -- waiting for the recovery to come their way, waiting for life to breathe back into their day to day as if nothing ever happened.  

And yet something did. 

And it was at the hands of a senseless, unfathomable act of selfishness that could have been prevented...if only.

Maybe today, we can take the lesson to heart; maybe one day, alcohol-related fatalities and injuries, within the communities we live, will be a thing of the past.

Make it a Good Day, G

 

It's a Nanny State Knocking at the Back Door Thing

Dear America,

"Particularly on issues like smoking, drinking, guzzling sodas that are too big for them, you know, eating sixteen Big Macs a day, whatever it may be, the reality is we all need a bit of nannying about that that's why so many people are on diets. That's a form of nanny state."  Piers Morgan, speaking with Christine Quinn, President of New York City Council, as well as, fellow New York Liberal.

yeah, nothing wrong with steering people in the right direction, right?

Let's just ban cream cheese, too -- no perfectly good use for that, unless, of course, it's totally fat free...and why bother then, what's the point.  Whipped cream -- especially out of those canisters using a propellant like nitrous-oxide -- fugettaboutit.  Absolutely not.  All fluff and no substance.  Which kinda reminds me of a certain someone...perhaps we could just ban 'that guy' while we're at it.

Candy, should be gone.

Ice Cream, gone.

Real sugar -- gone (White House, the Capital kitchens, Governor's mansions, all exempt)  let's just force everyone else to use a fake substitute?  What's wrong with that?

And then, while we're confiscating the sweeter side of life just because a few bad apples spoil it for the whole bunch -- what's to stop us from the government going for our dough, like Cyprus?

Can you just imagine it?  If tomorrow morning when you wake up, ten percent of your savings in the bank was gone?  Gone, baby, gone.


Yes, indeed, "whatever it may be, the reality is we all need a bit of nannying about that that's why so many people are on diets. That's a form of nanny state,"  spoken like someone fit to be king.

We all need a bit of nannying -- for we, in the general context, have lost all self-control, according to Mr. Piers 'Hold Still, This Won't Hurt a Bit' Morgan.

The question, then -- and the one most of us considered answered, like over 200 years ago --  is where does this nanny state start and stop?

The slippery, syrup-y slope has begun people. 

• Perhaps the nanny state begins to re-distribute funds as they see fit, using the sequester cuts to make political gains, hurting the most people to affect change as quickly as possible?  
• Perhaps the nanny state eventually decides to ban fossil fuel family vehicles altogether, given the reality that most of us are simply not moving fast enough on our own?  
• Perhaps the nanny state forces private companies to provide free contraception to all employees? 
• Perhaps the nanny state begins to interfere with the element of personal accountability and self-reliance to know and weigh the risks involved with playing for the NFL? 
• Perhaps the nanny state begins to take personal property, without cause, and all the while causing so much financial strain to fight the case, the property owner simply walks away? 
• Perhaps the nanny state begins to distribute full college scholarships to illegals, non-citizens? 
• Perhaps the nanny state begins to mandate services to buy -- for our own good, you know, for our health and the welfare of the entire country? 
• Perhaps the nanny state begins to designate which days we can buy gasoline, and how much we can have?
• Perhaps the nanny state begins to trivialize life itself -- providing legalized abortions, even after 12 weeks - - while forcing citizens who do not believe in abortion at any time, to subsidize it, going against one's personal and religious beliefs?
• Perhaps the nanny state begins to tell us what kind of gun we can own, or how many, and more important, begins to control the availability of ammunition to use it?
• Perhaps the nanny state begins to dictate how much salt, sugar, soda pop, chocolate -- and whatever else causes all self-control to go right out the door-- we can enjoy?

Newsflash:   Immigrants have flocked to America's shores because we are NOT the nanny state.  [GOP TAKE NOTE]

Up until now, America has steadfastly stood for sweet liberty and fullness of life and happiness, come what may -- in good and bad, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.    In other words, the self-contained reward, living in America, came only following hard work, combined with self-reliance and individual aspirations and personal responsibility, to make something of ourselves, to provide for our family, and give back to our community from the goodness of our own heart.

But needless to say, we worked so hard for it --  the making of it's a wonderful life -- there was no time to get fat off of soda (which, by the way, used to be a treat, saved for special occasions, but I digress)... or donuts, or ice cream, or French fries, or potato chips, or "whatever it may be, the reality is we all need a bit of nannying about that that's why so many people are on diets..."  

The thing is, over time, Americans have grown lazy with the fundamentals, and have grown entitled in "whatever it may be, the reality is we all need a bit of nannying about that that's why so many people are ____________".   

Are we not entitled to eat what we want, drink what we want, smoke what we want, and all the while, exercise as little as we want?   Are we not entitled to get free birth control, free education, and a six digit salary fresh out of school...for who works up the ladder anymore, right?    Are we not entitled to dictate when religious liberty, and the free exercise thereof, is permitted and when and where it is not -- not to mention, when religion is simply offensive in and of itself?  Are we not entitled to usurp the principles that made America great, replacing independence with dependence, and collectively deteriorating the value of hard work by guaranteeing outcomes without equal effort and sacrifice?

Our reward, now limited.
Motivation for excellence, gone.
Great aspirations, gone.
Doing the right thing, even when no one is watching, gone.
Possibility for acquiring wealth and property, gone.
And America eventually withers away.

Perhaps a return to good old-fashioned anecdotes is in order?   A revival of things like, everything in moderation....having a modicum of self-control..... maybe living within our means and totally respective of our individual weaknesses and cravings and demons.... saving for a rainy day (under the mattress is looking better and better)...

In short -- in essence and in everyday life, we have grown more immorally entitled than morally responsible in every possible way; AND THAT goes for our government, too.  And I think we can all agree, it's beginning to show.


Naturally, the nanny state sees an opening to dictate every living detail of our life, down to our last Big Gulp and, coming to a nanny state near you, dime.



Make it a Good Day, G





 

It's a Clash of the Old and New World Thing

Dear America,

It's what happens when pro-choice and pro-life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness meet, the Marco Rubio way --  (allow me to explain, using his own words):

Let me close by saying this. For many of us who were born and raised in this country, including me, it's sometimes easy -- sometimes easy to forget how special America really is. But I was raised by exiles, by people who know what it is like to lose their country, by people who have a unique perspective on why elections matter, or lack thereof, by people who clearly understand how different America is from the rest of the world. And they've taught me this my whole life.

And they taught me, by word and by deed, that what makes America great is not that we have more rich people than anybody else. What makes America great is that there are dreams that are impossible everywhere else but are possible here. And why is that? It's because of the choices that people that came before us made.

Almost every other country in the world chose to have the government run the economy. They chose to allow government to decide which companies survive and fail. They chose to allow government to determine which industries are to be rewarded. But the problem is that when government controls the economy, those who can influence government keep winning, and everybody else just stays the same. And so in those countries, the employee never becomes the employer, the small business can never compete with a big business, and no matter how hard your parents work or how many sacrifices they make, if you weren't born into the right family in those countries, there's only so far you can go.

Now, we've had our excesses here in America, but for the better part of 234 years, Americans have chosen something very different, Americans chose individual liberty instead of the false security of government. Americans chose a limited government that exists to protect our rights, not to grant them.

 Americans chose a free enterprise system designed to provide a quality of opportunity, not compel a quality of results. And that is why this is the only place in the world where you can open up a business in the spare bedroom of your home.

That is why this is the only place in the world where a company that started as an idea drawn out on the back of a cocktail napkin can one day be publicly traded on Wall Street. That's why this is the only country in the world where today's employee is tomorrow's employer. And yet, there are still people in American politics who, for some reason, cling to this belief that America is better off adopting the economic policies of nations whose people who immigrate here from there.  

skipping over a wee bit...

 The final verdict on our generation will be written by Americans who haven't even been born yet. Let us make sure they write that we made the right choice, that in the early years of this century, faced with troubling and uncertain times, there were those who believed that the great American story had run its course. But we did not agree. Fear did not lead us to abandon our liberty. Uncertainty did not lead us to abandon the entrepreneurial spirit. We fought for and held on to those things that made us exceptional. And because we did, there was still one place in the world where the individual was more important than the state. Because we did, there was still at least one place in the world where who you come from does not determine where you get to go.

For the full transcript, go here.

Looking back, America has made poor choices  -- one, by electing Barack Obama, and two, re-electing Barack Obama.

But let's get one thing straight:   America was bamboozled.

Conservative media and popular websites are currently affixed upon a campaign video dating back to Obama's first campaign;  the Fraud-in-Chief was so convincing, and so affirmative in his disgust, way back when...


"The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up the national debt from 5 trillion for the first 42 presidents — number 43 added 4 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have 9 trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic."


And even as a Senator, Obama was pontificating about the recklessness of such a path.  This is from MARCH 2006   (and while I would love to tell you I found it all by myself, I didn't -- my papa passed this little gem off to me in an email weeks ago....it was just waiting for the right moment in time to present itself, taking notes from a master and commander.  xoxoMDC)  so here you go:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.  It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills.  It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.  Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally.  Leadership means that, 'the buck stops here.'  Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.  America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.  Americans deserve better."

He said, "America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership."

And then,  as if all that isn't enough to question our choices, here is our president -- just yesterday -- talking to George Stephanopoulos:

"Well- I understand.
Which is why, at some point, I think I take myself out of this. Right now, what I'm trying to do is create an atmosphere where Democrats and Republicans can go ahead, get together, and try to get something done. And, y- you know- I think what's important to recognize is that- we've already cut- $2.5- $2.7 trillion out of the deficit. If the sequester stays in, you've got over $3.5 trillion of deficit reduction already.
Um, say what?   First, what you just said is a lie; you have not shown ANY REAL CUTS in the deficit, and you won't, until real numbers prove it.  But second, what is this :   "If the sequester stays in, you've got over $3.5 trillion of deficit reduction already." 

Um, but whatever, let's keep going...What do you mean, Mr. President?  Have you lost  your mind, I mean, the urge to put the fear of God into all Americans over the sequester cuts, as if NOW, at least on this day, for this audience, you consider these cuts to be a good thing and a complete benefit to you, and maybe all of America?  How can you sit there and count them 'in' when every day for the last two weeks you have demagogued the GOP for letting them happen?

And, so, we don't have an immediate crisis in terms of debt. WHAT?  

In fact, for the next ten years, it's gonna be in a sustainable place. WHAT THE...??  

The question is, can we do it smarter, can we do it better? And- you know, what I'm saying to them is I am prepared to do some tough stuff. BUT YOU'RE NOT prepared to do the tough stuff...you just said "at some point" you will take yourself out of this...(see preceding remarks, you can't miss it)    Neither side's gonna get 100%. That's what the American people are lookin' for. That's what's gonna be good for jobs. That's what's gonna be good for growth."

Oh, and here's a good one:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And he said he's challenging you to come forward with a budget that also reaches balance. Are you gonna do that?

 

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: No.

...And then goes into cutting Paul Ryan's balanced budget to pieces... just go to read it here.

But then George picks it up right back up again (hardcore journalism at it's best):

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Balanced by any point?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: -that he's put before. No. I think that there is a possibility. Look, balancing the budget in part depends on how fast you grow. You remember- you were in the Clinton administration. The reason that you guys balanced it was a combination of some tax hikes, some spending cuts, and the economy grew.

 

And, so- you know, my goal is not to chase- a balanced budget just for the sake of balance. My goal is how do we grow the economy, put people back to work, and if we do that we're gonna be bringin' in more revenue. If we've controlled spending and we've got a smart entitlement package, then potentially what you have is balance. But it's not balance on the backs of, you know, the poor, the elderly, students who need student loans, families who've got disabled kids. That's not the right way to balance-

...Yeah, what's the fun in chasing a balanced budget for the sake of balance....fiscal solvency, a decent credit rating, and presenting a solid economic footing to create the very conditions for a prosperous future for our children and grand children?

But let's not quibble over fives and dimes, right.

How about this line?

"And, so, we don't have an immediate crisis in terms of debt."
Oh, okay.

In 2006, we apparently had an immediate crisis in terms of debt, "shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren" and everything.

In 2008, we apparently had an immediate crisis in terms of debt, and called such recklessness "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic."

In 2009, adding one more quote for good measure -- the president actually said this:

"I refuse to leave our children with a debt they cannot repay," he said in remarks opening the one-day summit at the White House. "We cannot and will not sustain deficits like these without end. ... We cannot simply spend as we please."

Of course, in 2009, he was just kicking in the propaganda stream to get his Obamacare into legislation, to become law.  His selling point then -- pledging to cut the 1.3 Trillion dollar deficit IN HALF! before the end of his FIRST term.   As the CNN post explains, "[Obama] identified exploding health-care costs as the chief culprit behind rising federal deficits..."

[But then! went on to create a brand new entitlement program -- one that is set to cripple the health care industry for life; one that forces the very essence and principles of the FREE MARKET to become fully extinguished by virtue of big government and the nanny state; all the while, stealing 710 BILLION dollars from Medicare to fund it and having the CBO re-calculate its total costs and finding out it will cost taxpayers three times as much -- at 2.7 TRILLION dollars!   For the full story, go here.]   ...reminding all of us to beware of fine print...and just maybe we should all beware the Ides of March...just sayin'

Today, we are still running  1.3 trillion dollar deficits; and instead of cutting the deficit in half, instead of adding 4 trillion dollars to our national debt over eight years (or 2 trillion in four), as his predecessor, OBAMA added SIX TRILLION in debt over his first four years (and is currently running on a trajectory to 22 trillion before he finishes his second term).

I guess we could say it's whole new world for President Obama in today's context.   Or, perhaps in the old world --  of 2006, 2008, 2009 -- he was just being a wee bit disingenuous with all of us (just a nice way to say, he fibbed and bamboozled his way into office and through the power of free choice, and American liberty, he got to stay there for four more years).

But make no mistake:   We chose a fraud and a liar in 2008; and no surprise, surprise, once again in 2012.  

2016 awaits, but at this point, it surely can't come fast enough.

The thing is, we don't necessarily have to be led by a tyrant to experience tyranny;  while  history proves time and time again, ideology masquerading as progressive never equates to real progress.

So let's go back to something Rubio said:

"We fought for and held on to those things that made us exceptional. And because we did, there was still one place in the world where the individual was more important than the state. Because we did, there was still at least one place in the world where who you come from does not determine where you get to go."

And "it's all because of the choices that people that came before us made."

amen, Marco, amen.


Make it a GOOD Day, G

Epi-blogue

 

Speaking of progress --  reading headlines over the last couple of days makes me wonder what century we have dropped into:  Introducing Francis,  the first pope from the "New World."   wow.  Does the queen know about it yet?

And this one...leftover from yesterday, or the day before...believe it to be a combination of the pony express having sequester delays and me toiling in the back forty collecting beans, so forgive me if it's old news to you:  "Obama couldn't eat at Hill meeting without food taster."  alrighty then,  henry the eighth I am, I am.   If every Senator in the room was eating the lobster salad with blueberry pie  -- me thinks it was okay.  But what's with that, anyway?  LOBSTER?   The White House cancels WHITE HOUSE tours, cuts military tuition assistance (see here)  and all things that instantly make our skin crawl with disdain on just the pettiness factor alone, but LOBSTER?    Catered lunches, dinner's out, fresh flowers, private jets, should all be slashed -- at least in half, before the end of the day.

And yet NO WHITE HOUSE STAFF has been adversely affected by the sequester, as yet.  Can you just imagine having a 711 MILLION dollar annual budget for your company?  Think about it.  Dream about it until I see you again...

 I can't wait to talk about our new pope! 

It's Levin Sunshine on my Shoulders Thing

Dear America,

it was just something Mark said...that shook me to the core, forcing me to face an obvious oversight of my own making...

the Mark, was a Mark Levin; the moment, about five seconds of a three hour show -- and, if being totally honest, the only five seconds I heard of it (for not only was I busy, I was having a hissy-fit about it; let's just say, spreading myself just a wee bit too thin for my own tastes seems to be the on-going theme for the week, and it's only tuesday).

my apologies for not having available the entire context  (again, it was like five seconds, right)

but allow me to just get on with it...

His lead in went a little something like this:  'upholding the Constitution' in which he responds, to himself, business as usual,  "how can that be right wing?"

How incredibly stupid I am not to have seen it!  How brilliant is he to have revealed it!  It's like a giant duh! keeps rippling through my mind, shaking me like that itty bitty earthquake we had just yesterday morning (no biggie, thank the Lord-y, at four point nine-y). 

My last post -- the fluff piece from Sunday evening -- included this splendid insight (at least, before I got the check mate from Mark):

"I've said this before and I'll say it again -- the Left loves to carry the torch for tolerance and acceptance.  The thing is, they typically and hypocritically and unapologetically draw the line at the conservative and the "right-wing" -- and while we're at it, might as well add, "extremists."  For the Left, the Bible believer, the pro-lifer, the upholder of the Constitution... can all be reduced to views the world could clearly live without.  All tolerance stops with a Lumineer-smile and without batting an eye."

So -- Did you catch it?

How can it be something "right wing" -- Mark asks -- to be an American who believes in upholding the Constitution?  Doesn't everybody?   How in the world can it be deemed extremist, something only conservatives (or just say it already -- the wackos that we are) seem to want to follow?

And just think about this --

 this is what I gained from all of five seconds...

just imagine the post five miles long
if only I caught the whole show!  

yeah, you can thank me later for that... 

But something even more important --

why didn't I put two and two together? 

Oh the shame. 

Oh the pure logic staring back at me in the face. 

  I bring dishonor to my family. 

Oh how I wish I could call

his stroke of genius mine, all mine.  

But now,
I do believe, 

I have taken this train of thought

for about as far as I can go for one day....

let's get back on the right track.... 

So the Left doesn't want to cling lock, stock and barrel with the Rule of Law anymore? 
Seriously?  And now smack yourself silly and tell me something I don't know already.


Exactly.

But in what parallel universe are we living?  In what rabbit hole have we fallen?  Since when have we, the people -- meaning all of us --  every     single     American  -- stopped UPHOLDING, believing, trusting, in the magnificence and good reason of the Constitution?    

-- and that being not the first one, Mr. Brennan, but the Constitution ratified some time later ...1791...with the Bill of Rights included, just to be sure we are all on the same page...and wouldn't it be nice for me to say 'no harm, no foul'...wouldn't it be nice.

I love you, Mark; I really do.  But don't freak, I love you like a bowl of chocolate mint ice cream, okay?    If it helps you to know, I think of myself totally stable -- as any fifty something menopausal woman would be anyway; so you can call off the dogs, as I'm not crazy, cuckoo, or gonna start stalking you, or anything.   But  I gotta say, it's just so cool how simple you make things; and you do this a lot; so I love you, madly.  You are some kind of sunshine on my shoulders.    [Okay, guess now I sound a little nuts. so that's it, Mark, that's all the googly-eyed G you get]

The question is:  when did honoring the Constitution become something of an ideological thing in America -- and to be more anatomically specific, right wing?   [hint: just a means to an end, people; to marginalize, to polarize, is just to jeopardize the fundamentals of a nation and the Republic, America, the nation under God and the Rule of Law --- and all in all, just a part of their plan . As in, the Progressive, Left-Wing Extremists Unite! Plan... fist pump here]

Now that would be a good case study. 
Hmmmm...I wonder how many upholders of the Constitution are fat, as in not just a little fat, but obese -- and then, how many of those lean left with their fatness, and how many of them lean right?    Oh no, that wasn't it -- what did we just spend 1.5 million dollars on?  Oh right.   Seriously, folks? 

Oh the day in the life of America is traveling at the speed of light and megabytes combined.

But this day goes to Mark -- in appreciation of the incandescent light bulb continually hanging over my head, lighting the way, as I burn the midnight oil to bust out this post.   [Hey, isn't it funny that Thomas Edison holds the patent for that even in his afterlife?]

Make it a Good Day, G

and one of these days, we're gonna have to get back on the money tree.  Paul Ryan is out on a limb again, presenting his plan.  And although good, for it gets rid of Obamacare -- it's not good enough, and keeps Obama's tax increases.   Somehow, or other, the budget balances in ten years, but it seems a wee bit squirrely in what he keeps and what he bleeps.  The Heritage Foundation has a wonderful breakdown of its key points, here.

 

It's a Miss You Mean It kind of Thing

Dear America,

they ask, "will you miss her?" with an air of sarcasm and joy.

let's be real, Elisabeth Hasselbeck never stood a chance...not according to her fellow hosts, the audience the show attracts, or even the general public blinded by the political correctness of our time.

In the opening paragraph, the post reads, "Elisabeth Hasselbeck will go down in history as one of The View's most divisive co-hosts in the talk show's 16-year history. As exclusively reported by Us Weekly March 8, the conservative 35-year-old mother of three will not be returning for another season of the ABC daytime talk show."

As if the title of this post didn't tell us everything we needed to grasp in one little whisper.

will you even miss her, they ponder, as they virtually, wholly, believe they got this; believing this ripe for the picking perspective is totally covered with polls and opinion to match.

Well, for one thing -- who has the time to watch daytime TV, especially first thing in the morning?  Who's got the time to kill to watch women bicker, or get all googly-eyed over some handsome movie star or president?  Who's got the time to watch Whoopie (2 million), Sherry (1.25 million), Barbara (12 million, includes other projects), Joy (1.5 million) and Elisabeth (1.25 million) while the rest of the country is supposedly lamenting a 2.4 percent federal spending cut from the sequester?

[But for the record and to be perfectly clear, that would be a 2.4% drop in future growth of the federal government -- nobody should be missing out on anything right about now -- but I digress to impress]

So, besides imagining that any one of these fine ladies could sponsor a week's worth of White House Tours without thinking twice about it, can we just look at the money these women make -- all the while, it's the audience that suffers through commercials, puts up with the petty annoyances between hosts, and quickly grows disenchanted with the underlying agenda and one-sided views. 

"The View"  -- got that right; it's a liberal dose of half-cocked women ranting from a point of view - - dissenting views are seriously frowned upon, if not attacked and berated on national TV.  And about that ONE point of view -- that would be the view from the Left.   

And now, taking into account a poll happening in real time right here on the old G thang, it would appear that about half the country couldn't care less what these ladies say on any given day.   And will they miss Elisabeth?  you betcha -- it was always great entertainment to hear the dust up after Elisabeth freely spoke her mind, her point of view, and many times over the same point of view that could be shared by millions of conservative women world wide.  But guess no one's counting.

Aw but OMG! yahoo! got their message across, didn't they?  

Will you miss her? [sounds kinda catty, no?]    The Elisabeth that "will go down in history as one of The View's most divisive co-hosts in the talk show's 16-year history...."  according to who?   huh? OMG, yahoo, USweekly, or whoever it is responsible for this.  She's "one of the most divisive"  according to who -- one of the low-information, highly brain-washable, and thoroughly ignorant followers of yours? 


I've said this before and I'll say it again -- the Left loves to carry the torch for tolerance and acceptance.  The thing is, they typically and hypocritically and unapologetically draw the line at the conservative and the "right-wing" -- and while we're at it, might as well add, "extremists."  For the Left, the Bible believer, the pro-lifer, the upholder of the Constitution... can all be reduced to views the world could clearly live without.  All tolerance stops with a Lumineer-smile and without batting an eye.

 You know, it's sad really. 

If only these ladies discussed the likes of Adam Smith, and started a book club around The Wealth of Nations, or something; now wouldn't that be something to talk about.  Perhaps, they could take five minutes out to read excerpts from The Daily Bell, or the Patriot Post -- to gain a more current perspective of the life and times and the pocketbook of modern day America.  

Here's a link to a daytime fluff-piece to get the juices flowing -- it's old news in today's standards, and a post from March 1st -- appearing live on The Daily Bell; in short, it's really an analysis upon an analysis.  But needless to say, it's all good.  Sport a Joy Behar accent and read it aloud to yourself; it's just more fun.

So do we really have to dumb ourselves down and talk fashion do's and don'ts, listen to interviews of the latest heart-throb or political hack, and discover the egg isn't all that bad for us after all (in moderation, that is), when in fact, we are in the midst of destroying the dollar, our schools, our healthcare system, our whole entire country from head to toe?

Makes me wonder.

It's still the weekend, at least for another four hours, or so, so consider this a fluff piece by G.  This week will be wicked busy -- mani/pedi, highlights, lunch with the girls, shopping from noon to night...and of course, lots of time to just chat on the phone. ... what sky falling?  what's a sea quest her?  Where are my bon bons?   Who's Karzai and why doesn't he like us?  Is Elisabeth being replaced with Sarah Palin?

[By the way...everything ever after "wicked busy" was just venting with sarcasm and joy.]

Monday Morning wide eyed update:  Barbara Wawa says she's not going anywhere...who knew?

Make it a Good Day, G

AND HOW ABOUT THIS NEWS!

"Support for a five percent reduction in federal spending crosses party lines in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates; it includes 57 percent of Democrats, six in 10 independents and three-quarters of Republicans. Shaving eight percent off the military budget, on the other hand, is opposed by 73 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of independents, with Democrats split down the middle."   Wow.  My country is showing up again.  For more, go here.   Let's talk about this next time on The View.

It's Charismatic Governance that should scare the living daylights out of us Thing

Dear America,

"So it is our opinion
that however you manage that reduction,
you need to make sure
you are not contradicting
 what we said the impact would be,"
the email from Washington said

says it all, no? 

hilarious that the White House makes this dramatic announcement....that the terms of the sequester has forced them to shut down the tours to the big white house...especially considering the truth --  it's a task performed by volunteers!

Deep impact, take two.

How uncomfortable is it to know that this administration is able to say anything (and sometimes nothing) in order to sway public opinion in order to enforce their political will?  [whatever it takes, lie, cheat, steal -- but whatever you say, don't make me look like an idiot]

How uncomfortable is it to know that this administration considers itself legally authorized to kill an American citizen, on American soil, without a trial, warrant, anything but a hunch and by drone and totally unexpectedly take them out? [right, so we can't water-board an enemy combatant and terrorist, but we can kill Americans in their own backyard in the middle of having a few friends over for a barbeque.  oh okay]

How do you feel when you hear something like this?

"I’m not a dictator. I’m the President,”

Obama said.

“I can’t have the Secret Service

block the driveway."

Of course, he's mocking all of us -- the press, the public, his congress; it's just something he likes to do.   It's almost, dare I say, what he does best.   But think about it -- just look at how he has "governed":  using Executive Order to effect change, unilaterally deciding when not to follow the Rule of Law, jetting about the country to campaign, propagandize, and use his charm to persuade, pre-occupy, and plant seeds of thought all over the land.

It's as if he leads in silence, by edict and covert maneuvers in the middle of the night; while by day, he flashes his smile and charismatically gets under our skin (good or bad), putting distance between his excellency and Washington D.C..  

Indeed, he is just that skilled.

Obama's current aspirations include extinguishing all opposition, by ridicule, thuggery, military drone, perhaps one day soon.    Oh I know;  of course, of course he can't just come out and say so -- gosh, that would just be absurd, if not also, awfully brash.   No, these actions require a certain delicacy of thought, word, and deed.     

How different is this Obama, this president, from someone like, say, a Hugo Chavez?  I mean, there are good dictators, right?  Look at the people's reactions down in Venezuela; it would seem to be the end of the world.   I mean, if we really give it any consideration, there are Americans -- intellectuals, actually --  who happen to like dictators, too (nod to Sean Penn and Dennis Rodman...)

oh whatever.

it's just another day...
one day we will look back at all this and just laugh.

Make it a Good Day, G


 

It's 44 BILLION, not 85 -- it's lies, not truth -- it's fear, not faith -- and it's a pretty big THING

Dear America,

so this little article from CNS News explains everything in a nutshell; actually, the shell is overflowing, but what's the big f&#*ing deal about that, right Joe?  (aw, remember that day?) 

my work is done.

have a nice day.

but seriously, haven't we heard enough already?

Do we not possess all the information we need to know?   Or how about this angle -- everything we ever needed to know we learned in kindergarten; how's that for bringing it down to a level of intelligence everyone can relate?

THIS Administration added 253.5 BILLION dollars to our national debt just in the month of February.  

THIS Administration buoys the market on borrowed time to the tune of 85 billion dollars a month. 

THIS Administration passed the Sandy Hurricane "Aid" bill about a month ago, pledging 51 billion dollars in "aid" to the region -- not to mention a few unmentionable pork projects, added in  for good measure [real aid amounted to under 10 B's].

Or, how about this --

if the federal government didn't go around spending the people's money all willy-nilly, we wouldn't even be in the middle of this sequester insanity; if the federal government only spent according to what they bring in -- reflective of legislating within a balanced budget --  how truly wonderful a world would that be?

But let's take a look back at that story from CNS News once more.  It points out that only 44 billion of sequester cuts are set to kick in for THIS fiscal year.  How is it that everyone in the mainstream media, and even the talking heads of THIS Administration, continue to throw around the 85 billion dollar number?    Wouldn't that number have absolutely nothing to do with the truth?  Wouldn't that number just be another lie?

Ah but don't try using that logic with Janet Napolitano; the walls are crashing in, security lines are unimaginable, and if you take your frustrations out on the poor helpless TSA, it's not going to help any of us get from here to there.

oh really Janet?

Hey, does anyone remember what happened the last time the stock market hit an all-time high?  [just food for thought...just a nut to save for later in the apples of our cheeks...or not]

The thing is, there seems to be a whole lot of manipulation going around.  Whether good, bad or indifferent, THIS Administration is arranging all the itty-bitty, nitty-gritty details of how we feel, and more important, how we respond, as it pertains to the collective body.  THIS Administration is master-minding movement, transformation, fundamental change from the roots.   And it's been a long time coming, actually.

Developing the fear factor is where it always begins, which reminds me of a story shared by Joel Osteen... and paraphrasing now --

It begins with a guy who works in some kind of shipping facility, or something, and one day he's inside a refrigerated trailer, packing and stacking, when he realizes he's alone and locked in for the night.  Long story short, everyone else has gone home and he begins to feed off the fear of being in this cold, dark environment, totally cut off from all communication with the world.  After awhile, he finds a piece of cardboard and scribbles out something like, "it's cold...not sure gonna make it..."

Well, the next morning the crew finds him.  Sure enough, he didn't make it.  He was discovered huddled in the corner under the cardboard.

But lo and behold -- the refrigeration of this trailer was not on.  It was never on.  The temperature throughout the night was never cooler than 61 degrees.  But this guy died anyway.  His thoughts were so powerful, they drove him right into his own death.

DO you think for one minute THIS Administration doesn't know what it's doing?   Obama's mentor -- Saul Alinsky --  was a master at weaving psychology, public policy, politics, propaganda, and community organizing all together to move the collective in order to control the collective.   Thoughts are things to be reckoned with; thoughts are things and can be used for political advantage and create radical change.   THIS is the kind of stuff Obama was reared and raised; this is precisely how Obama thinks, too.


But how about we close for the day on a couple of Osteen's points of light -- "fear presents itself much bigger than it really is"  and "if you stay in faith, God will deliver us from evil."

Think independently. Never assume, don't believe everything you hear, and live in truth (and certainly not within the confines of what THIS Administration tells you to think, feel, and believe).

It's not 85 billion in sequester cuts this year, it's 44 billion.  But what is 44 billion when we borrow 4 billion dollars by the end of every day?     The day we will be able to begin to save a few nuts and berries for a rainy day is 17 trillion dollars away (of course, not counting the unfunded liabilities).

Make it a Good Day, G

Hey remember when Obama said he would go "line by line" to make cuts in the budget; remember when Obama called Bush "unpatriotic" for raising the debt to 9 trillion dollars?  At the rate this president is going, AMERICA will be 22 Trillion in debt by the end of Obama's second term.

It's About Political Constitutions on Accident and Force Thing

Dear America,

"It has been frequently remarked

that it seems to have been reserved

to the people of this country, by their conduct and example,

to decide the important question,

whether societies of men 

are really capable or not

of establishing good government

from reflection and choice, or whether

they are forever destined to depend

for their political constitutions

on accident and force."

Alexander Hamilton

 

big lies are circling, telling, revealing themselves in the light of a new day. 

Returning to the days leading up to the last election, The Heritage Foundation unveiled and clarified a seriously huge number projected to be taken out of Medicare in order to pay for Obamacare.

716 BILLION DOLLARS

GO HERE, and you can see for yourself; of course, ramifications of this action are even bigger.  As Heritage lays it all out, they say this: "Obamacare raids Medicare to pay for other new programs.."

"In Obamacare, the payment cuts are across-the-board cuts (modifications of Medicare’s complex payment formulas) made throughout the bulk of the Medicare program. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), these cuts will decrease Medicare spending by an estimated $716 billion between 2013 and 2022."

yadi yada yada..

 

"The Medicare program today is in a desperate situation. The hospital insurance trust fund that finances Part A of Medicare is projected by the Medicare trustees to be bankrupt by 2024. Worse, over the long term, the Administration and Congress have made $37 trillion worth of benefit promises to future seniors that they cannot keep—there simply won’t be funding for them. Despite these enormous issues, Obamacare cuts the program instead of reforming it to last for future generations."

Oh wait...that was in October 2012, let's go back to September of 2012...and turn to an article titled, "Obama's Robbery of Medicare to Fund Obamacare, in one chart" featured in the National Review Online...go here.    Hey, and they even used the same CBO chart and everything.

Here's how "The Corner" began:

"Both Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan attacked the president for allegedly robbing Medicare of $716 billion,” former president William Jefferson Clinton told the Democratic National Convention on September 5. “Here’s what really happened. There were no cuts to benefits. None . . . President Obama and the Democrats didn’t weaken Medicare. They strengthened it."

If Clinton were under oath in Charlotte, this would be called perjury."

wow.  but that's nothing new, right? [badump ba]


But let's speed things up and kick in a more current thought of the 716 billion dollar fully federally authorized embezzlement and go to another National Review Online article from John Fund, February 15, 2013:

"But the Obama administration doesn’t want to talk about its own devastating cuts in Medicare. On Friday, February 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced $716 billion in cuts over the next ten years. Instead of being put toward the debt, most of the money will go toward a new entitlement: Obamacare’s vast expansion of coverage for the uninsured."

Oh but how have we all missed this?  Just where oh where is the mainstream media -- considering a third of our spending is borrowed, in government greenbacks, we might as well be talking a trillion bucks -- and they have nothing to say?

That's telling.

Did you know there are plenty of programs exempt from the sequester?  About 149 to be exact [or as Mark Levin would put it, 80% of the federal budget...just go to show notes from 2/28 here ) -- beginning with some big ones like Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare payments to states for qualified individual premiums (approx. 2% of the Medicare budget is NOT exempt -- BUT who really cares, right, given it's already been raped and pillaged), food stamps, veterans affairs programs, military personnel funding...oh and let us not leave out the all-important salaries and benefits for our honorable congress and president.   For a full list, painfully broken down line by line, go to the Office of Management and Budget, here, OR for a prettier version of much of the same thing, go here (it's some kind of "virtual learning community"...). 

Medicare must feel like a caged animal slated for slaughter; it's behind bars circling the boundaries, eyes bulging out of it's head, shifting from left to right...it's only a matter of time.

The Investor's Business Daily online has a super good piece on "Obama's Sequester Math..."   It has the potential of being far more entertaining to read -- if only it wasn't based on Obama's sequester spin; but telling is as telling does, we can thank our lucky stars somebody has the guts to tell it like it is and more important, spell out the ridiculousness of this president's plan. 

In it's big finish, we get this from IBD:

"As a result, instead of $1.2 trillion in spending cuts called for by the sequester over the next decade, Obama would add more than $1 trillion in revenues, while cutting outlays only about $600 billion. And much of those aren't real cuts, but tiny reductions in projected spending growth over the next decade.

And in the end, his plan, such as it is, will do nothing to forestall the nation's oncoming debt crisis."

And like the post started out, the president's plan "isn't a plan at all, just a list of numbers with little to back it up.   There are no details, for example, about the $200 billion in cuts to defense and domestic discretionary programs, other than that Obama wants them split evenly."  Not to mention the guy is lying through his teeth to the American people (but that's nothing new, too).

This is all absolutely nuts.

It's hard to believe we are even spending the time nit-picking the itty bitty details at all.
We're merely discussing 2.4 percent of the total federal budget!   If this congress and president cannot figure out how to cut this miniscule amount from the budget, what chance do we have at all in settling the long term liabilities with regards to the unfunded entitlement programs?   What chance do we have in keeping this congress from increasing our debt limit, yet again?   What chance do we have in even stopping the growth of government, if ever?

As debonair as this president is -- a presidency cannot stand on charisma alone; while ridicule, is a tactic for sissies; and all that fear mongering, a method that's usually reserved for demagogues, dictators, or kings.   Good thing propaganda has a way of going around and coming around.   In this age of the internet reformation, sooner or later, everything gets unveiled, revealed and brought to light.   There are no secrets, while downright lies come back to bite, with a vengeance.

The thing is -- is it all too late and forty-six cents on a dollar short?  
Does America have a fighting chance to finally tell herself the truth, the whole truth, and follow through with honest to goodness real solutions to fix a century of wrongs?  

Where is the courage? 

"I always consider

the settlement of America

 with reverence and wonder,

 as the opening of a grand scene and design

in Providence

for the illumination of the ignorant,

and the emancipation

of the slavish part of mankind

all over the earth." 

John Adams

that was then, this is now...  feel like having myself a good cry.

Make it a Good Day, G