The Debt Ceiling...Hypocrisy at its Finest

In 1997 the United States Senate voted on a Balanced Budget Amendment. Perhaps, faced with the uncontrolled spending, the highest debt in history, high unemployment rates, and up to our eyeballs in debt owed to China, we could collectively wish that we could turn back the clock to 1997 and obtain that one more vote needed to pass the amendment for a balanced budget. Because it failed, the Congress has raised the debt ceiling 10 times over the last 10 years and the national debt has nearly tripled from just over $5 trillion to $14.3 trillion dollars. Foreign countries hold $4.5 trillion of that debt.

This past fall, the Obama administration pushed hard to get an early vote on increasing the debt limit and failed. The vote in the November elections ensured a change from Democrats to Republican in the House and it closed the gap of Democratic control in the Senate. This resulted in in the Omnibus Spending Bill for the new fiscal year being defeated and the vote on the debt ceiling being postponed. In a matter of a few days, that decision will once again raise its ugly head.

There has been a lot fear talk by the administration mouthpieces that the government will be forced to shut down. That a failure to meet the debt obligations will cause a crash in the stock market. We can recall all this doom and gloom talk with the failure of the banks and automobile industry and now they want another credit card. Why can't the Congress run the operation of the national government like they run the finances of their personal family home? Oh yeah, it is relatively easy to just apply for another credit card. There are families that do that. They max out their Visa limit of $5,000 and keep making minimum payments while applying for a MasterCard and then a another after another. Before they realize the long term impact of such irrational decisions, they have amassed $10 to $30 Thousand dollars in credit card debt and are asking the courts to forgive their debt through bankruptcy. Over the last ten years, the total debt per citizen has gone from $$27 thousand to $52 thousand dollars. At the national level there are no bankruptcy courts. The debt ceiling fight as been an ongoing problem since the early '80's with promised spending cuts that never happen. The administrations of both parties have chosen to raise debt ceilings and put us more into debt by selling bonds to foreign nations.

This insanity must stop. Back in 2006, when the vote on the debt limit came up under an Republican leadership, the junior senator from Illinois stated:

"Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' 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."

Our current Vice President Joe Biden said during the same period in 2006:

"The President's (Speaking of George W. Bush) budget plans will bring that number to $11.8 trillion at the end of the next 5 years. This is a record of utter disregard for our Nation's financial future and an indifference to the price our children and grandchildren will pay to redeem our debt when it comes due."

Mr. President...Mr. Vice President, I could not agree more with your statements of 2006. It applied then and it applies equally today. When your administration took office, the national debt stood at $10.6 Trillion and you have raised that debt in just over two years by 35 percent.

It is past time to immediately impose serious spending cuts into the national budget that still awaits Congressional approval. But I would go even further to suggest that it is time for a Balanced Budget Amendment. Senator Jim DeMint, (R-SC) with the help of some of his colleagues are hoping to introduce a Balanced Budget Amendment which would require (1) Congress to balance the budget each year, (2) prevent Congress from spending more than 20 percent of GDP, and (3) require a 2/3 super-majority vote to raise taxes. This effort can be reviewed at http://stopthedebtpledge.com/. While your at it, contact your representatives and tell them this hypocrisy must stop. Our nation is going in the wrong direction and will be destroyed from within.

The Blame Game and Hope

A week ago today as many of us anticipated NFL playoff games, one young distressed man who by all accounts may be suffering from serious mental illness headed for a shopping center in Tucson, Arizona and set in motion another tragedy which will go down in history as senseless murder and mayhem. Regrettably, because it involved a United States Congresswoman, the left wing pundits and even a United States Senator from Vermont found it expedient to blame conservatives, talk radio, former Vice Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin and a sitting Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann (R-MN).

I for one welcomed the Memorial Service at the University of Arizona because it would serve in many ways to help the injured victims, the families of the deceased, the citizens of Arizona and the nation to begin to put the tragedy behind. We all hoped that the President of the United States at this service would offer the right kind of leadership and words of condolence as we have needed in the past history of our Republic.

I believe in many ways President Obama helped us and my purpose is to recognize that effort and pray that our nation can heal. I offer these words from the President:

"Imagine..imagine for a moment: here was a young
girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy;
just beginning to understand the obligations of her
citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that some
day she, too, might play a part in shaping her nation's
future. She had been elected to her student council;
she saw public service as something exciting, something
hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman,
someone she was sure was good and important and
might be a role model. She saw all this through the
eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol
that we adults all too often just take for granted."

"I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our
democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it.
All of us...we should do everything we can to make
sure this country lives up to our children's expectations."

I agree with you Mr. President. I want us to live up to her expectations also. This beautiful child deserved better than what her country gave her. I have been angry with this vitriol from the media and even members of Congress but I too wish for it to stop and I will speak no further in the blame game. But I also ask that you step up also. Action does speak louder than words and you must set an example. If you continue your bitter words towards supporters and members of the "other party" then you can also expect your staff, supporters and certain members of the media to follow your example. I would like to see you address this issue in your State of the Union Address because right now, the Union is in a terrible state.

I sincerely pray that we can all learn from this and really work together to accomplish great things on behalf of the country we love. Christina and the other victims cannot have died for nothing.

Shame and Tragedy in Arizona

I had every intention this Saturday to enjoy my morning coffee, watch the news and have a bite to eat before settling down to watch the NFL playoff games. That was all spoiled by the 10am report this morning of a deadly shooting in Tucson, Arizona involving Representative Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th Congressional District of Arizona.

As more information developed, we learned that Representative Giffords was conducting a "Congress on Your Corner" public meeting at a Safeway Market in her effort to meet with her supporters. She had won reelection this past November as a "Blue-Dog Democrat" in a well known conservative district. The news was shocking and not good. Apparently, an unknown person had opened fire with an automatic weapon and fired one shot at almost point blank distance hitting her in the head. Early reports declared her dead at the scene. I am quite happy to say that thank God that is incorrect. She was rushed to the hospital and with the finest doctors and neurosurgeons available, has been stabilized after surgery. The report is that they are are optimistic while guarded in her critical condition. The next few days will certainly be crucial to the degree of her recovery. I must report that a total of six others were killed in this tragedy including Federal District Court Judge John M. Roll; a congressional staff aide of Rep. Giffords, and a nine year old female who was a innocent bystander.

As a more middle of the road Democrat in Congress, she has been well respected by both sides sides of the aisle and certainly by her constituents. She is the only United States Representative with an active duty spouse, Captain Mark Kelly, a Navy pilot and NASA astronaut. My prayers and thoughts are with her family this night for a successful recovery and to the other families who are victims of this senseless brutality.

Those who know me and have followed by writings at this blog site will agree that I am pretty much a conservative and my political thoughts have been quite critical of the liberals in Congress and the present Administration. But I know in my heart that there is no place under our Constitution and this Republic for such unspeakable acts of violence as displayed this morning. It is truly a disgrace to our citizens, to our nation and to the guiding principals of our society.

The Bad Penny

Sometimes, problems are like a bad penny...they just will not go away. Such is the case with the birther issue of President Obama. I sometimes have to wonder if this is an issue that the current administration does not want to disappear. After all, since the presidential election two years ago, the Obama administration has been plagued with problems that are brought about by there own policies and some out of stubbornness. Perhaps the latter when it comes to the President's birth certificate.

We are all aware of some of the frivolous accusations in the media brought about by what I would classify as far right loons and several failed lawsuits by the same bunch which thus far have been met by deaf ears in the nations court. The main contention by the birther movement has has been that the State of Hawaii presented only a state document to prove that Barack Obama was born there. The problem with the document is that it does not provide the details of birth that a true hospital document provides. The Obama administration contents that the State of Hawaii document is sufficient and state law protects the President from the hospital releasing the document unless expressly released with his permission.

This issue in my opinion had quited down considerably until last week when the noted liberal television host Chris Matthews of MSNBC stated, " Why doesn't the President just say, 'send me a copy right now?' Why doesn't Gibbs and Axelrod say "lets just get this crappy story dead?' Why not do it?...If it exists, why not put it out?" He was joined by Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune and David Corn of Mother Jones who both agreed with the call for Obama to publicly release the certified document which has remained under wraps. As if this bit of a bombshell from the left was not enough, this week while the President was spending the Christmas holidays with his family in Hawaii, the Governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie (D), released a headline making statement in the local newspaper and Associated Press stating that he was troubled by all the conspiracies and was looking for a way to release more information regarding the President's birth in Hawaii. Since that media release, the issue from the Governor office has been quite mute with no further statements.

I am just one American citizen who truly would like the Obama Administration to finally put this entire controversy to bed. Unless there is harm to the family or harm to the nation, there is no reason on this earth for the President of the United States to continue this cover up which does nothing positive for the nation or his family. I agree with Chris Matthews (and that is very unusual), "please Mr. President, release the certified birth certificate from the hospital and put this baloney to rest once and for all".

A Troubled World

A very good friend of mine wrote me this week to tell me how bad the news media exacerbates everything. He said he was just tired of all the complaining in general and that it weighs heavily on his mind. He felt that all the troubles of the world were being jammed down his throat. He constantly was hearing how bad the economy was, how bad the weather was, the gas prices, the health care debacle, problems in Africa, Iran, North Korea, our national debt and how China was going to own us. He said he was getting old and did not need to carry the problems of the world too. He asked whatever happened to the Grandfather who could just sit on the bench with the children and tell stories about the good old days and the children listened because the stories were interesting?

I said to him that I agreed with him in principal and wouldn't it be wonderful to sit back on the porch and tell our children and grandchildren that everything is beautiful and they do not have a care in the world. Yes, that would be nice but not reality. I told him that in fact, when we were kids, we listened to the radio and to the conversations of our Mom and Dad. The world was dangerous then and the United States was trying to deal with World War II and the likes of Adolf Hitler, a man who wanted to fly the Nazi flag over the entire world. When I sat down with my children, we were in Viet-Nam trying to stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia and the threat of the Communist Soviet Union who threatened to destroy us. Today we are dealing with Iran, North Korean, nuclear proliferation and a radical Muslim religion which wants to destroy Christianity and the Non-Muslim countries. On top of that, we have elected a President who has shown very liberal tendencies and his administration seems to have their image of what our country should be like rather than what our Constitution has created over the past two hundred years.

My point is that we will always have these threats to our nation and to the world. We can ignore them and bury our head in the ground or we can talk about them, write about them and collectively raise our voices as we did this past midterm elections. I remember many years ago when joining the military that I would support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The day that we as a nation no longer believe those words is when we forfeit our rights to exist as the United States of America.

Just My Opinion

It has been a while since I last entered some thoughts in my blog spot. I guess I just had to get through the frustration of the changing politics in our nation. I can honestly say I have been re- energized by the November 2010 elections. I cannot say with any certainty how often my thoughts will appear but I will have some observations.

As I look at the political seen since the elections, I have to wonder if the Congress in Washington is really listening to the people. I have come to the conclusion that only some were listening. For the past year, Congress has known that they needed to put together a budget for next year (FY2011) and yet they waited until the Lame Duck Session over the last two weeks to do this and also try to cram a few other questionable pieces of legislation down the throats of voters. I believe the Dems majority in both the Senate and the House purposely did this to pass as much of their agenda as possible before the new session begins in January with a Republican majority in the House and a Senate much more in balance with the loss of six Democratic seats.

There were a couple of victories during this session for the Dems but in all, perhaps a sign of better times to come. Certainly the passing of the Bush Tax Cuts Extension for everyone was huge. I congratulate the Republican Congressional Members for standing firm and refusing to pass the Omnibus Spending Bill (2000 pages) with its $1.1 Trillion price tag and $8 Billion in Earmarks ('pork"). Nothing but a blatant attempt by the Dems to dictate the budget for next year.

Before closing I want to say a few things about "ObamaCare". Obviously, many hope this takeover of our health system will be reversed by the courts as unconstitutional. There has been problems surfacing already and two of those problems I mention briefly. Yesterday the Obama Administration announced rules which are an effort to prohibit or reduce necessary rate increases by private health insurer's. Under proposed regulation, rate increases of more than 10 percent would come under scrutiny of state and federal officials. This opens the door for more oversight of private business. The feds want to give everyone health insurance (including children to age 26) but they want to prohibit health insurers from increases to cover such added expenses. Another highway to demise of the private insurer.

Last week the Food and Drug Administration revoked the approval of the drug Avastin, which as been one of the drugs of choice by thousands of Oncologists across the nation for the estimated 17,000 plus women struggling with advanced stages of Breast Cancer. The FDA states that the drug does not show "a significant benefit in slowing disease progression to outweigh the significant risk to patients." Risk!.. Not a significant benefit... Sorry to say that without this drug, these patients. short of a miracle, are going to die from Cancer, unless the drug is available and saves them for a while. Is this the first step towards "Death Panels"?

That's My Opinion...

House on Military Avenue - 1938 House on Military Avenue - 2010 with

Ray and his Saturn Sky, 5-24-2010