Monthly Archives: February 2013

Media, Politics

Organizing for Action And Sequestration, Update 3/2/2013

Obama-Jim-MessinaThe Obama campaign (which hasn’t ended), as opposed to the Obama presidency (which hasn’t started), presents their lies to the low-information voters over ‘sequestration.’ And I’ll throw in the low-information media in the same camp. Actually, they know better, but bend over when it comes to helping President Obama.

Here’s a letter I received from Jim Messina, the Chair-sweetie of the (non-partisan?) Organizing for Action PAC over sequestration, which he now characterizes as “Republican obstructionism.” This isn’t a right-wing talking point. This is his OFA document. The truth is in italics.

Ross —

This is what Republican obstructionism has come to:

Obama’s inaction doesn’t become Republican obstructionism.

Tomorrow, if congressional Republicans don’t act, dangerous self-inflicted budget cuts known as the sequester will rip a hole in our nation’s budget and indiscriminately cut programs vital to millions of Americans like you.

First of all, there is no budget. Hasn’t been a budget in four years. Secondly, there are no budget cuts. They represent a modest decrease in the increase in future spending. See chart below. These would be the same budget cuts that Obama proposed, and successfully got bi-partisan support for in the debt ceiling agreement two years ago. If he were honest, he would blame Republicans for ‘compromising’ with him.

The only reason Republicans won’t stop these devastating sequester cuts is because they want to protect tax loopholes for millionaires, billionaires, and corporate jets.

To quote Justice Alito, NOT TRUE. Another lie for the low-information voters and Obama kool-aid drinkers. In the big debate over the “Bush Tax Cuts” expiring, Republicans offered using the ending of the so-called “tax loopholes” (which are tax law, not anything shady or illegal) in order to get the revenue that Obama said he wanted. But Obama didn’t want that. Apparently, it was HE, not Republicans, that wanted to protect tax loopholes for millionaires, billionaires, and corporate jets. So he chose to leave them alone and raise the tax rates on everyone instead. Now he is trying to move the bar by coming back for them. On the “balanced approach side,” cutting spending, in order to avoid “dangerous self-inflicted budget cuts,” Senate Republicans offered President Obama the freedom to exercise his discretion to cut anything he wants, instead of the across-the-board cuts that he signed into law. And he refused the offer. Why do you suppose he would do that?

It’s hard to believe they let it come to this point. Beginning tomorrow, March 1st, we’re going to feel the impact.

You better believe this is exactly the point Obama wants. A contrived issue he can use to beat Republicans over the head with.

President Obama has a balanced plan to prevent the harmful sequester, reduce the deficit, and protect the middle class.

More higher taxes, more borrowing, more redistribution of wealth. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Democrat’s bill would add $41.5 billion to the deficit in 2013, $15.9 billion in 2014, and $5.2 billion in 2015 before its tax increases are scheduled to begin lowering yearly deficits. However, because it raises spending more than it raises taxes, it would still add a total of $7.2 billion to the deficit and $5.8 trillion to the national debt. All of which will destroy the middle class and every other class. This is what passes for balanced, responsible? He likes balance? Try this. I’ll take your so-called tax loopholes, in exchange for returning to the lower tax rates back to working people. 

Stand behind that plan and tell Republicans to act in the best interest of their constituents:

Did I say non-partisan?

http://my.barackobama.com/Tell-the-GOP-to-Act

More soon,

Messina

Jim Messina
Chair
Organizing for Action

P.S. — If Congress fails to act, this fight doesn’t end tomorrow. We’ll need to put even more pressure on Republicans to stop these budget cuts and pass a balanced plan. Join this fight now.

—————-
Let’s finish what we started. Chip in $25 or more to Organizing for Action, the grassroots movement that will get the job done.

Did I say non-partisan?

BL-sequestration-size-comparison

Uncategorized

Shepherds And Sheep

To say that there is a clash of ideologies to the point where there is no room for (I’m going to use a PC word) compromise is putting it mildly. Regardless of the motive, good intentions or the need to control, the end result of a government-controlling society does not last or work.

A good read on this subject from Thomas Sowell entitled Shepherds and Sheep. Here’s an excerpt . . .

John Stuart Mill’s classic essay “On Liberty” gives reasons why some people should not be taking over other people’s decisions about their own lives. But Professor Cass Sunstein of Harvard has given reasons to the contrary. He cites research showing “that people make a lot of mistakes, and that those mistakes can prove extremely damaging.”

Professor Sunstein is undoubtedly correct that “people make a lot of mistakes.” Most of us can look back over our own lives and see many mistakes, including some that were very damaging.

What Cass Sunstein does not tell us is what sort of creatures, other than people, are going to override our mistaken decisions for us. That is the key flaw in the theory and agenda of the left.

Compromise won’t end the clash or “solve” the issue. People will have to suck it up and decide which one is best for the American dream. That which has made America the greatest country in the world in just a couple hundred years, or something else?

Links: Shepherds and Sheep

Gun Control, Immigration, Politics

aSide Order

2012 Presidential Election Demographics

Only Hispanics and Asians increased their vote for Obama. Coincidentally, these have been our two largest immigrant groups over the last several decades. It’s sort of touching that Democrats couldn’t get Americans to vote for them, so they had to bring in new voters from other countries to start winning elections again. Immigrants really are doing the job Americans just won’t do.  Ann Coulter

endofstory

VP Joe Biden’s Advice On Home Security

With the big push by the Obama administration for greater “gun control,” ostensibly for reducing “gun crime,” the man President Obama put in charge of that task is Vice President Joe Biden. Biden, being as much an expert on firearms as Obama is on health care, gave a tip on home protection, same as he gave his wife Jill.

“I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out and put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,’” Biden said.

“You don’t need an AR-15—it’s harder to aim,” he added, “it’s harder to use, and in fact you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun! Buy a shotgun!”

 

In that scenario, shooting a gun outside your house is illegal (felony aggravated menacing, reckless endangering) in Delaware, as the Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, his son, would tell him. Aside from committing a felony, he advised his wife to disarm herself by blindly shooting the only two rounds that gun holds. Feeling safer now?

endofstory

Compare the AR-15 to a 12-Gauge Shotgun

On the subject of a shotgun being a better defense weapon, easier to aim and shoot, than an AR-15 according to VP Joe Biden, I came across this video.

 

 

And here is an A-B comparison video of a 12 gauge shotgun and an AR-15 you’ll get a kick out of. Pun intended. Right, Joe really knows what he’s talking about.

Media, Politics

The White House Wins M.R.I.O.T.D. Award

One month after President Obama sends an email, complete with video of FLOTUS, recruiting for his Organizing For Action PAC, The White House today says they’re not part of that. It’s just an independent organization.

The spin from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney . . .

OFA, which you are asking about, is an independent organization that, as reported in the press, will engage in advocacy and grassroots mobilization activities around public policy issues. It will not be engaged in political campaign-related activities.

We’ve heard this obfuscation before; depends what “is” is. This is community organizing on a country level. And they’re wanting tax exempt status?

The fledgling Organizing for Action says it will be nonpartisan and steer clear of election activity. But the line between issue disputes and electoral politics can be a fuzzy one. The first of an expected wave of ads on gun control, for example, has targeted only Republicans. And OFA board member Jim Messina, who managed Obama’s reelection campaign, has been talking with Democratic Party leaders, including those responsible for success in the 2014 midterm elections. {emphasis added}

Non-partisan? Here’s the letter President Obama sent me just a month ago.

Ross —

Today, a new grassroots organization is being launched: Organizing for Action.

Following in the footsteps of the campaign you built, Organizing for Action will be an unparalleled force in American politics. It will work to turn our shared values into legislative action — and it’ll empower the next generation of leaders in our movement.

Our work didn’t end on Election Day.

Organizing for Action will support the legislative agenda we voted on, train the next generation of grassroots organizers and leaders, and organize around local issues in our communities.

Watch this video the First Lady recorded about the next step of this grassroots movement, and say you’re in:

So for this blatant forked-tongue politics, which wouldn’t be possible if the media did its job, The White House wins the Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day (MRIOTD) Award.

Links: Obama’s new political group to lure unlimited donations |  Obama Donors Aren’t Getting Special Access For Checks To Organizing For Action: White House

Gun Control, Politics

Firearms Companies Restricting Sales

Updated 2/24/2013. A growing number of firearm and firearm-related companies have stated they will no longer sell items to states, police_loopholecounties, cities and municipalities that restrict their citizens’ rights to own them. YES! These growing number of manufacturers are limiting sales to what law-abiding citizens residing in their districts can buy or own.

Hey, what’s good for the goose . . .

This should serve as a wake-up call to the anti-second amendment crowd. But, it probably won’t. Look for the next step to be the federal government to either attempt to suspend or revoke their license, sue the companies for exercising their rights, or to simply seize their assets like any good dictator would do, all in the name of some perverted view of discrimination.

“Police loophole” seems to be a pro-gun industry, or anti-gun control term. Sort of like “gun-show loophole” is to the pro-gun control lobby.

What is the police loophole?

There are some states, counties, cities, and municipalities in our great nation that fail to allow their citizens to fully exercise their right to keep and bear arms with restrictions such as magazine capacity or types of firearms that are widely available to citizens of other states, counties, cities, and municipalities. However, these government entities do not place these restrictions upon their own employees, such as police officers. It is important to note that we are against gun control; we are not against any particular government agency or individuals.

The folks aren’t preparing for war against law enforcement. Although you can make a case that Homeland Security is preparing for a war against Americans with their billions of rounds ammo purchases over the last year. These companies won’t do business in states or areas where there are two standards for the second amendment, or will limit their business to that which a regular citizen can buy or own.

Link: Firearms Companies Restricting Sales To GOVERNMENT Agencies In Areas That Restrict Gun Rights

Economy, Politics

Thoughts, 2013 State Of The Union Speech

joe_walter_barack_john

The day after the President gave his SOTU speech, and after having watched it, my favorite R&B radio station’s facebook page, WDAS-FM, posed the question “What do you think?” about it. What follows is what I thought about it. Your mileage may vary.

Pretty much the same SOTU speech he’s made every year for the last 4 years. The relevant question is, or should be, have you seen any of his promises come to fruition yet?

Still says creating jobs is top priority, domestic oil production a top priority, so-called green energy a top priority. Reducing the debt a top priority. That $785 billion stimulus bill was to go for infrastructure. That was 3 yrs ago. None of any of that has happened. He repeated all of it over again last night. He didn’t spend it last time on what he “said” it was supposed to be for. What makes anyone think he’ll keep his word this time?

He said that the Affordable Care Act would reduce premiums, you could keep your doctor, and that it wouldn’t cost a dime more, and that it would by itself reduce the national debt. None of that happened.

Last nights speech was more govt. programs with no explanation as to how it would be paid for, IE. more debt. He also said that none of those programs would cost a dime more, would not add to the debt. How gullible does he think we, you, are?

I thought his slipping in the statement that not only should min. wage be increased, but the goal should be that it also be a “living wage.” All sounds good. But in reality, it will make unemployment worse everywhere. And in urban areas like Washington DC, black youth unemployment is over 50%. That number is 40.5% in Philly. So ask yourself people, do you see positive results for the over $6 trillion in debt that he himself has created so far? Other than growing the government that is.

And do you know that through the rest of his second term, he expects to increase the debt by an additional trillion dollars each year?

I think his focus should be 180 degrees from where it is now. If he knew how to stimulate the economy, we would see prices go back down for gas, utilities, food, health care. All that. And employment go up. You and your families, everyone, would have a job and their dollar would go further like it used to. Looking to increase a min wage is to accept all the inflated prices as the “new normal.” And to accept the govt as our caretaker.

You think things are expensive now, wait to see how expensive it will be when it’s free.

Economy, Energy, Media, Politics

Buffett Railroad, Not XL Pipeline

Were it not for a caller to the Herman Cain radio show this morning spilling the beans on Warren Buffett’s railroad, vis-a-vie the XL bnsfpipeline, this story would have remained buried. It’s about BNSF Railway, a railroad transportation company wholly owned by Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway.

BNSF figures to be the major player in petroleum shipments from the Bakken fields in North Dakota to the Texas refineries. In other words, the XL pipeline route. And to ship east to Philadelphia refineries and west to refineries in California, Oregon and Washington.

rfkjrdc2Warren Buffett is a big Obama contributor and supporter. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But when you see Obama doing everything he can to not sign on to the XL pipeline, and last week the environmental lobby along with Robert Kennedy Jr. tying themselves to The White House fence in protest to the XL pipeline, you can see the forces at work. The only special interest group that supports Obama but wants the XL pipeline is Big Labor. Why? Because it means jobs.

So Obama has a tough call (money or jobs) to make. You have your quid pro quo to Warren Buffett and the environmental lobby on one hand, and creating hundreds of thousands of high-paying union jobs on the other. The latter would also strengthen our energy security in the long-term, cut oil dependency on the Middle East and Venezuela, will contribute to making the United States an oil producer instead of an oil purchaser, and would lower energy costs. Oil producers say shipping crude by pipeline in North Dakota adds up to $1.50 to its cost, compared to $2 or more a barrel for rail shipments. Also tied to the oil costs are food cost.

To the oil companies, it doesn’t matter one bit how the crude they produce is transported. It does matter to the folks that have to buy it. The lower the cost of transportation, the lower the cost of energy. The lower the cost of energy, the lower the cost of food, fuel, heating. The poor would benefit more from lower prices on food and energy than those eeevil one percenters would. Opening the Keystone XL pipeline should be a no-brainer. But  Obama won re-election. He doesn’t have to act like he cares for the poor or middle-class anymore.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, at least here on The Lunch Counter, let’s see if the media ever catches up and calls out Obama on being beholden to his favorite lobbyists/contributors as they are quick to say, “on the backs of the poor.”

Links: Buffett Railroad Sees Crude Cargo Climbing 40%  |  BNSF Railway  |  Warren Buffett cleans up after Keystone XL  |  No Keystone XL? Big Oil will just take the train   |  BNSF expands Bakken rail ability from N.Dakota, Montana

Economy, Media, Politics

The Sequestration Show

It would be funny, if the debt wasn’t so serious, watching all the hand-wringing going on, on both sides of the aisle and in the media, over the impending ‘cuts’ that are planned in the sequestration legislation. The legislation gymnastics that was cooked up in The White House.

What’s funny about it all is that there are no cuts whatsoever involved. The gymnastics and linguistics of it all is that, in their mind (media included), a cut is equal to increasing the debt by 7 trillion dollars instead of 10 trillion dollars. Give or take a trillion.

In reality, and by those standards, if the government spent the same amount for each of the next 10 years as they will spend this year, they would call that a 10 trillion-dollar cut.

All of it is smoke and mirrors to put the real work, saving Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, on the back burner. Kind of like putting their head in the sand.