Or Will It?

BO's freight train of the Socializing of America kept steamrolling through the House yesterday with the passage of the American Clean Energy & Security Act (also known as "Cap & Trade") by a margin of 219 to 212.  The 1200 page bill was introduced earlier in the week & a 300 page addendum was added @ 3 AM on the day of the vote so we can once again safely presume that no Member of the House read it prior to the vote.  The bill is being rushed through because the temperature of the earth may be 0.1 degree C higher 100 years from now.  I wish the people who voted for the bill were half as concerned about Social Security which is scheduled to draw on the fictitious Trust Fund in 6 years.

 

Although Cap & Trade still must pass the Senate we should resign ourselves that it will become law one way or the other because BO has the votes for it to be followed by universal healthcare, union card check, the further nationalization of businesses, & comprehensive immigration reform which will ensure his reelection as he gives away your Social Security & Medicare benefits to the poorest most uneducated people he can naturalize - all of which will lower our standard of living as it destroys our free market capitalistic system thereby making us totally dependent on government. 

 

In summary, under Cap & Trade the federal government will initially set limits on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally.  The government will then sell permits to businesses who can trade these permits to other businesses.  Of course the consumer will pay the cost of the permits as the government gobbles up more & more of your wealth & income as these permit costs are just passed along the same way any costs are for a company that can stay in business.  Over time the caps will be lowered to reduce the level of carbon dioxide - the very same gas we exhale.  The Heritage Foundation has calculated that the cost of this program will be $1870 for a family of four in 2020 rising to $6800 by 2035 - so plot your own cost curve for you & your family from now to $1870 & then to $6800.

 

Cap & Trade Will Impose a National Energy Tax on Every Single American, Will Cause Electricity Bills to Skyrocket, Will Cost American Jobs - Shipping Them Overseas to China & India, Will Not Improve the Environment, Will Cause Gasoline and Diesel Prices to Spike Further, & Will Send Billions of U.S. Taxpayer Dollars Overseas

 

Below are the list of Congressmen who voted for Cap & Trade - the biggest redistribution of wealth ever.  If this is important to you please check to see if your Congressman is on the list & do everything you can to see that he is not reelected in 2010.  He is counting on being one of the government elites who will not be affected by Cap & Trade even though you will be.

 

But maybe I have overreacted.  After all the kids are just out of school & people are planning on going on vacation hoping to relax, forgetting about this stuff so that they can enjoy themselves.  It will all still be there when they return.  Or will it?  

 

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 477 (Democrats in roman; Republicans in italic; Independents underlined)

      H R 2454      RECORDED VOTE      26-Jun-2009      7:17 PM
      QUESTION:  On Passage
      BILL TITLE: American Clean Energy and Security Act

	Ayes	Noes	PRES	NV
Democratic	211	44		1
Republican	8	168		2
Independent
TOTALS	219	212		3

---- AYES    219 ---

Abercrombie Ackerman Adler (NJ) Andrews Baca Baird Baldwin Bean Becerra Berkley Berman Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blumenauer Boccieri Bono Mack Boswell Boucher Boyd Brady (PA) Braley (IA) Brown, Corrine Butterfield Capps Capuano Cardoza Carnahan Carson (IN) Castle Castor (FL) Chandler Clarke Clay Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly (VA) Conyers Cooper Courtney Crowley Cuellar Cummings Davis (CA) Davis (IL) DeGette Delahunt DeLauro Dicks Dingell Doggett Doyle Driehaus Edwards (MD) Ellison Engel Eshoo Etheridge Farr Fattah Filner Frank (MA) Fudge Giffords Gonzalez Gordon (TN) Grayson Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutierrez Hall (NY) Halvorson

Hare Harman Heinrich Higgins Hill Himes Hinchey Hinojosa Hirono Hodes Holt Honda Hoyer Inslee Israel Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Johnson (GA) Johnson, E. B. Kagen Kanjorski Kaptur Kennedy Kildee Kilpatrick (MI) Kilroy Kind Kirk Klein (FL) Kosmas Kratovil Lance Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lee (CA) Levin Lewis (GA) Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Luján Lynch Maffei Maloney Markey (CO) Markey (MA) Matsui McCarthy (NY) McCollum McDermott McGovern McHugh McMahon McNerney Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Michaud Miller (NC) Miller, George Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (VA) Murphy (CT) Murphy (NY) Murphy, Patrick Murtha Nadler (NY) Napolitano Neal (MA) Oberstar

Obey Olver Pallone Pascrell Pastor (AZ) Payne Pelosi Perlmutter Perriello Peters Peterson Pingree (ME) Polis (CO) Price (NC) Quigley Rangel Reichert Reyes Richardson Rothman (NJ) Roybal-Allard Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schauer Schiff Schrader Schwartz Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Serrano Sestak Shea-Porter Sherman Shuler Sires Skelton Slaughter Smith (NJ) Smith (WA) Snyder Space Speier Spratt Stupak Sutton Tauscher Teague Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Tierney Titus Tonko Towns Tsongas Van Hollen Velázquez Walz Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Watt Waxman Weiner Welch Wexler Woolsey Wu Yarmuth

 

---- NOT VOTING    3 ---

Flake

Hastings (FL)

Sullivan

Voodoo Economics

Below is a message from a member of our group that maybe even out does the recent message re the dimwitted bar owner who goes bankrupt following similar economic policies as our country has the past several months.   

 

To our member who replied re the first message "This explanation is really clever....but overwhelming when I try to comprehend it!"  Please let us know if this one is any better.

 

The message below illustrates how BO's Keynesian macroeconomic model "multiplier" theory is supposed to work out.  BO is counting on $1 of government spending resulting in economic output greater than $1 - his target is $1.50.  The message below shows the exact magic of such a theory, but then again maybe it is not magic but rather voodoo economics.

 

A slow day in Texas

It is a slow day in the East Texas town of Madisonville. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich tourist from the East is driving through town. He enters the only hotel in the sleepy town and lays a hundred dollar bill on the desk stating he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.  As soon as the man walks up the stairs, the hotel proprietor takes the hundred dollar bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to pay his debt to the pig farmer.  The pig farmer then takes the $100 and heads off to pay his debt to the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has lately had to offer her "services" on credit.  The hooker runs to the hotel and pays off her debt with the $100 to the hotel proprietor, paying for the rooms that she had rented when she brought clients to that establishment. The hotel proprietor then lays the $100 bill back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler from the East walks back down the stairs, after inspecting the rooms. He picks up the $100 bill and states that the rooms are not satisfactory......  Pockets the money and walks out the door and leaves town. No one earned anything. However the whole town is now out of debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today.

Responses - A Bar Analogy Explains BO's Programs

Below are three of the responses received re the subject message from Sunday that included Congressman Frelinghuysen's financial update & an analogy of a bar owner who goes bankrupt following similar economic policies as our country has the past several months.

 

I offer a few comments in red.  With re to responder # 2 he is really sharp & has read the messages from our e-mail club very carefully re how his elected reps have voted although he is just slightly off in his comment.  It is hard to keep all of it straight since there is so much that is going down so fast - by BO's design of course.

 

---Response # 1---

 

This explanation is really clever....but overwhelming when I try to comprehend it!

 

---Response # 2---

 

Doug,

 

Correct me if I am wrong...but didn't Frelinghuysen vote for BO's stimulus package.  No, there were no Republicans in the House who voted for the Stimulus.  Only Republicans (@ the time) Specter & the Maine twins voted for it in the Senate - without them the Stimulus would have failed.  After initially voting against the TARP Frelinghuysen voted for it last fall after it was tweaked.  He also voted in March to impose an additional tax surcharge on bonuses received by people like Wall Street MBAs who were smart enough & in demand enough to sign million dollar bonus contracts if these MBAs were employed by firms who had received TARP money.  Both of these votes are bad enough but we cannot pin the Stimulus on him.  I found Frelinghuysen's message difficult to read w/any degree of credibility.  Unfortunately, I have lost  respect for the man.

 

I am feeling good about the national republican party again.  First Cheney was saying some incredible things on the nation stage.  Last night I watched an outstanding performance by Newt G. on CSPAN.   It was vintage Newt...  Don't trust Newt too far either.

 

---Response # 3---

 

Your comments were well written.  As long as you give a person, (perceived) something for nothing, they will accept it with no questions asked until they learn there is no such thing as a free lunch or you only get what you pay for.  That is what is happening today in America.  With all these bails outs,  etc. the general public accepts them as a way of the government doing business.  The general public does not see or want to see the negative side of it.

 

In a few words, They Do Not Care  -  why you ask?  -    when the amount of money that has to be repaid, via additional taxes, those persons will either have died, moved out of the country, or retired, leaving the government with this headache - meaning our children & grandchildren in just another example of selfishness.

 

Why did Sutton rob banks?  -  he said, "that is where the money is"

 

General public feels government has plenty of money, and they do not like to get into DETAILS of how the government will raise the money to pay off future debts.  Citizen Control Points #s 1 & 2 - government schools produce graduates who have no or limited ability to think in details to any meaningful degree & the media tells these poorly educated people not to worry which puts a bigger burden yet on the rest of us. 

A Bar Analogy Explains BO's Programs

Below from Congressman Frelinghuysen's weekly e-mail message is a financial summary of BO's programs since the inauguration - just about all of which (& really even more) have been the subject of one or another of our messages over the past five months.  I highlight some of the more egregious parts to me in red.  Below that is a an understandable explanation sent to me by two different members of our group using an analogy of a proprietor of a bar who has about as much business sense as BO, the Democrat controlled Congress, & any of the rest of us who cannot see what is happening to our country.

 

---Frelinghuysen E-mail Message---

In the wake of news of another rise in unemployment, President Obama this week spoke passionately about the dangers of massive government spending, budget deficits and unsustainable debt.  Unfortunately, the President's actions speak louder than his stirring words.  Over the past five months, this Administration has racked up the highest spending in history, run up a deficit four times greater than last year's all time high, and put the U.S. on course to double the national debt in ten years.   These facts are not in dispute. 

"Stimulus":  Promising to save 3.5 million jobs, Speaker Pelosi and the President forced an unpaid-for $787 billion "stimulus" bill through Congress in February.  The bill also added an extra $350 billion in interest on new debt.  The Administration claimed unemployment would peak below eight percent if Congress passed the President's "stimulus" bill.  Since the "stimulus" was passed, America has lost 1.6 million private sector jobs and unemployment is at a 26-year-high of 9.4 percent.  Frankly, a great deal of this money has been spent meeting the President's goal of hiring 600,000 new public employees!

Deficits:  The President will rack up a deficit of $1.84 trillion this year—four times higher than the all-time-record deficit of $458 billion last year.  In May alone the deficit was $190 billion, a record-high for a month.  The President claims that by 2013 he will cut the deficit to $512 billion, which would still be higher than last year's record.  The President's deficit then shoots back up to $800 billion by 2019, digging deeper into the same hole as before.  It is interesting to note that the United Kingdom and other nations may lose their "Triple A" rating due to their financial situation.  And, little wonder other countries, particularly China, are worried about our credit-worthiness.

Debt:  The President's "stimulus" spending spree, combined with the largest budget in history, will increase the public debt from $8.5 trillion in 2009 to $16 trillion in 2019.  In January, CBO estimated the debt would rise to $9.3 trillion in 2019.  In five short months President Obama has put us on a path to increase the public debt by $7 trillion over CBO's estimate, and borrow as much public debt in ten years as our entire nation borrowed in 233 years.  These facts are mind-boggling and should frighten every American!

Health Spending:  President Obama's budget includes nearly $1 trillion in new entitlement health spending—a $634 billion reserve fund as a "down payment" for government controlled coverage, and $330 billion in spending for increases to physician reimbursements.  Apparently, the President plans to "save" money on health care by spending $1 trillion.

Budget:  The President's budget has increased total spending to $4 trillion in 2009—or 28 percent of Gross Domestic Product—the highest Federal spending as a percentage of GDP since World War II.  Even after ten years of the President's budget, the White House predicts a budget of $5.2 trillion, or approximately 25 percent of GDP according to CBO.

Savings?: This week, the President strongly endorsed the budget concept of 'Pay-as-You-Go' or 'PAYGO.'  He said, "Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere."  The President has tried to show his dedication to budget savings by asking federal agencies to reduce their budgets by about $100 million or roughly  .002 percent of the total budget for 2009—a mere drop in an ocean of spending. 

 

---An Understandable Explanation Of The Above---

This explains everything. At last, what we've all been waiting for, an understandable explanation of derivative markets...

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit.  In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's drink now pay later marketing strategy and as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar and soon she has the largest sale volume for any bar in Detroit.  By providing her customers' freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when she substantially increases her  prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future asset and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on security markets worldwide.

Naive investors don't really understand the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, their prices continuously climb, and the securities become the top-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses who collect enormous fees on their sales, pay extravagant bonuses to their sales force, and who in turn purchase exotic sports cars and multimillion dollar condominiums.

One day, although the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the bank (subsequently fired due to his negativity), decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar.

Heidi demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed they cannot pay back their drinking debts.Therefore, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.

DRINKBOND  and ALKIBOND drop in price by 90%. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %. The decreased bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment extensions and having invested in the securities are faced with writing off her debt and losing over 80% on her bonds.

Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 50 workers.

The bank and brokerage houses are saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock negotiations by leaders from both political parties. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by a tax levied on employed middle-class non-drinkers.

 

The FairTax Eliminates The Real Stealth Tax

The WSJ has continued to give press to VATs. Below is a letter I sent to them in response to two letters they published today. As you look @ the alternatives being considered by government it becomes more obvious by the minute how good the FairTax is for America. It should also be just as obvious to you why some politicians resist it.

Dear Editor,

In response to Daniel Mitchell's op-ed entitled "VATs Mean Big Government" James Dominque wrote that "half the country does not pay federal income taxes" & Paul Koning wrote that "the most important argument against a VAT is that it is a stealth tax."

By the standards of your two responders our current income tax system is even worse because the embedded taxes paid on everything we buy in America today is so stealth that most people don't even know they have paid them. Hidden embedded income & payroll taxes (withholding on individuals - both income & payroll taxes, corporate income tax, & employer's share of payroll taxes) and tax compliance costs are the real stealth tax priced into our goods & services & are paid by everyone - even those who think they pay no federal income tax. At least with a VAT people know it is being charged even if they know little else about it.

All of these stealth taxes are eliminated by the enactment of HR - 25, The FairTax Act of 2009. Under the FairTax these embedded taxes will be removed by a combination of increased paychecks (no more withholding of income or payroll taxes for individuals) & reduced prices (no more corporate income or payroll tax payments, or cost of compliance) before the FairTax is added so that purchasing power will be the same as today or even increased for many people.

Receiving your entire paycheck or pension free of federal taxes in an America where both goods & services are provided with no hidden tax component gives America an economic advantage over the rest of the world that is sorely needed.

FairTax Letter To WSJ Re VATs

Most of you know that BO is floating the idea of adding a European style VAT to our tax system - virtually all European countries have a VAT & also have an income tax. Uninformed people confuse a VAT with the FairTax. One of the main differences between the two is that the FairTax will not add but rather will replace all of the IRS taxes with a national consumption tax @ the retail sales level & is charged only once on new goods & services purchased above the poverty line.

VATs are added @ every stage of the production process & hide the tax cost of goods. Politicians thrive on dependency and an opaque tax system so a VAT is a natural for BO to want to add to our 70,000 page tax code as he tries to impose Europe's stagnant & declining standard of living on America in favor of immense government. By eliminating the IRS taxes the FairTax strips out today's embedded taxes from the costs that are part of goods & services sold in America. Thanks to their opacity increases in VATs can be misinterpreted as inflation by an unsuspecting public.

Below is a letter to the editor of the WSJ that I wrote in response to Daniel Mitchell's op-ed entitled "VATs Mean Big Government."

Dear Editor,

Daniel Mitchell's op-ed reminds me of President Reagan saying of Walter Mondale that "my opponent has never met a tax he didn't like - or hike." Now with the newfound thought of revenue from a VAT we can add another tax to the list of "like" & eventually "hike."

Mr. Mitchell accurately describes the poison of our progressive income tax system, which is point #2 in Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto for bringing about a true communist society.

Rather than add a VAT to all of our current taxes we should enact The FairTax under HR 25 to replace all of the IRS administered taxes. VATs hide taxes @ every stage of production. Income tax rates increase when politicians convince one sector of the citizenry that someone else will be paying the higher taxes - which of course never materializes to the detriment of the middle class. The FairTax passes the four key test questions that must be answered - it is transparent, efficient, promotes economic growth, & is fair.

Just take Mr. Mitchell's point about the unsustainability of Social Security & Medicare growth. Consumption is over twice the size of taxable income ($8.8T in 2005 vs $4.2T) & as the wage earning base dwindles the consumption base will remain much steadier than the taxable income base thereby meaning that enacting the FairTax will actually strengthen the entitlement programs' solvencies.

Responses - My Condolences

Below are just five of the responses that provide the flavor of thought I received to the subject message that described Steve Lonegan's defeat in the NJ gubernatorial primary - some from people who do not live in NJ who obviously got the point of the message.

Since the primary I have run into people who did not vote for Steve - not one of them could tell me one plank of Steve's opponent's platform & only a few knew the opponent's name. They just knew they voted the Republican line. At least if you take the time to read these e-mails you have a chance to exchange ideas so we all learn & you cannot say you don't know the issues.

Steve's defeat ensures the powerful high paying jobs in both parties stay in place while the rest of us are too busy enjoying America to know what is going on. To me the people who voted the way I described above is like someone voting against George Washington because his opponent had charisma or wore a nice tie. Only in those days the big difference was that only male property owners could vote.

Please look @ the caption under the photo below as it relates to response #4 - see if you don't get the idea that when you don't know the issues or who you are voting for that you are being played as a fool by politicians, "the poor", & people who make their handsome livings telling the world that we need more diversity.

---Response #1---
How very sad!

---Response #2---
I voted and I had 4 other family members vote for Steve so we tried

---Response #3---
Lonegan got over 40%, which I think is a very good showing, as he did not have the backing of the Repub.party.
I read an article that said maybe he was too honest.
On the other hand Christie promises many goodies, that appeal to the average voter (he knows in his heart he cannot keep those promises).

---Response #4---
It is stunning the way people think, and I blame that on the congress in charge at home and Washington. They have played the poor, weak and lazy just right. I am afraid it will soon be too late to turn things around unless something unthinkable happens; otherwise the pandering will continue. If people cannot see what is happening to California and turn their own state around there is no hope for the next 30 years.

---Response #5---
You are too kind, I'm sure. Please submit your comments to the newspapers also. You have a true gift of expression - and you always express what the people need to hear.

I think I'll print this out & hang it on my frig so I can be reminded each day: HOW NOT to be a STUPID IDIOT w/NO COMMON SENSE!

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word." ~ Charles De Gaulle ~ (1890-1970)

Recently Michelle Obama went to serve food to the homeless at a government funded soup kitchen.





Cost of a bowl of soup at homeless shelter: $0.00 dollars

Having Michelle Obama Serve you your soup: $0.00 dollars

Snapping a picture of a homeless person who is receiving government funded meal while taking a picture of the first lady using his $500 Black Berry cell phone: Priceless

My Condolences

Below is a letter to the editor written by a member of our group who also was the Middlesex County Captain of Steve Lonegan's campaign for NJ governor.  Yesterday Steve lost the Republican primary for reasons listed in the letter below.

 

The Republican Party bosses successfully beat back Steve's challenge to them of returning excellence to NJ.  Their winner is a very pliable moderate run of the mill candidate who will face Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine in the general election this fall.  A year from now there won't be a dime's worth of difference for NJ residents re which one of these two wins the governorship.

 

When residents of any state or town are fortunate enough to find candidates to run in primaries who would change the status quo of the rigged big money two party system they have found one of the best ways to peacefully move America away from the socialist path we have been on for decades.  Steve Lonegan was such a candidate for NJ as were defeated candidates Ken Blackwell in Ohio & Vernon Robinson in NC in recent years - so our work in this regard is not just limited to NJ.  If such a candidate comes to your state work your fingers to the bone for him.

 

Another candidate of Steve Lonegan's caliber may never come again to NJ in our lifetimes. 

 

My condolences.

 

---Letter To Editor---

 

Yesterday's primary results for both parties demonstrates that New Jersey  voters are like abused women: They've been abused for so long they do not know a bad man when they see him. They've come to believe no man is good because they keep picking the bad ones. Both Democrat and Republican voters went ahead and picked the guy who's just going to rape them again...despite the candidate's past history clearly demonstrating bad behavior.

Meanwhile, the cynical voters ignored the opportunity for a better life with a strong, principled candidate with a sterling record of serving the people, rather than expecting the people to serve him.

And just like a battered woman, the voters fail to realize that they have lawful, Constitutionally-protected rights of which they are being robbed by their abusers, one of which is the power to hire and fire their political leaders.

But that's the hard thing to do. Like the beaten woman, they'd rather give up even their rights to life, property and self-determination for "peace at any cost." After all, it's much easier to keep on doing the same stupid things, abdicate your personal responsibility and then cry victim, than it is to do the hard work of researching your choices, taking responsibility for yourself, paying your own way, taking a stand and letting the chips fall where they may.

Voters like these are proving correct the April 27 opinion article by Stanislav Mishin in the communist publication Pravda: "The proud American will go down into his slavery without a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker."

Thank you, corrupt politicians, biased media and other assorted left-leaning liberals for kicking the truth about our Constitution and our God out of the public schools and out of the public discourse. Your stunted, adolescent, self-serving agendas have simply done wonders for the American people!

Sotomayor's Misplaced Compassion & Empathy

Even the least discerning & most uninvolved people among us most likely know about the $787 billion bailout known as the Stimulus Bill - the largest single spending increase since WW II that was voted in to law in just a matter of hours earlier this year, the $410 billion omnibus spending bill that will cover the regular discretionary functions of government through September 30 - the largest inflation adjusted discretionary increase since 1978 (except for the one relating to 9/11), the $50+ trillion unfunded liability of Social Security & Medicare, the nationalization of a large part of the auto industry, & a large government stake in 650 banks and other financial institutions across the country.

Now the problems with all of the above (& many more) are obvious but a more stealth problem to be addressed involves BO's nomination of a 54 year old woman named Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. BO has made it clear that he is looking for nominees who show compassion & empathy in their judicial decisions & this nominee's judicial decisions show plenty of both with much of it being misplaced.

The most egregious example is Sotomayor's appeals court ruling against 19 New Haven firefighters (17 whites & 2 Hispanics) who passed a city test in 2003 for promotion but were denied their promotions because no black firefighters passed. This decision denied these 19 firefighters (several of who gave up second jobs to study for the test) substantial pay increases that would have compounded over their lives & accordingly would have resulted in higher pensions.

The current Supreme Court is expected to rule on this case within weeks so they will effectively be critiquing Sotomayor's work on the lower court. Chief Justice John Roberts has suggested that New Haven threw out the test results because people of the wrong race passed. Roberts asked "Does the city get do overs until the result comes out right." The firefighters' attorney maintains that the city threw out the test results because elected officials were worried about losing black voters. Blacks make up 37% of the population of the city.

Now elections have consequences & one of these consequences of the last election is that someone like Sotomayor could be nominated by someone like BO to be confirmed by a Democrat controlled Senate so that she will sit on the Supreme Court for decades making the types of decisions described above until they become the standard - meaning there is no standard or rule of law @ all. Discouraging hard work, self improvement, self reliance, & strength & replacing them with weakness & government dependence is all part of BO's socialist vision of America.

Upon confirmation Sotomayor will take the oath to solemnly swear to administer justice without respect to persons & do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that she will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. BO's standard in selecting a nominee who will judge based on compassion & empathy as well as Sotomayor's ruling re the New Haven firefighters' case are @ direct odds with this oath.

Meanwhile totally forgotten while this judicial exercise of compassion & empathy for the weak has played out over the past six years are the portion of the 125,000 residents of New Haven who have experienced losses of life & property in fires or other emergencies in their homes, apartments, cars, etc. These people (like any of us when it comes to safety) paid their taxes in support of this 411 member fire & emergency response department with ten stations & a $22.5 million annual budget thinking that they had the services of the best emergency personnel possible instead of a politically correct re-election proof group who meets some diversity code.

The elected city officials & Sotomayor's appeals court panel have shown that they are first & foremost interested in preserving the jobs of the elites on the city council & that they could not care less about their constituents' safety unless someone notices what they are really doing. Sotomayor's appeals court decision is one of misplaced compassion & empathy - the type we will assuredly get more of after she is confirmed by the Democrat controlled Senate.