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Do They Feel Your Pain?

The Curmudgeon — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:46:00 GMT

There is sufficient pain to go around today, but there is a question that seems to come up in my mind on a regular basis.

Do our politicians and public sector employees really feel our pain, or are they simply telling us they feel our pain?

Can those who are promised pension benefits feel the pain of those who have none?

Can those who have among the best health care plans feel the pain of those who do not?

Can those who receive tax dollars in amounts greater than they pay feel your pain?

Can those who are guaranteed to have their job for their working lifetime feel your pain?

I know the returning veterans who are seeking a job feel the pain. I know those who have lost their 401K contributions in the down market can feel the pain. I know those who have lost their homes feel the pain. I know those who thought they could retire but now must work for so long as they are able feel the pain. I know those who face ever higher tax rates feel the pain. I know those who work two and three part-time jobs to keep ends together feel the pain. I know those who help feed the poor when they have difficulty feeding themselves feel the pain. I know those who donate to others in need when they are also in need feel the pain.

I just have this feeling that not everyone who proclaims to feel our pain really does feel our pain. In fact, the more they claim to feel our pain, the more I suspect it is simply lip service.

Genuine empathy seems in very short supply these days.

30% Tax Increase?

The Curmudgeon — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:41:00 GMT

Andrew G. Biggs writes in the National Review for March, 2010 that we are in an "Entitlement Apocalypse". He contends that with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and without reform, we are headed for a fiscal crisis. It would require an immediate and permanent 30% increase in all federal taxes.

This plays to what Rep. Paul Ryan has said in his Roadmap For America 2.0. We must reform the entitlements we provide, and we have to be open with the American people and get something accomplished.

We can tolerate neither the massive tax increases that will otherwise be required, nor the increasing debt load we will be under.

Ryan is, of course, the favorite punching bag for the liberals these days, but he is absolutely right in what he states. If he weren't right, the liberals would not be so concerned about his ideas. We need more Paul Ryans and not the slamming of the one and only Paul Ryan we now have in Congress.

Census Warning Letters?

The Curmudgeon — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:26:00 GMT

If like me, you received a letter from the Census folks, you were probably surprised that it was nothing more than a note telling you that you'd see the real thing in about a week.

I don't recall seeing anything like this ten years ago, but maybe I just don't remember. Yet this seemed to be a huge waste of taxpayer dollars. Why the warning order to watch for the form? Will it be sent in a plain brown envelope? I doubt that very much.

This is yet another example of how our government spends our money wantonly.

Because They Can?

The Curmudgeon — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:18:00 GMT

The ruling Democrat Party following its anointed leader, President Barack Obama, appears to be totally deaf and blind.

Why is it still on the path toward enacting nationalized health care when the majority of us have already told them "No"?

Is it because they really are, as they think, smarter than the rest of us? Is it that, as they seem to think, we are just too stupid to get what they're doing, or too stupid to know what is good for us?

Is it because they have some divine inspiration to which we peons simply are not attuned?

It is, I believe, simply that they know they can do this to us, and that is why they are persisting in this folly.

They are doing this because they can! They have the party numbers they need to do this to us in both the House as well as the Senate. They have the one final signature in the White House.

They are as moths attracted to flame...they are somehow required by virtue of their existence as either liberals or progressives to make this happen. Damn the polls. Damn the people. Damn the really smart people whom they know are right on this subject. Damn the idea of scrapping the mess that now exists and of coming back to the table in the spirit of fixing a broken system rather than the spirit of transforming nearly 20% of the economy into a nationalized program.

They are about this because they can be about this...at least until November, 2010.

I believe they are sadly amiss, that they neither know what they're doing nor much care. They can do it, and like the schoolyard bully, by golly, they're going to do it.

Maybe we weaklings, the voters, will better help them understand what is wrong with their approach come next November. Maybe we can give many of them the opportunity to return to real life and to ponder the meaning of it all.

Because we can, too!

Right Direction Or Wrong Direction?

The Curmudgeon — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:19:00 GMT

The Rasmussen Poll tells us this morning that 25% of the people in America believe it is headed in the right direction. 69% of us believe that we're going in the wrong direction.

There are apparently 6% who don't know where we're going or don't care where we're going, or both.

Sometimes I think that I might be better off if I were in that 6% group. I can't be, but I might well be better off to be oblivious to all that is happening around me. The overload that is our current news cycle and the overload that is our political debate today is very nearly overwhelming, and I am a political student.

Lest there be any doubt, I am firmly in that 69% that believes we are on the wrong path and that we are too far down that wrong path already, just a little more than a year after the election that installed King Obama.

Those of us in this camp, the majority, had better vote the right way in November, 2010 to begin the recapture of our country. It'll take time, but we need the reins of power to effect the change that we believe to be necessary.

Obama Ignores Peoples' Desires

The Curmudgeon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:40:00 GMT

President Obama is about to turn the dogs loose in an attempt to get Health Care Reform passed using the "reconciliation" approach that his Administration is now billing as "a simple majority".

Virtually three-quarters of the American people want the present Health Care Reform bill to be dropped completely or to not be passed in its present form. And yet, President Obama is expected to turn the Senate dogs loose this afternoon with his blessing.

There is still considerable angst between Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid since neither wants to go first given their distrust of the other side of Congress. There is no clear cut outcome that is yet predictable; it is plain that the votes are very fluid in the House. The Senate can muster the 51 votes it needs to pass the clean-up bill necessary to get the House on board. The House vote tallies are up in the air and will remain so until the last vote is counted.

If Pelosi had the necessary votes right now, or if she ever had them since that first vote, she'd have done the dirty deed already. The fact that she hasn't is clear indication that she has not gotten enough people to commit to risk taking the vote.

Beyond all this, however, is the simple fact that the Democrats seem willing to tell the majority of Americans to go stick it.

Tax Increases Almost A Certainty

The Curmudgeon — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:29:00 GMT

Tax increases at virtually every level of government are nearly a certainty as we struggle with a slow economy and with "super-sized" spending. While there are some signs of an improving economy, those can disappear very quickly if tax increases begin to be implemented and taking their toll on job creation, consumer confidence, etc.

Steny Hoyer, the number two Democrat in the House of Representative was quoted saying that increases are likely. Anyone watching Wisconsin's economic condition has to be thinking that their taxes are going to increase. Those increases could easily hit at the state level, the county level, the local community level and the school level.

Not apparently on any current office holders' radar is the thought of spending reductions. Our Congress continues to add new programs that require funding. Our state legislature is facing one of the worst budget situations ever recorded in Wisconsin.

Our local communities are struggling with all sorts of issues. Germantown has a severe road re-building issue that gets worse every week. Schools are receiving less money from state revenue-sharing programs and have the age-old budget issues of paying for union employees' wages and benefits.

We are about at the end of our fiscal rope. As has been said, we'd better tie a knot in that rope and hope we can hang on.

Beware of China Ties

The Curmudgeon — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:11:00 GMT

We are aiding China's efforts to control the United States on multiple fronts. We are deeply in debt to China due to our seeming inability to manage our own finances thus creating our country's insatiable need to borrow to finance our debt burden. That is a political reality.

On another front, we are rushing headlong to provide some of our country's unique technological capabilities sooner than China would've been able to develop those on their own. We are doing that in the simple day-to-day business transactions that exist.

Kevin Kearns, the President of U.S. Business and Industry Council, wrote over the week-end about the myriad ties we now have through corporate America. Those disclosures seen in that one spot at one time were frightening. There was nothing secret that he disclosed, just the compilation of a mountain of such activities that tipped the scale of concern. He talked about the cyber-attacks originating from China under the apparent auspices of that government. He mentioned corporate names such as Google, and Yahoo and IBM and Microsoft and Hughes and Lockheed Martin and Cisco. Each of those, and more, have engaged in the exploitation of that huge new marketplace but may well have been the exploitees rather than the exploiters in those relationships.

Significant technological advances have been made on behalf of Chinese companies or the government. The companies, ostensibly did nothing wrong. They joined with European and Japanese companies in the race to penetrate a huge new market. They helped the government of China indirectly given that government's significant control over its emerging capitalistic endeavors.

The simple fact seems to be this: we have helped equip and train the technical minds that are now being employed in cyber-penetration actions that could be employed in any future conflicts in which we might find ourselves engaged. Those conflicts might not involve China, but could involve terrorist entities that received their technical capabilities from China.

Our country is, like many countries, highly vulnerable to cyber attacks. We suffer tens of thousands of such attacks every year. Some are detected but we know not how many have gone undetected. We do not know what malicious bugs may already have been planted in mission-critical software lying in wait until they are activated. We have found some of those bugs in mission-critical systems already. If we've found some, it has to be assumed that there are more; we simply don't know how many more nor where they reside.

The genie is out of the bottle. Our defense is very likely a good offense at this juncture. If we are to survive future "conflicts", we need to be much more engaged with cyber warfare defense as well as offense.

We could be just as crippled by a coordinated series of cyber attacks as by a nuclear strike or two or three. In fact, the magnetic waves from an air burst are already known to decimate chip-driven systems. That alone could cripple our economy and our infrastructure, and we'd then be almost defenseless against a take-over.

Global Warming Retreat?

The Curmudgeon — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:00:00 GMT

It is interesting to read the report found in the Daily Mail from yesterday that states there has been no global warming since 1995.

That article can be found here.

Now, if we could just get our Wisconsin government to understand that we don't need to rush headlong down the slippery slope, things would be much better.

NASA Unnecessary?

The Curmudgeon — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:13:00 GMT

The Obama Administration's expressed intent to severely limit NASA's future space exploration has been hotly debated in the past day or two. I listened to the Jay Weber Show this morning and heard things discussed, both by Jay and the listeners, that I'd frankly not thought about.

The points raised included the fact that we'll have to rely, for the time being at least, on Russia for future transportation to and from the Space Station. We will be giving space exploration over to China and India in addition to Russia. We'll potentially compromise our satellite system upon which we rely very heavily in both times of peace as well as times of war.

Space weaponry is upon us, and we'll knowingly give that turf over to whomever can make use of the same technology against us.

We currently use offshoots of our space exploration program in our daily lives and the development on that frontier will be severely curtailed or even stopped.

This list scratches the surface of the potential issues that will be created if the Obama Administration gets this pushed through Congress. Both parties ought be very, very concerned with this approach to 'saving' tax dollars. There are many far less dangerous areas where economies can and should be found first.

Gibbs "Anchor"

The Curmudgeon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:44:00 GMT

President Obama's Press Secretary is an anchor and may well be cut loose in the next week or two.

Robert Gibbs seems destined for ouster; he cut short the "bipartisanship" effort of his boss in a couple of minutes yesterday. It is difficult to think this was the Administration's planned effort.

The simple-minded attack against Ms. Palin was sophomoric and ill-conceived. He just felt compelled to write some "notes" on his palm so he could take a gratuitous shot at Palin. Does he not have more pressing issues to be concerned over? Is there not a sense of class that ought prevail?

Then there is the short-sightedness that has us not remembering that the President seldom can utter a few words without benefit of Mr. Teleprompter.

This seems symptomatic of the Administration. It seems darn close to the 'Hole In the Wall' gang. It has a hard time staying out of its own way.

Drones Over Texas?

The Curmudgeon — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:01:00 GMT

The Governor of Texas has suggested that Predator drones, unarmed, be used to fly over the borders to prevent illegal aliens from entry, at least from nearly effortless entry.

That sounds like a very good idea. We know the technology works based on the use of Predators in war zones. There are more and more small unmanned drones available that could easily make the southern borders far less porous, if that is what our government really wants.

The majority of Americans want the borders sealed so that only legal aliens are permitted into our country. If the Obama Administration has any real interest in stemming that flow, it certainly has the tools available to make that happen. This would be a reasonable way to seal the constant flow of illegals. We could observe and direct ground intercepts to the right place at the right time to make arrests.

Beyond the illegal alien issue, this would serve as a more effective tool to prevent the use of our southern border as an open door to extremists who wish us harm.

A good idea that bears real thought. At the very least, we'll know just how serious the Administration is about thwarting the flow of illegals.

Paul Ryan Is A Threat

The Curmudgeon — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:44:00 GMT

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is a threat...to the Democrat Party especially, but also somewhat to the Republican Party.

Ryan is drawing fire for being knowledgeable in matters of budget and health care and Social Security. He is also knowledgeable in many other areas, but these are the current hot topics. Ryan's 'Road Map for America - 2' contains some very well-thought ideas for reforming health care, for solving the Medicare funding crisis and for generally reforming the way our government works. He is a bright, personable, good looking family man. He is a policy 'wonk' and he is not one whom another politician wishes to be forced to duel in public.

He is viewed as anathema by the Democrats because of his skill set, and he is worrisome to the Republicans because he is obviously among the brightest members of that party in Washington today.

As the attacks against Ryan ensue, as they almost certainly will, remember to look very carefully at the remarks made by the attackers. For example, his reformation approach for Social Security is being slammed now as placing old people in soup lines (my paraphrasing) and that couldn't be further from the truth.

We could use a 'Ryan-clone" so that we could have him both here in Wisconsin and in Washington at the same time.

I believe he is the "real deal". He won't challenge Feingold since both are from Janesville. Rumors have him thinking about the seat someday to be vacated by Kohl. I'd love someday to see him as our governor, and I won't be surprised to see him as a candidate for President if I am fortunate to live long enough.

Senator Thompson?

The Curmudgeon — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:59:00 GMT

The likelihood of a Senator Tommy Thompson seems remote given the morning Journal Sentinel report that he has just landed another in a long line of appointments to an equity fund advisory board.

Seems that he would be divesting himself of such political millstones rather than adding to the list if he were really serious about taking on Feingold, doesn't it?

Tommy loves to be in the news and this seems to have been just such an exercise.

Now maybe the others who are thinking of a Feingold challenge, such as Ted Kanavas, can get on with their political lives.

Infrastructure Attacks

The Curmudgeon — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:32:00 GMT

A recently released report from a survey of hundreds of executives and managers of infrastructure organizations (power grids, water treatment facilities, etc.) provides information that many of these information technology networks have been attacked, and that some have been adversely affected as the result.

This is potentially critical to our country's safety since we could be "shut down" with successful such attacks being focused, for example, on the electrical power grid across our country. Water systems could be compromised. Sewage treatment facilities could be made to dump untreated sewage...maybe that is what keeps happening in Milwaukee ... thus affecting the health and welfare of the people.

Many of these attacks that have already occurred are believed to have been launched by foreign countries.

Such attacks can include the implanting of malicious software that can be triggered at will by the person or organization that planted it. Some are the classic "denials-of service" attacks where a system is simply overwhelmed by huge amounts of Internet traffic aimed at the servers.

These issues need our country's immediate and serious focus to preclude us being taken out without a shot being fired. One wonders if this could be the "nuclear weapon" of this generation.

We, as a country, have not paid the kind of attention we should have been paying to the education of technology minds. We may find ourselves in the class of "have not" countries in this regard if we do not do something about this imbalance and very quickly. Our education system needs reforming and it needs that reform very, very soon. Even with that, we will have slipped several generations behind this dangerous new curve.

Obama & The Supreme Court

The Curmudgeon — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:19:00 GMT

Among the most memorable events in last evening's State of the Union speech by President Obama was his galling upbraiding of the Supreme Court for its decision protecting freedom of speech.

His abrasive mention of that decision while he looked right at the members of that court seated in the front row spoke volumes about this man and his disdain for anyone who dares disagree with him on any topic.

His pomposity has rankled me since I first witnessed it, and he has since honed that 'attribute' to a fine edge.

There are three "equal" branches of government for a reason. The reason is called "checks and balances" and it is especially important today when there is, until Scott Brown is seated, absolute control of two of the three branches by the Democrats. Imagine how Obama will change the Supreme Court's make-up if and when he has the opportunity. Imagine how the President, without a Republican majority in the Senate, will alter the face of that court.

If we are reeling from the first year of President Obama and the Democrat Congress, we 'ain't' seen nothin' yet!

Climate Change Legislation?

The Curmudgeon — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:12:00 GMT

Just when we thought that we might get through a month or two without more conversations about "climate change" following the debacle that was Copenhagen, I learn that was truly naive.

"Cap and Trade" was supposedly dead following the revelations that the "science" behind global warming had been anything but scientific.

It's back, however. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CN), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) met yesterday to try to find "common ground" so that something can get passed.

No matter what they're thinking of doing, why can't we sit this out while the bogus nature of the data is being exposed?

This is much akin to the Sen. Reid (D-NV) rush to get health care reform done because a thousand people were dying everyday without the bill being passed. It appears this science is so suspect, that we would be very wise to let this "global warming" thing cool just a bit before plunging headlong into something that may well be unnecessary and, at the very least, would be very expensive.

Will another few months without a global warming bill in the Senate be all that disastrous? I think not.

Air America Gone

The Curmudgeon — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:35:00 GMT

Air America has finally closed its operation. It filed for bankruptcy some time ago and was going to re-organize, but it never made it through that process. Last Friday was the last day of broadcast.

Air America was to be the liberal answer to the Rush Limbaughs of the broadcast world who pull large audience segments day-in and day-out. It didn't work. People apparently do not enjoy listening to liberals as they enjoy listening to conservatives. NPR seems to be the only place that liberal talk can make it because NPR is publically-funded.

This newsworthy item didn't make it too far up on the mainstream news media list. I don't recall seeing or hearing of this news anywhere but in conservative forums and on conservative talk radio.

It is continually interesting to me that liberals are so well-equipped to be able to ignore their lack of support. So long as they can find a Mr. or Ms. Big Bucks to fund their efforts, they seem to believe they are making progress.

This does not bode well for the FCC to forget about air wave control plans they supposedly had dropped earlier. This usually bears some innocent or misleading name but it is always meant to provide the liberals with a guaranteed media outlet...even though they could never generate sufficient interest to sell sustaining advertising spots.

Bipartisanship Alive And Well...Sorta

The Curmudgeon — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:56:00 GMT

Just when everyone thought that bipartisanship was dead, it rears its not-too-pretty head.

The Democrats, only too happy to try to ram health care reform through Congress without Republican participation, now seem to have gotten 'religion'.

They want a bipartisan commission created that would consist of 10 Democrats and 8 Republicans. This commission would be charged with finding ways to reduce the deficit. Once this 'bipartisan' commission had made its recommendations known, Congress would be required to vote it up or down.

If they've learned nothing else, the Democrats seem to know that they'll fare better if they drag the silly Republicans into the deficit mess with them. How better to clean up their own mess than to implicate the Republicans by incorporation.

Let us hope that the Republican leadership doesn't fall for this ploy. Let the Democrats work out their own solutions to the over-spending in which they've engaged for the past year. Then-President Bush gave them a place to hide by acting as he thought Obama wanted him to act in the interest of the country when he approved spending measures as among the last things he did on his watch.

Fool the people once, shame on you; fool the people twice, shame on us!

Did They Hear? Do They Care?

The Curmudgeon — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:59:00 GMT

Did President Obama hear the outcry yesterday? If so, does he care?

Senator-elect Scott Brown won a resounding victory in Massachusetts by gathering the votes of most Republican voters who turned out, many Independent voters who turned out and some Democrat voters who turned out. He captured 52% to 47% at the end of last night with some 93% of all votes, except absentee ballots, accounted for.

The Senate Democrats appear to have heard that outcry, and it appears that they care...at least for the moment.

We don't yet know if the House Democrats heard, nor whether they care; Nancy Pelosi continues to make loud sounds about passing health care reform no matter that the majority of people do not want it.

There is a certain "Kamikaze" quality about Pelosi, but she doesn't have to pilot one of those airplanes. Instead, she stands on the flight deck and watches as her wards take off into the wild blue yonder never to return after the elections this fall. She has as safe a seat as there is for a liberal Democrat coming from the San Francisco area as she does.

But then again, people thought the "Kennedy Seat" was safe, too...until yesterday.

Of course, the leaders on the Democrat side may take awhile to come to grips with the aftermath from yesterday. That would be understandable, so long as they get the right message after the pondering.

Now, all that having been said, will the Republicans take the cue they should take from yesterday? That cue is not to be cocky and avoid listening to the real message. This was not a Republican victory so much as it was a independent/conservative victory. Whether or not Senator-elect Brown proves to be a conservative, he sure looked like one compared to his opponent.

If liberal Massachusetts can love a "conservative", why would the Republican party not be able to do the same?