Later this month one more liberal landmine is set blow another hole in our already frail economy. In 2007, shortly after the Democratic takeover of Congress, the minimum wage was raised. This act was praised by the media and their friends on the left as help for the poor. We were barraged for years with images of unfortunate people who could not earn a ‘living wage’ flipping burgers and mopping floors. The left claimed these people needed help and that everyone working full time deserved to earn enough to live on. So in charged the Cavalry, riding Democrat donkeys and Republican RINOs, defending the rights of the worker from the evil capitalists enslaving them. No longer would these people be taken advantage of, the liberals would see to that and Bush would sign the bill. To ensure future prosperity for these disadvantaged souls, Washington legislated regular automatic increases. One of these is set to go off on July 24.

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Recently the House of Representatives passed a huge tax bill masked as an energy plan. HR 2454, which none of the House read prior to the vote, adds artificial costs (just another form of tax) to energy production and distribution. The goal of the bill is to make green energy more palatable and competitive so that market conditions will coax the nation to develop and switch to these new technologies. This is sort of a round about way to answer the critics of green energy who say that these sources of energy are cost prohibitive and that the market does not want them. Rather than letting market forces work, Congress wants to make the energy we currently use so expensive that other sources will become magically attractive. This is in keeping with the motto of the Democratic party: “If you can’t beat them, tax them into submission.”

Unfortunately, certain Republicans in the House of Representatives thought that you and I do not spend enough on utilities and voted with the majority to dip into your wallet. It is my hope that the eight voting for the bill will face serious primary opposition and be removed from office next time around.

The eight who voted to raise the consumer’s cost of energy:

Mary Bono Mack (R CA)
Michael Castle (R DE)
Mark Kirk (R IL)
Leonard Lance (R NJ)
Frank LoBiondo (R NJ)
John McHugh (R NY)
Dave Reichert (R WA)
Christopher Smith (R NJ)

A good friend of mine sent me this and I wanted to share it. Thank to Tom for the following:

It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.

He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.

The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.

The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.

The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that in these hard times, gave her “services” on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.

No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism..

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business today.

Government bailouts to rescue failing companies who made bad choices has reached record proportions. I have spoken on the constitutional issue of this—there being no constitutional grounds for such bailouts. Few people are considering the moral issue. I know many believe that keeping these companies afloat, bailing out GM, intervention in Chrysler and the money poured into the financial industry are keeping people employed and therefore moral actions. Actually they are theft.

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It is official, General Motors has declared bankruptcy and when restructured the US government will own 60% of the company. Of course General Motors and Barack Obama are defending this saying that it makes a GM vehicle a better choice because your warranty will be backed by the US government. One thing not being brought out is the constitutional ground for such an unprecedented action. There is nothing in the Constitution that permits the US government to invest in any business in this way. Think about it, the largest American auto maker is largely government owned.

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This morning on the radio I heard an announcement that really irked me. Yes, it irked me. The announcer was reporting that gas prices were rising around the country, “but the good news is they are way below where they were a year ago.” Is that now the criteria for good news: things aren’t as bad as they have been. If Bush were still president we would be hearing of how the rich greedy oil companies are strangling our country. The news would be filled with reports of families choosing to do without medicine for their children because of the cost of gas—ringing alarms in gas prices and healthcare. With Barry in the White House there is this overwhelming urge to be nice and see the bright side. With Bush it was assumed that since he was from Texas that he must be permitting high oil prices. Since Obama has never run anything or worked in any industry but government then no one dreams he could effect oil prices. (more…)

Anyone involved in politics ends up on hundreds of mailing lists, both email and snail-mail. Recently I received an email from John McCain asking me to take part in a poll. This proves that he did not read my response to his last email for support. Had he read it, he would have deleted my name for sure. As for the poll, I usually just delete these because they are worded in such a way to swing the results toward a previously intended direction. The questions will have multiple choice questions that do not even come close to my position, so they are always useless. This one was a perfect example. Here is one of the questions:

Do you believe in limited measures to control climate change or sweeping legislation with the process supporting other priorities of the Administration? (more…)

Secretary of State Clinton says the United States is moving quickly to address Global Warming. Of course the Obama administration is moving quickly, they have to do something before the theory falls on the ash heap of quack science where it belongs. If they don’t take immediate action they will have lost their excuse for muzzling the US economy and limiting our freedoms—saving the planet.

Our nation was founded by men who saw the abuses of Europe as an evil to be shunned. They fought to establish, not a Europe in North America, but a nation of states united for common cause, where sovereignty rested in the people instead of a prince. They understood that the import of European abuses would only lead to tyranny and serfdom so they established a Constitution to define and limit the central government. In effect the federal government is to be a perpetual servant—a slave if you will—of the people and the states. (more…)

President Obama and the Hip-pocket Congress are taking unprecedented steps to seize control of private sector firms, placing their assets under direct federal control. With plans to implement measures to permit government agencies to intercede in large publicly traded companies the push to state control of industry is at a fever pitch. Today’s news includes one such affront to a free market. At the request of the Obama administration, GM CEO Rick Wagoner resigned. This is just one example of the future we face with President Obama. Such is to be expected from Mr. Obama, since he has never worked in private industry, having made his living seeking political solutions to every problem. He can be excused for concluding government activism can make everyone as wealthy as it made him. (more…)