"So long Barney"

If there is a poster boy for what is wrong with American politics, this is the man. After 30 years in politics, Barney Frank announced this week that he will not run for reelection.

He is not "retiring" because he is in his early 70's, he is retiring because due to redistricting he actually has to "run for reelection" with a new group of voters and he knew he would lose.

His problems with new constituents has nothing to do with being gay, or the fact that years ago a male prostitution ring was run out of his DC condo; his personal and political record simply reeks of all the things that are wrong with Washington. He was a major sponsor of the legislation which enacted the Fanny Mae/Freddy Mac loan programs that resulted in creating the sub-prime housing bubble that led to this deep recession; and maybe was even the cause of it. He denies it, but that program put millions of low income people into homes that they simply could not afford; homes that were destined to go into foreclosure.

One of his reasons for leaving congress: "I don't like being in the minority". Like many of our politicians power was all that mattered to Congressman Frank. The fact that this arrogant, corrupt, career politician will be gone is a small step in the right direction.

He may not be purple, but this "Barney" certainly is a dinosaur.

"Super Failure"

Deep down we knew the so-called "Super Committee" would fail. And think about it, what was so "super" about this committee of ideologues who were just shills for their leadership, and for the President. Congress continues to display their complete incompetence and Obama continues to display his complete inability to lead.

So here we are back at the starting line.  The failure of this super committee means that by law the $1.2 trillion in cuts will be automatically split between the Defense Department and spread among other governmental agencies except social security, Medicare, veterans programs, and programs for the poor. But these automatic cuts will not start until 2013...isn't that interesting, after the next election. And they will probably never happen.

The super committee was a sham from day one . The Constitution states, among other things, that the Congress shall have the responsibility to lay and collect taxes, spend money, borrow money, and pay debts. It says nothing about a "super committee" and the fact that Congress took this cowardice method to try and work on the debt problem illustrates one thing - a majority of Congressional members did not want to go on record voting for any spending cuts or tax increases before an election year. What a shame that the self-interest of our politicians overrides what is good for the country.  I believe this "super committee" was designed from the beginning to fail, since Obama was giving a press conference within hours after their announcement, blaming the failure on the Republicans. And that will be his campaigns mantra: "I could not perform my job because of an ineffective Congress". He sure as hell cannot run for reelection on his record.

Those that read this blog know I am a partisan, but whether you are Republican, Democrat, or Independent you must feel like I do; this is the most ineffective, incompetent Congress and President in our lifetime. We need to replace the whole lot.

"Obama is a Godsend"

Some of you may have heard the interview of the Russian man with one of the Wall Street protesters last week. He had lived under communism/socialism for more than 20 years and is now a US citizen. He decided to go down to the protest and talk to some of the protesters.

He was very polite and asked this young girl what they were protesting against. She said: "Capitalism!"  Trying to keep things simple he asked if she would rather live in North Korea (communism/socialism) or South Korea (capitalism). Amazingly she said: "North Korea, socialism rocks".  Now obviously this young lady was either "high" or she simply is so uneducated that you could not say she is representative of her other protest compatriots.

Today Laura Ingraham interviewed this Russian guy and he had a chance to further discuss this experience at the Wall Street protest. He said that his first comparison to this young lady could have been East and West Berlin during the cold war. But since the fall of the Berlin wall those people in East Berlin are now starting to see the benefits of, (bad word) "Capitalism", and East Berliners are living prosperous like the rest of Germany. So he used North/South Korea as his example to her. And in the Ingraham interview he made a simple point - North Korea and South Korea are the same country, the same people, and the same resources. The difference is the SYSTEM.

Now here is a guy that has seen both sides and loves America.  Laura Ingraham ended the interview by asking how he felt about this country now, with all our economic problems, protests, and in many people's opinion: "America is in decline".  His response: "I am very positive about America, recent studies show that 40% of Americans call themselves 'Conservative', and their numbers are increasing, 20% of Americans call themselves 'Liberals' and their numbers are decreasing. For that I thank Obama, he is a godsend".



Editor's note: In 1967 I had the opportunity to visit East Berlin during the cold war. My brother was imprisoned there for; "Aiding in the escape of an East German citizen to the West", a crime he did not commit. It was an experience I will never forget and I wish these protesters could just experience 10 minutes of what I saw traveling from West to East Berlin during that time.

Teleprompter terror

Terror struck the Obama road tour today when a truck that contained his teleprompter was stolen. With the President unable to speak, in a panic the Secret Service put Vice President Biden on alert. At first the SS tried to activate Biden's teleprompter as a substitute, but were unable to debug the "gaffs" in time.

Luckily the stolen truck was recovered with Obama's teleprompter in tact and the President was able to function again. I trust that the Secret Service checked the software in the recovered teleprompter because he will say whatever is posted on the screen.  Let's wait until the President's next speech - if he proposes tax cuts, reducing the size of government, reducing food stamp and welfare budgets, and deregulation of the American business community, it was obviously a Tea Party conspiracy.   

"Occupy this"

Drugs, sex in the streets, disorganized people that can't come up with a coherent message, and unsanitary conditions, Occupy Wall Street has aptly been called the "Flea Party". But thanks to George Soros and his money, trade unions, complicit media, and even encouragement from President Obama and many Democrats, this movement has had more coverage in a month than the Tea Party has had since they became a force in American politics.

This is a classic example of the uphill battle anyone but a liberal movement has in getting their message out.  All we read about is the "Occupy" protests, not just here but around the world this weekend. But what are they protesting?  I have watched interviews of various protesters without seeing any focused thought.

But one "focused" thought has come from Herman Cain; "This movement is designed to take attention away from the failed policies of the Obama administration". And he is exactly right. When you cannot run on your record, and all your excuses have failed, create an enemy to attack, and hope people will buy it.  The enemy - rich people, Wall Street, George Bush, and as one black lady in the 'LA Occupy' protest proudly stated on television today; "We need to collect the rich Jews that control everything and send them out of the country". I wonder how Steven Spielberg and all his Jewish friends in Hollywood feel about that liberal protester's statement?

It is amazing that all this vicious energy is directed against corporate millionaires but not the Hollywood millionaires. Sean Penn recently stated that the Tea Party wants to 'lynch' Obama and Morgan Freeman said "The Tea Party is a racist thing".  Yet not one in the main stream media has reported the anti-Semitic, lynch Bush, arrest rich people comments of these so-called protesters.

This strategy by the Democrats is going to fail, Americans are not that stupid. We don't need income redistribution, we need jobs. Most Americans don't want a handout, they want the satisfaction of working with the opportunity to make something of themselves; they do not want a "Cuban" or "Venezuelan" society.

Obama and his handlers are making a huge mistake in trying to divide this country and create a class war.  Even with the main stream media on his side his effort to divert attention from the miserable economy will not work. The "pay your fair share" argument won't fly when almost 50% of wage earners pay NO income tax.  Even if the taxes on all so-called rich people were doubled it would not make a dent in the deficit.

Ironically, in the last election Obama received more contributions from Wall Street than any President in history. That will not happen this time around. But he had to create a villain and they are it. He is not stupid, he knows exactly what he is doing, but I believe in Americans and his "class strategy" is not going to work.

The Antisocial Network

Antisocial behavior is defined as:  "Deviating sharply from the social norm".
 
I have always thought of myself as a social person but am beginning to think I belong to the "antisocial network".  Oh, I am somewhat shy but not really antisocial.  I do feel most comfortable with close friends, but having been president of three different companies during my career I had to learn to play the social game. I have traveled around the world, socializing with customers all day along and then entertaining and attending social events in the evening. I was at the top of my game during my career...then I retired.

I have tried to keep up with this fast moving world but now I seem to be sliding toward the bottom of the social ladder; I might even be considered 'antisocial'. Here's the problem - I don't have a smart phone so I cannot keep up to date with what is going on in the world while waiting for the light to change, and can't even check my email except on the computer in my office. In fact I rarely talk on my cell phone except to see if my wife wants me to pick up groceries on the way home or if my car breaks down. I feel guilty that I have never even had a 'social' telephone conversation while driving my car. And texting...well that's another story.

To make things worse, I don't have an Ipad.  So here in the country I sit at my old computer trying to keep up with what is happening in the world while deer and turkeys stare through the window wondering where I got that clunker.  With WiFi everywhere I could be on-line 24 hours a day with my Ipad and not miss a thing.

But mostly I feel 'antisocial' because I only have 52 Facebook friends. I like to follow what my family is doing and am so envious of my grandchildren; some of them have 500-1000 Facebook friends. Now that's what I call 'socializing'. Where have I gone wrong?

But I'm getting old so maybe I'll just sit in the background and enjoy watching my children and grandchildren socialize on Facebook with all their friends. Although I only have 10- 20 close friends and another 30 or so good friends, I feel blessed with them.  

But I'm not giving up.  Watch for me on Twitter...whenever I figure out what the hell that is.

War on all fronts

Class warfare has always been part of the Democratic playbook, better known as the 'populist' movement; protect the working man (unions), subsidize the poor (housing, welfare, food stamps, school lunches, etc.) and during the years of Democratic power, installing programs like the War on Poverty. Obama has taken this war to a new level on all fronts.  After single-highhandedly increasing the national debt by more than all previous presidents combined, today he proposed HIS deficit reduction plan which includes $1.5 trillion in tax increases.  This from a man who last year said; "The last thing we should do during a recession is raise taxes". Today was a "speech du jour", written by his handlers and posted on his teleprompter.

He tells us the wealthiest need to pay their 'fair share' and if not, children won't get proper health care, firemen, policemen, and teachers will lose their jobs, etc. He also told us that he will veto any bills that do not include these tax increases. These wealthiest people now pay 75% of the income taxes while almost 50% pay no tax, but I guess to Obama this is still not fair enough.

 Sadly, rather than leading this country he is in full campaign mode focusing only on getting re-elected. It's not working.  Even Democrats are jumping ship. Obama knows this bill will never pass, but with failures everywhere in his administration's polices they are in panic mode and this  'straw man' deficit plan named after Warren Buffett is their strategy to up the ante in the class war. I'm surprised they haven't brought up white men lynching a black man dragging him behind their car as they did with George Bush after the James Byrd incident. But mark my words; the race card is still in their bag of tricks.

But Americans are smart and they are getting involved, and the class warfare strategy is not going to work as well as it did in the past.  Even the black community is starting to realize that the 'War on Poverty', welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing, and the first black President has done NOTHING for them. They want jobs like every other American. The 'enemy' - the so-called rich are the job creators and people are starting to realize that socialism doesn't work and that 40 million on food stamps, 14 million unemployed, unfunded liabilities for federal and state pensions for public employees in the $ trillions - cannot work.  As Margaret Thatcher once put it so aptly; "The problem with socialism is that sooner of later you run out of other people's money".

We can only get out of this economic mess by cutting the massive government spending, reducing taxes and regulations, so the job creators of this country can get to work and 'grow' us back to prosperity.