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 official -- the Proverbial Rainy Day is Upon Us -- it's a pretty big Thing

Dear America,

happy monday.

moms around the country -- the world -- are beginning a brand new week; it's back to school, work, schedules, appointments, groceries, and anything else that falls under the job description.  it's a big umbrella.

and for the most part -- according to how most of us live -- it is the mom who keeps tabs on the checkbook...ergo...what goes IN must come OUT in such a way that covers it all. and with great hope and plenty of good intentions, leaving enough leftover to stash away for a rainy day.

while when putting all of this pressure under the weight of the persistent, torrential, doom and gloom, economic reality on the day -- these truly become the days, weeks, months, that try a mom's soul.

BUT here's some perspective for you --  and it's from one of my favorite hot spots on the web, The Heritage Foundation.  The article covers a variety of budgetary conundrums of the present day in pictures.  (Just gotta love a good graph, no?)

It was early on when a question posed made me stop and go tut tut looks like rain...

"What if Families 

Handled Finances 

Like the Federal Government Does?"

yeah...what if? and this is what it said:

"In 2010, median family income was $51,360. If a typical family followed the federal government’s lead, it would spend $73,319 and put 30 cents of every dollar spent on a credit card. This family would have racked up $325,781 in credit card debt–like a mortgage, only without the house. What credit card company would continue lending money to this family? All those numbers can be hard to visualize, so see for yourself what it looks like in one of our latest charts."

The collective financial picture is bleak, isn't it; and the worst part of it -- we did this to ourselves. But if I may be so bold, pretty much every mainstream mom  (and dads alike) saw this coming.

Every step of the way, individually and collectively, we made choices -- and most of these choices seem to revolve around playing fast and loose with the numbers, with the details, with our duty to the greater good.

And the truth is, we can only do that for so long before we are under water, without a bubble or a paddle.

Thankfully, life lines are available. It's called keeping our head's up and being more pro-active.

In another article featured in The Patriot Post -- Victor Davis Hanson gives us plenty of reasons to look into the pools of water forming around us and see ourselves, our America, for who we really are.  Here is an excerpt (okay, honestly, it's about half the article) from Decline or Decadence?

"Can decline be better measured by our vast debt of $16 trillion, growing yearly with $1 trillion deficits? Perhaps. But Americans know that with a new tax code, simple reforms to entitlements, and reasonable trimming of bloated public salaries and pensions, we could balance federal budgets. The budget crux is not due to an absence of material resources, but a preference for not acting until we are forced to in the 11th hour...

In other words, the manifest symptoms of decline -- frustration with the Middle East, military retrenchment, exorbitant energy costs and financial insolvency -- are choices we now make, but need not make in the future.

If our students are burdened with oppressive loans, why do so many university rec centers look like five-star spas? Student cell phones and cars are indistinguishable from those of the faculty.

The underclass suffers more from obesity than malnutrition; our national epidemic is not unaffordable protein, but rather a surfeit of even cheaper sweets.

Flash mobbers target electronics stores for more junk, not bulk food warehouses in order to eat. America's children do not suffer from lack of access to the Internet, but from wasting hours on video games and less-than-instructional websites. We have too many, not too few, television channels.

The problem is not that government workers are underpaid or scarce, but that so many of them seem to think mind readers, clowns and prostitutes come with the job.

...In 1980, a knee or hip replacement was experimental surgery for the 1 percent; now it is a Medicare entitlement.

American poverty is not measured by absolute global standards of available food, shelter and medical care, or by comparisons to prior generations, but by one American now having less stuff than another.

As America re-examines its military, entitlements, energy sources and popular culture, it will learn that our "decline" is not due to material shortages, but rather arises from moral confusion over how to master, rather than being mastered by, the vast riches we have created..."

America is living on borrowed time on all fronts.

The truth is raining down on us like cats and dogs.

Moms (and dads) everywhere have tightened the household budget many moons ago -- because the evil monster of the11th hour woke them up in the middle of the night with a gawd-awful howl.  And there is just no way he will go back under the bed now.

The good news -- whatever angst we are experiencing is of our own doing, as there is a bounty of organic material at our disposal in order to refurbish the people's house and create refuge -- even staying within budget.

Our future IS ours to see, que sera sera, rain or shine [just love the song and doris day].  Whatever will be, will be -- and potentially, exponentially, will be really good -- if we do the right thing today.  It is all about "how to master, rather than being mastered by, the vast riches we have created."

And it's funny -- from the outside -- it would appear we have everything, as when it comes to material shortages there are none.

The only thing is --  it's about what happens on the inside -- behind closed doors -- that truly matters in the end.

and ain't that the truth...

...wow...
...it took us by such surprise... 
...they seemed so happy...
...just out of the blue ...
...everything was just torn asunder...


The Inside: by definition, anything and everything that falls under the umbrella inherent with the privileges and duties pertaining to the job of being an American -- our foundation of limited government, our heritage reinforcing self-reliance and personal responsibility, our future generations raised according to our founding principles and values, our first intentions overflowing with integrity, honor, courage, and love.  If we are missing any of these things on the inside, the outside has no chance.


Make it a Good Day, G

hello?  America isn't even operating on a budget -- and hasn't worked within a budget for three years now, and counting.


the perfect storm is us.

It's an All-American Gamechangers, Hype and Promises Thing

Dear America,

well a few big boys met around the table for awhile and got it done...only wish we were talking about the Debt Ceiling and the Balanced Budget.

But today, we can all breathe a sigh of relief, as football is back in business; yet, on the other foot -- dropping as we speak -- we will surely find a worn out cleat, kicking our future on down the field on what appears to be astro-turf, on a record-breaking-scorcher-kind of day.  The District of Columbia might just take notice of how it is done, just sayin'. 

If we were to take a moment to really think about it -- what we saw in the great debate before the start of the 2011 NFL Season, was nothing.  Most of what we saw was a closed door;  meetings were happening, but nobody was really talking in front of the camera; just a whole lot of little boys somehow finding their inner big boy -- and just working things out.  

As a matter of fact, it was getting so late in the day (figuratively speaking, of course, as according to the pre-season calendar posted in everybody's man cave in the back of the mind) -- I didn't think we were even gonna have a 2011 season.  I mean, the first tailgate -- requiring enough Brats for twenty and Beer for fifty -- is right around the corner; put the fear of God in us why don't you... waiting until the eleventh hour before coming to a deal.  Unbelievable! You guys sure know how to freak a girl out.

If only football was as essential to our future as the financial wranglings and un-raveling's in D.C, right?

What else can we expect from a president who learned how to negotiate by street organizers and radicals; throwing any good faith negotiation right from the start playing the only way he knows how -- hard ball.  Here's a good take -- from The Heritage Foundation (just a few of my favorite boys and girls on earth) -- setting up the entire play.

Is the president coming to the table to work things out above board? Or, is he testing the markets? playing politics?  revving up his base to incite chaos, worry,  masterminding utter fear of the unthinkable?

What nobody seems to be questioning -- that is, if you get all your news from the mainstream media -- is that this fear mongering of what may or may not happen, has been fabricated out of the halls of government to create the very situation to go along with this president's favorite go-to play:  never let a crisis go to waste.

But make no mistake, understand that it is our Congress -- those who have the express power to create and legislate the budget -- who have been acting without a budget for over 800 days; while the debt ceiling, in and of itself, is entirely created out of thin air. This didn't just happen to us overnight.

It is the Un-Limited-ness of our government that has failed us; the debt ceiling debate is merely a symptom of recklessness, overexposure, and complete arrogance -- untethered by fame and fortune; basically, the falling apart at the seams, is but a product of ceasing to simply show up and do the mechanical, tiresome, tedious, day in and day out of preparation; in other words, following through with the deliberate exercise of keeping skills sharp, the body toned, and ready to just do what you are being paid the big bucks to do.

The take away should not be Oh My God, we're doomed, give the president what he wants -- even if it buries us...like some kind of phenom running roughshod all over us, giving him a level of unsubstantiated confidence, having been based solely upon an unproven and questionable reputation without a true skill to his name. 

Rather, it should be Oh My God, what in tar-nation is wrong with all of you people...blindly standing in for the home team?  Do you not see the writing on the whiteboard wall? Do you not see how this will play out?

The solution could not be any more elementary or recognizable; just how can you all not see it?

Moody's has already eluded to the fact that it may be too late to save our credit rating; as it is, they do not perceive a certain understanding -- through a thorough connecting of the dots and arrows and x's and o's -- has been sufficiently made.

For Moody's, they need to witness the incandescent bulbs going off inside the beltway before they can have any assurances we have learned our lesson... you know... in order to allow for a certain level of trust in all parties involved, intent on proceeding with caution, due diligence, and in good faith.

According to an array of "Credit Decider's", unless a commitment to a balanced budget is thrown in, we ARE as good as buried and eating the totally organic, USDA certified, hybrid -- though temperamental -- turf.  (And boy, does it cost a lot...but I digress).

The thing is, when faced with negotiations like this -- when clearly both sides need to save a little face while they kiss a little ass while they play around exchanging a few Hail Mary's in the so-called final hours -- those of us in the stands just want the game to continue in such a way that lays tribute to the Real Rules (not rules for radicals).   The value of showing good sportsmanship -- to the level equal to that of our own children, who come to learn by the time they are a fifth grader -- is all we really want to witness from both sides. I mean, playing fair and on principle, how hard can that be?

We surely don't need to watch any of you guys sauntering out to the camera, like you are all that, before a deal is done.

Putting all my allegiances to the girls team aside for the moment -- we just need you guys to be big boys about it; take your cues off the NFL, showing more substance underneath that cup is all we really ask.  (ooooh burn.  you go girl.)

Perfect.  This is a good time to bring in somebody from the bench:

"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." 

--James Madison

or have the ball.

Make it a Good Day, G

the Madison quote came from another All-American team of Patriots:  The Patriot Post. Read this before the day is done.